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Julio-Claudian Emperors

A Turning Point

The Year of the Four Emperors marks a real watershed in the history of the Empire. The rule of the house of Julius (and its related branch of Claudius) came to an end. There would be no dynasticism in Rome, no ruling family.

Moreover, two of the four claimants in 69 were not even Roman nobility, and Vespasian was not from the city, though he was a Roman citizen. Anyone, it appeared, could be emperor in Rome, provided only that they commanded the army.

This year revealed for all to see that Augustus had failed in one critical respect: he had not removed the army from Roman politics completely. Because the succession issue had not been defined in law, the army was free to intervene and choose its own emperor. No one could oppose the army because all other institutions had been thoroughly gutted. Only the emperor was stronger than the army.

Augustus had failed because he had not wanted to succeed. There was not supposed to be a succession issue because Augustus was merely first citizen. He had restored the Republic -- what need was there of laws of succession?

And so, Augustus left an insoluble puzzle. Augustus had created the Empire. For the Empire to work smoothly, every emperor after him needed to be another Augustus. Nero was no Augustus, and the system wrenched badly. Vespasian put it back on track, but when Rome inherited another Nero, the system wrenched again. Eventually, it wrenched so badly that it all but fell apart (3rd century). What got put back together by Diocletion and Constantine was an Empire quite different from the one Augustus had created.