When Augustus Cæsar at the age of thirty-six became master of the Roman
world, there was no open establishment of a monarchical government. On
the contrary, most of the old republican forms were kept up; but they
were mere forms. The Senate still sat, but it did little more than vote
what Augustus wished; the people still met in their assemblies and
elected consuls and magistrates, but only such persons were elected as
had been proposed or recommended by the Emperor. Augustus, however,
assumed nothing of the outward pomp of a monarch: he was satisfied with
the substance of supreme rule.