There is, so far as I have been able to ascertain, no biography of Augustus Caesar - a most curious fact when one considers the extraordinary success of his career and the enormous importance of the work which he accomplished. Perhaps the reason of this apparent neglect may be found in the circumstance that his character is one of the most puzzling of antiquity. In this volume I have attempted to give a clear account of what Augustus achieved in the establishment of the Roman Empire, and at the same time to reveal the man, in so far as he reveals himself by his actions. - Summary Adapted from the Preface