Julius Caesar and his adopted son and successor Augustus both contributed to a great amount of change in Rome. In the administrations they established, they were both ruthless dictators because they both exploited the weaknesses of the senate to rise to and maintain power, they ensured that the army and people were loyal to themselves instead of the state, and they engaged in many foreign affairs that involved conquering other lands to bolster their power. Through their tight control of the Roman state, they can both be considered to have been ruthless dictators.
Both Julius Caesar and Augustus capitalized on the chaos of the republic by taking matters into their own hands and ignoring the authority of the senate, who had proven itself weak and willing to give up power; this power continually grew until Caesar and Augustus could be seen as dictators. During Caesar’s dictatorship, he
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For example, Augustus “won over the soldiers with gifts, the populace with cheap corn, and all the men with sweets of repose” (Tacitus, Annals 1.2). All of these actions could be seen as attempts to buy support from the people and the colonists. Augustus even states that “the whole of Italy voluntarily swore an oath of allegiance to me,” (RG 25) showing at least some amount of popular support. Caesar also engaged in similar acts, giving his soldiers “equal indulgence,” (Suetonius, Julius Caesar 65) and calling them his “comrades” (Suetonius, Julius Caesar 67). His soldiers were also called “Caesarians,” which illustrates their loyalty to him, and the text even states that “he won the devotion of his army” (Suetonius, Julius Caesar 68). Ultimately, the two men strategically gained a pledge of support to themselves and not the Roman