The Ancient Roman Poet, Virgil, once wrote, “They can conquer who believe they can.” King Cyrus the Great of the Persian Empire and Emperor Caesar Augustus of the Roman Empire are leaders whose conviction in their rights to power establish unwavering support from the people they lead. King Cyrus holds the throne of an expansive Persian Empire. In 539, claiming to be under the divine right the Babylonian God Marduk, he peacefully conquers Babylon and drives out Nabonidus, the last neo-Babylonian King. Cyrus produces a clay cylinder denouncing Nabonidus as an impious oppressor of the Babylonians, and contextualizes himself as the ruler destined to restore peace and order on behalf of the Babylonians, making the kingdom strong again. It concludes …show more content…
“On my own initiative and at my own expense I raised an army, with which I restored freedom to the state which was oppressed by the power of a clique… In the same year, when both consuls had fallen in battle, the People named me consul and appointed me one of a commission of three (triumvir) for the re-establishment of the republic” Augustus emphasis of how his ‘own’ actions liberate Rome from oppression and gain him support from the people, shows his desire to attribute his rise to power with being a man of the people, regardless of his wealth or social placement. In Res Gestae Divi Augusti, Augustus strategy surrounds the establishment of the newly reformed Imperial regime, conveying that his power is bestowed and shared with the Senate and People, and does not stem from greed or a desire to be dictator, as it is a time in Rome where democracy is the central ideology. “In the consulship of Marcus Marcellus and Lucius Arruntius (22BCE), the People and the Senate both offered me the dictatorship, both in my absence and when I was at Rome, but I refused it.” Augustus is thus showing the genius of his method for renouncing power to in turn earn the trust of the people that he needs in order to be voted in as the popularly desired and tenured Emperor of Rome. Augustus understands the fine line between being a feared Dictator and a respected Emperor, and his strategy actively works to be the