Mary Beard

And the same would go for his successors, the intermediaries between the central power and the populace.

And he's also one of Augustus's really smart moves.

This does look like it's calculated, not just improvised.

He divides the provinces.

in a kind of systematizing way, into provinces which were basically peaceful, no real military activity required.

Now, North Africa would be one of those.

And he lets the Senate, in the usual way, go on selecting the governors for those provinces, province of Asia, province of Africa, and a few others.

He, however,

makes himself the overall governor of any province where there's a substantial military presence.

And he has governors in those provinces chosen directly by himself and answerable to him.

So, in a way, he's thought that where there's liable to be trouble, like Germany, for example,

That's where you want a direct line of control between me, emperor, and the administration on the ground.

Now, I think one's got to be realistic.

All the same problems about how long communication takes to get from Rome to the province and back again remain.

You can't change the geography of the Roman Empire, but you can change the place where people look to the main authority.

Though I think also even those officials in peaceful provinces chosen by the Senate, I think they're still looking to Augustus.

Romans aren't stupid and they are communicating directly with the emperor.

And with what by now must be a kind of big staff of people who are sifting the postbag and trying to work out the finances, we have a few glimpses of particularly ex-slaves within the Imperial Palace praised for their grip on Imperial finance, for example.

So it isn't a bureaucracy in the modern sense of the word.

There aren't exams.