The legions are gone. The empire isn’t. From law to language to the map of Europe, Rome’s operating system still runs the West.
In 27 BC, a thirty-six-year-old who had won Rome’s civil wars did something cleverer than winning: he pretended to give the power back. Augustus called it the restoration of the Republic. It was the birth of the Empire — and of an idea that would outlive every legion ever raised.
