Tacitus on the Nature of the Roman Imperial Power (Annals 1.1-4)

In his Annals (1.1-4), Tacitus highlights his own view on principes viri in diff erent historical periods. During the period of kingdom, people had no freedom, hence the author holds a very negative stance on kingship. Right from the start of the Roman Republic, people's freedom began to be dominated and tamed by the consuls. Other ruling authorities such as decemvirs and military tribunes did not exercise longer command, and the several commanders of the Late Republic who held military power failed to turn dominatio and potentia into auctoritas. Yet, in the Principate, people's freedom has begun to be directed by the princeps. Augustus eventually converted balanced rule within the framework res publica into imperium and dominatio centered on the emperor, the new core of the imperial res publica. And in this hereditary imperial rule, the princeps is the master of the state, similar to a king. Hence, the Principate perverted and degenerated into another form of regnum. Through Tacitus' comments on Tiberius and