Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/327

 The Roman Empire to the Triumph of Christianity 273 and the West, met at Actium on the west coast of Greece. The battle was fought both by land and by sea, and the outcome was a sweeping victory for the heir of Caesar. Antony and Cleopatra took their own lives. To the West, which he already controlled, Octavian now added close of a also the East. Thus at last the unity of the Roman dominions dJif wAnd was restored and an entire century of civil war, which had begun [("g'^jjjg^j^j. in the days of the Gracchi, was ended (3 1 B.C.). The next year terranean ■' ... world under Octavian landed in Egypt without resistance and took possession octavian of the ancient land, as the successor of Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies. The lands under his control girdled the Mediter- ranean, and the entire Mediterranean world was under the power of a single ruler . When Octavian returned to Italy he was received with the Octavian's greatest enthusiasm. A deep feeling of thanksgiving arose poUcy among all classes at the termination of a century of civil war and devastation. With few exceptions, all now felt also that the supremacy of an individual ruler was necessary for the control of the vast Roman dominions. It would have been easy for Octavian to make himself absolute monarch as his adoptive father was doing when the dagger cut short his plans. But Octavian was a man of qualities totally different from those of Caesar. On the one hand, he was not trained as a soldier and had no desire for a career of military conquest ; on the other hand, he felt a sincere respect for the institutions of the Roman Republic and did not wish to destroy them nor to gain for him- self the throne, of an oriental sovereign. During his struggle for the mastery heretofore he had preserved the forms of the Republic and had been duly elected to his position of power. On returning to Rome, therefore, Octavian did not disturb the Organization Senate, but did much to strengthen it and improve its member- g^ate by ship. Indeed, he voluntarily handed over his powers to the Senate Octavian in January, 27 B.C. The Senate thereupon, realizing by past experience that it did not possess the ability nor the organiza- tion for ruling the great Roman world successfully, gave him