History will bear the mark of his rule.
Augustus is equal parts history lesson and soap opera, and thoroughly engaging at all levels. Augustus, heir to his doomed uncle Julius Caesar's command of the far-flung Roman empire. Surviving an assassination attempt and struck by news of the death of his old friend and ally, Agrippa, in the same day, Octavius waxes nostalgic about his youthful exploits in Caesar's army and his unprepared immersion in the deadly politics of the Mark Antony era. More immediate are Octavius' problems trying to stave off conspiracies by his wife Livia to set up the emperor's stepson, Tiberius, as heir, and talk his dutiful daughter Julia into a marriage she doesn't want.