Assess Augustus' Principate

In 44 BC, a young boy named Gaius Octavian received two pieces of shocking news. Number one: His grandmother's brother, the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, had been murdered. Number two: In his will, Caesar had pronounced young Octavian as his heir. As it was dangerous for anyone, let alone an inexperienced, 18 year-old boy, to try to step into the dictator's shoes, he was advised not to take the risk by his family, however Octavian audaciously went to Rome to claim his inheritance.
Here he met his opposition in the form of the powerful politician Mark Antony, who had seized Caesar's money and papers and was claiming to be Caesar's loyal heir and successor. Nevertheless, Octavian accepted the name Gaius Julius Caesar, swiftly won the loyalty of many of his great-uncle’s supporters, and assumed a role in government.
Initially, Octavian worked with Mark Antony; as a matter of fact, Antony even married Octavian's sister, Octavia. But in due course the ambitious Antony comb...