AP World--Building the Roman Empire

Today we had a brief introduction to the foundations of the Roman Empire and read excerpts of the 12 Tables, the early law of the Roman Republic.  Over the next two days, please read the following documents:  The Assassination of Julius Caesar by Plutarch, The Deeds of Augustus, (note that Octavian wrote this document himself...) and Dio Cassius and Tacitus' accounts of The Powers of the Emperor.  All the documents are websites, and the translations are pretty reliable.  As you read, think about how the role that violence plays in the establishment of the Roman Empire.  Often times we associate internal violence with the collapse of a society--Is this the case of Rome? Why?  We will discuss this in class on Wednesday.