Writing in the same highly accessible style, Adrian Goldsworthy here follows up his earlier biography of Julius Caesar with a full study of the life of the man who was to portray himself as his successor, Augustus. The approach is a straightfoward chronological narrative, but as Goldsworthy makes clear, his subject is an enormously complex one, difficult to pin down, and capable of playing many rolwes during his long and highly successful life. Ambition is the main factor which shapes Augustus' actions in this account, ruthless or pragmatic as each situation demanded, his power built through control of the military and the promotion of his aupporters to key positions to establish what was, at the outset at least, a military dictatorship. Overall however, Goldsworthy sees no grand design at work, with experimentation and improvisation the key to the development of the principate.