ABSTRACT
It was once taken for granted that the development of Augustus power met opposition; indeed, the existence of a persistent body of constantly threatening opponents of one mans continued and hereditary dominance, the opposition or the Opposition, was taken for granted for the whole Julio-Claudian period as well. Scholars have successfully reinterpreted much, though not all, of what ancient writers, and sometimes the Augustan sources that fed them, treated as conspiracies. Their success has led to a devaluation of a less dramatic phenomenon: mundane discontent, especially during the last two decades of Augustus Principate. The regime was secure, machinery for its continuance was in place; there were still functions, honour and profit for the senatorial and equestrian orders. For the latter they were enhanced: Egypt would never have had an equestrian governor under the Republic. The courts continued with their mixed juries of senat.
