Augustus still rules Rome as Princeps. As an old man, he had had the chance to see his most of his great projects through from start to finish. However, three eluded him: improving the morality (and fertility) of the upper classes, finding an adequate successor, and shoring up the boundaries of the empire.

His moral legislation was hated universally and failed to improve even his own daughter's morals.

His search for a successor was interrupted repeatedly by the death of each candidate on his list, until he had to settle, begrudgingly, on his son-in-law, Tiberius.

His work to secure the frontiers of the empire seemed to be going more smoothly. He cleaned up the borders in the Balkans, in Anatolia, and in Spain. When it came to conquering Germania, that wild region across the Rhine from Gaul, things went well at first. For two decades, the process of integration was going about as well as could be hoped in such a remote and decentralized region. But in 6 AD, when several legions had to be pulled away from the Rhine and from Germania, a German named Arminius built a confederation of tribes and seized the opportunity to rid his country from Roman rule.