Augustus and Julius Caesar

Caesar and his adopted sun, Augustus, were the two men that carried the republican empire to being most prosperous and peaceful in history. Edward Gibbons, a historian from 1700's, even called the 1st and 2nd century AD in republican empire as being the most peaceful time in human history. It's interesting that when Rome was a republic, so many wars were fought but when it became an empirical empire, there was much prosperity and peace in the kingdom. There were opportunities for those who were at the lower class to buy their freedom and by investing properly, even becoming millionaires. And their sons could then even become senators if they wished. This was an age of creativity as men like Galen contributed much to biology and Ptolemy to geography. Rome contributed a lot to art and architecture as well. There were philanthropists who contributed to empire by building gymnasiums and schools for their communities. People could still be politically active at the local empire, though the major political decisions were still made by King. And these leaders demonstrated moderation when after losing a few battles, decided that it would not be worth conquering the Germanic tribes and expanding there. Similar moderation was demonstrated when the Empire did not expand beyond Sudan in African continent. Romans had their gods, but they were still a pluralist society. Citizens were allowed to worship any other god if they so choose. The empire understood that although the citizens don't have much political freedom, if they can grab on to illusions of being free, they won't complain much. Plus, this was a prosperous time after all. It was easy to not to miss any of the political liberties. A culture of multiculturalism and creativity isn't something that is unique to American democracy after all; such conditions are also possible under an Empire.