The Latin word imperium originally meant power, specifically the power to command armies, and also civilians. Such power was conferred by law on a Roman official, such as a consul, a praetor, or any appointed military commander. Later, when Roman rule extended over provinces, imperium Romanum referred to the whole Roman Empire. The concept of power without end, in the temporal and territorial sense, was not ingrained in the Roman psyche from the very beginning of Rome. This idea came later, under the first emperor Augustus. Endless conquest was promoted by Virgil in his Aeneid, in which he describes how Jupiter promised Rome imperium sine fine. Augustus had a vested interest in making it all seem possible, as though domination
