Improved City Life under Augustus

Augustus’ famous saying was, "I found Rome built of sun-dried bricks. I leave her covered in marble." During the long period (41 years) that he ruled, Augustus built or restored 82 temples. Most of them were dressed in the smooth marble from the quarries that were just discovered north of Rome. Augustus also worked hard to improve city life in Rome. There were nearly one million people living in Rome, and yet Rome had no city services. Many of the people were hunger and very poor. Violence and disorder increased, and Rome had a major crime problem. One of the worst problems was the fact that fires had regularly swept through the city. Augustus’ solution was creating a new police force and a fire department. He set up a government office that would supply food to the city's citizens.