J. B. Bury 
History of the Roman Empire From Its Foundation to the Death of Marcus Aurelius 27 [PDF ebook] 

IT is well known that for the period of Roman history, which is of all its periods perhaps the most important – the first two centuries of the Empire – there exists no English handbook suitable for use in Universities and Schools. The consequence of this want in our educational course is that the knowledge of Roman history possessed by students, who are otherwise men of considerable attainments in classical literature, comes to a sudden end at the Battle of Actium. At least, their systematic knowledge ends there 3 of the subsequent history they know only isolated facts gathered at haphazard from Horace, J uvenal and Tacitus. This much-felt need will, it is hoped, be met by the present volume, which bridges the gap between the Student’s Rome and the Student’s Gibbon.