lex Gabinia was not its direct impact on Roman trade, though this was considerable. Rather, it created a clear vision of the unity of the Republic's empire under the control of one man. While Sulla, during his dictatorship, had intended to strengthen the senate and weaken the popular assemblies, Pompey's career and preceding consulship in 70 BC showed clearly that the Sullan constitutional reforms were not working. The senate was not empowered; power was not being shared among the aristocracy. The elevation of a person who, until his election to the highest office in the state was not even a senator, to a military command over an immense swath of the Republic's empire, established the precedent of extreme centralisation of military authority that could become central to the constitutional arrangements of the Principate. During the Roman Empire, the law served as precedent for Augustus' receipt of greater proconsular authority over the entire empire in the constitutional settlement of 23 BC. The provision allowing Pompey to appoint various legates with propraetorian authority was a forerunner to the legati Augusti who served as the emperor's deputies in his provinces. That it occurred during the Republic allowed Augustus room to claim that his actions were not out of line with the mos maiorum (the ways of the ancestors) lending him credibility in claiming the restoration of the Republic and the sovereignty of the Roman people. See also Roman law List of Roman laws References External links The Roman Law Library, incl. Leges Roman law 67 BC 1st century BC in law 1st century BC in the Roman Republic Pompey Piracy law