Aurelius Victor's book On the Caesars contains short biographies of Roman emperors from Augustus to Constantius II. The main thing for him is the moral assessment of people, mainly those who stood at the head of the Roman state. Despite the fact that he had to describe mostly gloomy events, the author remains an optimist to the end. Dedicating chapters of his work to the Roman emperors, he looks for something good to say about each of them. And if nothing good is found, he expresses his censures in a very restrained and delicate form, most often supporting them with some general thought. On the other hand, characterizing “positive” monarchs, he finds many reasons for praising them and names them up to the 4th century. princeps. Aurelius' ideal is a slave-owning Roman state headed by an enlightened emperor, a protege of senatorial circles.