I just finished reading Robert Harris’s Imperium, and it got me thinking: I know for at least two or three centuries after Augustus, emperors at least tried to maintain a pretense of continuing republican institutions, albeit with all the various offices now held by the emperor himself. Was there any recognition that it now only a pretense? Was there nostalgia for Republican institutions, or agitation for their restoration?
ETA: and maybe more in GD or IMHO territory, but would a restoration have been possible at any point? Say, after the death of Nero?
Chart of the system of the Roman Republic. You will see the popular legislative assemblies play important roles in electing magistrates and enacting legislation. They weren’t what we would consider democratic in form, and participation was limited in practice to citizens who lived in Rome or could travel there for the elections; but for the average Roman citizen, it was the main way they had of participating in the government.
The emperors from Augustus on left the aristocratic, quasi-hereditary Senate in place – but they appointed the magistrates themselves (and several magistracies were reserved to the emperor). The powers of the Century Assembly were transferred to the Senate by Augustus in 27 B.C. The Plebeian Council was discontinued shortly after the reign of Tiberius. Reviving the Republic must have become problematic, after the common citizens got out of the habit of assembling, debating and voting.
Robert Graves’ I, Claudius certainly suggested that it was prominent thought throughout the Julio-Claudian era, certainly among idealistic nobles. But after that? How many Russians are Czarists these days?
Flavius Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews suggested that the assassination of Caligula was an attempt to restore the republic, and that was a good 80 years after the death of Caesar. I’d suspect that’s as far as it goes!
Zombie thread, but was’nt Augustus’s main claim to fame that he restored the Republic? And officially the republic was never dissolved uptil 1453 and at least until the Dominate era the Emperor really was simply a lifetime Chief Magistrate,
The Roman Republic boasted a system of government that proved incredibly flexible and contributed greatly to the rise of a small city state to a dominant political position. Once the expansion of territory had progressed to such a point that wars became multiannual expeditions rather than seasonal campaigns, the system began to crack under the strain. Once composed of a citizen militia, the army, over time, transformed into a professional fighting force composed of men who had no farms to return to at the end of the day. Politicians were quick to grasp that leadership over the military was the key to power, as soldiers had become dependent on their generals for their economic well-being. The employment of arms rather than of oratory in the political arena finally shattered the republican system of government, resulting in generations of civil war.
When the dust cleared, Octavian (AKA Augustus) was the last man standing. He proclaimed the Republic restored, but was far too canny to believe that the Rome of Scipio Africanus and Cato the Censor would ever return. The only effective way to prevent the resurgence of warring factions was to keep the central powers of the state invested in a single individual. He knew full well, however, that too public a display of power would not be tolerated, particularly by the Senate. He therefore constructed a convincing façade by which he appeared to be a legally appointed magistrate with some extraordinary privileges, but no more than was required to maintain the peace. Behind the scenes, however, he held all of the reigns of power. Over the succeeding generations, the façade became less important as the Senate and People came to accept the reality of autocracy.
From time to time, tongues wagged about the glory of the Republic, but, broadly speaking, this was largely confined to the laments of those in Senatorial families over the loss of their ancestral clout. The truth is that the Republican form of government had proven inadequate for the administration of a far-flung empire.
