I-B. Examples of the Romans in the time of Emperors
it of his own free will. This may be seen from what occurred in Rome between the dictator
Lucius Papirius, and Quintus Fabius, in the 42nd year after the founding of the city.1
I-B. Examples of the Romans in the time of Emperors What if we decided to proceed further, down to the time of the Emperors? Although Julius
Caesar seized the Commonwealth by force rather than by the voluntary assent of the people, he wished to be regarded as having obtained from the people, in accordance with ancient usage, all the eminent offices and charges which he held. And he is deemed by many people, to have been rightly censured — and at length, rightly murdered too — only because he accumulated too many high offices. His successor, Augustus, was indeed adopted by him, but he was not left as heir to the Empire. Therefore he strove to convince men that he had duly received from the people, what he had seized by violence. And Tiberius succeeded to him on no other ground than that. After him, Caligula was called
Emperor by the unanimous consent of the Senate as well as the people. Claudius was indeed the first to secure the imperial power by means of the military favor which he had bought. Yet he did not exercise it except with the consent of the people — who then, of its own free will, rushed headlong into wretched slavery. Nero, however, succeeding Claudius when he had him removed by poison, seized the imperial power by undisguised violence.
But his death furnishes us with a striking example of the authority which the Senate retained even then. For making use of its right, which had long lain hidden as if lulled asleep, the Senate is said to have expressly condemned Nero to death, after he had first been judged an enemy of the Roman people. From this it appears that even the very
Emperors who had become tyrants, could be restrained and condemned by the organs of the law. And it appears that even though their authority extended very widely, being derived from the royal law which was passed for Augustus and confirmed for Vespasian,2 it was still circumscribed within definite limits. It was not approved without any restriction, if there was still room for law and justice. For what else is tyranny but authority setting itself against the laws? We do not propose to speak about its wide extent and propagation— for what limit can there be to the unbridled cupidity and spite of tyrants? But we speak only about kings' and other rulers' legitimate authority, as limited by the laws. And so much concerning the Romans.
II. Examples from the Athenian Republic When the Athenians abolished their democracy and changed it into an aristocracy, they first appointed thirty men, and subsequently only ten, for the government of the commonwealth as their historical writings record. But when these abused their authority, the Athenians successively removed them from office, and even visited well-deserved punishment on them, clearly availing themselves of the same right by which they had elected them in the first place.
1 Ibid, book VIII, XXX-XXXVII. — In 325 BC, Lucius Papirius was appointed dictator to carry on the second Samnite
War. Quintus Fabius was his Cavalry Master. Fabius engaged the enemy against Lucius' orders, who condemned him to death. Only the intercession of his father, the senate, and the people saved his life. – WHG
2 Again, another allusion to the Lex Regia. See Question 5, note.