- cross-posted to:
- roughromanmemes
- cross-posted to:
- roughromanmemes
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See this is a legitimate issue that confuses modern observers about Roman history.
Caesar had the backing of the people, and the “Republic” being preserved is what we’d absolutely consider an oligarchy today.
The thing stopping the republic from being saved is literally exactly what defined the republic to begin with, class warfare between the self proclaimed to be divine, and the self proclaimed to be self made.
It’s kinda hard to consider now since even most absolute rulers don’t claim to have a right to rule ordained by god on high or to be the child of god, but our modern age is basically a peak of the power of lords over that of kings, which is part of why today’s lords flip shit about their freedoms and rights whenever the people begin to muscle up themselves, because the people being able to force our way into the ring, and even win, is a very new concept in human history.
Never take a step forward for granted, there’s always going to be someone who’ll readily shove you back ten if they think it means they’ll get the penny you didn’t even realize you were about to step over.
To be entirely fair, the class warfare was between haves and have-nots; the patrician/plebeian divide as a matter of descent had been dead since the Mid-Republic. But yeah, people often hear “Senate” and think “Democracy!” when the Roman Senate was actually busy illegally killing democratically-elected politicians for threatening their obscene wealth.
The Late Republic, what a shitshow. Luckily, no such similar political conflicts have ever re-emerged in human history. So glad to be living in the modern era!
because the people being able to force our way into the ring, and even win, is a very new concept in human history.
Unless you look at the other 4 continents
