re: Was the end of the Roman Republic and start of the Empire good bad for them?

The Senate actually did not have as much power as everyone thinks. Many Senate decrees did not have the force of law whereas the People's Assembly did have more power and their decrees did have the force of law.

The problem was Marius and Cinna began taking more and more powers away from the Senate and giving them to the Assembly and Centuries. Then they took the Consul's imperium away from him which practically dared Sulla to march on Rome.


The real flaw in the Republic was the ability to criminalize the opposition. Caesar for example, did try to make peace with Pompey but was refused. He knew if he gave up his legions, he was going to be stripped of everything and probably proscribed. Proscription became a real threat in the last century. Giving up power meant one was at the mercy of his enemies, thus an incentive to fight more civil wars was created.

One reason I probably oppose prosecuting Hillary. She lost, she is done. Clinton and Nixon were impeached. For the last 15 years the party out of power has looked for ways to impeach the President. Its a slippery slope and one that doomed the Republic.