Caesar & Augustus

[ASCLEPIADES]

And I am in no way defending the actions of Sulla or Caesar, but the question originally posed in this thread asked who could have had the influence to stop Caesar; and if someone meeting that criteria existed, why didn't he act on it?

 

The only person with sufficient influence and motivation to stop Caesar was Cato, and he did everything in his power to do so, including winning Pompey to the defense of the republic. Had Pompey acted with just a little more gusto at Dyrrachium, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Or maybe we would be talking about how Pompey re-emerged as an autocrat and the sole remaining triumvir, eventually eliminating Cato (as Cicero was eventually eliminated after helping Octavius).

[M. Porcius Cato]

Or maybe we would be talking about how Pompey re-emerged as an autocrat and the sole remaining triumvir, eventually eliminating Cato (as Cicero was eventually eliminated after helping Octavius).

 

Sure, it's possible. But Pompey had also mellowed in his old age. Most immediately, he had shown some forbearance in voluntarily taking a colleague in office when he needn't have done so. Maybe that was a calculated move for the sake of appearances, but in conjunction with Pompey's other actions, I'm inclined to think that he wanted to dial down the volume on the political rivalries that existed in the lead-up to Jan 44.

 

In any case, my point remains that there were those who rather energetically attempted to save the republic.

[Primus Pilus]

My intention is not to call you out by any stretch DD (welcome to the forum, btw). Just open discussion.

 

I suggest only that the Senate did not act alone in uniformity either for or against these issues (especially in the later stages of the Republic). There were members of the senate on all sides of any particular issue. Alone, the senate was not much more than a deliberative body and a pool for the election of magistrates. The senate is too often labeled as the countering body to Caesar and completely opposed to the needs of the populace when that simply isn't the entire story.

 

P.P., you are NEVER out of order.

 

I must ask you, did the Senate not ultimately control the state?

 

In the early Republic one could argue that fairly definitively, but by the middle Republic the people's assembly carried virtually the lone legislative authority. The senate was clearly still the pool that provided the magistrates that effectively ran the administrative processes of the state though.

[Gaius Octavius]

Sure, it's possible. But Pompey had also mellowed in his old age. Most immediately, he had shown some forbearance in voluntarily taking a colleague in office when he needn't have done so. Maybe that was a calculated move for the sake of appearances, but in conjunction with Pompey's other actions, I'm inclined to think that he wanted to dial down the volume on the political rivalries that existed in the lead-up to Jan 44

 

Pimary sources, please.

 

In any case, my point remains that there were those who rather energetically attempted to save the republic.

 

Names! Names, please, and what effective measures did they take?