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Luisa Toledo

Prof. Lehman

HIS-111

September 23, 2017

Polybius: Why Romans and Not Greeks Govern the World

1. Polybius divided the Roman government into kingship, aristocracy, and democracy.

He describes kingship as one that is acknowledged and approved by its subjects; aristocracy as

an oligarchy that is capable to govern with wisdom and appropriately apply justice; and a

democracy where the people abides to the established laws and follows principles such as

respecting and honoring elders and parents. The Roman government is similar to the U.S.

government in that had an executive branch--consuls who had 1 year kingships and controlled

the military; these Consuls would be consider as a the U.S. President who controls the military.

Romans had also a legislative branch composed by the senate which passed laws, distributed

resources, and appointed and confirmed judges; the U.S. is similar in that it has a legislative

branch that creates laws, distributes resources, and confirms judges that have been appointed by

the executive branch. The differences between the Roman and U.S. government is that the

Roman had no a judicial branch that checked and balanced the other branches but was the people
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who had that power. In the case of United States, we have a judicial branch that balances the

other two branches. Although U.S. government is democratic in essence, it is more

representative than the Roman one. Also, the U.S. legislative branch has an extra check-balance

feature that the Romans did not have, being this the power of the House of Representatives.

2. I think that the Roman political system had somewhat stability because no branch

could exceed its power beyond of what was necessary due to a “fear” of being interfered in their

duties or business. The check and balance in the Roman Republic worked in the following form:

the Consuls were checked by the Senate with the power of the purse. The people ratified the

treaties that the Consuls wanted to establish with other foreign powers. The Senate was checked

by the people by confirming their proposals and laws and had the power to restrict the Senate

possibly by mob-rule. Lastly, the people was checked by the Senate in terms of business'

contracts and controlling finances among the people. Also, it checked the people by appointing

the judges that would hear civil trials.

3. The Senate was the real center of power in Rome because it controlled the Consuls and

the people by managing the resources they needed to operate. The Senate could deny to the

Consuls to supply resources such as food and clothing for their army. It also could deny to the

people contracts for constructing and restrict the use of transportation-ways and the land despite

that were public domain.

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4. The aristocracy emerged from monarchies becoming tyrannies. However, aristocracy

tended to deviate into oligarchy and thus democracy came into play making a stop to the

oligarchy.

5. It does not play any part in the U.S. Constitution. One evidence of that is the

Emoluments Clause that impedes the federal government in granting nobility and impedes

officials in receiving gifts from foreign powers without approval from Congress. The

Constitution also allows any citizen to run for office regardless of economical status.

Notwithstanding, the politics we see today are plagued by high amounts of money which makes

running for office to some people almost impossible; it is a matter of who has more money to run

the best ads in TV and making rallies to win over the people. Thus, I think that we are seeing

some sort of aristocracy in U.S. politics and government where those who have the means are the

ones filling the governmental positions.

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Works Cited

Polybius. Myers, Henry A. Historiarum reliquiae (Paris: Didot, 1839), VI, iii-xvii, 338-48,

passim.