THE BACKGROUND OF THE STRUGGLE

A salient feature of Roman domestic politics during the century or so preceding the final collapse of republicanism was the fierce antagonism between the so-called Optimates and Populares. They opposed and sometimes fought each other, and often claimed—each side after its own fashion—to be the champions of libertas. It would therefore be worth while seeing whether the rival contentions of the Optimates and Populares affected the conception of political freedom during Rome's transition from the Republican form of government to the Principate. For this purpose the true character of the Roman constitution, and the manner in which it actually worked—as distinct from its underlying principles and inherent potentialities—needs to be considered.

The form of government between the Second Punic War and the Gracchi, which Polybius and Cicero described as a mixed constitution, was in fact an aristocratic republic in everything but name. This fact was apparent to contemporaries, and even frankly admitted by the very supporters of that régime. It ought, however, to be added that the ascendancy of the nobility must have been established without straining the constitution, for observers so divergent in standpoint and opinion as Cicero and Sallust agree that the Middle Republic was, in the main, a period of concord and model government.