CHECKS WITHOUT BALANCES: THE IDEA OF “A MIXTURE OF MONARCHY AND DEMOCRACY" IN CASSIUS DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2024-3-5-14Keywords:
mixed constitution; plebiscitarianism; Cassius Dio; Roman History; Roman Senate; Octavian Augustus; monarchyAbstract
In the third century AD, the historian Cassius Dio Cocceianus, in his "Roman History," proposes a blueprint for an ideal political constitution: the state that combines monarchy and democracy. Book 56 characterizes such regime as "a mixture of monarchy and democracy." Modern authors may draw an analogy with the concept of plebiscitary democracy. This paper, however, is aimed at preventing such analogies as despite the external similarities, the institutional content of the two models is different. The paper reveals the functions of the monarch, the people, and the Senate in the mixed constitution of Cassius Dio in two aspects: how they were intended to be presented to the addressees of the project, and the actual set of powers of each institution. The political project is examined in the context of Dio's ideas on the worst situations in politics such as civil war and 'dunasteia'. The author compares Cassius Dion's mixed constitution with the Caesarist model. The results show that while modern plebiscitary regimes involve two parts of the system - the elected ruler and the acclamating people - Dio's model consists essentially of three elements: the monarch, the people, and the Senate.References
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