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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper explores Suetonius' views on the Republic opposed to his views on the Principate. Contains quotes from “The Twelve Caesars”. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: AM2_PPromeSuetonius.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
proper use of power occurred when that use benefited the people. Suetonius believed that it was a "dangerous experiment" to abandon the Republic even given that in some respects
"despotism, under a mild and wise" prince might actually be preferable to iti. Very clearly, Suetonius realized the many advantages of a Republic, advantages that remained constant even in
times of "inconvenience of faction and popular tumults"ii. Suetonius makes it clear in a number of places in "The Twelve Caesars" that he preferred to the Republic to
the Principate. In his examination of Augustus, for example, Suetonius writes that "repeated experience now clearly refuted the opinion of Augustus, that he had introduced among the Romans the
best form of government"iii. Augustus, of course, had introduced the Principate not the Republic. Suetonius recognized that the Principate was really not much better than absolutism. This is
true despite the fact that it has sometimes been described as enlightened absolutism in recognition of the fact that most of the Emperors were not overly flamboyant in their use
of power and at least took some effort to insure that citizen rights were respected. The harsh reality was, however, that this was simply a nicety. The Principate
did not require that citizen rights take precedence in decision making and the Emperors were thus not bound to such a requirement. These points will be further clarified below.
In the Principate the Emperors were charged with living up to the expectation of being an ideal leader. This encompassed a variety of expectations, not the least
of which was that the Emperor should spend part of his personal wealth on the people in the form of public works, entertainment, and other worthy functions. While in
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