The Curia Julia, meeting place of the Roman Senate, begun by Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, finished by Augustus in 29 BCE, restored under Domitian in 81-96 CE, and rebuilt under Diocletian, 284-385 CE. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

“It is no easy thing to overthrow a democracy, and harder yet to replace it with an autocracy. The social institutions of any society possess a massive inertia which, unlike governments, cannot be changed overnight.”

— The Sons of Caesar, by Philip Matyszak.