Why didn't the imperial system of the Roman Empire move towards autocratic imperial power?

The emperor may not be hereditary, but in the eastern context, non-hereditary seems to be an example. Dynasty change is often the usurpation of power by foreigners after a coup, and then hereditary, and so on. This phenomenon is common in China, Egypt, Persia and some primitive tribes. But the Roman Empire, like Octavian (Augustus), was almost all-encompassing, and it was difficult to pick out the founding king. Marcus Cocceius nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and other sages; There are powerful Diocletian, Constantine and Justinian, but Rome has never established an autocratic system, and modern democracy in the western world is also closely related to this foundation.

There are many reasons, mainly the following:

First of all, there is always a strong decentralization within the regime.

Political entities in Rome since the monarchy, such as the Senate, the Senate and the committee of 100 Council, have been playing a political role in the historical development. These political groups are basically equal in personal power, and the elected people and their groups are not easy to dominate; Horizontally, they both restrict and compete with each other. In other words, the internal and external structure of political system factors deviates from autocracy and heredity.

In terms of the composition of voters, although only adult male citizens had the right to vote in the early Roman Republic, just like the Greek city-state, only the residents of the Greek city-state were citizens, and citizenship, that is, the right to vote, was not given to foreigners and slaves. The electorate in Rome has been greatly expanded, and slaves and foreigners who have been freed can also become citizens. Their civil rights can be obtained through the agreement of Roman families or individuals or through public decision-making, thus expanding the democratic foundation.

Rome also has a decentralization factor that the Greek city-state does not have, that is, from the beginning of * * * and the early days, there was a struggle between civilians and nobles, civilians petitioned for peace, threatened to withdraw from the city-state, and sometimes it was manifested as civil war. Since the 5th century BC, civilians have been winning battles, and the famous Twelve Bronze Tables method has met the requirements of civilians for compiling written laws, letting them know their legal rights and not allowing nobles to violate them at will. In about 367 BC, the first civilian consul was elected, who could automatically enter the Senate after the expiration of his term of office, and the situation of aristocratic monopoly of Senate seats was broken. In 287 BC, a law was passed, which stipulated that bills promulgated by the people's assembly were binding on the state regardless of whether the Senate approved them or not. In addition, civilians also have the right to marry nobles, which also provides the possibility for civilians to share public power through marriage channels.

Second, the power of polytheism.

From the legend of the origin of Rome, we can see that this nation has a high belief and dependence on God. When the founders of Rome, romulus and remus, decided who would be the master of the city, the Oracle told them that success was predicted by the birds they saw. Remus saw six vultures standing on Revenge Mountain, and the first one stood on Balading Hill and saw 12 vultures. The latter figure is luckier, but Remus is the first sign to see it. As a result, the two brothers quarreled and fought. romulus killed remus and became the king of the new town.

Broadly speaking, the religion of early Romans can be called animism. They think that everything has gods, and every grass, tree, tile and beast can be worshipped as gods. By offering sacrifices to the victims, we can get the blessings of these gods. At the government level, Rome and committee of 100 elected the highest judicial administrative officials and decided to declare war and make peace. The convening power of the 100-member congress is the consul. Before the meeting, the consul should ask God for divination, and ask God to show that any suspicious signs can be interpreted as that God doesn't want to listen to you, and various gods have played a role in restraining secular power. Sudden thunder; A flash of lightning; The abnormal behavior of an animal, and so on, will interrupt the meeting and prevent a war. Priests in the imperial period were a very important official position. Caesar, for example, went all out to strive for this as the first step to monopolize the imperial power. The fortune teller holds a high position. At the end of the Republic of China, intestinal soothsayers began to be respected in Rome, and they had the same authority as soothsayers. Officially, they have a cult of 60 people, led by a top intestinal expert, and many unofficial intestinal experts are active in Rome.

In the Eastern Roman Empire, the power of Christianity grew rapidly. While helping the emperor to strengthen the imperial power, the church also played a role in decomposing the imperial power in the spiritual level, and the decentralization activities of other sects never stopped. For example, although Justinian built the famous Sophia Cathedral to show exclusive respect for Christianity, it was only to calm sectarian disputes and help stabilize the throne, not to say that the exclusive status of Christianity has been established. He and his uncle Justine have been mediating between various sects and groups. The power of the royal family is not only restricted by Christ, but also interfered by heresy. The emperor can persecute Christians, but he has never completely controlled ideology and spirit.

Third, the intervention of the guards.

Rome's geographical position determines that it is extremely vulnerable to external attacks. The early history of Rome is the history of defending its territory. Therefore, military action is the normal state of this country, and the status of the army is extremely important. However, the army in the Republic of China belonged to the state. Although the general has a bodyguard, he has little power and the Fuehrer has no private armed forces. Caesar, for example, had no personal guards, only communication personnel, so he was successfully assassinated by the elders. The successor Augustus learned the lesson and the emperor's power increased; The expansion of the idea of "family and the world" requires the royal minions to defend the "eternal family", which will inevitably lead to the improvement of his attention to personal safety, and the power of the guards will be greatly enhanced, which will soon become the power to decide the abolition. Not less than half of the Roman emperors died at the hands of the guards, and the same number of emperors were supported by the guards. Their rapid turnover often means that being an emperor is equivalent to vaguely seeing their own funeral. Many people died before the new emperor considered the issue of heirs. In the later period of the empire, the guards changed emperors far away from the capital, and sometimes they openly stood on the towers to auction the throne. It is not uncommon for the capital Rome to have no head of state for two or three years in a row. In fact, the emperor could not contact the Senate, citizens, family members, colleagues and other relations, and of course it was difficult to form a force to stabilize the imperial power. Although Constantine the Great abolished the Guards and replaced them with eunuchs and domestic slaves from the East, the warfare never stopped. The relationship of succession to the throne is very chaotic under the influence of military strength, and it is impossible to have a relatively stable bloodline.

Fourth, the influence of barbarians.

The powerful autocratic imperial power in history has a basic support point, that is, the nationalities are relatively single, or there are dominant nationalities in number. Rome is the most open city in the world. However, during the Republic of China, foreign nationalities such as Greeks and Jews had no right to vote, little right to vote, and basically no armed factors, so they did not significantly weaken politics. During the imperial period, Caesar and Julian successfully managed Gaul, which made the Germans stay on the north bank of the Danube for a long time, and the northern part of the empire had a reliable barrier and buffer zone. However, since the 3rd century, this good day has ended. On the one hand, the shortage of soldiers brought by frequent wars makes it normal to absorb barbarians into the army, and they have even penetrated into the palace. These people, whose sense of belonging and belief may be alienated from the Roman emperor, are not only difficult to become lackeys of autocratic imperial power, but often become undercover of their own nation or traitors in the Roman army. On the other hand, barbarians have reached the point of usurping the role of masters, and each barbarian and its different branches will have different cultural traditions and political organizations. There can be no unified context to be found, and the empire can't come up with effective management methods. Not only can the emperor not centralize power from all ethnic groups, but he also has to humbly please the barbarians.

Among them, the Xiongnu's attack on the Roman royal family was fatal.

In 374, Xiongnu, led by Dadan Balambur, crossed the Don River and attacked the Goths. The Goths were defeated and fled westward to the Danube. Vallans, the Roman emperor, rescued the Goths from the Danube and took refuge in the Roman Empire, which opened a historic page in the history of the demise of the Roman Empire. In 378, the Goths who thought they were rebelled by racial discrimination killed the Varans, and the empire suffered a heavy blow. The riots of the Goths further dealt a blow to the strength of the Roman Empire against the Huns. The Huns, who occupied the prairie in South Russia, invaded the Balkans twice under the leadership of their king Attila (known as the God Whip in history), surrounded Constantinople, went on an expedition to Gaul Orleans, captured Lavaine, the capital of the western Roman Empire, and drove away the emperor Placidius Valentinianus, which led to the existence of the western Roman Empire in name only. After Attila's death, the Eastern Roman Empire had to pay a lot of money to reconcile with ostrogoths Theodoric, who grew up as a hostage in Constantinople. Emperor Zhi Nuo gave the barbarian young archduke and consul such a high position, and even made him the commander-in-chief of the internal affairs army, and gave him a bronze statue, hoping that he could help him restore and stabilize the throne. Theodoric promised to recover the rivers and mountains for the Eastern Roman emperor, March into Italy, kill the Roman emperor in name only, establish the Eastern Gothic kingdom in Italy, and become the barbaric ruler of the Western Romans. He has long forgotten his promise. From 493 to 526, when Theodoric ruled Italy, after a series of political marriages, he won the support of Franks, Burgundy, Visigoths, Vandals and Seragins. Before his death, he divided the province he controlled among his two grandchildren. The lineage of the Roman royal family cannot maintain relative continuity in the above cycle.

Modern democracy can grow up in the west, in addition to the breeding of the relaxed environment in the Middle Ages and the pressure competition of the Christian church for the royal power, it also depends on the ancient tradition, that is, the imperial power is not fixed, the throne is something like passing parcels, and the struggle for the throne is a game of catching sheep, not who was born with a golden key in his mouth. Because the territory of the Roman Empire basically covered the whole west, the above ideology, with the cooperation of system and law, became the universal value and institutional spirit of westerners such as equality and democracy.