The Roman Republic
thenuclearcity-state,withanurbancentreandsurroundingterritory,which
Romehadbeenuntiltheearlyfourthcentury.Hencetheworkingsofpoli-
ticsinRomewerealwaysmarkedbythosedirectexchangesbetweenplebs
andprincepswhosesubtletieswerefirstexploredbyZviYavetz.^77 Itisonlya
seemingparadoxthatitwasthisprimitivefeatureoftheRepublic,directad-
dressestothecrowdfollowedbytheirvotingasthesovereignPeople,which
wastocontributesomuchtotheemergenceofmonarchy.
. Z.Yavetz,Plebs and Princeps(); reissued with a preface by C. Nicolet and an
avant-propos by the author, asLa plèbe et le prince: foule et vie politique sous le haut-empire
romain().