02-01-2011, 12:55 AM
I know 'what ifs' are often irritating and pointless but here goes.
My question is, had Pompey defeated Caesar at Pharsalus, or generally in the civil war, do you think Pompey would have become dictator and dismantle the republic like Caesar did, or would he has preserved the 'democratic' institutions? i know the inherent instabilities of the republic may have eventually led to the establishment of the principate either way but in the short term would pompey have done a Sulla/Cincinnatus and gone back to his plough? he hadn't shown the greatest respect to the law and the optimates in the past (first triumvirate, lex gabinia etc.)but personally think he would have been less autocratic than Caesar.
My question is, had Pompey defeated Caesar at Pharsalus, or generally in the civil war, do you think Pompey would have become dictator and dismantle the republic like Caesar did, or would he has preserved the 'democratic' institutions? i know the inherent instabilities of the republic may have eventually led to the establishment of the principate either way but in the short term would pompey have done a Sulla/Cincinnatus and gone back to his plough? he hadn't shown the greatest respect to the law and the optimates in the past (first triumvirate, lex gabinia etc.)but personally think he would have been less autocratic than Caesar.
