Merces regni

An Attempt at Autocracy and Its Repercussions

Abstract

According to Cicero, the Roman people have hated the title of king ever since the reign and expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus (Rep. 2.30 [52]). Yet the image of the people in the Roman historical tradition is markedly ambivalent. Alongside the king-hating populus that aligns with the elite narrative of the foundation of the res publica, the recurring possibility of popular support for kingship—and the danger inherent in it—also emerges. This article examines two such episodes, the affectatio of Spurius Cassius and the conspiracy of Tarquinius Superbus, in which the political elite identifies and punishes an alleged attempt to seize or restore sole rule. These narratives, repeatedly invoked in the history of the Roman Republic, are structured around the special relationship, or even the mere possibility of such a relationship, between an individual aspiring to autocracy and the people. From the perspective of the elite, this bond itself constitutes the threat. The measures attributed to the affectator thus appear as excesses that transgress the accepted norms of political behaviour.