No amount of power should be concetrated in one person's hands for an infinite amount of time. Democracy and the rule of law should take precedence first and foremost. It sounded like there was a real sense of pride in everyone when reading about the pre empire days.
A time when anyone with enough money could raise an army and conquer foreign lands for the glory of Rome, and be remembered as legends for all of eternity. Post Octavian was littered with too many sociopaths but not to say there weren't genuine men of equal substance:
