Dr Simon Elliott

And then three classes of aristocrat.

Curial, so the middle classes.

Equestrians, the knights.

And then the senatorial class at the very top, which is a tiny percentage of the Roman population, even into the empire.

Now, the important thing is there that the senatorial classes, although they were teachers of throats all the time...

In terms of political unity, for most of the time, they actually worked in the best interests of Rome.

So you have two consuls all the time.

So there's always someone who can go and campaign and someone who can run things in Rome.

You have regular magisterial elections.

So everybody gets a say in that kind of thing.

It provides the stability you need when things go badly.

So things do go badly frequently for the Roman Republic.

So let's look at examples.

We'll move into the third century BC.

So the first time the Romans fight a Hellenistic kingdom, it's Pyrrhus and Viparus.

When Pyrrhus and Viparus invades in the 280s and you have Pyrrhic victories and ultimately a Roma victory.

The Romans are fighting Pike phalanxes for the first time.

They're fighting, and they don't like it.

They're fighting Lansome shot cavalry for the first time, and they don't like it.

And they're fighting elephants for the first time, and they don't like it.