Rousseau_contrat-social

the dictatorship, because the State had not yet a firm enough basis to
be able to maintain itself by the strength of its constitution alone. As
the state of morality then made superfluous many of the precautions
which would have been necessary at other times, there was no fear that a
dictator would abuse his authority, or try to keep it beyond his term of
office. On the contrary, so much power appeared to be burdensome to him
who was clothed with it, and he made all speed to lay it down, as if
taking the place of the laws had been too troublesome and too perilous a
position to retain.
It is therefore the danger not of its abuse, but of its cheapening, that
makes me attack the indiscreet use of this supreme magistracy in the
earliest times. For as long as it was freely employed at elections,
dedications and purely formal functions, there was danger of its
becoming less formidable in time of need, and of men growing accustomed
to regarding as empty a title that was used only on occasions of empty
ceremonial.
Towards the end of the Republic, the Romans, having grown more
circumspect, were as unreasonably sparing in the use of the dictatorship
as they had formerly been lavish. It is easy to see that their fears
were without foundation, that the weakness of the capital secured it
against the magistrates who were in its midst; that a dictator might, in
certain cases, defend the public liberty, but could never endanger it;
and that the chains of Rome would be forged, not in Rome itself, but in
her armies. The weak resistance offered by Marius to Sulla, and by
Pompey to Cæsar, clearly showed what was to be expected from authority
at home against force from abroad.
This misconception led the Romans to make great mistakes; such, for
example, as the failure to nominate a dictator in the Catilinarian
conspiracy. For, as only the city itself, with at most some province in
Italy, was concerned, the unlimited authority the laws gave to the
dictator would have enabled him to make short work of the conspiracy,
which was, in fact, stifled only by a combination of lucky chances human
prudence had no right to expect.
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