II. Republic to Principate?

Tacitus, Annals, 1.1: The City of Rome from its inception was ruled by kings; freedom (libertas) and the consulship were established by L. Brutus. Dictatorships were taken up only on occasion, and neither did decemviral power remain in effect beyond two years, nor the military tribunes’ consular prerogative for long. Not for Cinna nor for Sulla was there lengthy domination (dominatio), and the powerfulness of Pompeius and Crassus passed quickly to Caesar, the armies of Lepidus and Antonius to Augustus, who with the name of princeps [first/leading citizen] took everything, exhausted as it now was by civil discord, under his command (imperium). Syme (1939), The Roman Revolution, p.9: “In the beginning kings ruled at Rome, and in the end, as was fated, it came round to monarchy again. During the Civil Wars every party and every leader professed to be defending the cause of liberty and peace. Those ideals were incompatible. When peace came, it was the peace of despotism.”