THE MODERNITY OF THE ROMAN MONARCHY AS AN ELECTIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT

In the first book of Livy's Histories there is a constant theme: the seven kings of Rome do not even attempt to give their power to their sons and at the end of their reign; their prerogatives return back to the senators. The senators elect an interrex among the patres who governs for 5 days and so on until a new king is elected. Once the interrex found a suitable nominee to the kingship, he would bring the nominee before the Senate and the Senate would review him. If the Senate passed the nominee, the interrex would convene the Curiate Assembly and preside over it during the election of the King.This primitive form of government is in line with one of the major fears of the Romans who were afraid of dispotism and tyranny. I believe that the main reason was the deep sense of religiosity of the early Romans.In fact, if the Roman monarchy had been hereditary, the functions of the augurs would have been nullified by the passage of power from father to son. In addition, Romans were also concerned with being governed by the best ruler as possible and the role of the gods in this selection played a pivotal role.Celestial signs were expected on the nominee to strengthen his carisma and to make appear his election as a good selection.Currently there is a monarchy that is built on the same system of the kings of Rome: the Vatican city is an elective monarchy because, although the pope is elected for life, when he dies, the power goes back to the college of Cardinals. The college of cardinals, after having set up the pope funeral and completed the religious functions to honor his memory, they get together from all over the world in the sistine chapel and elect the pope in the Sistine chapel.Curious to notice also that the official language of the Vatican is the Latin and many of its institutions and laws have been derived from the ancient Rome.