Then there was a stern spirit of democracy, too, among certain classes of the citizens of Rome which could not brook a master.

It is true that the sovereign power in the Roman commonwealth had never been shared by all the inhabitants.

It was only in certain privileged classes that the sovereignty was vested; but among these the functions of government were divided and distributed in such a way as to balance one interest against another, and to give all their proper share of influence and authority.

Terrible struggles and conflicts often occurred among these various sections of society, as one or another attempted from time to time to encroach upon the rights or privileges of the rest.

These struggles, however, ended usually in at last restoring again the equilibrium which had been disturbed.