The Roman governmental system was one of the main reasons for Rome’s incredible success. It had a different formula than most governments, as Polybius explained that is was a mix between monarchy, democracy, and aristocracy. In fact, the main three elements – Consuls, Senate, and people – of the Roman republic represented, in a way, monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. These three elements were each extremely important and each had checks and balances for the others so that none could gain too much control. Also, these checks and balances almost forced them to work together for their own good. The first element, the two Consuls, ruled over public affairs. Part of that was implementing the Senate’s decisions while supervising the people.
