In the course of ancient history many nations rose and fell and many forms of government were tried. Some were successful, some were a terrible failure, and others were just sufficient. The Greek historian Polybius believed that the constitution and government of Rome at the time of the Hannibalic War was by far the best of any form of government ever set up by any other nation (Polybius pg. 311). The Hannibalic War took place from 218-201 B.C., Polybius (205-118 B.C.) was writing in the second century B.C. (http://www.quotationspage.com/author.php?author=Polybius). To Polybius the greatness of Rome's government was that it combined three forms of government; aristocracy, monarchy, and democracy and utilized the best aspects of each while each had some form of a check and balance on the others to help curb the vices of each (Polybius pg. 317). Polybius believed Rome had set up a balanced constitution that had advantages over any others, but he did not foresee the political and social pressures that led to the downfall of the Roman republic.
             Roman government consisted of two consuls, the Senate, and the people. Consuls were an elected office. The people were represented by an assembly and elected tribunes, of which there were originally two to match the two consuls. There were other magistracies in the Roman government, but they are not necessary to mention for this paper. The Senate was made up of the men who had held consulship, been tribune, or held any other magistracies (Shelton pg. 207). Once a man was a member of the Senate he was so for life (Shelton pg. 207). The consul, the people and the Senate represent the three kinds of governments (monarchy, democracy and aristocracy) that Polybius believed balanced Rome's constitution and set it apart from others (Polybius pg. 311).
             For Polybius the Roman constitution, its form of government, carried out by three branches, was so interdependent and checked and...