balanced by each other that not even a Roman could say for sure whether the government was an aristocracy, monarchy, or democracy (Polybius pg. 312).
             Rome had two consuls at the time Polybius was writing. The consuls were elected officials who served one year terms (Shelton pg. 207). Polybius believed that consuls represented the power of a monarchical government (Polybius pg. 312). They held total authority over all public affairs while they were in Rome, they were in charge of presenting foreign embassies to the Senate, and they were the ones who would bring urgent business before the Senate and were solely responsible for carrying out the Senates decisions (Polybius pg. 312). The consuls were also in charge of carrying out the decrees of the popular assembly, or simply put, the people (Polybius pg. 312). Consuls also were the heads of the military and were able to carry out any field commands they saw fit, as well as demanding what support they saw fit from Rome's allies (Polybius pg. 312). The consuls absolute powers were what Polybius thought represented a monarchy because in a monarchy one person, usually a king, would be in charge of all these affairs as well as the rest of a governments affairs; also the consul was the top magistrate equaled only by the tribune (Polybius pg. 312).
             Consular power was checked and balanced by both the people and the Senate. The power of the people over the consul is that the people are responsible for ratifying or rejecting treaties and the end of fighting in wars (Polybius pg. 316). More important than that is the fact that the consul was held accountable for his actions by the people after he was done with his term of office, and they could reward or punish him based on his actions as consul (Polybius pg. 316). This meant that as consul one had to always keep the peoples interests in mind, and not use his absolute powers in ways that upset or angered the people.
             The Senat...