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This is a rewriting of how terrible the senate was at the time. Caesar took the existing tyranny of the senate and substituted it for tyranny of an emperor.

This is the key that people often miss in this regard. The staggering ROman Republic was hardly a great country.

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The exact same thing could be said for the American Republic. There are millions of people living below the poverty line, a stratified society in both financial and political terms, and widespread racism and sexism.

Also, common to Rome is the notion that they are a special people who deserve dominion over the rest of the world. It might be shrouded in more egalatarian language (cue the exporting "freedom" talk) but barely so.

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