On October 18, the un-American left held countless demonstrations across the country (allegedly about 2,500 of them), ranging from harmless picket lines to riotous violence. 

The theme?  “No Kings” — a declaration that America doesn’t believe in autocrats, and that here in America, politicians are not above the law. 

It’s a theme as old as civilization.  Some 2,500 years ago, during the days of Etruscan rule in ancient Rome, the infamous Rape of Lucretia so infuriated the people of Rome that they declared an end to the rule of kings, once and for all, driving the Tarquin family out of the city and establishing a republic on the spot. 

From the overthrow of Tarquin the Proud in 509 B.C., then, the war cry of “No Kings!” has enjoyed a long and respectable pedigree as the fundamental “republican” (small r) war cry. 

It’s short and sweet; it fits nicely on a picket sign — and in English, at least, chants come easy, since so many words rhyme with “kings.”  But how much real meaning is there beneath the chants? 

In theory, the cry of “No Kings!” indicates a refusal to tolerate dictatorship.  But how long did that really last, historically speaking?  When that cabal of homicidal Roman senators assassinated Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., their justification was, famously, that “He was trying to be king!” 

But as students of antiquity all know, the Roman republic had ceased to be truly republican over a century earlier, and even before that, it was a form of government that we today would hardly recognize as elective in any form.  The Roman Senate frequently appointed dictators for short terms, and by the late 2nd century B.C., Roman generals realized that they could just appoint themselves dictator, without the Senate’s blessing, for as long as they wanted, if they were popular enough with their troops.

Most famously, first Marius, and then Sulla completely broke the idea of a republic, but even after generations of dictatorial rule, the “No Kings!” war chant still inspired Caesar’s rivals enough that they thought the chant would justify them in the eyes of the public.  Casca, Cassius, Bucilanius, Decimus, and of course Brutus were among the 60 senators who participated in history’s most famous murder. 

Much like a century earlier, when groups of senators decided that the Gracchi — two Tribunes of the Plebs, Tiberius and then his brother Gaius........

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