The cultural norm was Roman Pagan values. Rome went through strife when it eventually converted to Christianity, but afterwards the cultural norm was Christian values.
The Early Roman Empire wouldn't be an example of how one manages an Empire. The Eastern Roman Empire would. As I said much earlier, one of the ways they resolved such issues was by allowing for adoption to legitimize heirs. When I talk of monarchy I refer to the concept of a single ruler followed by another, not a strictly followed by a bloodline.
There are issues with the way monarchy can be set up, but in my honest opinion, these issues are smaller in number (not in severity) than the issues that Democratic systems have. Such issues can be resolved with placing restrictions on the monarchs power through a constitution. As such the monarch can be tried for crimes just like everyone else. They aren't above the law.
In my vision of a working monarchy is a mixture of Byzantine bureaucracy and aristocracy with a Magna Carta like document.
As to your point about Russian Roulette. Most of the bad stories about the Roman Emperor's are heavily disputed by most historians as being stories told by their successors who would claim the previous Emperor was bad to legitimize their take over. For example the story of Nero setting fire to Rome is considered to be pure fiction, although Rome did get set on fire, and Nero is reported to have tried helping in stopping it.
Caligula was a bad apple, and there's no discounting that. Nevertheless, his reign never would have happened in the later Eastern Roman Empire for precisely these reasons. The Early Roman Empire was in my opinion, not well thought out, and had to be refined through legal evolution over time.
As to my point about cultural norms; Caligula met the fate I described earlier, where when the Emperor starts to behave in a way that is against the cultural norm in a harmful manner, that is, in a manner that is against the style of government that the culture considers acceptable, they meet their ends, usually at the hands of their own guards; which is precisely what happened to Caligula.
The cultural norm was Roman Pagan values. Rome went through strife when it eventually converted to Christianity, but afterwards the cultural norm was Christian values.
The Early Roman Empire wouldn't be an example of how one manages an Empire. The Eastern Roman Empire would. As I said much earlier, one of the ways they resolved such issues was by allowing for adoption to legitimize heirs. When I talk of monarchy I refer to the concept of a single ruler followed by another, not a strictly followed by a bloodline.
There are issues with the way monarchy can be set up, but in my honest opinion, these issues are smaller in number (not in severity) than the issues that Democratic systems have. Such issues can be resolved with placing restrictions on the monarchs power through a constitution. As such the monarch can be tried for crimes just like everyone else. They aren't above the law.
In my vision of a working monarchy is a mixture of Byzantine bureaucracy and aristocracy with a Magna Carta like document.
As to your point about Russian Roulette. Most of the bad stories about the Roman Emperor's are heavily disputed by most historians as being stories told by their successors who would claim the previous Emperor was bad to legitimize their take over. For example the story of Nero setting fire to Rome is considered to be pure fiction, although Rome did get set on fire, and Nero is reported to have tried helping in stopping it.
Caligula was a bad apple, and there's no discounting that. Nevertheless, his reign never would have happened in the later Eastern Roman Empire for precisely these reasons. The Early Roman Empire was in my opinion, not well thought out, and had to be refined through legal evolution over time.
As to my point about cultural norms; Caligula met the fate I described earlier, where when the Emperor starts to behave in a way that is against the cultural norm in a harmful manner, that is, in a manner that is against the style of government that the culture considers acceptable, they meet their ends, usually at the hands of their own guards; which is precisely what happened to Caligula.