The historical starting point
Rome controlled extensive territories before Augustus became its first emperor. A republic can possess an empire: the territorial and constitutional meanings of the word are different. The Metropolitan Museum’s Augustus record describes Octavian’s dominance and the title Augustus granted in 27 BC.
The challenge is therefore not simply to stop Rome expanding. It is to imagine a political settlement that prevents power concentrating in an emperor while explaining how the state is governed.
Choose your change
Select a researched moment in the late Republic. Change one agreement or decision, then explain who accepts it and how it is enforced. Do not assume that calling the system republican makes it a modern democracy or gives every inhabitant equal political rights.
Three pressures to address
Your scenario should explain how military commanders are kept accountable, how political rivals resolve disputes and how decisions affect people outside the ruling elite. A constitution on paper is not enough if powerful actors can ignore it.
Write one scene in which the new arrangement faces a practical test. Use fictional dialogue, clearly labelled, rather than fabricated quotations from a historical figure.
Assess the result
Conclude with a plausible success, an unresolved problem and an alternative outcome. Avoid promising that a surviving Republic inevitably produces an earlier Enlightenment or a peaceful Mediterranean. Those claims require further assumptions.
Suggested length: 500–1,000 words, including a short evidence note.
Participation
This is an evergreen writing prompt, not an active prize competition. There is no closing date, judging panel or guaranteed award attached to this article. If you share a scenario, distinguish your sources from your invented events.
Editorial review
Reviewed on 26 September 2026. Removed undated competition and prize promises, distinguished republican expansion from rule by emperors and added a museum source.