So what? So what if the Roman Republic fell and evolved into an autocracy? Well, first I hope to have shown that the fall of the Roman Republic offers us some warning signs of how republics in general can fall. Yet most of all, ancient Rome can show us what we have to lose. The Roman Republic, for all its failings (slavery, patriarchy, imperialism, inequality, etc.), allowed those counted among its citizens the freedom to think, write, and speak what they wanted, to publicly gather and protest for greater rights, to elect their representatives and vote on their laws, to seek justice under the law, and to dream and advocate for a better society. Under the Empire, all of these freedoms were either sporadically tolerated, greatly curtailed or lost entirely, and once they were lost, they did not return. The Roman historian Tacitus states it most clearly when he writes that freedom and civic virtues are difficult to revive; the intellect and its pursuits are more easily oppressed than they are restored.

Cicero's execution and the loss of free speech has already been discussed, but it is important to add that Romans continued to face punishment, including execution, for expressing their opinions. Tacitus records how under the emperor Tiberius in 25 CE, Cremutius Cordus was convicted and forced to commit suicide for his histories, in which he praised Cassius and Brutus; his books were burned as a further punishment. In addition, speech was corrupted into flattery, as citizens rushed to obey in advance. Free speech declined not simply because the emperors condemned opposition material, but also because Romans tried to anticipate the emperor's desires, thereby engaging in ever-increasing self-censorship and adulation as they tried to outdo one another in their servility.

Elections under Augustus had become a symbolic gesture, but Tiberius, his successor, eliminated public elections altogether when he transferred the selection of public officials from the people to the senate. Although Rome would continue to have consuls and tribunes, and all the other traditional offices for quite some time, they would no longer wield their traditional powers and functions and they would not be elected by the people. Tiberius did this with little fanfare, and it seems there was little opposition to their disappearance; it had been a long time since Rome had held meaningful elections.