Methodologies

The ruins of Pattara lay near the Mediterranean coast in southwestern Turkey.  A once flourishing city in the Roman province of Lycia.  After a forest fire in 1993 cleared the area, the ruins of a road monument were discovered.  Erected in 46 AD and dedicated to the Emperor Claudius, the structure displays 53 city names and 65 routes and distances, including previously unknown cities which got the archaeologists quite excited.  Below is a corner block of the monument.

 

What interested me more was the inscription:

To Tiberius Claudius, son of Drusus, Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Pontifex Maximus, with his fifth tribunician power, eleventh salutation as emperor, father of fatherland, and fourth consulate in prospect, the savior of their nation, (dedicated by) Lycians as Rome- and Caesar-loving loyal allies, for they were freed from mutiny and lawlessness and banditry by his divine foresight; after the conduct of state was (taken) from the incompetent majority and entrusted to councilors chosen from amongst noblest men, (and) by this means they (Lycians) were given the possession of the homeland by him (Emperor) through Quintus Veranius, legatus propraetore of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus, they (Lycians) have recovered concord, the fair administration of justice and the ancestral laws. 

 

It's this section that caught my eye:

". . . for they were freed from mutiny and lawlessness and banditry by his divine foresight; after the conduct of state was (taken) from the incompetent majority and entrusted to councilors chosen from among noblest men . . ."

What occurred in Pattara is that with the permission of the Roman governor and the emperor, the democratic government (the "majority") was removed, replaced with an appointed aristocracy, and peace and security restored.

A constant thread in history is that people seek to live in security, peace, and with protection and opportunity for their family and property.  Though it is often mistaken for the end purpose or goal, democracy is simply one of the methodologies for achieving these goals.  If it fails to do so, people will choose other methods.