--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: At bottom, politics was a hullabaloo of…" description: "\"“At bottom, politics was a hullabaloo of equal and individual competitors who would only be guaranteed to cooperate for one cause: the elimination of a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/81c/anthony-everitt-55601_cicero_at-bottom-politics-was-a-hullabaloo-of-e_1900207.jpg" --- # At bottom, politics was a hullabaloo of equal and… ![“At bottom, politics was a hullabaloo of equal and individual competitors who would only be guaranteed to cooperate for one cause: the elimination of anybody who threatened to step out of line and grab too much power for himself. It follows that there was nothing resembling today's political…” quote by Anthony Everitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/81c/anthony-everitt-55601_cicero_at-bottom-politics-was-a-hullabaloo-of-e_1900207.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/81c/anthony-everitt-55601_cicero_at-bottom-politics-was-a-hullabaloo-of-e_1900207.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/81c/anthony-everitt-55601_cicero_at-bottom-politics-was-a-hullabaloo-of-e_1900207.jpg) > ““At bottom, politics was a hullabaloo of equal and individual competitors who would only be guaranteed to cooperate for one cause: the elimination of anybody who threatened to step out of line and grab too much power for himself. It follows that there was nothing resembling today's political parties…Since the fall of the monarchy in 510 BC, Roman domestic politics had been a long, inconclusive class struggle, suspended for long periods by foreign wars. during one never-to-be-forgotten confrontation over a debt crisis in 493 BC, the entire population withdrew its labor" (14).”” [Anthony Everitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-everitt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Roman politics were driven by personal power struggles, not party ideology, with cooperation only against common threats. **In simple terms:** Power fights, not parties, shaped Rome. Key Takeaway Recognize personal motives in modern politics. Themes politics power history conflict cooperation Mood analytical critical historical Type philosophical political When to use this quote - election campaigns - policy debates - international negotiations - leadership decisions Key Concepts class struggle elite competition political stability Questions to Reflect On - How do personal ambitions shape today’s political landscape? - Can cooperation arise without a common enemy? A Different Perspective Modern parties have institutional structures absent in ancient Rome. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Class struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class-struggle/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Political parties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political-parties/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Too much power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/too-much-power/) ## Related quotes > [“Philo of Larisa, head of the Academy in Athens…inspired Cicero with a passion for philosophy, and in particular for the theories of Skepticism, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-everitt/philo-of-larisa-head-of-the-academy-in-athens-inspired-cicero-with-a/) [Anthony Everitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-everitt/) > [Imperial politics represents the conquest of domestic politics and the latter's conversion into a crucial element of inverted totalitarianism. 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'The art of life is to deal with problems as they arise, rather than destory one's spirit by worrying about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-harris/cicero-smiled-at-us-the-art-of-life-is-to-deal-with-problems-as-they/) [Robert Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-harris/) Browse all 63 Cicero quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“At bottom, politics was a hullabaloo of equal and individual competitors who would only be guaranteed to cooperate for one cause: the elimination of anybody who threatened to step out of line and grab too much power for himself. 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