atter, Polybius concedes that actual governance is a top-down affair, prosecuted by the privileged lawmakers by a variety of mechanisms. The sovereignty of the people enters the picture in a version of public opinion: The people "are the sole dispensers of rewards and punishments" to public officials. Further, between them, the senate and the people as a whole are said to determine whether to continue funding this war of conquest or that. In practical terms, that is not the case. The ruling classes, especially the military expeditionary forces, appear to have pursued their objectives without regard for the people. The people, however, were a force to be pacified, patronized, mollified if they felt their basic human wants in jeopardy.
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