I'm re-reading Scullard's From the Gracchi to Nero, which has always impressed me, and I wanted to share a great paragraph that says succinctly an opinion I share re: the late Republic:

(after the murder of Caesar)

Caesar must have realized that the Republic could not be revived in its old form - Sulla's career and the fate of his constitution had shown that. A selfish oligarchy of nobles and capitalists, who exploited the hprovincials in the interests of themselves and of an idle urban mob, had failed to preserve law and peace, let alone to set their house in better order. The days of the city-state were over, and Rome must recognize her responsibilities to the on-political orders in Italy and the provinces. That Caesar's mind must have been moving towards some form of monarchy as the only practical solution of the constitutional problem is probable enough. But an outraged group of nobles, many of whom honestly but blindly identified the Republican government of their day with Liberty, prevented Caesar from revealing to the world the solution that he would have decided to apply to its ills. (p. 113)