Did Romans recognise the fall of the republic?

[AureliusFalco]

I think that there were always men who considered Emperors as social inferiors because they weren't descended from the "great" families of the Republic. These men would not hesitate to speak down to an Emperor or champion the Republic of old because,after all, it was when THEIR families were in power. But even when these men might revolt, like Avidius Cassius, it wasn't to restore the republic. It would only have led them to the throne. The twenty or so years of civil war at the end of the republic destroyed many of the ideals of the old Republic and it also destroyed many of the senatorial families. Those that replaced them were newcomers,and with an increasing amount of them coming from the provinces and not Italy, they owed there loyalty not to the Republic or even the idea of Rome, but to the Emperors who raised them to prominence and gave them patronage. They still had power and respect and money and that's what mattered the most to the majority of them.