The Senate of Ancient Rome had a huge influence on who was Emperor. When the Ancient Roman Republic was formed, the Senate was responsible for throwing the tyrant kings of Ancient Rome out, as the people demanded change. Once the Emperors came to rule mighty Rome, the Senate was considerably weak. It was not until the Senate gained control of the executive magistrates, a body of the Ancient Roman government, that they became powerful.
Corruption was a huge problem in the Ancient Roman Empire. Just like many bodies of the Ancient Roman government, many of the Senators were involved in Emperor assassinations in order to shift power or to promote their own political agenda. In turn, some Emperors would have Senators killed due to speculations, assassination attempts, and dishonesty. This is another reason why Ancient Rome was held back in many ways. If an Emperor of Ancient Rome was continually paranoid or worried that he may be assassinated, he could not fully focus on the important tasks or ruling his territory. What was worse is that some Senators and Emperors may have been extremely close friends, but that did not stop the murders from happening. This is one of the reasons why Emperors, Senators, and other politicians alike did not trust each other. It truly makes one wonder if there had not been so much corruption, would Ancient Rome have made more advances within their system of government.
The Emperors of Ancient Rome spanned through five centuries. Many of these Emperors brought great distrust among the Ancient Roman citizens. Ancient Rome celebrated when many of their corrupt Emperors died, only to find that they hated the next Emperor just as much as the past one. Ancient Roman Emperors brought chaos, murder, incest, infanticide, aggression, sexual immorality, and madness at times. Most notably were the infamous Emperors like Nero who abused his power, had his mother killed, and sang while Ancient Rome burned to the ground.