Hereditary Monarchy: Hereditary monarchy was the prevailing form of government. Disputed suc- cessions and civil wars were not unknown, as we have seen, and sometimes caused grave misery to the people. The king was in all essential respects an autocrat whose autocracy, however, was tempered by the maxims of the wise and the occasional intercession of a minister, a poet or a friend. The sphere of the state’s activity was, however, limited, and in a soci- ety where respect for custom was deep-rooted, even the most perverse of autocrats could not have done much harm, indeed it must be said that the general impression left on the mind by the literature of the age is one of containment of the part of the people who were proud of their kings and loyal to them.