Freedom is cyclical... When oligarchs rule, they unknowingly give power to anyone who will appeal to the mob... Whoever picks up that power will claim it's for the "good of the people", and the people will gladly trade their freedoms to be free of the oppressive rich elites... A people without freedom and dependent on their king for everything is a weak people, and eventually their empire will fall to pieces through some combination of internal fighting and weak external threats. Falling apart is hard as the people have no emperor providing free bread anymore and the people must learn to fend for themselves again... from this rises individualism and freedom once again. Cyclical.