How does millar’s description of the roman government compare to polybius’ description? the following text is from the crowd in the late republic, written by professor fergus millar in 1998. the book focuses on the role of roman people in the government during the final decades of the roman republic. millar is a british historian and professor of ancient history at oxford university. the greek historian polybius in his book the histories written between 167-119 bce, a period of rapid roman expansion. polybius greatly admired the romans, and the purpose of his work was to describe how rome came to dominate the world.