The regularity with which members of a few families succeeded each other into the highest offices may, as argued, not necessarily be a sign of stability or general consensus. Tensions within the elite appear to have been growing and the power of the nobles came to rest on increasingly tenuous claims to managerial competence and concern for the common weal. This chapter looks at the role of the boni in the process that would eventually bring an end of the traditional form of collective government. As such, it attempts to weave together the various strands of this study into a historical narrative. At key moments during the period between the Gracchi and Augustus the relationship between the constituent parts of the Roman elite seems to have undergone significant shifts. We will therefore focus primarily on the key moments in 50/49 and 44/43, when the position of the boni became most crucial. First, however, a brief sketch of the background to these events.