The Republic achieved this with a mixed constitution of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, in the form of consuls, senate and citizen assemblies respectively. This system diffused power by preventing one element of government from becoming too powerful to undermine citizens' rights. As Polybius describes, "it was impossible...to pronounce with certainty whether the whole system was aristocratic, democratic, or monarchical...such being the power which each party has to hinder the other or to co-operate...their union is adequate for all emergencies, therefore it is impossible to find a better political system than this.” Having said this, critics of the Republic would identify the defects of this system once put into practice. aristocracy had de facto control over the entire state; the senatorial class set the agenda of the assemblies, monopolized the consulate and controlled much of the citizenry through patronage networks. In the Assembly of the Century the rich controlled over half of the blocks However, this does not invalidate the Roman solution to the free-rider problem. Equality of influence was never a privilege that Roman citizens would have expected. Likewise, aristocratic hegemony was a necessity to solve the free rider problem;