WI: The Roman Republic Restored?

Is it possible, with a POD no earlier than er...the death of Augustus, for the Roman Empire to return to a republican system of government?

You can use whatever POD you'd like, actually. But I was mostly thinking of such a hypothetical revival of the Roman Republic occurring some time after the fall of the original one, rather than only after a generation or so.
 
The further after Augustus's reign you get, the less likely a return to republic will be. After a certain point (I'd say the death of Nero) nobody considered the idea of a republic as a serious idea, but rather hoped to seize as much power as possible. Augustus never constitutionally enshrined his position as effectively the guarantor of the Republic, so after his death, if there are no viable heirs/only unpopular heirs, it's possible the Republic could live anew.
 
Maybe the conspirators who crowned Claudius have other ideas?

Later than that, Aurelius might do it. After him, you need a very tradition-minded and very secure Emperor. Decius? Julian? After Julian, I think it's ASB.
 
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