The article is devoted to the problem of the existence of antique plots and images in the work and in political activity of the Decembrists. The significant role of the works of classical authors in the education and formation of the generation of participants in the first Russian secret society is shown. The nature of the use of antique themes in a number of key works of Decembrist poets is analyzed (P. A. Katenin, F. N. Glinka, V. K. Kuchelbecker, K. F. Ryleev). The process of transferring literary forms into concrete political actions during the period of the interregnum of 1825 is displayed. It is about using K. F. Ryleev, the term “dictator” in relation to S. P. Trubetskoy, the actualization of tyrannical rhetoric in the discussion of a possible attempt on the Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich. The similarities of the unfolding of the political crisis associated with the confusing dynastic situation and the role of the Senate as the highest state body with a similar case from the history of ancient Rome are demonstrated.