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I just finished a recent biography of Caesar and he changed considerably in the period of the Dictatorship compared to the person we read in the Commentaries. He became a meaner and more vainglorious person disregarding much of Roman political custom which was quite a serious issue among the ruling classes of the day. Assassination would have been the only manner to remove him from office.
I just finished a recent biography of Caesar and he changed considerably in the period of the Dictatorship compared to the person we read in the Commentaries. He became a meaner and more vainglorious person disregarding much of Roman political custom which was quite a serious issue among the ruling classes of the day. Assassination would have been the only manner to remove him from office.
That happens a lot when you become Emperor. What puzzles me is how willing, and apparently ignorant of history, most of our media has become as it clears the path for President Obama to be handed the diadem.
What puzzles me is how willing, and apparently ignorant of history, most of our media has become as it clears the path for President Obama to be handed the diadem.
I liked you until you introduced your modern politics into this forum, now everything you write I'll tend to dismiss, even if it's good.
Rome was already on the inevitable path towards either a dictatorship or dissolution.
The fundamental problem was the Roman Republic (read: oligarchy) was incapable of managing a large empire. The aristocratic Senate had little willingness to compromise or adapt to the realities of governing a large empire, so you saw basically 100 years of political instability and civil war.
As far as Caesar goes, he was in a precarious spot. People today consider him quintessential dictator, but this is a one-dimensional characterization. Funny they make no mention of the Roman dictator Sulla who slaughtered several thousand political enemies just years earlier.
Caesar's two fundamental mistakes were granting amnesty to Pompey's allies. Possibly this was attempt to bury the hatchet and buy some stability. There is no reason to think this would turn out well. Secondly, he had a tendency to trounce on important cultural symbols, which in the grand scheme of things are meaningless except, of course, to the people who value them.
Octavian would not make the same mistakes. If he didn't kill his enemies outright on the battle field, he did it by declaring them enemies of the state which would seal their fate. Secondly, he was smart enough to be emperor in everything but name. He set up a military dictatorship but kept it subtle. Quite gangster.
As it turns out, the assassins basically paved the way for Octavian who had a better temperament for overseeing a large empire. If Caesar hadn't be assassinated, I think it's likely the civil wars would have continued, which the would have led to collapse of the empire into some minor Italian state.
Good luck struggling with that tendency. History does not exist in a vacuum.
I know that and generally I can put aside people's modern politics when they're reasonable. Which yours don't appear to be, such as your saying Obama is being groomed for kingship. That is just so ridiculous as to call into question anything you say.
I know that and generally I can put aside people's modern politics when they're reasonable. Which yours don't appear to be, such as your saying Obama is being groomed for kingship. That is just so ridiculous as to call into question anything you say.
It's called a metaphor, Tom. I am well aware that we do not have a monarchy.
We do, however, currently have a Chief executive who seems above criticism by large swaths of our media and intelligentsia whose responsibilty in our democratic system would seem to rest on acting as a vigorous sounding board for free and open discussion, seasoned with a generous proportion of skepticism.
Because history is filled with examples of mischief committed by powerful leaders with the aid of cowed or complicit organs of public communication, I find this silence troubling. You do not. These are the choices we have made, as it is our right to do so. Neither point of view, I would think, is ridiculous or unreasonable.
Do you think he would have been an effective ruler?
A major civil war might have been avoided, saving the Empire a lot of men and resources. Given a few more years, Caesar could have better prepared the way for his Octavian to succeed him.
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