Parallels with ancient Rome
I am warped for life, having been taught Latin, ancient Greek and classical history in school. You might call it a privileged education, and I have to thank my parents for sending me there. Even though I didn’t go to University but to sea, it gave me my knack of languages and a wide horizon, including an insatiable interest in history.
I am not the first to see the parallels between Donald Trump and an erratic Roman emperor, nor will I be the last. Search the internet for the combination of names, and you will find many references, such as this one. I had prepared a treatise on Donald Trump and the Roman emperors Caligula and Nero, but to be honest I am so sick of seeing his hateful face in the media, that perhaps I should desist.
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| https://claridadpuertorico.com/caligula-trump-y-el-premio-nobel/ |
So let me write something about ancient Rome, indicate a few parallels and leave you to draw your own conclusions.
The Roman Republic
Rome was founded around 753BC and initially comprised a few settlements around the Palatine hill and surrounding farmland in a region called Latium. The first 250 years it was a kingdom, during which formative years the foundations were laid for the later republic as the settlement developed into a large town. The final king of Rome was Tarquinius Superbus, who ruled as a tyrant. Tarquin's reign, according to the Wikipedia article, is remembered for his use of violence and intimidation to control the population, and his disrespect for Roman tradition and the Senate. In the present-day context it rings a bell, doesn’t it?
After Tarquin was overthrown, the Senate and its elected leaders, the Consuls, were in power. It goes too far to try and describe in a few words the intricacies of the Roman Republic, the class society that Rome was and its complicated political system. The Republic effectively was an elected oligarchy, where powerful families dominated the key positions. They were in a perpetual state of war with their neighbours in the Italian peninsula and everyone else in the Mediterranean. Politics within the Republic had violent traits: some influential politicians didn’t hesitate to silence or murder opponents using armed gangs.
The story of Rome at the end of the Republic was admirably written by Colleen McCullough, who has studied in depth the period from Gaius Marius (another villain) to Emperor Augustus.
Catiline and the lost election of 63 BC
During the final years of the republic, a senator called Lucius Sergius Catilina (Catiline) tried to topple the Consuls and the Senate. One of the elected Consuls, Marcus Tullius Cicero, a famous orator, tackled him in the Senate.
The Wikipedia article on Catiline says the following:
The first speech was given in the senate, where Cicero accused a senator, Catiline, of leading a plot to overthrow the republic; in response, Catiline withdrew from the city and joined an uprising in Etruria. The next two speeches were given before the people, with Cicero justifying his actions as well as relating further news of the conspiracy...
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Cicero accusing Catiline in 63 BC |
It all revolved around an electoral issue - in 63 BC, Catiline had run for Consul, promoting a populist agenda, but had been defeated by Cicero and didn’t accept the result (!). To all accounts Catiline then tried to overthrow the Republic in the following year. He was killed in an armed encounter in January, 62 BC (note that the BC years are numbered backwards).
Catiline's name became synonymous with treasonous rebellion. Gaius Sallustius Crispus, in his work on the conspiracy (Bellum Catilinae) describes Catiline as an example of the Republic’s moral decline, although not just as a perpetrator but also as a victim of intrigue, perhaps pointing the finger at the system rather than the person.
Quo usque tandem
Years ago, when one of my sons completed a classical education similar to mine, the school arranged an excursion to Rome for interested parents, accompanied by a few of the teachers giving us a wonderful in-depth explanation of ancient Rome. The most hilarious moment was when one of them, with the group gathered round in the Curia, the restored Senate building on the Forum, imitated Marcus Tullius Cicero, roaring the first line of his speech against Catiline:
"Quo usque tandem, Catilina, abuteris patientia nostra?"
It fairly echoed around the building, but the security men must have been warned beforehand, because we weren’t arrested. Here are the full opening lines of the speech against Catiline by Cicero in 63 BC.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?
Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet?
Quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia?
For how long, Catiline, will you abuse our patience?
How long is that madness of yours still to mock us?
When will that unbridled arrogance come to an end?
Mad emperors
The Roman Empire effectively started with the adopted son of the dictator Gaius Julius Caesar, a man named Gaius Octavius, aka Augustus, who won the power struggle following the assassination of Caesar in 44 BC, and founded the Julian-Claudian dynasty of Roman emperors.
The tale of the emperors is well described in I, Claudius by Robert Graves, and the sequel Claudius the God.
The emperors succeeding Augustus in the first Century AD (Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero) suffered from the madness peculiar to absolute power. Caligula used the motto oderint dum metuant - they hate me because they fear me. Well, we know a few others of that type.
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Caligula source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ny_Carlsberg_Glyptotek |
He is said to have appointed his horse Incitatus as a consul, just because he had the power to, and in doing so ridiculed the Senate and the office of Consul as useless institutions. MAGA avant la lettre? And Nero, after the death of his mother Agrippina who had kept him on a short leash, was susceptible to prodigious flattery. A century previously, Catilina tried to turn an election by rebellion. Throw Tarquin, Catiline and the mad emperors all into one, and you’ll have… exactly, Donald Trump!
I’m not sure what moves Trump and I don’t think I want to know. In one year he bombed eight countries in three continents, cast his net at Venezuela, Greenland and Mauritius, and whoever opposes him, he blackmails with import tariffs. His latest tantrums are blaming Norway for not awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize (which Norway has no sway in), and letting the EU suffer for not giving up Greenland. Ira principis mors est - the wrath of the Leader means death. Not literally, I hope.
Quo usque tandem, Donald, abuteris patientia nostra?
Sallust seems to implicate that Catiline wasn’t just a perpetrator but also an exponent of the Roman Republican system. That is equally applicable to the United States. Looking at the complicated election system and its almost Roman susceptibility to money and power play, it is no surprise that three times in a row presidents were elected of doubtful capability: Trump, of whom I said enough, Joe Biden, who definitely was past his prime, and now again Trump.
One year down, three to go in this perfect storm, hoping he doesn’t wreck us all. And the one we’ll have to watch is the man waiting in the shadows: J.D.Vance.
