Historical Ruminations
I wonder if George Bush can play the fiddle?
Bush can be compared to a few of the imperators of old, actually. Nero, the adopted son of Claudius (yes, the I, Claudius Claudius), was a self-indulgent brat who enjoyed spending his time at his favorite pursuits such as writing poems. To be fair to Nero, the guy probably never wanted the purple. His mother, Agrippina, made sure he got it. He, unsurprisingly, eventually came to a bad end.
Before Nero, and before Claudius, there was the now-infamous Caligula, who, though he initially showed some promise, became known for his arbitrary cruelty and, eventually, madness. (Side note--if you're doing Internet searches for "Caligula," be careful--his name has since become synonymous with bizarre perversions, and the Internet, being a hive of perversion, reflects that association in spades.) Caligula was, early in life, fascinated by the military--in fact, the name "Caligula" was given him by the soldiers when he was a boy (His actual name was Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; Caligula means "little boots" or "little sandals," since the lad liked to play dress-up soldier and hang around with the legions--sound familiar, anyone?). Caligula spent money excessively; however, due to the state of finance at the time, he could not engage in deficit spending, and was thus forced to dramatically increase taxes. Also, and I hope that this parallel holds, Caligula reigned for just about four years.
Finally, there was the emperor Commodus. Forget everything you may remember about the movie Gladiator , because it's about as historically accurate as a Mother Goose tale. Commodus is important because he, in addition to being a spectacularly awful emperor, he was the first biological son to ascend to the throne. All of the emperors before Marcus Aurelius had designated heirs (either that, or there was lots and lots of turmoil concerning who would rule Rome--like in the Year of the Four Emperors). Marcus Aurelius, for all of his wisdom in other areas, for some reason made Commodus his heir. Oops. I am aware that George W. Bush is not the first son of a President to attain the office (John Quincy Adams did so in the early 19th century). But no historical parallels will be perfect, will they?
Anyway, that's the end of my excursion to ancient Rome today. I'd like to thank Suetonius, Tacitus, and the late Carl Butler for imparting all of this knowledge to me.
I wonder if George Bush can play the fiddle?
Bush can be compared to a few of the imperators of old, actually. Nero, the adopted son of Claudius (yes, the I, Claudius Claudius), was a self-indulgent brat who enjoyed spending his time at his favorite pursuits such as writing poems. To be fair to Nero, the guy probably never wanted the purple. His mother, Agrippina, made sure he got it. He, unsurprisingly, eventually came to a bad end.
Before Nero, and before Claudius, there was the now-infamous Caligula, who, though he initially showed some promise, became known for his arbitrary cruelty and, eventually, madness. (Side note--if you're doing Internet searches for "Caligula," be careful--his name has since become synonymous with bizarre perversions, and the Internet, being a hive of perversion, reflects that association in spades.) Caligula was, early in life, fascinated by the military--in fact, the name "Caligula" was given him by the soldiers when he was a boy (His actual name was Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; Caligula means "little boots" or "little sandals," since the lad liked to play dress-up soldier and hang around with the legions--sound familiar, anyone?). Caligula spent money excessively; however, due to the state of finance at the time, he could not engage in deficit spending, and was thus forced to dramatically increase taxes. Also, and I hope that this parallel holds, Caligula reigned for just about four years.
Finally, there was the emperor Commodus. Forget everything you may remember about the movie Gladiator , because it's about as historically accurate as a Mother Goose tale. Commodus is important because he, in addition to being a spectacularly awful emperor, he was the first biological son to ascend to the throne. All of the emperors before Marcus Aurelius had designated heirs (either that, or there was lots and lots of turmoil concerning who would rule Rome--like in the Year of the Four Emperors). Marcus Aurelius, for all of his wisdom in other areas, for some reason made Commodus his heir. Oops. I am aware that George W. Bush is not the first son of a President to attain the office (John Quincy Adams did so in the early 19th century). But no historical parallels will be perfect, will they?
Anyway, that's the end of my excursion to ancient Rome today. I'd like to thank Suetonius, Tacitus, and the late Carl Butler for imparting all of this knowledge to me.
posted by Jude at 8:39 AM
