Rabbit campaign against Roman agressors going well in Scotland. Here.
The First Five Caesars– or, what I learned from the BBC’s 70’s mini series of “I, Claudius”.
The Romans, of course, did not always have emperors. The republic came to a final, bitter end with the ascension of of Julius Caesar to dictatorship. He was eventually dispatched right there on the floor of the senate. How ghastly. Thereby arose a second triumvirate of warlords: Octavius, Marc Anthony, and Augustus. The latter two eventually took out the former. Around then Augustus remarried to Livia, and Marc hooked up with Cleopatra. Then Augustus took out Marc. in a sea battle.
Augustus became Augustus Caesar, the first true Roman Emperor. He was a distant relative of Julius, and adopted the title Caesar just give the whole affair a little class. His two heirs apparent, being his son-in-law and his best friend, died suddenly. This left him with two grandkids, and Livia’s two sons, Germanicus and Tiberius.
Germanicus died of Gangrene somewhere in Germany, leaving behind a widow and a newborn son, Claudius. Tiberius became withdrawn.
Then one after the other, both grandchildren died untimely deaths. Tiberius ascended to power when Augustus died. Tiberius was a paranoid cynical ruler. This was amplified by the attempted overthrow by his sneakiest best man, Sejanus. Played by Patrick Stewart of all people.
By this time, Augustus’ great-grandson, Gaius — known as Caligula, or “little boots” is now a young man. He ascends to rule as the third emperor as Livia reaches the end of her life.
Caligula was a real f–Kup, and eventually is murdered by his own people. The praeterian guard finds Claudius hiding behind a curtain. The guard, some five-thousand strong and a the gates of Rome, make him the fourth emperor against his will. Claudius had cerebral palsy, stuttered and limped, was considered an idiot. He was however an avid student of history, and became one of the most educated and succesful rulers ever to hold the office. For the first time since Julius, he took Britain. But this time, they stayed. He was probably poisoned by his fourth wife, whereby her son, Nero ascended to the rank of emperor.
Why am I writing about this, you might ask. Firstly, I haven’t read the books but the miniseries is simply a smashingly intriguing drama. You might find it hard to get ahold of, but e-(ahem) can hook you up. It features a great cast, including Brian Blessed (leader of the bird people in flash gordon) and John Hurt (sold a wand to Harry Potter) to Patrick Stewart (make it so number one).
I suppose what really is on my mind is the conceits of ambition and eternalization. Where does one draw the line between public service and self agrandizing? With Caesar, and ultimately with Augustus, we suspect that blind ambition was the driving factor to their success. Tiberius, at least in the TV, was wary of his mother’s scheming, yet still succumbed to the seduction. Caligula likewise killed his way to the top, and when he was there, was little more interested in anything else but to contemplate his godhood. Claudius, however, did not want the office, it was forced upon him, and he acheived more than any of his predecessors. Ultimately he was killed off by his wife for the sake of the terrible infant Nero, who, as we know, went about building up the palace to the likes never before seen.
Who of us has ever gazed on the blank stare of a Julius Caesar bust and not wondered as to what a remarkable cat he most surely was? If you were to lay out a sort of tableau of human history, what other icons would come to mind before that bust? Perhaps a picture of the Fab Four, a pyramid, a grainy picture of Adolf, maybe a Buddha, or Washington?
These people were all but mortals, yet we remember them. And many others. But do we remember them because of their service to mankind, or is it their remembrance that is a service to them and ultimately our human history?
Can’t really say which, but one thing becomes more clear to me every day. Those who strive to lead us alltoo often surely have their own ambitions for immortality in mind, and perhaps at the cost of those they are meant to serve. Coming back to my own nation’s election, I must realize that that is exactly what the progressive camp has said about my candidate, as well as the other two. Surely all involved meant to serve, but there was still that other thing: historical immortality.
Even if you could eliminate the root of all evil, money, there is still the twisted triangle: service, leadership, greatness.
What to do? I suppose one interesting remedy to my own nation’s thing would be to impose a ceiling: no one who is worth more than 250K may run for public office. The idea is absurd. Still, perhaps we may learn to recognize those whose ambitions outweigh the needs of the people. One chap comes to mind, the current gov of Cali…