Mortal Republic starts off with these words: “We live in a time of political crisis, when the structures of republics as diverse as the United States, Venezuela, France, and Turkey are threatened. Many of these these republics are the constitutional descendants of Rom and, as such, they have inherited both the tremendous structural strengths that allowed the Roman Republic to thrive for so long and some of the same structural weaves that led eventually to its demise.” (p. 7)
Edward J. Watts’ history of the Roman Republic offers plenty of parallels with our present situation. The erosion of the Republic led to the cruel and mentally unstable autocrats like Caligula, Nero, and Commodus. Watts also shows that autocrats like Sulla relied on fear and brutality to force their will on Rome: “Sulla ordered the massacre of six thousand Samnites, who were murdered in the circus at Rome, with the executions timed so that the cries of the condemned would echo through the Temple of Bellona right when Sulla rose to address a terrified Roman Senate. As the dying Samnites creamed outside, Sulla promised to repair the Republic…” (p. 140)
Table of Contents
Maps viii
Preface 1
Chapter 1 Autocratic Freedom 5
Chapter 2 The New World Order 13
Chapter 3 Empire and Inequality 45
Chapter 4 The Politics of Frustration 69
Chapter 5 The Rise of the Outsider 97
Chapter 6 The Republic Breaks 119
Chapter 7 Rebuilding amid the Wreckage 145
Chapter 8 The Republic of the Mediocre 169
Chapter 9 Stumbling Toward Dictatorship 191
Chapter 10 The Birth and Death of Caesar’s Republic 219
Chapter 11 The Republic of Octavian 241
Chapter 12 Choosing Augustan Liberty 271
Notes 283
Index 323
Yaw! People have been comparing the US to ancient Rome for as long as I remember!
Bob, much of our democratic system is based on the Roman model.
Pitch!
YAWN! People have been comparing the US to ancient Rome for as long as I remember!
Funny you should review that just now, when I’m halfway through reading I,CLAUDIUS.
Dan, I loved I, CLAUDIUS, both the book and the PBS series.
I took several courses on Rome-republic and empire-and you can’t help but see parallels.
Patti, Watts points out the parallels of Roman’s decline…and ours.
The movement away from the “democratic” government representing the interests and aspirations of the populace is the problem. Always. When people successfully pretend that the only kind of populism is rightwing populism (the kind that supports the wealth and power of the wealthy for some reason), further trouble.
The rise of fascism and fascism-lite throughout entirely too much of the world has been increasingly difficult to ignore. The Leninist countries dumping their supposedly socialist nature and the increasing authoritarian tendencies in ever more traduced “democracies” are doing their best to keep the ANIMAL FARM dynamic fresh.
Todd, true. But the rise of anti-semitism and the rage against immigrants is also worrisome.
Well, that, too, is part of what fascism is all about…”pure” culture fantasies.
Todd, both the Roman system and the American system of government depend on sharing power. But, what happens if the Executive (or Emperor) doesn’t want to share? We have strong historical results about what what happens to the Republic and its people.
The total surrender of the Republicans in Congress is inexplicable, other than that they (I’m looking at you, Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell) are total hypocrites. Graham LED the House impeachment hearings against Bill Clinton, now he rolls over (in his golf togs) and begs Trump not to primary him.
Jeff, the Republicans have sold out to the NRA, the Religious Right, and probably the Russians.