I really wish that there were a newsletter for Rome -- something like galacticanews, you know. But I haven't been energetic enough to organize it myself. It's just, I'm sure that there is some discussion going on here and there, but it's all rather disorganized and decentralized.
I don't go to TWOP. I have fear.
I'm so thrilled with what they've done with Brutus' character -- I thought he'd be a complete waste of space, kind of laughable, but he's really not. He's come into his own so well! And really, if I can feel sympathy for Brutus, anyone can.
But I also wonder if it could have been as clear to Brutus and his contemporaries that it would be impossible to “restore the Republic” because so much of it was already moribund by the time Caesar crossed the Rubicon.
Hm. I have to admit that I remain unconvinced that the collapse of Republican government was inevitable, especially in 44. I think it's too easy to look at Octavian/Augustus' successes, and retroject them to the period of Caesar's dictatorship. It looks inevitable that Rome would succumb to autocracy, that the Senate was incapable of maintaining its position, but I think that's really hindsight. I mean, it certainly wasn't obvious to most Romans at the time. I don't think that they thought that their political system was moribund -- and I don't think that it was. think of it this way: Americans complain all the time that our democracy is moribund but we all expect to be voting in presidential elections for years to come -- and we expect the results to be meaningful. We might think that an individual election, or a single piece of the system is corrupt, but we don't think that the entire system is about to fail. The same was true of the Romans: sure, hey understood thatthere were problems, but the y expected the system as a whole to last -- and I don't think that their expectations were necessarily out of line with the plausible outcomes of their circumstances. What happened is very rarely the only thing that could have happened.
Um, sorry to ramble/rant on about that for so long. I probably think about it too much.
no subject
I don't go to TWOP. I have fear.
I'm so thrilled with what they've done with Brutus' character -- I thought he'd be a complete waste of space, kind of laughable, but he's really not. He's come into his own so well! And really, if I can feel sympathy for Brutus, anyone can.
But I also wonder if it could have been as clear to Brutus and his contemporaries that it would be impossible to “restore the Republic” because so much of it was already moribund by the time Caesar crossed the Rubicon.
Hm. I have to admit that I remain unconvinced that the collapse of Republican government was inevitable, especially in 44. I think it's too easy to look at Octavian/Augustus' successes, and retroject them to the period of Caesar's dictatorship. It looks inevitable that Rome would succumb to autocracy, that the Senate was incapable of maintaining its position, but I think that's really hindsight. I mean, it certainly wasn't obvious to most Romans at the time. I don't think that they thought that their political system was moribund -- and I don't think that it was. think of it this way: Americans complain all the time that our democracy is moribund but we all expect to be voting in presidential elections for years to come -- and we expect the results to be meaningful. We might think that an individual election, or a single piece of the system is corrupt, but we don't think that the entire system is about to fail. The same was true of the Romans: sure, hey understood thatthere were problems, but the y expected the system as a whole to last -- and I don't think that their expectations were necessarily out of line with the plausible outcomes of their circumstances. What happened is very rarely the only thing that could have happened.
Um, sorry to ramble/rant on about that for so long. I probably think about it too much.