The Ides of March
Friday March 13, 2009
There was a day known as the Ides (originally set to correspond with the full moon) in each month of the ancient Roman calendar, but only one of them has made it into popular culture. This day is the Ides of March, which happens to occur on the 15th of the month. Its fame is due to Shakespeare's references to it in Julius Caesar. The Ides of March in 44 B.C. was the day a group of Roman senators assassinated Julius Caesar.
Read about the Ides of March.
Another event on 15th of March was the festival for Anna Perenna, Roman goddess of the New Year.
Photo CC Elessar of an assassination of Caesar painting by This painting by Italian Vincenzo Camucini.
Comments
Hello,
I am true lover of classical history,a phihellene first, Egypt, Rome as son on. Of late, with the economic crisis rampageing, provably ineffective political leaders in both camps, I got to thinking. Is it time for an “American Sulla”?
This current process seems to breakdown when we default to the only viable pools of leadership. Am I too wrong, radically ubsurd or dangerously Draconain?
Help me think this through, por favor!
Moret’ the dissolutioned
I’m interested in the process that took you from Caesar to Sulla in commenting on this Ides blog post. Was it the fact that Sulla managed to control Rome without being assassinated or that Sulla stepped down when his goals were accomplished? Would you prefer a Sulla to a Caesar?
Yes, Sulla to Caesar. Sulla seems to understand the true point of power in the right hands. He appears to be free of the Caesarian distractions and the vitality of the Republic matters most even if it requires violating the Sacred; no Legions inside the walls.
Caesar’s actions are so short-lived and his followers embrace the Renal governemntal style over the old way, Sulla’s Republican ideals. Yeah, retiring in peace makes a distinct statement that some embraced his changes for the better and Rome is if only for a while, ameliorated.
But…. But…. Sulla did take troops into the city of Rome itself and he established proscriptions.
Proscriptions that worked because his ideas were well founded agianst the wrongs that were clearly visible weakening and further corrupting society.
When we, as the adage says so well, keep doing the things that haven’t worked… Sullarian shock therapy was the antidote for change in Rome. Humanly created crisis, like natural ones, motivates changes like Hannibal’s invasion and early successes. Sulla understood the Hannibal factor very well. Trebia, Tresameme, & Cannae all changed the ways the Legions operated. They eventually made the Med. a Roman Lake, so-to-speak.
I’m having a hard time understanding why you think Sulla was so great. I don’t doubt that there are things to praise about him, but the ones you’re picking are not ones I’d ever have considered.
For instance, you actually write as though you think well of his proscriptions. Do you think so highly of other reigns of terror, as well? Which modern citizens would you have us hang out “Reward: wanted dead or alive” signs for?
When you say “antidote for change”, I take it you think “change” was the problem, but without change, and using your Hannibalic example, the Roman military wouldn’t have added a naval arm. If by “antidote for change” you mean the opposite of what it appears, then what was Sulla trying to legislate against if not change?
Thank you seeing my lack of clarity. I mean the antidote for the negative, corrupted leadership that changed Rome’s Republican ideals by vice, greed and true concern for proper governing. Their neglected laws were some of the clearest in history. Regarding his proscriptions, the jolt of terror as you say was a very Roman wake-up call. Their history reflected that reality. They understood the tip of the sword and were rarely separated from it.
Sulla’s daring and boldness to effect change impresses me the most I guess. I see a stark geniune concern for the state in this Iron Age man of his times. Though dangerous I admit, the Reward signs gave an otherwise neglected populance an opening. Citizen complaints went ignored, judges honored the bribe more than the law and he gave people an oppertunity to act even if unjustly. To our time 21st century America, we are suffering the ravages of empty political bromide, rhetoric and pasturized BS. If our enemies won’t open our eyes then maybe an insider agent can spike our nerves into action. Eight Legions at the gates meant things are serious enough to wake us up. Sulla is an inevitable consequence of a failed state. Felix’s sobriquet frees him to act.
I think there’s two practical problems in enacting Sulla-like reforms in modern society. One is working out to what place mass slaughter has in a modern society. Obviously you can’t have just anyone killing people they don’t like. That would be anarchy. Instead you’d need properly licenced death squads killing people and seizing their property. Hopefully most victims would, after checking that the killer’s licence is in order, accept the proscription for the good of the state. Sadly there will always be some malcontents who will not see their brutal dismemberment as a patriotic duty and will try and make a run for it. Killing these people in the street would be a problem. The police wouldn’t know if these people were genuine murder victims or simply part of the National Correction Programme. For this reason I’d propose that the proscriptions should be carried out by some form of ornamental weapon which leaves a distinctive wound. It will make the Wrong Sort of Person, or rather the Wrong Sort of Corpse, easier to identify.
Yet simply having Secret Ritual Death Squads isn’t enough. There’s the administration that needs to be done with it. You’d need the right sort of person in charge to give a bit of sense to the slaughter else it would literally be senseless violence. Clearly all reasonable people would agree I have ‘the right hands’. Unfortunately I’m a bit busy at the moment, so you may want someone with a track record. Mugabe’s certainly willing to use violence. Perhaps he could be persuaded to do for the USA what he’s done for Zimbabwe? Everyone must agree that when it comes to economic success Zimbabwe is a clear example. Others may prefer to point Russia which had its own Iron Man who was willing to seize control as well as his victims.
Finally you need someone who will be thorough. It’s not enough to kill off a few thousand malcontents. You’d need to kill off their families, supporters and supporters’ families. As Brutus would tell you, the last thing you’d want after killing a political problem is for some kid with some ridiculous grievance to come back and try and undo all the work you’ve done. That’s why I think we should give the program a snappy name which would emphasis that it’s not just about turning the USA into an abbatoir, it’s also about making a clean slate. I’d suggest “No Child Left Behind”.
Bravo Alun,
Then why is Sulla allowed to retire in peace and a private death? How does a Rome survive the crisis crueler than the Gauls & Hannibal?
Mugabe is a pitiful excuse for a visionless, incompetent tyrant next to Sulla. Did Rome’s real enemies fall by Sulla’s device or are they one of many tragedies in ancient Italy?
Sulla’s finality:
i need serum for my bitterness, anti-venom for my rage
i’m drained of my humanity, a cause to seek a sage.
when doubts supplant veracity, while violent thoughts pervail.
i turn my sin into the wind, and war against the gale. Moret’