...Continued from yesterday:
Though there's been much controversy and some protest over the Public Theater's production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in which Caesar is portrayed to resemble Donald Trump, we all know that in truth this production is only a great flight of a director's imagination; Donald Trump is no Julius Caesar.
Though there's been much controversy and some protest over the Public Theater's production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in which Caesar is portrayed to resemble Donald Trump, we all know that in truth this production is only a great flight of a director's imagination; Donald Trump is no Julius Caesar.
Julius Caesar was, after all, a great military general and war hero as well as a prolific writer of military histories, including his commentaries of the Gallic wars (which I had to study in my junior year of high school Latin class and the opening line of which I remember to this day: "Omes Gallia in tres partes divisa est").
Caesar spent most of his career in public office, and though he eventually grabbed power from his political opponents whereby he set himself up as Dictator for Life, facilitating the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire, his rule was beneficial to his country.
According to biography.com/julius caesar:
Caesar spent most of his career in public office, and though he eventually grabbed power from his political opponents whereby he set himself up as Dictator for Life, facilitating the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire, his rule was beneficial to his country.
According to biography.com/julius caesar:
For Caesar and his countrymen, his rule proved instrumental in reforming Rome.
He would serve just a year's term before his assassination, but in that short period Caesar greatly transformed the empire. He relieved debt and reformed the Senate by increasing its size and opening it up so that it better represented Romans as a whole. He reformed the Roman calendar and reorganized how local government was constructed. In addition he resurrected two city-states, Carthage and Corinth, which had been destroyed by his predecessors, and he granted citizenship to a number of foreigners. He also proved to be a benevolent victor by inviting some of his defeated rivals to join him in the government.
He would serve just a year's term before his assassination, but in that short period Caesar greatly transformed the empire. He relieved debt and reformed the Senate by increasing its size and opening it up so that it better represented Romans as a whole. He reformed the Roman calendar and reorganized how local government was constructed. In addition he resurrected two city-states, Carthage and Corinth, which had been destroyed by his predecessors, and he granted citizenship to a number of foreigners. He also proved to be a benevolent victor by inviting some of his defeated rivals to join him in the government.
| Donald Trump, on the other hand, got out of military service because he hurt his foot playing tennis, wrote books about himself in which he bragged about seducing other men's wives, has spent most of his career amassing wealth, often at the expense of and detriment to others, and has squandered his first half-year as leader of our country by staying focused on himself and the enrichment of his family, stirring public dissent and outrage, and spinning his wheels in scandal. Donald Trump never forgives a slight, great or small. |  |
Donald Trump more resembles a different Caesar, Caesar Augustus Germanicus, who became the Roman Emperor known as Caligula.
Caligula was a spoiled child who grew up pampered with wealth and status and into the psychotic Roman Emperor who
kept his subjects alternately entertained by his hijinks and terrified by his tantrums.
While Caligula's supporters thrived on his outrageous and shocking behavior, the rest of Rome, its citizens' sensibilities over-exposed to to the glut of scandal and drama he churned out on a daily basis, came to accept Caligula's misconduct and misgovernance as the norm.
During his four years as Emperor Caligula aggravated most of the populace, launched an expensive war, drained the Roman treasury and, by his ineptitude as a leader, ran the Roman Empire into the ground.
After four years Caligula's term as Emperor ended when he was assassinated by the Pretorian Guard, the elite military officers who were the Roman equivalent of the Secret Service.
kept his subjects alternately entertained by his hijinks and terrified by his tantrums.
While Caligula's supporters thrived on his outrageous and shocking behavior, the rest of Rome, its citizens' sensibilities over-exposed to to the glut of scandal and drama he churned out on a daily basis, came to accept Caligula's misconduct and misgovernance as the norm.
During his four years as Emperor Caligula aggravated most of the populace, launched an expensive war, drained the Roman treasury and, by his ineptitude as a leader, ran the Roman Empire into the ground.
After four years Caligula's term as Emperor ended when he was assassinated by the Pretorian Guard, the elite military officers who were the Roman equivalent of the Secret Service.
Thank God we live in a democracy.
And if Donald Trump is miffed at being portrayed in "Julius Caesar," he should be thankful that Shakespeare never wrote a "Caligula."
And if Donald Trump is miffed at being portrayed in "Julius Caesar," he should be thankful that Shakespeare never wrote a "Caligula."
References
https://www.biography.com/people/julius-caesar-9192504?_escaped_fragment_=
https://www.biography.com/people/julius-caesar-9192504?_escaped_fragment_=
| My novel "Equal And Opposite Reactions" is available for a 10% discount at blackrosewriting.com. It is also available at Amazon and Barnes &Noble.com. |  |
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