Hong Kong's Incredible Official Statement on Snowden's Departure

[Diclotican]

86. HardTimes99

HardTimes99

You can learn allot about modern politic - by reading who the roman empire was run - that be in the time of the Roman Republic - or in the time of the Roman Empire... It was a rather brutal time - who you either was the one killing - or the one being killed. The republic - and then roman empire had great politicians - who could ruin their opponent by real, or believed evidences - if they wast not to cruel they could at least let them survive - in a fashion - if they do not wanted to let them survive - the roman elite, could ruin you down to your own cloth by suing the hell out of you..

And the roman emperors - at least in the time of Nero - was all part of the same elite - who for the most part, have connection to Augustus - who had made the empire possible, by crushing his enemies - and build a new Empire on the ruins of the great Republic who had outlived them selfs by egoism... The Republic was perfect for a little state, build around a City, and where all the citizens had a say in how things was running.. But as the Republic started to be bigger - and the soldiers had to be on for a long time - even years the whole system of having a say in the governing was also lost.. And as the wealth of the east was starting to sip into the Roman elite -the whole system got corrupt - and more and more of the Republic was starting to be the playground of the rich and powerfully - or the ones who had power - but who wanted wealth.. In the time of Julius Casar, the whole Republic was starting to die - under the burden of their own success - and under the burden of the elite who was not able - or willing to understand what was needed of reforms of the Republic..

In the end - the roman empire was made possible, by the doings of the roman elite - specially the republicans, who had made it impossible to make the necessary reforms - and to repair the damage from the civil wars in the 150 years before Octavian Julius Casar - the later Augustus - in 31 managed to destroy his opponents - and regin supreme in the whole of the roman empire...

And in the more than 500 year of the Roman Empire (from the time of Augustus to the time of Romulus Augustulus ) great emperors should rule the whole empire and have a whole world in its hand - and many horrible, terrible insane emperors should also have a say about the future of the roman empire.. Some would make the name of the Roman Empire known - and feared long away from the roman borders - some would do their best to wreck any respect the "barbarians" might have had about the roman empire..

Nero was maybe a fool in the governing of the empire - but as long as he accepted the governing of his advisor's -and was more busy being some of a playboy on the throne the roman empire was ruled rather well - and the treasures was full of resources - and the roman population - both in Italy (who from the time of Augustus, to the time of Constantine the great, was not even paying any taxes to the roman treasure) and abroad in the provinces had a rather peacefully time - even with the outbreak of civil wars - who often started when ambitious generals was finding out - an emperor could be started other places than in Rome.. And many of the greater emperors, specially after the civil wars of the AD 70ths was successfully won by generals, who was able to muster the necessary resources to win most of the empire for them self - and to make claim to the roman capital.. If you had claim to the roman Capital - you also had the right to be the roman emperor... Most of this mess - who seldom managed to get a peacefully transition from one emperor, to another was in the system Augustus himself had made possible.. He made possible a empire, with an emperor on top - in the color of an Republic - in the first 150 year of the roman empire - the emperors itself was just the first of equals - he was not the supreme leader - and the emperors who believed to be above the law - as set by the Senate itself, was often make them self enemies of either the elite - or the population.. Even as most emperors understood the necessarily of having the population in Rome on their side... Caligula and Nero understood the necessarily of spoiling the plebes in Rome - and spoiled they got - even as Caligula was cruel against most, specially his own family and parts of the roman elite - he was known to love young, beautifully woman - who often was married to other. And they often had the "pleasure" of been told of the vices - or the attitudes of their woman, when the emperor have had sex with them... And he also was a cruel man - who had the habit of using brutal methods, if he was not able to do as he pleased...

You might have to check out Gibbons - and many others who have written books about the roman emperors over the years - it looks like many is still rather interested in the roman empire - and the roman emperors even though it are many years since the roman empire has been dead and ancient history... I believe you Will find a lot of "new" information about the roman empire if you ask a local library about it - and you can learn allot from the past, for the present I suspect too...

I have the habit on reading allot, maybe the reason I remember about it sometimes - even though it is a long time since I really did a great study about the roman empire and specially the times of Caligula and Nero... It was interesting times - where the roman empire was at it greatest - even though it could grow to the largest at the time of Nerva, Traian and Hadrian, Antonius Pius, Lucius Verus? Marcus Aurelius, Commondus (who also was a Caligula on the throne, just far worse!)

After that time - a lot of emperors would follow the one after the one - at one time - 50 emperors would in turn be killed by the other - until the time of Diocletian - who kind of was able to recover the empire - even if it also was making some sacrifices who in turn would ruin the whole system - the west and east would tear itself apart - and the West forever be the weak link, where the emperors had fewer and fewer tools to defend itself against enemies - and in the end, it all ended rather pitifully, when the last emperor, a 14 year old boy was asked to leave - or else by barbarians - and was lost to the mist of history.. Some says he was killed by order a few years after the facts - other sources say he lived out his life in peacefully retirement - with a rather handsome "retirement gifts" and was a scholar in old ancient roman history - at least, we do not know what really happened with the last roman emperor of the western part of the roman empire.. In the Eastern part, it would continue more or less till the 1450s - the last emperor was killed in battle when the ottomans was breaching the walls around Constantinople in 1453.. Gibbons had no love for the late byzantine empire - even if newer schollars have documented that the byzantine empire - was a vibrant empire - all up to the end - even if it was more down than ups in the last 150-200 year of the byzantine empire, it was still a vibrant empire - who could show of a lot of wealth... And for the Western Europe - the end of the Byzantine Empire, was a shock - as Bysantine had been there for more than 1000 years - but it also was given the rest of the Europe - specially Italy and parts of Europe - the nessesary kick to get a hands on the wealth of knowlegde who had been inside the walls of Constantinople.. And Europe of today had not been nessesary if it had not been for the wealth of knowlegde the Bysantine gave the rest of the world - after the empire was dead...

And all up to WW2, the idea of an emperor who ruled all of Europe was still a magical idea for many politicans - Hitler was just one of the latest one to dream about an empire in Europe -and in the World at large... Even though he used metodes I doubt even Caligulia would condone.... But then again - the issue of Hitler, is a whole different thing, than the roman empire..

Diclotican