{"id":8020,"date":"2015-05-11T06:16:28","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T11:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=8020"},"modified":"2015-05-11T06:16:28","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T11:16:28","slug":"us-fall-from-virtuous-republic-to-tragic-comic-empire-described-perfectly-by-roman-historians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=8020","title":{"rendered":"US fall from virtuous republic to tragic-comic empire described perfectly by Roman historians"},"content":{"rendered":"

US fall from virtuous republic to tragic-comic empire described perfectly by Roman historians<\/a><\/h3>\n

The ancient Greek historian,\u00a0Polybius<\/a>, celebrated the Roman republic of ~ 150 BC\u00a0under its constitution<\/a>\u00a0with balance of powers among the\u00a0Senate<\/a>, two elected\u00a0consuls<\/a>, and the\u00a0general citizens<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch being the power that each part has of hampering the others or co-operating with them, their union is adequate to all emergencies, so that it is impossible to find a better political system than this.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/i>The Histories, Book VI<\/a>, Section V: On the Roman Constitution at its Prime<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Americans and people around the world were equally proud of the United States Constitution as \u201cimpossible to find a better political system than this.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 100 years after Polybius\u2019 account, Rome\u2019s republic had descended into oligarchic competition for power. Contemporary to Julius Caesar, the Roman historian and government insider\u00a0Sallust<\/a>\u00a0blasted the decline of virtue in government:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo those who had easily endured toils, dangers, and doubtful and difficult circumstances, ease and wealth, the objects of desire to others, became a burden and a trouble. At first the love of money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as it were, the sources of every evil. For avarice subverted honesty, integrity, and other honorable principles, and, in their stead, inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion, and general venality. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue; to estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according to interest; and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest heart. These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes restrained by correction; but afterwards, when their infection had spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became rapacious and insupportable.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Conspiracy of Catiline, The Argument<\/i><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US fall from virtuous republic to tragic-comic empire described perfectly by Roman historians The ancient Greek historian,\u00a0Polybius, celebrated the Roman republic of ~ 150 BC\u00a0under its constitution\u00a0with balance of powers among the\u00a0Senate, two elected\u00a0consuls, and the\u00a0general citizens: \u201cSuch being the power that each part has of hampering the others or co-operating with them, their union […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[5338,259,5337,1385,536,599,5339,643,4335,1024,1266,827],"class_list":["post-8020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty","category-survival-2","tag-collapse-of-empire","tag-empire","tag-fall-of-rome","tag-greed","tag-money","tag-oligarchs","tag-political-collapse","tag-power","tag-republic","tag-rome","tag-social-collapse","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8020"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8021,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020\/revisions\/8021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}