The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

by Mike Duncan

is especially riveting for those of us in the modern world who, suspecting the fragility of our own republican institutions, look to the rise of the Caesars as a cautionary tale.

each form of government had its merits but inevitably devolved into its most oppressive incarnation until it was overthrown.

For nearly five hundred years Roman dictators never failed to lay down their power.

Ten years’ service in the legions was a prerequisite for public office,

Reminds me a bit of “Starship Troopers” :-P

“Audacity combined with weakness should be called madness.”

no power endures indefinitely, that all empires must fall, and that there is nothing mortals can do about it.

The definitive triumph of naked force was a lesson no one could unlearn.

Periodic expulsions of foreigners became a recurring feature of the later Republic,

in the ruthlessly predatory world of war and politics, you were only on top if you could stay on top.

The most important of Marius’s innovations was a heavy emphasis on the physical conditioning of the soldiers and the speed of their maneuvers.

Violence once again proved to be the last word in Roman politics.

But this was an age when a lie was not a lie if a man had the audacity to keep asserting the lie was true.

Rings true even today

His enduring credo was emblazoned on the monument for all time: “No friend ever surpassed him in kindness, and no enemy in wickedness.”

“It was the part of a good shepherd to shear his flock, not skin it.”