I am a Roman Citizen- Civis Romanus Sum. A friend sent along a link to a NYTimes article by Robert Harris, drawing certain parallels between the attack on the Roman port of Ostia in 68 BC and the 9/11 attack-
“The incident, dramatic though it was, has not attracted much attention from modern historians. But history is mutable. An event that was merely a footnote five years ago has now, in our post-9/11 world, assumed a fresh and ominous significance. For in the panicky aftermath of the attack, the Roman people made decisions that set them on the path to the destruction of their Constitution, their democracy and their liberty. One cannot help wondering if history is repeating itself.
Consider the parallels. The perpetrators of this spectacular assault were not in the pay of any foreign power: no nation would have dared to attack Rome so provocatively. They were, rather, the disaffected of the earth: “The ruined men of all nations,” in the words of the great 19th-century German historian Theodor Mommsen, “a piratical state with a peculiar esprit de corps.”
The article goes on to detail how 38 year-old Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) contrived to obtain unprecedented and unchecked authority over the military and the treasury. Harris goes on to describe what happened-
“By the oldest trick in the political book — the whipping up of a panic, in which any dissenting voice could be dismissed as “soft” or even “traitorous” — powers had been ceded by the people that would never be returned. Pompey stayed in the Middle East for six years, establishing puppet regimes throughout the region, and turning himself into the richest man in the empire.”
I don’t want to put too fine a point on the comparison, but the action by Pompey is considered by some to be the end of the Roman republic. Harris goes on to say-
“In truth, however, the Lex Gabinia was the beginning of the end of the Roman republic. It set a precedent. Less than a decade later, Julius Caesar — the only man, according to Plutarch, who spoke out in favor of Pompey’s special command during the Senate debate — was awarded similar, extended military sovereignty in Gaul. Previously, the state, through the Senate, largely had direction of its armed forces; now the armed forces began to assume direction of the state.
It also brought a flood of money into an electoral system that had been designed for a simpler, non-imperial era. Caesar, like Pompey, with all the resources of Gaul at his disposal, became immensely wealthy, and used his treasure to fund his own political faction. Henceforth, the result of elections was determined largely by which candidate had the most money to bribe the electorate. In 49 B.C., the system collapsed completely, Caesar crossed the Rubicon — and the rest, as they say, is ancient history.”
History does not repeat itself, but particular scenarios seem to recur. Power, once granted to a leader, is seldom returned to those who abandoned it. US Senate bill 3930 sets a bad precedent for our republic. I believe that too much authority is granted to the executive branch in the bill. Something as fundamental as habeas corpus should be treated like national treasure.
Lamentations on Chemistry 