History Books Review

Colin Sanders podcasts

My name is Colin Sanders. I read books about history and I review them. Currently working through Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

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Barbarians on the Rhine - Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 25 Part 4
5/24/2012
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Duration: 10:06

The wide waters of the Rhine separated the rich and peaceful provinces of Gaul from the violent barbarians of Germany.  But it was no barrier.  The warlike tribes were only prevented from helping themselves to the property of the empire's inhabitants by the Roman army.
The Reigns of Valentinian and Valens - Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 25 Part 3
5/17/2012
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Duration: 15:16

Valentinian was a brutal soldier, but did have a soft spot deep down.  He had a no nonsense approach to religion.  His brother had a lot more trouble with religious dissension, particularly in Egypt.
Procopius - Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 25 Part 2
5/10/2012
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Duration: 9:54

Procopiuswho w as the cousin of Juian and the last person with any connection with the house of Constantine made a bid to take over the empire and very nearly succeeded.
Brief Reign of Jovian - Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 25 Part 1
5/6/2012
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Duration: 11:57

Jovian's reign was promising but in the event was short lived.  But it did mark the final establishment of Orthodox Christianity.
The Retreat of Jovian - Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 24 Part 3
4/26/2012
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Duration: 11:34

Jovian comes from nowhere to ascend the throne of the Roman Empire, then proceeds to make the first territorial concessions in hte empire's history.  Julian is buried to widespread grief.
Could Julian the Apostate have defeated Christianity?
3/31/2012
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Duration: 14:44

Julian the Apostate was the last pagan emperor of Rome.  He didn't directly persecute Christians, but he had the most effective response to them of any of the emperors.  Could he have turned the tide with a longer reign?
The Death of Julian - Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 24 Part 1
3/29/2012
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Duration: 8:21

To everyone's surprise, Julian was killed in hand to hand fighting in Persia.
Julian Invades Persia Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 24 Part 1
3/24/2012
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Duration: 12:20

Julian invades the Persian Empire.  Nobody knows why, but it was probably motivated by his dislike of the Christians.
Black Swan by Nassim Taleb
3/6/2012
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Duration: 10:38

Like a conversation with an educated, intelligent and erudite friend who refers frequently to his equally clever friends.   It is an enjoyable experience and you learn a lot and feel better, and maybe a little cleverer.   In a random and unpredictable world, I can think of no greater recommendation.
Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire by Edward Luttwak
2/9/2012
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Duration: 9:07

The Byzantine empire was finally ended in 1453 some eleven hundred years since Constantine moved the capital from Rome. For most of that time it had looked weak, often catastrophically so.  It had been on its knees many times.  Somehow it always managed to come through against the odds.  Edward Luttwak's book goes a long way to explain how it managed it.  If you are managing a declining superpower, this is a must read book.
Why the West Rules (For Now) by Ian Morris
2/7/2012
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Duration: 6:14

During the Middle Ages the sophistication and size of China dwarfed anything in Europe or the Middle East and an impartial observer would no doubt have confidently predicted that it would be the Chinese who were destined to rule the world.   But they had achieved this by default thanks to problems and instability at the other end of the huge Eurasian continent.   Later it was to be the Chinese that succumbed to problems leaving the West to forge ahead.  Today the situation is that both are stable enough for development to proceed.  They are also very well aware of one another and interacting like never before.  This is a new and unique situation in history.  What will happen next? Morris can't and doesn't answer this directly.  But what he does do is tell the story in enough detail to give an idea of where we are now.  And it is quite a story.  The economic history is used as the backbone of the book, but we get a lot of insight into how most of the time people are simply working to solve the problems they are faced with.  We don't see the big picture on a day to day basis.  You have to read a book like this to see that.
The Hymn to Cybele by Julian the Apostate
1/11/2012
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Duration: 11:12

"Grant unto all men happiness, of which the sum and substance is the knowledge of the gods; and to the Roman people universally, first and foremost to wash away from themselves the stain of atheism, and in addition to this, grant them propitious Fortune, that shall assist them in governing the empire for many thousands of years to come! To myself grant for the fruit of my devotion to thee–-Truth in belief concerning the gods, the attainment of perfection in religious rites, and in all the undertakings which we attempt as regards warlike or military measures, valour coupled with good luck, and the termination of my life to be without pain, and happy in the good hope of a departure for your abodes!"
When Magic Still Made Sense: The History Books Review Guide to Neoplatonism
12/28/2011
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Duration: 14:17

Imagine some people who had grown up and lived their entire lives chained to the wall of a cave. Their only view of the world comes from shadows cast into the cave. They would have some idea of what the world was like, but would be unable to fully experience and appreciate the full depth of the colours, the sounds and the smells of the world outside. They would have only the haziest notions of the motivations and passions of the people living there.
Julian and the Christians
12/8/2011
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Duration: 17:59

Alexandria was one of the major cities of the Roman empire, and one that would have appealed to Julian.  It was founded by Alexander the Great, who was one of Julian's heroes.   It was also the centre of a major pagan cult, that of Serapis.  (If you are wondering who Serapis was, he was created by the Greek founders of Alexandria as an amalgam of Greek and Egyptian elements so as to appeal to both ethnic groups.  Cynical manipulation of religion for political purposes has a long history.)  And the intellectual achievements of the Alexandrians rivaled those of Athens.  Basically it was his kind of place, or rather it would have been had it not also been an important centre of Christian thought as well.  
Julian and the Pagans
11/27/2011
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Duration: 14:51

Constantine's adoption of Christianity and the ramifications of it triggered off a full scale religious crisis in the empire that was to last for the whole of the fourth century. As Julian came to the throne Christians were already fighting other Christians and it was only a matter of time before other religions resorted to violence as well. What would Julian do about it? To everyone's surprise his first edict was one of tolerance. His approach looked good on paper.  Everyone was free to follow whatever spiritual path that suited them.  Full religious freedom was good news for most people on a personal level. Jews and pagans had a whole series of irksome restrictions lifted. The previously non-favoured brands of Christianity also were able to worship in freedom.
Julian and the Jews
11/21/2011
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Duration: 9:57

It is hard not to admire the way that the Jews have succeeded in maintaining their culture and identity for many thousands of years. This has been achieved in the face of some pretty big practical difficulties. They have rarely had the support of a state and have often been subject to some pretty severe persecutions.For instance, when Julian became the last pagan to come to the throne they were going through one of their bad patches. The Christians had not that long ago broken away from the Jewish tradition and the two faiths had the kinds of issues that might be expected from a pair that had just been through a messy divorce. Prior to the rise of Christianity the Jews had fallen foul of several of the emperors as a result of a number of brave but not tremendously successful revolts. Hadrian had banned them from Jerusalem. The ban was still in force and on top of that Constantius had imposed extra taxes on them.
Against the Galileans by Julian the Apostate
11/11/2011
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Duration: 10:54

Not many leaders in history write books.  Quite a few don't read books.  Those that do put pen to paper rarely write anything of more than historical interest.  But even among the small number that do stand up to scrutiny, Julian the Apostate's lengthy polemic 'Against the Galileans', his critique of the Christianity of his time, is a completely unique document.  There really is nothing to compare it with.
Julian the Apostate
10/30/2011
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Duration: 22:29

Religion is often accused of causing most of the wars in history.  This is hardly fair.  People are quite capable of picking fights without any divine inspiration, even if religion is a handy justification to cover your true motives.  And religious leaders sometimes take a role in solving problems, which evens up the balance sheet a bit.  But the charge is not totally groundless. Religion itself can be the problem, and the religious trauma of the late Roman Empire is the textbook case.
Julian the Reformer
10/11/2011
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Duration: 22:56

Julian managed to get a lot done in his short life.  It's a shame he didn't write a book on time management, I'd love to know how he was so productive, but he did write a lot.  Its a shame that more of his writings haven't survived.  They aren't as well written as the works of Caesar or Marcus Aurelius and his choice of subject matter isn't particularly compelling.  But nonetheless you can still pick up his intelligence and perceptiveness. I get the feeling that he would have been pretty successful at anything to which he turned his mind. Getting to be the emperor of Rome was a bit of a lottery, but it was the kind of level that Julian was quite capable of handling.
Julian the Emperor
10/2/2011
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Duration: 19:28

In the late summer of 360 Julian marched across the Rhine near modern day Basel and out of the empire with a mere 3,000 hand picked volunteers.  He penetrated the Black Forest just north of the Alps.  Travelling light and crossing mountains and morasses by obscure and rarely used routes he was soon out of contact with the civilised world.
Julian the Rebel
9/26/2011
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Duration: 18:29

In an absolute monarchy much hangs on the personality of the man on top, and the events covered in this podcast are pretty much the result of the emperor's management style.  Constantius seems to have been the kind of boss that corridor warriors thrive under.  He was far from ineffective as an emperor and I'll be looking at his balance sheet a bit later, but he does seem to have had a bit of a weakness in delegation skills.  Time and again we see him letting highly unsuitable people get into positions where they follow their own agendas rather than the empire's best interests.  The way things played out with Julian illustrates this.  The two men could well have formed a great team that could have done great things.  But somehow the intrigues in the court of Constantius always stopped this happening.
Heretics
9/15/2011
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Duration: 26:19

Imagine a large chunk of the population suddenly adopted a strange set of beliefs that you couldn't understand, and that they themselves couldn't explain.  Then imagine that they started arguing with each other over seemingly insignificant details.  And they are very serious about it all.  Deadly serious.  They are prepared to die for their beliefs. And to kill for them. Then they get control of the state, and start fighting each other. Armies are deployed and full scale pitched battles fought over minor points of doctrine.  This was the nightmare the pagans of the late Roman Empire had to face with the rise of Christianity.
The Conversion of Constantine
9/8/2011
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Duration: 21:38

Considering that the establishment of Christianity was the most lasting effect of his reign, it is a bit surprising that we don't know exactly when Constantine became a Christian.
Julian in Gaul
9/1/2011
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Duration: 14:12

Julian set off to Gaul with a guard of 300 men and without any idea of military matters. The plan was simply to give an air of concern to a neglected theatre. The Alemanni were well established and imperial forces were disorganised.  The actual running of the campaign was in the hands of Sallust, an experienced general. Sallust and Julian, despite coming from totally different backgrounds, hit it off personally.  Throughout his life Julian was to show himself capable of charming people, but this particular friendship was to be crucial because it got Julian into an active role in the army.  
Constantius and Julian
8/25/2011
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Duration: 23:47

Blackadder: Where is the prisoner. Baldrick: He's dead. Blackadder: Dead? Are you sure? Baldrick:  Well I cut his head off. That usually does the trick. In that episode of Blackadder 2, Edmund Blackadder had been put in charge of the Tower of London and had brought all the scheduled executions forward so he could enjoy a long weekend.  Unfortunately Queen Elizabeth had changed her mind about killing one of her favourites.  When the change of instructions got through,  it was too late. With, needless to say, hilarious consequences.
Constantius and Gallus
8/18/2011
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Duration: 16:48

When the sons of Constantine massacred all their close relatives, they spared a couple of their cousins. Gallus and Julian were too young to pose any immediate threat so they didn't have to be killed straight away.  But as their parents had been killed something needed to be done with them, so they were held captive.  Was there a long term plan for them?  It is hard to say.   Given that they had an empire to run, probably their captors forgot all about them.  They were safely out of the picture and there were plenty of other things going on.
Constantius
8/14/2011
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Duration: 14:11

Constantius was the middle of the three sons Constantine had with Fausta.  Of the three he was the one that showed the most promise. Those who occasionally mention the education or talents of Constantius, allow that he excelled in the gymnastic arts of leaping and running that he was a dexterous archer, a skilful horseman, and a master of all the different weapons used in the service either of the cavalry or of the infantry.
The Death of Constantine
7/28/2011
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Duration: 13:55

Constantine died in Nicomedia in 337 after a short illness.  He had lived to 64, a good age for the time. And he had one of the longest reigns in the history of the empire.  His death came just after he had celebrated his thirtieth year as emperor, something only Augustus had previously achieved.  It was fitting that he was buried in Constantinople, the city he founded.
The Character of Constantine
7/26/2011
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Duration: 12:36

If it weren't for Constantine it is quite likely that very few of us would have ever been inside a Christian Church.  The city he founded bore his name up until the lifetime of my Grandfather.  It is still the largest one in Europe.   Ten more emperors were to bear the name Constantine, and when Greece became an independent nation in modern times several of its kings were also called Constantine which remains a popular name there and elsewhere.  Aristocratic titles throughout Europe  hark back to ranks in Constantine's army. So it is natural to be curious about what a man who had so much influence on history was really like.
Constantinople
7/20/2011
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Duration: 21:09

What does an ambitious emperor do when he has beaten all his rivals.  How about found a city to bear his own name and to be the new capital of the empire?  That is what Constantine did anyway.
Persecution
5/31/2011
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Duration: 15:54

Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire.  But the extent of that persecution is easy to overstate.  Most of the time they were left alone to get on with it.
The Church as a Franchise
5/15/2011
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Duration: 12:03

A quick review of a paper that proposes that the Church can be interpreted as a franchise.  (Note done very quickly without a script)
Niall Ferguson: Is the West History?
5/12/2011
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Duration: 18:24

A review of Niall Ferguson's series examining why the West came to dominate the world and asking whether it can continue to do so.
How the Church Won
5/5/2011
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Duration: 17:21

The early Christians were highly organised and increasingly powerful.
Miracles
5/1/2011
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Duration: 13:53

Gibbon was uncomfortable with miracles and this made writing about the rise of the Christianity a bit of a problem for him.  His response was one of the greatest bits of sarcasasm in the English language.
Eternal Life
4/7/2011
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Duration: 15:47

What was it about a small Jewish sect that gave them the ability to conquer the Roman world?
The Rise of Christianity
3/31/2011
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Duration: 10:38

At the age of fourteen I was oblivious to the controversy surrounding Gibbon's coverage of the rise of christianity which was much less respectful than the people at the time were used to.  It retains some of its power to shock even to this day.
Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo
3/24/2011
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Duration: 8:04

If you are going to write a book proposing that giving aid to Africa is a bad idea, you are going to find it much easier to do if you are African.  If you are an African with a very solid background in economics so much the better.  As it happens Dambisa Moyo is ideally placed.  She was born in Zambia and has studied at several top UK and US universities and worked at Goldman Sachs.  So she can say things that a European or an American might find it much harder to say.
Constantine Supreme
3/17/2011
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Duration: Not Available

Constantine was a superb general and was able to gradually extend his sway over the entire empire.    
Back down to four emperors
3/10/2011
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Duration: 14:53

How many emperors does it take to run an empire?  Diocletian tried four with reasonable results.  How did six work out?  Well on the whole not too well, and it was pretty obvious pretty quickly that one of them in particular was surplus to requirements.
Six emperors at the same time
3/3/2011
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Duration: 13:55

The resignation of Diocletian led to a confused period of jostling for power among his successors.
The Character of Diocletian
2/24/2011
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Duration: 14:20

So what was he like?  Above all he was a realist and a pragmatist.  In the last episode we saw Galerius smash the power of the Persians. It must have been tempting to push on to the complete destruction of their empire and extend Roman power to the borders of India.  That was after all what the otherwise highly sensible Trajan did.  But Diocletian knew overstretch when he saw it and pulled back.
Diocletian and the Borders
2/19/2011
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Duration: 14:20

At any time the Romans could face barbarians pouring across the Rhine or the Danube.  There was always a threat from Persia.   And discontent in Egypt was due to reignite at any time.  But Diocletian was very much on the case.   When Gaul was invaded once again by the Alemanni the response was not rapid but it was to prove highly effective.  It may well have been the need to ensure the safety of Gaul that led directly to the appointment of Constantius as Ceasar with command of his own army and with a brief to stabilise the situation.
Two Very Different Rebellions
2/10/2011
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Duration: 10:22

The reign of Diocletian saw a serious revolt of peasants in Gaul, and the formation of a breakaway empire in Britain under Carausius.
Diocletian and the Tetrarchy
2/3/2011
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Duration: 10:06

There are just over a hundred recorded Roman emperors but few of them had as much impact as Diocletian.  Diocletian attempted to ensure that the Roman world would never be without a leader.  But as any manager will tell you, getting people to do what you want tomorrow is hard enough, even with autocratic powers.  Trying to make arrangements stick long after you are dead is one heck of a challenge.  He deserves full marks for trying. The crisis that had afflicted the government of the empire for so long had largely been due to nobody really knowing who was entitled to rule.  This confusion had led to a huge amount of bloodshed and had nearly finished off the empire altogether. Diocletian's innovation is known as the tetrarchy - the rule of 4.  The idea was that you had two senior emperors, known by the title of Augustus, one in the East and one in the West.   Both had equal authority, and edicts were issued jointly in both their names throughout the empire.  This wasn't splitting the empire, simply splitting its administration.  Each Augustus appointed a Caesar, who again had half of that segment of the empire under him.  In the event of the death of an Augustus, the Caesar would take over and appoint a replacement Caesar. It was a neat system.  No longer was everything totally dependent on the health and sanity of a single individual.  There was a clear procedure in place to ensure that succession - always the weak spot in the imperial constitution - was predictable and timely.  And there would always be the forces of the other half of the empire available to ensure that this went smoothly.  A rebel bent on overthrowing the existing regime and installing himself would have four armies to defeat .  It was no longer simply a matter of  marching on Rome and intimidating the Senate.   Diocletian tied his team together closely via marriage and adoption. He adopted Galerius as his son and married his daughter to him.  Maximian adopted Constantius and again married one of his daughters to him.  Both the Ceasars already had wives incidentally, who had to be divorced in the interests of the new constitution of the empire.  Roman politics was not a part time occupation.  But above all the set up worked well because of the respect that Diocletian inspired. He must have been a man of great charisma.  Gibbon, as always, puts it memorably.     “The suspicious jealousy of power found not any place among them; and the singular happiness of their union has been compared to a chorus of music, whose harmony was regulated and maintained by the skilful hand of the first artist.”
Tiber and the Potomac: How Rome survived the Third Century
1/28/2011
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Duration: 18:17

How did the Roman Empire survive the huge problems it faced during the crisis of the Third Century?  In my extended review of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire I have just reached the reign of Diocletian.  But before moving forward I'd like to have a look at what it was about the Roman world at this time that enabled it to emerge almost as big and powerful from the crisis as when it went into it.  My answers are largely drawn from a very interesting audio book by Thomas Madden from the Modern Scholar series called  The Tiber and the Potomac.
Carus
1/13/2011
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Duration: 10:45

Carus was a soldier emperor who successfully invaded Persia.  He would have succeeded in destroying the Persian Empire if fate had not intervened.
Probus
1/12/2011
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Duration: 13:37

Probus was a very effective general, but also showed a lot of imagination in coping with the problems of the empire.  It is intriguing to think what he might have achieved had he lived longer.
Tacitus
1/11/2011
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Duration: 7:27

Tacitus briefly ruled in the name of the Senate - the last emperor to do so.
The Triumph of Aurelian
1/9/2011
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Duration: 6:58

Few emperors in Roman history have deserved a triumph as much as Aurelian.
Zenobia
1/8/2011
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Duration: 8:48

The desert city of Palmyra could have become as famous as Rome itself.
Aurelian and the Alemanni
1/7/2011
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Duration: 10:42

The Alemanni threatened Rome itself with destruction causing near panic.
Claudius and the Goths
1/6/2011
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Duration: 9:19

Claudius faced the largest invasion to date of the empire by the Goths
Valerian
1/5/2011
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Duration: 8:43

The emperor Valerian's expedition into Persia was to prove disastrous.
Rampant Barbarians
1/4/2011
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Duration: 14:07

The Goths rampage through the Mediterranean in the second part of Chapter 10.
Decius and the Goths
1/3/2011
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Duration: 11:26

Chapter Ten opens with the duel between Decius and the Goths.
The Germans
1/2/2011
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Duration: 8:19

The barbarian German tribes were drunken, violent feminists who eventually destroyed the empire.  Here is a bit about what they were like.
The Persians
1/1/2011
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Duration: 9:11

The Persians were amongst the most formidable enemies of the late empire.
Chapter 7 Maximin, the Gordians and Philip the Arab
12/31/2010
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Duration: 19:47

Maximin was a barbarian who seized the throne.  His tyrannical rule was overthrown by the Senate, but the army soon became the real power in the land.  Philip the Arab became emperor and celebrated the secular games to mark the one thousandth anniversary of the foundation of Rome.
Alexander Severus
12/30/2010
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Duration: 7:33

The reign of Alexander Severus was one of mixed fortunes militarily, but he was hardly a warlike emperor.
Women
12/29/2010
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Duration: 7:45

Women in Ancient Rome had a rough time, but maybe less rough than was usual in the Ancient world.
Elagabalus
12/13/2010
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Duration: 16:38

Elagabalus was one of the most eccentric of emperors.
Secret State by Peter Hennessy
12/2/2010
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Duration: 7:00

The Secret State by Peter Hennessy is an account of Britain's secret service after the second world war compiled from recently released documents in the archives.    
Caracalla: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 6 Part 2
11/25/2010
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Duration: 8:22

Mothers like their children to do well, and jobs don't come much better than being emperor of Rome. Both Julia Damna’s sons became emperor.  It would have been perfect if only they hadn’t been emperor at the same time.   Or if they hadn’t hated each other. It is very hard to see what Severus was thinking when he gave them both full and independent power.  This wouldn’t have worked particularly well with two brothers been filled with fraternal love. With a pair of fighting cocks it was obviously going to end badly.  The only question was how badly and when.  The answer was very and soon. They demonstrated their animosity from the start.  On their journey back to Rome following their father’s death, they never ate together or stayed in the same house - and they continually attempted to kill each other.  In Rome they divided the palace, posting guards at all the joining doors.  The only point of contact between them was their mother.  The idea was hatched of simply dividing the empire between them.  This was hardly a solution.   War between the two halves would be inevitable. But even so the plans were drawn up in some detail. It was certainly not a popular idea with the Romans.  To see an empire built up over such a long time with so much effort and blood split to accommodate a pair of childish overindulged princes must have been seen as a crazy notion.  It was a crazy notion. Over the centuries the empire had developed into a tightly interlocked economic system with extensive trade. In desperation Julia held a meeting to try and resolve the brothers’ differences. And a resolution, of sorts, was indeed reached.  Caracalla sneaked in some centurions.  Once the meeting started, they appeared and killed the unfortunate Geta, despite his mother’s spirited attempt to defend him.  She piled into the fray with such gusto that her hand was cut in the struggle.   Caracalla then rushed to the Praetorian camp and claimed that it was he that had barely escaped from an attempt on his life perpetrated by Geta. Geta had been the more popular brother with the troops.  To win over their loyalty Caracalla handed over an immense donative comprising virtually the entire accumulated treasure of his father’s reign.  Hard cash is one way of making sure people don't give you any trouble.  Another is violence.  Some 20,000 of Geta’s supporters were killed in a ferocious purge of those Caracalla rightly or wrongly did not trust. Even his mother felt the rage of Caracalla.  On finding her weeping for her dead son, Caracalla ordered her to stop on pain of death.  Some of her female entourage who had been joining her in her lamentations were killed instantly, including the last surviving daughter of Marcus Aurelius. A gruesome episode.  And the deaths continued taking in one of the most trusted servants of Severus.  Papinian still held the post of Praetorian Prefect that Severus had appointed him to. Caracalla ordered him to come up with a justification for the killing of Geta.  Papinian, who must have known the character of Caracalla well, refused.  He was killed.  To his fame as a lawyer and his success as a politician, he added the rare distinction of showing himself to be a man who valued his honour above his life. Such men are rare enough in any era, but they will find them to be very thin on the ground as we watch the fabric of the empire disintegrate over the coming chapters. And so Caracalla began his reign with a huge pile of corpses and an empty treasury.  He left Rome and headed East where he soon added another crime to his growing list.  In Alexandria a play was on that mocked his account of the murder of his brother.   He ordered his troops to sack Alexandria and to kill all the leading citizens, personally supervising the operation. It was a far cry from Vespasian, who had permitted criticism of himself with the comment that he didn't kill a dog just for barking. Caracalla killed not just the dog, but any other dog who happened to be nearby. After this he settled into extracting cash from his subjects to fund the huge cost of the army. He was pretty much the worst combination from the point of view of the average inhabitant of the empire.  He needed to raise high taxes to fund his pampered troops.  An emperor sitting in Rome spending your taxes is one thing.  An emperor turning up in your province surrounded by armed men another. Especially given the risk of losing your life purely because of what is on at your local playhouse. But he was secure for as long as the army was behind him, and given the treasure he lavished on them why shouldn’t they be? In the end it was the most convoluted series of events that brought and end to his reign.  The role of Praetorian Prefect had been split between two men.  The military side of things was looked after by an unambitious  plodder called Adventus.  Good choice.   The civil business, the less risky of the two, was in the hands of a successful businessman called Opilius Macrinus.  This seemed a reasonable arrangement from the emperor’s point of view.  Macrinus could handle the tricky stuff but having no military background was not a threat.  This is how this seemingly sensible set up came apart. In Africa a soothsayer started predicting that Macrinus was destined to become the emperor and to found a dynasty.  The man had a good track record and his claim became widely believed.  The Romans took this sort of thing fairly seriously, but they weren’t completely credulous. So they investigated thoroughly.  They had the guy sent over to Rome in chains and tortured him.   But he stuck by his prediction.  With everything checking out it seemed like the prudent course of action would be to kill Macrinus.  You can’t be too careful I suppose.  A message was sent to Caracalla who at the time was in Syria with Macrinus. The post arrived while Caracalla was enjoying some chariot racing.  He delegated opening the mail by handing the bundles to Macrinus to sort out.  So Macrinus learnt his fate before the emperor: anyone who has picked up a bombshell in their e-mail inbox will know the feeling.  But what to do?  There was nowhere to run to and no court of appeal. It was only a matter of time before the story got to Caracalla. In desperation he hatched a plot to get Caracalla before Caracalla got him. He teamed up with a disillusioned soldier passed over for promotion.  An opportunity soon arose.  Caracalla had decided to visit the temple of the Moon at Carrhae in Turkey accompanied only by a light guard. Macrinus and his accomplice also joined the trip.  Even emperors have to answer the call of nature.  This gave the assassin his chance to get close to the emperor and stab him. Caracalla died instantly, as did his murderer as soon as the guards realised what was happening.  This had the effect of preventing any suspicion of the involvement of Macrinus arising. And so ended the short lived dynasty of Severus.  A strong dynasty was the only practical solution to the selection of the emperor that did not involve a ruinous civil war.  The early death of Caracalla destroyed this possibility.  There was now a power vacuum. Somebody had to fill it.  Could it be that the African's prediction would become self fulfilling?
The Legend of Ossian: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 6 Part 1
11/18/2010
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Duration: 8:33

Severus had two sons, Caracalla and Geta.  Their mother was his second wife, Julia Domna. She was a great beauty and also a friend and patron of artists and writers.  She wasn't the kind of woman I would have picked out for the soulmate of a dour professional soldier.   And maybe she wasn't.  Severus had chosen her on the basis of some favourable astrological omens.  It may have been a marriage of convenience.   It must have been really painful to a hard working self made man that his sons grew up into a couple of spoiled brats who spent all their energy either enjoying themselves or indulging in one of history's classic cases of sibling rivalry.  The two brothers hated each other with a passion. Severus tried to calm this down by treating them with strict equality.  Anyone with kids will sympathise with his plight on this one.  You may be emperor of the world but even so,  how do you cope with your offspring bickering? Families eh, who'd have 'em?   But of course Severus wasn't just another guy, and the strife in his household had ramifications.  Both sons gathered factions.  It is easy enough to see how people  might stir things up in the hope of some gain at a later date.  Severus unwittingly made things worse.  He made both his sons co-emperor, which inflamed the factionalism still further.   Imagine the delight with which Severus must have received the news that the frontier of Britain was under attack from the unruly natives of Caledonia, modern day Scotland.  It gave him a chance to get his sons out into the field and give them a bit of an idea about how the world worked.  Marching, camping, facing danger.  That should sort them out.   The people living beyond Hadrian's wall were not at that stage civilised and didn't leave any written records.  So we don't know what their reaction was to the news that not one, but three emperors were on their way sort them out. This was probably a bigger reaction than they were expecting.   They should have been worried. Lets see what the two sides in this conflict had going for them.  The Romans had highly trained and veteran legions led by one of the most able of generals with many years of experience and success behind him.  The Caledonians top card was rather scary warpaint.   The Romans were able to push right up into Caledonia.  With no effective means of resistance available to them, the tribesmen sued for peace and surrended their arms.  The legions left.  As soon as they were gone the Caledonians broke out into open revolt again.   This wasn't the shrewdest move given that Severus was still in Britain and given his track record of treatment of people who got on the wrong side of him.  He decided to wipe the tribes out once and for all.  Severus did not make idle threats.  Things looked grim.  But the planned massacre never took place.  Severus died suddenly in York.   This last campaign of Severus was only a success in the most limited respects.  Britain was defended from attack, but it was never really in that much danger in the first place.  The local legions could have handled it. The terrain in Caledonia hadn't really suited the legions and they suffered heavy unnecessary losses.  But the career of Severus makes his reputation as a soldier secure, and military glory wasn't really what he was after this time.   He was 65 and suffering so badly from gout that he had to be carried around in a litter.  He had reigned for 18 years.  Gibbon thought that by the end he was longing for death.   This trip to Britain had been intended purely to instil some sense into his  offspring to make them ready to continue his legacy.  There wasn't much sign that it had had any effect.  Their first action on jointly gaining the throne was to rush back to Rome to continue their feud, undoing what little had been achieved in the province.   But before we follow them a brief digression.  I know that this is a long book, and that we are only on Chapter 6 and that I skipped Chapters 1 and 2 because they were too difficult, but Gibbon makes an allusion to something too interesting to disregard. A few years before Gibbon published his book the cultural world of Europe had been captivated by some publications made in Scotland by a man called James MacPherson.   He claimed that these were traditional epic poems that he had recorded and translated from the Gaelic – the language that the Caledonian tribes spoke. They were supposed to have been composed by an ancient bard called Ossian.  The main action in the poems was the fight between tribal chiefs Finbar and Fingal and the Romans led by Severus.  Although hardly heard of nowadays, at the time Ossian was a sensation.  He was translated into all the main European languages.  Goethe was a fan.  So was Napoleon. Ossian inspired some of Schubert's songs.  The most remarkable example of their influence is the name Fingal's cave attributed to a rock formation in the Hebrides Islands.  Mendelssohn wrote a piece of music inspired by it.  But the name is not ancient.  It got its name in the  Victorian era in a reference to the Ossian poems.   There is something very appealing about the idea of an oral tradition preserving historical events for centuries.  And what patriotic Briton wouldn't want to have a native grown Homer?  Europeans of Gibbons time were as far removed from their tribal roots as we are today, and like us lived lives that were ordered and not particularly heroic.  Being able to read romantic stories from a time before civilisation just hit the spot.   The authenticity of the poems of Ossian was controversial from as soon as they were published.  Dr Johnson was particularly rude about them.  He refused to take them seriously because they were badly written and because MacPherson despite much needling, could not produce the manuscript from which he had translated them.   Gibbon is a wiley fox, rarely caught out by history.  He keeps the question of whether or not the poems are genuine open. He sounds suspicious of them.  But he can appreciate the appeal.  He can contrasts the  heartless behaviour of the Roman with the nobility of  the Finbar of the poems regardless of whether or not he is factual.   With the benefit of hindsight we now know them to be frauds.  While MacPherson might have had some contact with some gaelic folk tales and songs, he basically made up most of the work he attributed to Ossian who certainly never existed. Ossian has still got a few fans who claim it to be a great work of literature despite its being a hoax.   But I  have to say that Ossian isn't on the list of works for review by the History Books Review blog.  I had a go but I found it unreadable.  Some things are just of their time and don't survive I suppose.   But back to reality.  It was obvious that the rivalry between the brothers would lead to trouble sooner or later.  Probably sooner.  Definitely sooner. In fact things started straight away with an unsuccessful attempt by Caracalla to get the legions to declare himself the sole emperor.   Geta was popular with the troops, and they refused to disobey the clear instructions of Severus that the throne should be shared.  The brothers obviously had some work to do on their relationship.  They needed to get back to Rome.  The Gaels were left in peace. They didn't produce a northern Homer but they did survive and unlike Latin, their language is still spoken today.
CIvil War and Severus: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 5 Part 2
11/11/2010
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Duration: 19:42

Severus won a bloody civil war, and ruled by fear.
Praetorians: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 5 Part 1
11/4/2010
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Duration: 6:27

One of the things I love about the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is the artful way analysis and commentary are slipped in just where they seem to belong. A good example is found at the start of Chapter Five where we are treated to an explanation of the role of the army and in particular of the Praetorian Guard in Roman politics.   Gibbon was a member of parliament and counted among his friends the leading statesman of his day. I imagine that it was during some smoky late night port drinking session that he picked up this interesting observation.   Political scientists had concluded that it was impossible for a state to keep more than one percent of its population under arms for any length of time. This would be a handy rule of thumb to keep in mind if you were a foreign minister negotiating a treaty or forming an alliance to further your ends in the devious melange of seventeenth century international relations.       But Gibbon, the enlightenment thinker and historian could see another use for this tit bit of information. The figure could be applied to the Roman Empire. Europe was still pre-industrial and despite some technological progress basic food production was still done in much the same way as it had been in the time of the Romans. He goes on to point out that although the proportion of men under arms in any state might be the same, the size of the state makes a huge difference. One man on his own, no matter how strong or well armed, cannot overwhelm another hundred. In a small settlement, a hundred armed men could not hope to defeat ten thousand peasants. But an army of one hundred thousand would be, if well organised and well led, easily capable of holding down a population of ten million.   In the second century the Roman Empire had a population of about 50 million and about 440,000 troops, very close to the one percent estimate. These troops were intended mainly to enforce the power of the emperor over the citizens rather than to defend the empire against external threats. The Praetorian guard, the most elite soldiers, were stationed not in the most precarious section of the frontier but in the capital.   The Praetorian Guard dated back to the time of Augustus, although he had been discrete enough to keep most of them near Rome rather than in the city itself. Tiberius moved them into a camp high on one of the hills over the city near the imperial palace. This brought them directly into the politics of the empire and their leader, the Praetorian prefect began to assume more and more significance. But even so, their summary removal of Pertinax from the head of the government was unusual. The removal of his head from his body even more so. The guards were powerful and arrogant, but they usually did their business behind closed doors.   Normally, a veneer of respectability was maintained. On the accession of a new emperor, he was expected to provide a donative in the form of hard cash – a large one off payment to every soldier. The name makes it sound like a generous gift from a monarch to a faithful servant. Protection money would have been a more accurate description. Any emperor who didn't get the troops on his side on day one had much less chance of getting to day two and beyond. Decorum was usually maintained, but the example of Pertinax showed the reality of where power came from.   On the day of his death, rumour got out that something was up and the crowds came out onto the streets in some disorder. Sulpicianus the governor of the city was attempting to restore the situation when news came from the palace. The news took the form of a group of troops bearing the head of Pertinax on a pike. This would be a gruesome enough sight for anyone, but Sulpicianus was the father-in-law of Pertinax. Despite this, he rushed to the palace to start negotiating to take over the now vacant post.   This was not in the best possible taste given that his son-in-law's headless body was still warm. But it was pragmatic. As a prominent figure in the regime, and one with a claim to succession, he would be at considerable risk if someone else took over.   For the Praetorians, Sulpicianus was as good a choice as anyone. The sticking point though seems to have been the size of the donative. The Praetorians may have been disloyal but you couldn't accuse them of having a poor head for business. To make sure that they got the best possible price they decided to introduce some healthy competition to the process. They shouted from the battlements for anyone interested in the throne to come forward with an offer. The empire was openly up for public auction.   And a bidder duly appeared. It is after all a rare opportunity to be able to buy the world. An elderly senator called Didius Julianus had both the money and the inclination. Sulpicianus had offered a donative of 5,000 drachmas per man. But Julian outbid him with an offer of 6,500 drachmas.   He was declared emperor and marched through the city by troops in close combat formation. They swore their allegiance to him and then the Senate was assembled and was addressed by its new leader - surrounded by troops. Nobody dared oppose the selection.   He then entered the palace. In the excitement, nobody had thought to remove the headless body of Pertinax. The frugal supper intended for the former emperor was still on the table. Julian ordered a splendid feast and spent the evening enjoying a dancing show and playing dice.   But Gibbon supposed that he spent a sleepless night reflecting on the folly of assuming the throne with so little support. He now had to hold on to an empire that had 'not been acquired by merit, but that had been purchased by money.'
Pertinax: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 4 Part 3
10/9/2010
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Duration: 6:34

Away from Rome things were going badly. In Gaul and Spain troops deserted and set up in bands to make a living by raiding the cities. When a belated crack down came Maturnus, the leader of the bandits ordered his followers to split into small groups, and make their way to Rome. They would regroup at the feast of Cybele in March. Then they would overthrow the emperor and place Maturnus on the throne. The plot was betrayed at the last moment, but even the attempt was a sign that something was wrong. Probably it was as simple as funding. The lavish lifestyle of the Emperor had to be paid for from taxes. Money spent on circuses could not be spent on the army. If you don't pay the troops properly you will have problems.   Commodus is the emperor who features in the Russell Crowe film Gladiator. It’s a great film. Nobody expects Hollywood to let the historical facts get in the way of a good story, and the history in the film bears only a passing resemblance to what actually happened. The interesting thing is that, if anything, the historical Commodus was worse than the one we see in the film. And, the real events were in the 'you couldn't make them up' category. A plot to join up in Rome under cover of a religious festival and overthrow the emperor sounds more like a movie script than an actual piece of history. It's a shame the plot was foiled before it got to the fight scene.     Machiavelli asserted that it was better to be feared than loved. Well, up to a point. Commodus went beyond that point. He showed no loyalty to those close to him. It must have been obvious to his favourites that as long as Commodus lived their days were numbered. They made the calculation that the only course of action open to them was to get him first. The plotters were Marcia, his favorite concubine who had saved the day when Cleander fell, Eclectus, his chamberlain, and Laetus, his Praetorian prefect. Marcia drugged his wine after he got back tired from a hunting trip. As he slept a wrestler was sent in to strangle him.   Now the drama began. They had settled on a respected senator called Pertinax as the replacement for Commodus, but he knew nothing about it yet. Senators were living under a reign of terror. Pertinax must have mentally prepared himself for the knock on the door in the middle of the night. When it came, there was some difficulty in getting over the idea that they had arrived not to kill him but to offer him the Empire. When he finally understood what was happening he managed to assume power with great speed. He was able to win around the Senate and took control of the government quickly and effectively. By the next day Rome had a new emperor.   There were a host of pressing problems. Finance was the main one– Commodus had emptied the coffers. Discipline needed to be re-established in the army. Financing the army was another issue. The tax burden had become unsupportable thanks to the huge cost of the court.   He seems to have set out to tackle things with skill and energy. Frivolous spending was cut and taxes were reduced. Unfortunately his reign was to last only 68 days. The Praetorian Guard had had no hand in either the removal of Commodus or the elevation of Pertinax. This was not at all to their taste, and they murdered him. Pertinax faced his attackers and tried to overawe them with the power of his personality and the office he held. He was a brave man and met his end with courage. He could have been another great emperor but became instead a footnote to the reign of one of the worst. Gibbon chose well in selecting this point as the start of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The flaws in the character of a spoiled young man handed absolute power had disastrous consequences. The decline of discipline in the army was lamentable. But the growing prominence of the Praetorian guard was even worse. More subtle was the erosion of the rule of law. In an ordered society your rights to your property are respected. This is something that we appreciate in its own right, but also gives people the incentive to improve things for themselves which works to make society stronger and more productive. When all that you have worked for can be lost at the whim of an arbitrary autocrat this is not the case.   The career of Pertinax himself is a good illustration. He was a self made man who under Marcus had raised himself into the top rank of the citizens by hard work and merit. He came from the same mould as a Vespasian or a Trajan. It was men like this that really built the empire. We will be hearing less about this kind of person our story unfolds.   A tyrannical government leads, sooner or later, to a weak state. As we finish Chapter Four, Rome was still so strong, and its enemies relatively so weak, that it was not yet inevitable that the empire was doomed to decay still further. The resources at the disposal of Rome were still enormous. Bad as the reign of Commodus had been, decline was not yet embedded. Another run of good emperors could still restore its fortunes. It is early in 193AD. We leave the choice of the next emperor in the hands of the Praetorian guard, hoping that they will come up with some dignified way of choosing a worthy successor of Augustus, Trajan and Marcus.
Gladiator: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 4 Part 2
10/8/2010
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Duration: 4:30

Commodus. Not a noble character. Gibbon thought that he was more weak than evil. But perhaps it isn't very meaningful to make judgements. After all, the early life of Commodus could not have been more divorced from reality. Michael Jackson probably led a more normal life.   He showed little interest in the hard work of ruling. He happily delegated it to anyone who would leave him free to enjoy his leisure. And as a ruler of the Empire his leisure time was pretty good. He had a harem of 300 girls and 300 boys. He came to the throne young, but even so you have to at least admire his stamina.   He was also keen on sport, hunting and gladiators. He showed no interest in any of the arts. He used to have wild beasts brought to Rome from the far reaches of the Empire and beyond, so that he could kill them himself in the Circus in front of the people. This was a demeaning way for an emperor to behave. He began to style himself the Roman Hercules. This involved wearing a bearskin and carrying a club. It was a pretty ridiculous comparison. Hercules had sought out the Nemaean Lion that was strong enough to withstand arrows and fought it bare handed to save the people of Nemaea from being terrorised by it. Commodus was killing animals for fun while being well protected.   He didn't restrict himself to lions. Ostriches, elephants and rhinoceros were also displayed and then killed. Whether the Romans got much in the way of entertainment value out of these displays we won't ever know, but it does show the reach of the Empire at its height if it was able to lay hands on creatures from so far outside its borders.   But it got worse. He started dabbling in gladiatorial contests, and then started appearing in the Circus as a gladiator himself. This was behaviour definitely not consistent with the dignity of the Emperor of Rome. Gladiators could become wealthy but they were never respectable. The role he played was that of the Secutor, fighting against the Retianius. There were lots of variations of gladiatorial combat, but I think that this is the one that comes first to most people's mind. As the Secutor, Commodus would be lightly armoured and armed with a small shield and short sword. His opponent would only have a net and a trident. If he could trap the Secutor with his net and dispatch him with his trident he would live. Otherwise the Secutor at close contact would have an obvious advantage.   Needless to say. Commodus always won. Mercifully, he rarely actually killed his opponent. But he did pick up the enormous prize money. He did this 735 times which meant that the prize amounted to such a huge sum of money that it was effectlvely a tax. He also adopted the name Paulus to associate himself with the most famous and successful gladiator of the day.   The Romans must have been appalled. One senator, Claudius Pompeianus, simply refused to attend. Prominent citizens were being killed routinely by this stage so he was well aware he was taking his life in his hands by doing so, and he prudently instructed his sons to continue to show up themselves. Mind you he did have other issues. He was the senator to whom Commodus' sister Lucilla had been married - the one who had tried to kill him. He may well have decided he was due for the chop anyway. In the event, he got away with it.
Commodus: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 4 Part 1
10/7/2010
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Duration: 8:35

If you want to be an emperor, the easiest way is to be born into it. Classically emperors pass the job on to their son. But chance had it that it took nearly 200 years for a reigning Roman emperor to produce a son and heir during their actual reign.   The five good emperors had all to some extent or other been selected on the basis of some kind of merit and none of them had been born with any expectation of the role that they were going to play. Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian and Antoninus all lacked a direct male heir and so 'adopted' a suitable person instead (or in the case of Trajan, did so if you believe Hadrian). But Marcus Aurelius had a son, and it was to his son that Marcus bequeathed the empire. Gibbon hints at criticism for doing this when the ad hoc system of the previous four reigns had given such good results. But at the time Marcus' actions were simply unquestioned. If there was a legitimate heir then it was accepted that he should inherit the empire, just as he would any other piece of property.   So Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius, was in fact the first emperor who spent his entire life in expectation of ascending the throne and who everyone else expected to as well. Given the ultra respectful way emperors were treated and the natural tendency to make a fuss of a small child, you can imagine the indulgence and flattery he must have experienced from a very early age.   But it is easy to forgive people who indulged him. The days of mad emperors and civil wars must have seemed very distant, but even so the small boy held out the prospect of someone young and fit available to continue his father's good work of government for probably decades to come. Commodus did not much resemble his father in temperament. In fact it is an open question as to whether he was the biological son of Marcus at all. In the Meditations Marcus thanks the Gods for granting him a wife of purity and simplicity. He obviously saw her as a fitting partner to his chosen course of virtue and self sacrifice. Unfortunately he was the only man in the Empire who saw her that way. Everyone else was well aware of her string of lovers. It does take quite a bit of the shine off his reputation. Despite his supposed deep seated wisdom and understanding of human nature, he totally missed the fact that he was married not to a faithful paragon of stoic virtue, but to an outrageous trollope. Faustina was named after her mother, the now sacred wife of Antoninus Pius who must have been spinning in her grave in the temple she shared with her husband.   Several of the emperor's close advisors were amongst her lovers. When you think about it, some people do like to live dangerously. Carrying on with the emperor's wife was quite a risky business. Men are notoriously prone to not fully thinking this kind of thing through but even so - it wasn't just any husband that they were talking liberties with, it was the emperor. The emperor with the power of life and death over everyone. She must have been quite a looker.   And she had broad tastes. She was supposed to have succumbed to the charms of a gladiator, among others, and there was a rumour that it was him that was the true father of Commodus. If so, it explains a lot.   On the death of his father in the summer of 161 AD, Commodus found himself in charge of an army fighting the Quadi and Marcomanni on the Danube. He was 19. He didn't stay there long though, and by the Autumn he had returned to Rome.   Leaving the army at this stage was a questionable decision, but it doesn't seem to have led to any serious military problem. For the first four years nothing much happened. He was still young and in awe of the ministers still in place from the time of Marcus. At this stage, it seemed possible that the Romans might be in for their sixth good emperor. But an incident occurred that was to spoil this hope. One night Commodus was returning to his palace after a night at the theatre, when a man with a knife lunged at the young prince with the words "the Senate sends you this". The guards easily overpowered the attacker and the details of the plot were revealed. It turned out to have had nothing to do with the Senate: it was much closer to home. The emperor's sister, Lucilla, fed up with being left out of the limelight was behind it. Her husband was indeed a senator, but had known nothing about what his wife had been up to. It doesn't sound like it was a close relationship. She was rapidly exiled and later killed.   But this affair seems to have made a deep impression on the still very young Commodus. Despite the evidence, he seems to have decided that the Senate now posed a threat. He pass the administration of the government into the hands of Perennis, a court favourite whose CV included murdering his predecessor. Perennis was an able but avaricious man who proceeded to hound individual senators while enriching himself at their expense as part of the process. The drawbacks of the political system began to become apparent. If the absolute ruler chose to ignore the wishes of the Senate, there was nothing that could be done about it. In fact, being a senator simply made you more visible and more vulnerable. You and your family could lose your and your possessions and there was nothing that you could do about it.   The army was the only institution that had the power to oppose the emperor. The legions of Britain had some complaint with Perennis and sent a deputation asking for his head. Their request was granted. Commodus may already have been concerned that too much power was getting into the hands of Perennis, but it was hardly wise to be seen to bow to pressure of this sort. Few probably mourned the passing of Perennis, but the weakening of military discipline was hardly good news. Perennis was soon replaced by another favourite. Where Perennis had been able but avaricious, Cleander just concentrated on the avarice. The exactions from the senators continued and were developed into new forms. High offices were offered for sale. Bad enough in itself, but the sale was not a voluntary one. Favourable outcomes in the courts could also be purchased. A combination of greed and incompetence is not really a recipe for winning friends and influencing people. When pestilence and famine struck, the high prices that resulted were the trigger for discontent to break out into open revolt. Cleander had given himself a monopoly on corn so making himself the natural target for anger at high bread prices.   Things got out of hand and an angry mob besieged the palace braying for the head of Cleander. A cavalry charge repelled the crowd initially, but having chased them into the narrow streets of the city found itself at a disadvantage. The rioters counterattacked, pelting the elite horsemen with missiles. The foot guards sided with the people and the attack on the palace was resumed. Things were now becoming serious. Amazingly, nobody had told Commodus what was going on. To approach him with bad news was dangerous. The only people who felt confident enough to break it to him were his elder sister and his favourite concubine.   With his reign hanging on a thread the true character of Commodus was revealed. Many people can summon up unsuspected reserves of courage and initiative in a crisis. Commodus summoned up reserves of treachery and cowardice. If the crowd would be appeased by the head of his favourite, then let them have it. Cleander's head was severed from his body and thrown to the crowd.
Marcus Aurelius: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 3 Part 4
10/7/2010
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Duration: 5:38

Marcus Aurelius would probably have been remembered as a philosopher even if he had not gone into politics, a unique achievement. At an early age, long before becoming the Emperor was even a remote possibility, Marcus embraced the philosophy of the stoics. It seems that from that time on he was first and foremost a philosopher and behaved accordingly even after he came to the throne. His Meditations, written in the winter campaigns on the Danube, are still popular today. Amazon offers several pages of differing editions of his work, all of which are frequently reviewed and which get almost universally positive ratings. He is quoted roughly once an hour on Twitter. The Meditations are well worth a read. You can read them simply as an historical document, though there isn't much in the way of actual direct historical information in them. They do give you some insight into the way the Romans lived and thought. They are certainly interesting as a portrait of the personality of the man himself, and he comes across very well in them. But most remarkably, there is also a lot of straight forward wisdom and understanding that makes them a thought provoking and interesting read in their own right regardless of the historical background. These days the self help sections of bookshops grown under the weight of advice on how to live our lives better. Few are better than the Meditations. It is a little ironic that the most philosophical of the 5 good emperors should also have been the one most troubled by warfare, but it was probably a sign that the world was becoming a more dangerous place. Across Asia tribes were on the move threatening the Empire's security. The philosopher emperor, true to his stoic values, did not love war. But he was prepared to do his duty and fight off aggressive incursions by personally leading the army if necessary. There was a war against the Parthians followed by a revolt by the successful general, Avidius Cassius. This revolt may have been a misunderstanding following a false report of the death of Marcus. It certainly gave Marcus the opportunity to show off his stoic philosophy. As Gibbon notes - he regretted that the rebel's suicide robbed him of the chance to experience the pleasure of turning an enemy into a friend. Marcus had no military experience prior to becoming emperor but seems to have been a good enough general. He drove back German incursions into Gaul successfully. A more serious attack on the Danube required 9 years of continuous campaigning, including fighting in the winter. Unusually harsh winters caused the Danube to freeze over giving barbarians the opportunity to avoid the frontier's fortifications. It was during this campaign that he composed his Meditations, and it may well have been the stress of this campaign that killed him. But at this point the empire was clearly still very strong militarily and able to cope with blows from seemingly all directions. From this time on, things will only get worse. The greatness of Rome in history is probably more due to this period of benign dictatorship than to anything else. The emperors themselves were capable if not entirely likable and overall they kept their huge state in good order. A benign dictatorship, but a dictatorship nonetheless. For all the outward form of the republic there was no redress against the power of the state. It was very much the forerunner of the modern totalitarian states we know from recent history. But there is one way in which the Empire of Rome differed, and differed significantly from modern tyrannies. Its sheer size made it impossible to escape from. There were no asylum seekers in the ancient world: there was no asylum. As Gibbon puts it: 'But the empire of the Romans filled the world, and when the empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies. The slave of Imperial despotism, whether he was condemned to drag his gilded chain in Rome and the senate, or to were out a life of exile on the barren rock of Seriphus, or the frozen bank of the Danube, expected his fate in silent despair. To resist was fatal, and it was impossible to fly. On every side he was encompassed with a vast extent of sea and land, which he could never hope to traverse without being discovered, seized, and restored to his irritated master. Beyond the frontiers, his anxious view could discover nothing, except the ocean, inhospitable deserts, hostile tribes of barbarians, of fierce manners and unknown language, or dependent kings, who would gladly purchase the emperor's protection by the sacrifice of an obnoxious fugitive. "Wherever you are," said Cicero to the exiled Marcellus, "remember that you are equally within the power of the conqueror."
Hadrian and Antoninus: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 3 Part 3
10/5/2010
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Duration: 5:59

Hadrian had a tough act to follow, but he did hit the ground running. His only problem was that Trajan had never actually nominated him as his successor until he was on his deathbed - and even this was only witnessed by Plotina his pro-Hadrian widow. There was a risk that some highly placed senators might dispute his succession. But Hadrian had one extremely good card in his hand. At the time of Trajan's death he was in active command of the legions putting down a revolt in Judea. Armed force was always the important consideration in Roman politics. He also had reliable allies in Rome, notably Attianus, who was able to formulate an effective strategy against the prominent senators best placed to form an anti-Hadrian faction. This strategy consisted of accusing them of treason and killing them without a trial. This seemed to do the trick. Hadrian was able to start his reign unopposed - and in fact there was never to be any challenge to him.   Hadrian's reign was to be much more peaceful than Trajan's. This was clearly a conscious decision on the part of Hadrian. As it was never put to the test, we will never know how Hadrian would have shaped up as a war leader - but he was a good enough general to command the respect of Trajan. It seems likely that he would have been extremely effective, but he clearly wanted to behave defensively rather than aggressively. His energies were directed towards building walls and improving communications to make the empire more secure rather than extending its power further. Hadrian's famous wall in the north of Britain was one example of this. Withdrawing from Trajan's conquests in Mesopotamia to more easily defended borders was another. He also built strong defensive positions along the Rhine and the Danube.     A strong leader using his military power to ensure that his people have peace is very appealing to the modern mind. I have a feeling that Hadrian would be more popular than Trajan nowadays. The lack of any opposition to Hadrian in his long reign shows that the Romans of his own day were not too unhappy with him, but it is clear that Trajan's more aggressive approach was more to contempary tastes. But Hadrian was more than a military strongman with a pacifist tendency. He traveled continually throughout his empire and tried out various initiatives. At one stage, motivated by his love of Greek culture, he tried to create a Greek parliament. The Greeks didn't live up to Hadrian's enthusiasm for them, and the whole thing fell apart. But even so, it is amazing the kinds of projects you can take on when you are the absolute ruler of the known world. A less well known deed was consecrating a temple in York to a new goddess called Britannia that he had admitted to the Roman pantheon. Britannia was to be resurrected many centuries later by the Victorians as a symbol of their own empire.     As to his character as a man he was a bit of a mixture. He was certainly ruthless. As we have seen his first act on coming to power was to kill off the key rivals who might have made his life difficult. He was also vigorous, spending almost his entire reign on the move and visiting every province. His decision to pull back from Trajan's recent acquisitions probably showed a realistic strategic sense. His preparations made sure the empire was well defended. But he wasn't obsessed by warfare like his predecessor. He was keen on the arts, and even wrote poetry in both Greek and Latin - some of which has survived. The idea of a major political figure writing poetry and making it public strikes me as a bit quaint. It might well have been bemusing at the time too. But of course you wouldn't have been able to laugh out loud about it. A poet who has the power of life and death can't be particularly conducive to literary criticism. He was also enthusiastic about architecture. He drew up his own plans for buildings, though his efforts failed to impress proper architects. Gibbon describes him as 'an excellent prince, a ridiculous sophist and a jealous tyrant'. He wouldn't have been able to say that to his face of course. Hadrian followed Trajan's example of ensuring an orderly succession. In fact he nominated not only his successor but his successor's successor. Planning this far ahead doesn't often work out but Hadrian's nominees went on to rule for a further 40 largely trouble free years. Antoninus Pius was adopted as Hadrian's son on condition that he in turn adopted the young but promising Marcus Aurelius as son and successor. This effectively opened up the prospect of preventing any vacancy in the throne for many decades to come.   Antonius came to power at the age of 53 and was widely acknowledged almost from the start as a wise and benevolent emperor. He was happily married to a beautiful woman called Faustina whose charity had made her popular in her own lifetime and who Antoninus deified after her death. As far as we can tell, he was popular with everyone except possibly historians. Gibbon complained that his reign left little to write about. Like Hadrian's - the reign of Antoninus Pius was a peaceful one. Not only did he never lead a Roman army to war - he seems never to have even left the capital. He inherited a ready made successor in the shape of Marcus Aurelius, who had attracted the attention of Hadrian at an early age. On his death, Marcus duly succeeded.
Nerva and Trajan: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 3 Part 2
10/4/2010
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Duration: 8:08

Whatever we may think of the model created by Augustus - it had staying power. Augustus reigned from 27BC. There was an emperor on the throne continually until 479AD - just over 500 years. This duration was probably thanks to the winning formula Augustus had hit on. The strength of the system was shown best in the reigns of the so-called 5 good emperors. The phrase was coined by Machiavelli but is often associated with Gibbon and he would surely have agreed with it - but I haven't found the phrase in the book itself. It refers to the people who held power between 96 and 192, and for Gibbon this represented the Golden Age in human history. These men had the power to do whatever they chose, but they chose to work to promote the general well being of the empire that they ruled. Nerva was the first of the 5 good Emperors. He came to the throne in unusual circumstances. The emperor Domitian, who Gibbon portrays as a brutal tyrant, had been killed out of the blue in his palace by some of his guards over some domestic grievance. The Senate must have been horrified by this turn of events. Although Domitian's reign had been hard on many people not least members of the Senate itself, it was clear that his sudden and unplanned departure risked a civil war that would have been even worse. Nerva, aged 65 and without children was selected at great speed. Of the over 100 or so emperors of Rome I think Nerva was the one who must have been most surprised at his sudden elevation to the throne. But a rapid decision was essential. A delay allowing a number of rival claimants to become established could have been fatal. His short reign wasn't particularly notable other than for his efficient appointment of a successor who would take over after him, and given his advanced age this must have been high on his agenda. The period immediately following the death of an Emperor was always dangerous but Nerva made sure that his candidate had every advantage in taking over the throne. He selected a successful general and adopted him as his son. He then named him as his successor and immediately started involving him in the running of the empire. Nerva was clearly both a well meaning and liberal man, bringing in legislation that helped the less well off and avoiding conflict with the faction that had supported Domitian. But he was aware that his age made him vulnerable and that his leniency might be taken advantage of. Having a strong and effective number two made a lot of sense. This at least was Gibbon's interpretation. Modern scholars are more inclined to the view that Nerva was more of a figurehead and the arrangement of the succession was forced on him by the power of the army. But whatever went on behind the scenes, the early public nomination of a successor did prove a very effective solution to the problem of choosing an emperor and one that was to be followed with good effects for the next four reigns. Nerva's successor was Trajan. Trajan was rated highly by his contemporaries and continued to be held in high esteem for centuries. From his time onwards new emperors were routinely wished success comparable to his. Gibbon wryly notes that Trajan's reputation is secure for as long as men prefer their destroyers to their benefactors, as his accomplishments were all achieved in war or spending the spoils of war. It was under him that the empire reached its greatest extent. In defiance of the advice of Augustus he dared to push the boundaries north of the Danube to create the province of Dacia. This is very roughly modern Romania and the romanisation was so thorough that the Romanians still speak a language based on Latin. Even the country's name is reminiscent of its origin as a province of the Roman Empire. The current president of the country is called Trajan which remains a common Christian name in Romania. This campaign is commemorated by Trajan's Column in Rome. At the height of its powers you really didn't want to get on the wrong side of the empire's military machine. The Roman army depicted in the column was large, efficient and armed with deadly technology. Trajan himself appears and it is fitting to see him actively leading his army and generally being the man of action par excellence. He campaigned in Persia and beyond extending Roman rule to the borders of India. The size of the Empire at this point in time is truly breath taking. Domestically he was lenient - freeing political prisoners from earlier regimes and returning confiscated property. His private life was devoted to drinking wine and having affairs with boys. The Romans didn't entirely approve of this and Gibbon certainly didn't. It is interesting to consider how attitudes differ between the Roman era, Gibbon's era and our own. In the ancient world it wasn't considered that outrageous for an older man to have sexual relationships with a much younger man or boy. The Greeks seemed to take it in their stride, but the Romans were more ambivalent and had some restrictions on it. You could use one of your own slaves, naturally. A slave that you had freed was fair game too. But strictly speaking, anyone else wasn't legal. However it doesn't seem to have been considered particularly scandalous and it seems that the only emperor who didn't partake in this sort of thing was Claudius. Gibbon alludes to all this obliquely but would obviously rather not talk about it. Nowadays, nothing much shocks us when it comes to sex. But we are very concerned for the well being of the young and find the idea of an older person using their more powerful position to exploit a more vulnerable one as extremely distasteful to put it mildly. If we could resurrect the average Roman emperor the first thing we would do with them would be to put them in jail for child abuse. I think that this is progress, but who knows what future generations will make of our attitudes? But to get back to the Romans, they were obviously philosophical about what Trajan got up to in private. It must have seemed a relatively harmless foible compared to killing citizens and taking all their money, as his predecessor bar one Domitian tended to do. Trajan's military campaigns netted large quantities of cash. He spent it on worthy public works as well as his famous column. He built a harbour at Ostia, a new forum and several large bridges. All in all, he really gave the Romans exactly what they wanted from an emperor: fair administration, military success and impressive monuments. That he paid for all from treasure looted from successful campaigns rather than taxes was the cherry on the cake. And his reputation has remained high throughout history - he even gets a positive review in Dante's Divine Comedy. The story that Dante relates was that the mother of a murdered man successfully got Trajan to break off his preparations for the war in Dacia to settle her case. She used the argument that her grievance would still exist after the war, but Trajan himself may not. Whether or not this actually happened we may never know, but it gives a flavour of the positive image that Trajan has left. Not the least of his achievements was selecting an able successor - Hadrian, a successful general who had made a name fighting the Germans.
Augustus Returns to Rome: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
10/3/2010
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Duration: 9:49

Gossip must have been at fever pitch in Rome in 27BC. Whenever somebody new takes over, there is always a lot of speculation ahead of their arrival. But there can't have been many situations where quite so many people had quite so little clue about what was going to happen next. Augustus returned in victory to Rome after 20 years of civil war. With 44 legions behind him he could do whatever he chose. He could have declared himself a king, or a dictator or even a God. But publicly he was modest in his ambitions. An account has survived of his speech to the Senate. "He was now at liberty to satisfy his duty and his inclination. He solemnly restored the senate and people to all their ancient rights; and wished only to mingle with the crowd of his fellow-citizens, and to share the blessings which he had obtained for his country." He went on to explain that he was simply the unfortunate victim of circumstances. The grave situation had forced him to act out of character. I doubt that many people were fooled. Augustus was in fact, as everyone knew, Rome's absolute ruler even if he chose to hide it. But he did put considerable effort into maintaining the outward appearance of the ancient Roman constitution, preserving the forms, offices and institutions in name while in reality subverting them to his own control. The Senate was still nominally the body that was in charge, but its prestige was at an all time low. It didn't much resemble the sober faced men of grit who had defeated Hannibal and conquered the world. Following the chaos of the civil war there were 900 senators many of who would have been a disgrace to any organisation they were associated with. Augustus purged it - reducing it to 300 in number and packing it with his own supporters. An assembly that could have posed a serious threat to his authority was transformed into a useful prop to maintain his power. The Senate was to become the accomplice of Augustus and his successors in undermining the constitution that it once represented. For the rest of the history of the Empire, the Senate continued to sit and even to have some powers over the provinces close to Rome - the ones that did not have legions located in them. But only once did it try to re-establish the reality of the power that it was supposed wield. In the 48 hours after the killing of Caligula it briefly attempted to reassert its old authority. But it was useless. The army had selected Claudius and it became immediately plain that it was not the respectable looking men in togas, but the soldiers who wielded the true power. The original republic had a constitution much like modern day America, with checks and balances that prevented too much power falling into the hands of one person. The top job in the republic had been the consuls. Two were elected every year and they did all the active things like acting as the final judge in the legal system, fighting wars and negotiating with other states. The idea was that they would keep each other in check. Augustus, in control of the army and with his personal guard in the capital itself was in effective control whatever the constitutional niceties. But he preferred not to rub this in, though everybody must have fully understood it. Instead he humbly submitted himself to election for the role of consul by the people as if he were an ordinary candidate. The outward forms of a popular democracy were maintained. Votes were cast. The consuls were elected annually, including Augustus himself when he stood. Consul was not the only title he took. In the republic twelve tribunes had been elected with powers designed to limit the authority of the consuls. They protected the rights of the ordinary citizen and had extensive veto powers to prevent the elite oppressing the less fortunate. Augustus became the sole tribune himself. The tribune charged with preventing the abuses of the powerful was none other than the most powerful citizen. The Princeps was an honorary title bestowed by the Senate on the most worthy of the citizens - literally the first amongst them. It didn't carry any particular powers it was just a mark of esteem. This is where we get our modern word Prince from, but to Roman ears it probably sounded comfortable and un-threatening, and this was the title that Augustus himself liked to be known by. He would probably be quite surprised to learn that we remember him as Emperor. Our word Emperor comes from the latin imperator, but to the Romans it had a bit of a different meaning to what it means to us. An imperator was simply a military commander. Augustus had been appointed imperator by his tame Senate. The cover for this was that it was a temporary military expedient. The senate begged him to accept the burden of control of the army, including the hitherto unprecedented stationing of guards in the capital in a time of peace. Theatrically, he insisted on accepting that role with reluctance and then only for ten years. Needless to say, come the ten years the pantomime was repeated. This sham must have been obvious to everyone at the time and fittingly history barely remembers the details. As the commander of the army, a consul and the tribune one might have supposed that Augustus had accumulated enough power in his hands. But that wasn't the way he worked. He also had himself elected censor. The censor was intended to guard the morals of the citizens. Augustus had strong ideas about morals and family values - though these were meant for other people: he didn't follow them himself. It also came with the handy power of entitling him to get rid of any inconvenient senator. He also picked up the role of Pontifex Maximus. Nowadays this is one of the Pope's many titles, but it originated as the official in charge of Rome's state religion. Within a few years all the levers of power of the old republican constitution were firmly in the hands of Augustus. But if you listened to the man himself, he portrayed himself simply as another citizen. Why did Augustus shy away from the naked exercise of the power that everyone knew he had? Gibbon's opinion was that he feared the fate of his uncle, Julius Caesar. His assassination may well have been provoked as much by the ostentatious way he was starting to wield power, as by the power itself and Augustus was trying to avoid giving the same offence. There is probably a lot of truth in this. As Gibbon notably puts it, 'he put on the mask of hypocrisy at an early age and never took it off. His virtues and even his vices were synthetic.' But I think it might actually run a bit deeper. Unlike Gibbon, in the Twentieth Century we have seen up close how totalitarian regimes work. Hitlers, Stalins and Saddam Husseins don't just rule by force. Citizens are coerced not just into obedience, but into complicity. It isn't enough just to do what you are told - you also have to join the Communist Party or go to a torch-lit rally as well. Like it or not, you end up becoming associated with the regime. I think that this was part of what Augustus was doing. He was creating not just an empire, but an ideology to go with it. The senate met and deliberated on the matters of the day, handed down some judgments and generally gave a cover of respectability. But like the meetings of the Russian Communist Party or the Ba'ath Party the real aim was to give a spurious legitimacy to the dictatorship and draw a wide section of the society into the sway of the ruler. Or perhaps deep down he felt the need for legitimacy. He was, after all, a Roman. Roman culture exalted freedom and deplored the tyranny of kings. Perhaps he play acted what he really desired but didn't know how to make reality. Perhaps he yearned to actually recreate the republic but knew that any attempt to restore it would simply hand an opportunity to some other less congenial tyrant than himself. But the mask that Augustus wore will never be removed, so all we can do is speculate. Concentrating power in the hands of one individual rarely has a good outcome. But not everyone uses absolute power badly, and for all his ruthlessness and hypocrisy it is not difficult to make a case that Augustus used his enormous power wisely. His immediate successors were not quite of the same mould, but they at least largely maintained this fiction created by Augustus. Rome remained a republic in name and a dictatorship in practice. To the very end the legions marched under the initials SPQR - The Senate and the People of Rome.

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