SPQR
When institutions become powerful and entrenched, the logic of state interest begins to override the more fundamental interests of continuity. The qualities which brought the state into being may ultimately conflict with and upset its stability and end up suppressed. The militant hero culture of the old patrician families gave Rome its empire, but ... See more
Palladium Editors • New Article: You Won’t Survive As Human Capital
the resulting compromise was regarded by Panaetius the Stoic (whose views are reproduced by Polybius and Cicero) as an ideal combination of monarchical, aristocratic, and democratic elements. But conquest upset the precarious balance; it brought immense new wealth to the senatorial class, and, in a slightly lesser degree, to the “knights,” as the u
... See moreBertrand Russell • History of Western Philosophy
A better period began with the accession of Trajan in A.D. 98, and continued until the death of Marcus Aurelius in A.D. 180. During this time, the government of the Empire was as good as any despotic government can be. The third century, on the contrary, was one of appalling disaster. The army realized its power, made and unmade emperors in return
... See moreBertrand Russell • History of Western Philosophy
“In every civil war,” says a Greek historian, “the great object is to change fortunes.”579 Every demagogue acted like that Molpagoras of Cios,580 who delivered to the multitude those who possessed money, massacred some, exiled others, and distributed their property among the poor.