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The John Batchelor Show

#Londinium90AD: Gaius & Germanicus puzzle how the American presidency can hold on to the genius of Augustus to represent the Republic while acting the absolute monarch. Michael Vlahos. Friends of History Debating Society. @Michalis_Vlahos

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Society & Culture, Arts, News, Books

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

#Londinium90AD: Gaius & Germanicus puzzle how the American presidency can hold on to the genius of Augustus to represent the Republic while acting the absolute monarch. Michael Vlahos. Friends of History Debating Society. @Michalis_Vlahos

Undated The Romans Building a Fort

Transcript

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0:00.0

Book your ticket to happiness with Sun Express Airlines. I'm John Bachelor, Friends of Historyating Society, as Gaius and Germanicus is here, and quickly,

0:27.0

we're going to address two wonderful facts.

0:30.0

One, the history of Rome, Romulus, Remus, the Rape of the Sabine women.

0:35.0

What else have we got? We've got something called the monarchy.

0:39.0

Tarkina, Tancuil, the wonderful story of Lucretia, the good wife, got all that as history because

0:49.8

of a man named Livy who worked for Augustus. Augustus was keen on his image.

0:55.5

Two thousand years later his image is really good thanks to Livy.

0:59.2

Because Livy turned backstabbing Roman intrigue into family life. It was a success, it's still a success.

1:07.0

Everything we know about Augustus tells us that he saw the monarchy as a threat.

1:15.0

He didn't want to go back to the monarchy.

1:17.0

He didn't want to be king because he knew that would make him a target of assassination,

1:22.0

which is what happened in the first monarchy

1:24.0

bloodlust so he came up with this idea I'm going to save the Republican the

1:29.6

way he does that is he brings in livy and Dionysus of Heliocarnases, and he said,

1:37.2

write me a fairy tale where it comes out well that we Romans are exceptional because we

1:42.1

care about the family. Now,

1:44.8

Scrovonia was Augustus' first wife. He left her while she was in her birthbed

1:51.2

with the baby Julia at her side. He left her because she wasn't

1:56.2

convenient anymore. He called her shrewish. He was not a family man. He was

2:01.2

cold-blooded and as emperor he was keen on making himself not the king.

2:06.5

What did he do?

2:07.5

He came up with the idea, I will be first among equals in the republic.

...

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