I'm John Batchel.

Quickly with Germanicus, because we're going to get onto the theater.

We're going to see scenes from the frog tonight, frogs.

Aristophanes.

His trip into hell where his servant complains about how heavy the baggage is.

Why do we have to take all this to hell?

Anyway, that's comedy later. Right now, we have to take all this to hell? Anyway, that's comedy later.

Right now, we have Elon Musk in an Occupy Mars T-shirt at Mar-A-Lago, making decisions

not only about how he's going to reduce the size of government, something called Doge,

but also who he favors for various ministries and opinions.

Good.

Germanicus, I studied that T-shirt, Occupy Mars.

This is an ambitious Roman general.

Very ambitious, and that's a good thing. I don't know who he is. I don't know

whether there's something comparable in our time. He's not Vespation. He doesn't want to be

emperor, but he has the authority of the emperor, Mr. Trump. I'd like to say this is going to end well.

However, I hesitate.

Do you hesitate?

We have a few minutes.

In Rome, at its height,

when you had a well-inst institutionalized and stable imperial office and the accession to that

office and the replacement of one emperor by another a succession process that was also well established.

...