Posted on 01/22/2014 6:01:20 AM PST by servo1969
It was the twilight of the Roman Empire.
The decay, which would lead to the empire’s downfall, had set in long before.
The ruling class sought to appease its people by taking money from the largest landowners and most successful businessmen and giving it to the rest of society. But the effort had irretrievably harmed the economy and habituated the poorest and even the middle class to taking gifts and free stuff, and diminished their work ethic. And the rulers, in their indulgence and eagerness to please the citizenry, had amassed for the empire incalculable debts that it could never repay and now could barely even service.
Meanwhile, the empire’s enemies, the barbarians, had grown stronger, with more of them possessing the weapons that once only the Romans had wielded. The emperor, having no appetite for battle, sought to dissuade the barbarians. He trusted in their peaceful instincts, but they were wilier than he and merely used his goodwill to further their evil designs.
The emperor and his empress were ignorant of the empire’s decline and sought only to increase the happiness of the citizens by taking yet more money from the successful and redistributing it to those who were not. And yet, they themselves led lavish lifestyles, traveling overseas on grand vacations and even journeying frequently to Africa, where the Empress rode elephants and tracked wild animals.
About five years into their reign, the emperor and empress vacationed together on a beautiful isle in the Aegean Sea. After a fortnight, the emperor realized he had no choice but to return to Rome. But the empress moved on to another island, where she continued to revel for another ten days in luxury with her dearest friends.
When she finally returned to the palace, rested and full of joy, the emperor threw a lavish party in her honor. Some 500 citizens of the realm were called to attend. Among them were the leading members of society – artists, singers, athletes, politicians, men and women of great wealth and fame, and more.
The emperor and empress demanded that their guests dance for them – even refusing to serve dinner so that none of them would have a heart attack during the gala.
Even as the empire crumbled around them, the empress and her guests drank “sips” of wine, nibbled at small but delicious treats, and danced into the early hours of the morning. At one point during the bacchanal, a beautiful, barely clad chanteuse, whom the empress herself idolized and had befriended, arose and, slinking and slithering, serenaded the adoring crowd.
As the time to depart arrived, the empress admonished her guests: “Not a word about this! No one must talk about what we did here this evening. The masses must not find out how we really live.”
The guests already understood. All of their writing tools and empty scrolls had been confiscated at the palace door, so that they could not record what they’d seen before the wine had erased their memory. Anyway, they knew they must say nothing, or risk never being invited back to the palace again.
The party ended about 3 am, and then the emperor and empress slept very well. They did not emerge from their palace at all the next day. The following day, a Monday, they went and spent an hour making burritos for the homeless at a local charity, just to remind the empire that truly they cared only about the people, and gave not a whit about themselves.
And outside the palace walls, far from the glittering lives they led, the sun continued to set on Rome, and the barbarians gathered and waited.
AARP is finished.
Just return all their divel to them in their OWN postage paid enevlope!!! :)
I DO!
I want nothing to do with AARP
The ruling class sought to appease its people by taking money from the largest landowners and most successful businessmen and giving it to the rest of society.
Nope. In actual fact the rich and officials were generally officially exempted from taxation, and where they weren't they could usually bribe their way out. The rich generally got richer throughout this period.
But the effort had irretrievably harmed the economy and habituated the poorest and even the middle class to taking gifts and free stuff, and diminished their work ethic.
Nope. The Roman Empire never even vaguely resembled a welfare state. The greatest taxation and oppression fell directly on the poor and middle class. While free food was handed out in the capital for much of this time, to keep the populace from rioting, which would endanger the government, this benefited only a tiny percentage of the population of the empire, most of whom lived elsewhere and were taxed at high rates to provide the free food.
And the rulers, in their indulgence and eagerness to please the citizenry, had amassed for the empire incalculable debts that it could never repay and now could barely even service.
While the empire indeed had trouble paying its way, it's probably not accurate to say they amassed great debts. The credit/banking system of the time just wasn't developed enough to allow this. There was nobody to borrow from. Instead the government tried to pay for its needs by devaluing the currency, instituting price controls and seizing private property. This smacks of Venezuela, Argentina and even USA. It's got a lot more relevance to today than talk of amassing debt.
Also government funds did not go to please the populace, they went mostly to pay the military and for attempts to bribe barbarians to fight each other rather than invade the empire.
IOW, there aren't a lot of similarities between the last days of the Empire and America today.
You forgot about the bread and circuses for the masses during the Holy Roman Empire period.
OK, I’ll be glad to see some evidence of such.
The Holy Roman Empire, which was of course none of the above, was a German/Italian mess that lasted, sort of, from around 800 to 1800. It had nothing at all in common with the actual Roman Empire.
What are you talking about?
Under the reign of Justinian in Constantinople, bread and circuses were a common way to entertain and feed the people and keep their minds off how miserable they were.
Yup. This was a common practice from the late Republic well up into the Byzantine period.
However, it was almost always limited to the capital. It was a transfer of wealth not from the rich of the empire to the poor of the empire, but more from the poor of the empire outside the capital to the rich and poor in the capital. The bread dole was often not means-tested, and the free entertainment never.
BTW, in the Nika riots Justinian discovered the advantages of having your political opponents collected together in a stadium. Seal off the exits and kill ‘em all.
Sorry, clicked post too soon.
The analogy today would not be food stamps or welfare spread across the nation. It would be as if everybody in the US was taxed to provide free food and entertainment to those who lived in NYC or DC, with no such benefits for anybody outside those cities.
Ah, the AARP (American Association of Retired Progressives)—part of the enemy cabal.
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