[Strategerist]

Well, we have Caligula reincarnated as a female presidential candidate. I think most people like to compare the US to Rome as far as “rotting” from the inside out.

Caligula was Emperor BEFORE Rome peaked, and Rome lasted over 400 years after Caligula's reign.

The stupidest analogies I see are Social Cons trying to compare the moral decay of Rome to the US.

They forget that Rome rose and peaked as a pagan empire rife with various forms of immorality, and Rome only fell after it converted to Christianity (not that that was necessarily the cause). People have vague and fuzzy notions of decadence and immorality in Rome, and the timing of such, and people think that things only got immoral and crazy as Rome declined, which is not true.

[Clemenza]

Old Emperor Lil' Boots wasn't that bad. Gotta love a man who forced the wives of his enemies (ie the Roman Senate) into prostitution and provided quotes like this:

"It does not matter that the people love me, it matters more that they FEAR me!"

Gibbon is the most famous person to claim that the adoption of Christianity led to the fall of the empire, as it effectively put a line, if not a wall, between throne and altar. Not very plausible IMHO. In reality, it was a declining population, inability to raise large armies, and the increasingly difficult task of collecting taxes from subjugated peoples that caused Rome's ultimate dissolution.

[randomhero97]

I agree and the Caligula comparison was based more on character rather than timing. Also, most fail to realize when the Empire split the Byzantines prospered for ~1000 years.

[elpadre]

a life of decadence is short lived - whether it be corporate or individual