Editor,

Caligula and Nero were two of the more problematic emperors of Rome, after the fall of the Republic, and rise of the rule by emperors. Caligula was seen as a good leader for the first few years of his reign. Then descending into madness and folly to be assassinated by his own guards to be followed by Claudius a more docile figure who was succeeded by Nero an even more cunningly evil figure than Caligula. The quality of the various absolute rulers of the then expanding Roman Empire was of course leading to its eventual decline and destruction. Why do I ponder these fascinating periods in human history? You guessed it, I’m looking at the spectacle of our last two leaders and wondering aloud if we’re repeating the trajectory of Rome’s historic fall. Yet, we do have the benefit of our study of this history and perhaps learn a bit.

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(4) comments

edkahl

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems your letter was copied from the New York Times and anyone doing this is required to credit the source.

HFAB

Thank you Mike for a reminder that, in the present chaos and destruction, there is nothing new under the sun.

Dirk van Ulden

HFAB - eliminating slush funds and kickbacks to legislators is not the same as chaos and destruction. Unless you don't pay any taxes, you ought to be grateful that someone finally grabbed the bull by the horns.

Terence Y

Thanks for your letter, Mr. Caggiano, but a few things off the top of my head… The US is not Rome. The US does not have an emperor. Rome didn’t have a written Constitution. You can study Roman history but any comparisons will always result in apples to oranges comparisons so I’m unsure we’d learn a bit, or much of anything. But since we’re making comparisons, I see it as Democrats being Wile E. Coyote with their various Acme traps yet unable to catch Road Runner Trump. Resulting in Trump continuing to run free while Wile E. Coyote ponders his failures. Beep, Beep!

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