RevolutionaryMarxist
3rd December 2006, 17:45
Background: This was a article originally submitted to two newspapers, but apparently rejected due to various reasons. Written about early 2006.
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Hail Caesar! A New Look to Rome:
Hail Caesar cries the Roman Senate as their leading enemy Populare Julius Caesar enters the Senate Hall. In Michael Parenti well written and easy to read The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A Peoples history of Ancient Rome, he vividly describes the true nature of Pre-Augustan Rome, destroying myths about greedy men like Brutus and Milo, and the Champion of Aristocratic Oppression and Anti-Democracy Cicero, who Freidrich Engels calls the Most contemptible scoundrel in history, and also shows real light on the great reformers and friends of democracy such as Clodius, who was brutally murdered by a battalion of 300 armed roman soldiers under the Aristocrat Milo, and then to Julius Caesar, who was stabbed to death by dozens of Senators who ambushed him during a Senate meeting in the senate building itself on the Ides of March.
Imagine if one was Julius Caesar, walking into the Senate Hall, with thoughts full of glory and proud of ones service to the people, who cheered and loved him, and full of achievements and history and proud reforms which the world hasnt seen before, and then the feeling one feels as 23 blades are struck through ones body by a group of power-hungry self-righteous Senators, who one believed to have been ones own friends, who one had fought side by side with for dozens of wars and battles, ones who had been former enemies but then welcomed back with open armsand that is how they repay one for such generosityParenti shows us in his book how Aristocrats which nowadays have been transformed into basically the Upper Class, are often corrupt, which is a good precaution in our modern day to beware of our own Goverement, for the people who usually do have good ideas for the people at hand, like Caesar, The Gracchus Brothers, and Others, dont usually succeed in politics, or at least not for very long. The Author describes the tale of one archtype of the Aristocrat of those times, The Aristocrat Cicero, a corrupt rich man who has been often praised by modern scholars, yet he certainly doesnt deserve it. Cicero hated the people of the world with a passion, called them Starving Worthless Groundlings who did nothing but Suck the blood of the treasury. He was eventually destroyed by his own greedy instincts, when he was running away from Mark Antony, Caesars 2nd in the Command and A Leading official after Caesars assasination, to retrieve his countless fortunes he plundered from the people he despised, from his Villa, he was executed by soldiers sent to pursue him. Parentis Chapter, The Face of Caesar, vividly describes the True Caesar and his popular reform actions. As Shakesphere says in his play; You all did love him once, not without cause. Meaning how Caesar did something good for everyone, and in himself was a decent but still politicially intelligent man. Much modern thought can be driven from Caesars actions, both by inspiration from his ideas and actions, and strategic knowledge from his political career and brilliant military campaigns he waged against all of Europe. Parentis view is very new to the classical view of Caesar, which views him as a Power-Hungry, despotic, and heartless dictator who used popular support in his own personal favor, while instead pretending that the Senators were the people who were truly interested in Democracy and freedom, when in fact it was the opposite way around. As he says too, Modern historians arent always accurate or even honest historians. Many, such as some from the former Soviet Union, were simply propagandists, and not truly concerned with or able to do authentic truthful research, as they being influenced by their current state and class ideas.
One of the main representations of the typical aristocrat at the time was Cicero, who was both a genius in persuading people through speeches and also a corrupt oppresser and exploiter. He opposed any bill coming closer to democracy or even helping the people, and eventually met a fitting end when his own greed destroyed him because he ran to his villa to retrieve a sum of money, and was caught there by Mark Antonys soldiers, and executed. Cant One see the similarities occasionally between some modern day politicians and these older ones? Has Rome really left the world? Or has its influence continued throughout the centuries to dealve into our very way of thinking and living. And apparently, in some ways, it truly has.
Parenti supports Caesar and many reformers as populares, which are people who fought for more rights for the people or who were supported by the masses of the people. His book is a brilliant read upon the subject of Ancient Rome and the modern historiography which is heavily biased often in favor of the Roman Landlords and Rich Roman Senators and Nobles, such as Cato, Brutus, Milo, and above all Cicero, who Parenti shows to be what almost all the senators and nobles were: Selfish, Anti-Democratic, Money-Grubbing Oppressors.
__________________________________________________ ______________
Hail Caesar! A New Look to Rome:
Hail Caesar cries the Roman Senate as their leading enemy Populare Julius Caesar enters the Senate Hall. In Michael Parenti well written and easy to read The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A Peoples history of Ancient Rome, he vividly describes the true nature of Pre-Augustan Rome, destroying myths about greedy men like Brutus and Milo, and the Champion of Aristocratic Oppression and Anti-Democracy Cicero, who Freidrich Engels calls the Most contemptible scoundrel in history, and also shows real light on the great reformers and friends of democracy such as Clodius, who was brutally murdered by a battalion of 300 armed roman soldiers under the Aristocrat Milo, and then to Julius Caesar, who was stabbed to death by dozens of Senators who ambushed him during a Senate meeting in the senate building itself on the Ides of March.
Imagine if one was Julius Caesar, walking into the Senate Hall, with thoughts full of glory and proud of ones service to the people, who cheered and loved him, and full of achievements and history and proud reforms which the world hasnt seen before, and then the feeling one feels as 23 blades are struck through ones body by a group of power-hungry self-righteous Senators, who one believed to have been ones own friends, who one had fought side by side with for dozens of wars and battles, ones who had been former enemies but then welcomed back with open armsand that is how they repay one for such generosityParenti shows us in his book how Aristocrats which nowadays have been transformed into basically the Upper Class, are often corrupt, which is a good precaution in our modern day to beware of our own Goverement, for the people who usually do have good ideas for the people at hand, like Caesar, The Gracchus Brothers, and Others, dont usually succeed in politics, or at least not for very long. The Author describes the tale of one archtype of the Aristocrat of those times, The Aristocrat Cicero, a corrupt rich man who has been often praised by modern scholars, yet he certainly doesnt deserve it. Cicero hated the people of the world with a passion, called them Starving Worthless Groundlings who did nothing but Suck the blood of the treasury. He was eventually destroyed by his own greedy instincts, when he was running away from Mark Antony, Caesars 2nd in the Command and A Leading official after Caesars assasination, to retrieve his countless fortunes he plundered from the people he despised, from his Villa, he was executed by soldiers sent to pursue him. Parentis Chapter, The Face of Caesar, vividly describes the True Caesar and his popular reform actions. As Shakesphere says in his play; You all did love him once, not without cause. Meaning how Caesar did something good for everyone, and in himself was a decent but still politicially intelligent man. Much modern thought can be driven from Caesars actions, both by inspiration from his ideas and actions, and strategic knowledge from his political career and brilliant military campaigns he waged against all of Europe. Parentis view is very new to the classical view of Caesar, which views him as a Power-Hungry, despotic, and heartless dictator who used popular support in his own personal favor, while instead pretending that the Senators were the people who were truly interested in Democracy and freedom, when in fact it was the opposite way around. As he says too, Modern historians arent always accurate or even honest historians. Many, such as some from the former Soviet Union, were simply propagandists, and not truly concerned with or able to do authentic truthful research, as they being influenced by their current state and class ideas.
One of the main representations of the typical aristocrat at the time was Cicero, who was both a genius in persuading people through speeches and also a corrupt oppresser and exploiter. He opposed any bill coming closer to democracy or even helping the people, and eventually met a fitting end when his own greed destroyed him because he ran to his villa to retrieve a sum of money, and was caught there by Mark Antonys soldiers, and executed. Cant One see the similarities occasionally between some modern day politicians and these older ones? Has Rome really left the world? Or has its influence continued throughout the centuries to dealve into our very way of thinking and living. And apparently, in some ways, it truly has.
Parenti supports Caesar and many reformers as populares, which are people who fought for more rights for the people or who were supported by the masses of the people. His book is a brilliant read upon the subject of Ancient Rome and the modern historiography which is heavily biased often in favor of the Roman Landlords and Rich Roman Senators and Nobles, such as Cato, Brutus, Milo, and above all Cicero, who Parenti shows to be what almost all the senators and nobles were: Selfish, Anti-Democratic, Money-Grubbing Oppressors.