“The Romans did that many, many times — until normal had changed so radically that there was nothing left of the republic to protect.” — Michelle Berenfeld on getting “back to normal”

Are we Rome (yet)? Michelle Berenfeld fears we are. Back in April of last year, the professor of classics at Pitzer College published “The Roman Way to Trash a Republic” in the Atlantic. And now Berenfeld has expanded her argument into Lessons from a Lost Republic, a new book about what Ancient Rome can teach us about our current American moment.

There are two Romes, Berenfeld reminds us: the Roman Republic and Imperial Rome. Nostalgic tech guys like Mark Zuckerberg are obsessed with the imperial world of emperors, legions, and world domination, while the more forward-thinking founders of the American republic used imperial figures like Caesar and Augustus as negative lessons from antiquity.

Asking whether Trump is Roman is like asking whether the Pope is Catholic. Certainly he’s a wannabe Caesar with his fleshy face on our currency, his imperial DC arch, his daily wars, and all those fake blood sports on the White House lawn. But the daily comedy show misses the longer-term political tragedy. Berenfeld fears the shift in power from Congress toward an imperial presidency, a trend she says predates Trump and will outlast him. The gravest Roman conceit was believing, after each crisis, that things could get “back to normal” — a mantra Roman citizens repeated endlessly until there was nothing left of the old republic to protect.

Then there’s Zuckerberg, who even named his daughters August and Aurelia. For Zuck, Augustus should be praised for doing “tough things” to usher in two centuries of peace and prosperity. But Berenfeld reminds us those tough things included drawing up enemies lists and killing everyone who crossed him. Meanwhile, this supposed peace and prosperity (de)generated the rule of Caligula and Nero. Augustus, Berenfeld argues, was one of history’s great spin doctors, claiming to be restoring a corrupted republic while simultaneously dismantling it. No wonder, perhaps, Zuckerberg admires him so much.

Berenfeld says that the Roman spectacle of “bread and circuses” should be a warning. Juvenal’s complaint was that Romans traded their liberties for gladiatorial games and free grain. We’re making the same trade in contemporary America, Berenfeld observes, and getting neither. Most Americans, she concludes sadly, can’t even afford a World Cup ticket.

Berenfeld’s deepest lesson is about power and political agency. Political powers given up are not easily gotten back, she warns. Republics are not saved by Hollywood-style saviors, and there is no golden age to restore. That said, the Los Angeles-based classicist hasn’t completely given up hope. Nothing about Rome’s trajectory was inevitable, she reminds us. Remixing Benjamin Franklin, the American Republic is ours to keep, if we use our agency as citizens. Just don’t tempt fate by naming your daughters August and Aurelia.

Five Takeaways

• The Founders’ Rome vs the Bros’ Rome. The bros worship the empire; the founders admired the republic — and saw Caesar and Augustus as what the constitution was built to prevent.

• On the Nose — and Beside the Point. Coins, arches, blood sport on the lawn — comical. The real echo: a Senate handing its power to one man while everyone waits to get “back to normal.”

• Bread, Circuses — and Neither. Rome traded liberty for games and a grain dole — nearly a basic income. Americans are making the same trade and getting neither.

• Marcus Aurelius Was Writing His Memoirs. The Meditations: an elderly emperor’s private journal, barely read in antiquity — “a little bit like when George Bush started making paintings.”

• Powers Given Up Are Not Easily Gotten Back. Her test: would you give these powers to a president you oppose? Nothing was inevitable — political agency is the whole lesson.

About Keen On America

Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.

Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Buy Lessons from a Lost Republic: bookshop.org

Chapters:

00:00:31 Introduction: from the Atlantic essay to the lost republic
00:03:31 A republic if you can keep it
00:04:01 “What if someone like Sulla or Caesar got this position?”
00:07:21 Zuckerberg’s Augustus: the “tough things” problem
00:10:55 Oligarchy and aristocracy: the Casey Michel question
00:15:43 Bread and circuses: we’re getting neither
00:19:42 The Odyssey confession
00:23:33 Roman concrete and the reflecting pool: “I’ve got a guy”
00:25:03 Marcus Aurelius: stoicism as presidential painting
00:29:16 Powers given up are not easily gotten back
00:33:27 No golden age: Augustus’s restoration con
00:38:38 What would the Romans make of Trump? The Nero problem
00:41:47 Are we Rome, again? The republic, not the empire
00:42:51 Political agency: thanks and goodbye