JOEY AND BOBBY EXPLORE TRUMP’S AMERICA

(I saw an internet meme similar to this and I thought I would expand on it. I tried to find it again but with all the election stuff going on it proved difficult.)

2014

Joey: I can’t believe Donald Trump is thinking about running for President.  What is our country coming to when men like him are having their names seriously considered?

Bobby: Joey, you worry too much man!  He said he was going to run both  2012 and way back in 2000. Nothing ever came of it.  He is just trying to promote viewers for his dippy TV show.  Have a little more faith in America.

2015

 Joey: He’s doing it, he is actually doing it! Donald Trump is running for the Republican nomination.  He even seems to have a large following.

Bobby: So we have a bunch of over excited Apprentice fans.  Trump is clown.  Did you see him in the debates when talking about his hands? He is an exposed fool and is going nowhere.

"Big Hands"

2016

Joey: This election is getting very tight.  He bombed the debates but he isn’t slowing down.  I was originally going to vote for Stein because I couldn’t vote for Sanders.  But I think I have to vote for Hilary now, I don’t want Trump.

Bobby: Look at the polls, Trump doesn’t stand a chance.  He is going to get his butt handed to him.  I refused to be scared to vote for a candidate that I don’t really like.  We need to vote our values, Trump won’t win anyway.  Look at the polls. 

Keeps talking even if it isn't his turn.

2018

Joey: I don’t like what’s going on here it’s like the President is in pissing contest with other world leaders.  In his last speech he says he’ll fire the nukes if he doesn’t get compliance.  President Trump said the he will fire the nukes!

Bobby: President Trump may be a jerk but he is not insane.  He is just talking tough.  Everyone knows how bad it would be if he were serious.  No one is nuking anyone.

Nukes

2025

Joey: I thought living under a nuclear winter was bad, barley any sunlight and always food shortages.   But now we have nuclear mutated talking giant lizards.  Those lizards are smart.  I can’t believe not only are we fighting for our existence but it looks like we may no longer be the top species on the planet!    

Bobby: Last we’re going to do is take orders from giant lizards who just learned to talk!  We’re humans we’ll get through this.  We may have messed up a lot of things but we’ll always have our freedom for this planet is ours!

2029

Joey: {crying}  

 

Bobby: Joey, lighten up.  I’m glad you got here early I need some help cheering everyone up.  Now listen guys there are a lot of nasty rumors floating around.  So I want to make some things very clear.  I know my Giant Lizard Master loves me.  As I am sure yours loves you.  They would never do anything to hurt us.  That is why they have a veterinarian for humans, to take care of us.  Now I know our Lizard overlords would never castrate us in order to keep our population under control.  That is not what a loving master does.  Our masters need there workers reproducing.  We have nothing to fear.  Joey you were the first one here this morning tell we have nothing to fear.

Joey: {cries harder} I should have voted for Hillary.

 

Your Lizard Master!

On Tuesday go out and vote for Hillary Clinton.  In doing this you will save humanity, and if your a guy, also your balls. 

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE DEBATE (TO ME)

As a reluctant supporter of Hillary Clinton, due to the fact that my preferred candidate never got in the race, I was very concerned going into Monday’s debate.  This is because I know Donald Trump was the more likable of the two.  This is part of what made him such successful media and ultimately reality TV personality.   It is this charisma that allows him to go on several racist rants, such as questioning a judge’s ability to be impartial because of Mexican ancestry or insulting gold star parents who lost their son, without the normal social consequences that would typically befall a candidate.   No matter what he says a good portion of his supporters brush it off like they would some random statement their crazy uncle made.  “He may be politically incorrect but at least his heart is in the right place.  He is not really racist he just says occasionally things that men of his generation say.”[1]   

                American presidential election history has shown when a more likable candidate goes against a person who perceived to be more experienced they have a built in advantage.  They don’t have to win the debate; all they have to do is look presidential and the voters will go with who they like.  Examples include Kennedy vs. Nixon in 1960 and Bush vs. Gore in 2000.  In both cases the more likable John F. Kennedy and George W. Bush were able to strengthen their candidacies against the incumbent Vice President, Richard Nixon and Al Gore[2].   In both years the incumbent party was coming off a popular presidency and they were expecting triumphant victory but what they got was a close race and the White House going to the challenger[3]. 

                So I was concerned that Donald Trump would follow this pattern.  Fortunately America ended up seeing the worst debate performance in presidential history, surpassing even 1976 when Gerald Ford seemingly forgot the Iron Curtain existed.   

                For me, the most important part of this debate was not Trump admitting he doesn’t pay taxes, his frequent interruptions of Clinton when it was her turn to speak, admitting he didn't pay taxes, or coming unhinged while claiming he had great temperament.  To me the issue was his birtherism, and how he is so proud of himself for creating enough noise in the media to get Obama to release his birth certificate. 

                The reason I find this so important because I remember it when it first happened.  Trump flew in down in one of this Trump helicopters stood in front of reporters and announced how deeply proud of himself that he had harassed the first African-American President to the point he had to show his papers.  Here is a video of that day.

                When this memory was triggered another memory immediately popped up.   Trump’s replaying his pompous pride of his birther roots brought back not only the memory of his foolish helicopter press conference, but a more pleasant memory of national nightmare ending when in less than a week after Trump’s prideful announcement  President Obama announced this:

                He was dead.  The number one of the United States of America in the 21^st century, Osama Bin Laden was dead.  U.S. Seal Team 6, acting under the orders of the President, went into Pakistan and killed him.  Just as then-Senator Obama had promised to do during the 2008 campaign. 

Bin Laden

                So while Donald Trump was looking in Hawaii for a birth certificate for a man whose birth was announced in the local newspaper nine days after he was born, our President was hunting down the most horrific terrorist in U.S. history.  He wouldn’t stop with Bin Laden either.

So talk about priorities!  While Trump worked on his TV show and mounted a campaign saying one hurtful remark after another, President Obama was making America safe from its enemies by crippling the organization of al-Qaeda by killing off all its leaders.  It was quite an improvement over the previous president who vowed to bring them to justice but got lost in Iraq.  President Obama took the fight right to the enemies by, in his words, “using a scalpel not a hammer” to solve problems.

                

            Donald Trump was proud of himself for his work as birther, I however am proud of my President.

{Rule on comments any comment that doesn't directly refer this post will be deleted.}

---

[1] Those are the least scary of his supporters, the worst ones are those who hear his bigoted statements and get excited by them.

[2]  To be fair both Nixon and Gore also made serious errors in their respective debates.  Nixon refused to wear makeup not understanding how that would reflect on his appearance on television and Gore kept sighing and going on about his “lock box.”

[3] Although in Gore’s case he won the popular vote. 

ADAM (My Tribute to my Fallen Cousin)

                 

                  It is summer time in the very early 1990s; my sisters and I are spending the night at our Aunt and Uncle’s house in Bridgeton, Maine.  My cousin Heather and I are the same age (well she is a few months older but we were both born in 1981) and her brother Adam was born in 1986 right in-between my sisters Mia (1985) and Juliann (1987).  My sisters are staying in Heather’s room and I am staying in Adam’s.  Basically, Heather gets to see what it’s like to have little sisters, while I have opportunity to see what it would be like to have a little brother.  Which is great, we spent most of the day playing Ghostbusters and GI Joe, and the best part was he never asked if I wanted to play with Barbies.  As I lay there half way between being awake and asleep I hear his voice.

                “Jeremy.”  Adam calls to me.

                “What?” I ask.

                “I have to go the bathroom.”

                “Okay. Go.”

                “I can’t I am scared”

                “Why?”

                He didn’t answer so I said, “Okay come on.  I’ll show you there is nothing to be afraid of.”

                We get up and walk to the door in his room.  He looks out the door left and right. “Oh” he says. “I thought as soon as I walked out the door all the objects in the room would get up and start flying at me.”

                Now very much relieved, he heads downstairs by himself to the bathroom and am left in his room wondering what movie he watched that led him to believe this silly thing.  

The family in 1990. Adam and I are on the right next to our grandfather. Our fathers are in the center back in front of our mothers. 

***

                 It is now 1996, Adam and his family have come visit mine here in Windham.  One of the things we typically do during his visits is take my dog Rex, a springier-basset, on very long walks.  Normally, when by myself, I walk around the block with my dog two or three times.  However, when Adam comes over my dog gets excited because he knows we are not only going around our block but we'll also explore the next three neighborhoods as well.   Adam comes from a cat family so walking and interacting with a dog excited him a little more than most people. 

                During these walks we discuss all the interesting things a fifteen year old and ten year old would normally discuss.  Such as differences between middle school and elementary school or what TV show was popular that we both liked.  Adam was also into POGs that I feigned interest just to amuse him.  (I was trying to be a good older cousin.)  During this walk Rex was proudly marking his spot almost every two feet.  This led Adam to have a sudden observation.   

                “Jeremy, I have come to a conclusion.  I think dogs must be made of Ninety percent piss.”

                “Yeah, that’s about rate.” I responded. “At least Eighty-Five.” 

My boyhood dog Rex, whose desire to pee on everything during walks convinced Adam dogs were made mostly of urine. 

***

                It is 1998.  I am enjoying a Rotisserie chicken from Hannaford.  Adam is over with his father; Adam, who is a vegetarian, looks at what I am eating and says, “Hey Jeremy, are you enjoying your carcass?”

                “Yes.” I respond rather bluntly.

                He then went on a rant about the moral virtues of vegetarianism.  Adam also stated how he and his fellow vegetarians are discriminated against by society.

                “How?” I ask rather bluntly.

                “Well, yesterday at school we had hamburgers for lunch.  So I went up and asked ‘what is the vegetarian alternative?’  And do you know what they said?  They said, ‘chicken!’”

                I start to lose it laughing.

                “Hey, that is NOT funny.”

                “Yes it is.”

      ***

                It is the summer of 1999 we are at the camp my family rents in Denmark, Maine.  Adam’s family has come over to spend a night with us.  My father has seen on multiple occasions big frogs consuming little frogs.  We decide this is something we want to see so we take the canoe out and paddle along the shore line to see if we can see it happen.  When this does not occur we decide to force the situation.  We capture a big frog and two little frogs and place them in the canoe with us.  We then paddle middle of the pond and stare at them waiting for nature to take its course.

                We learned some important things.  The first is that captivity and voyeurism don’t inspire cannibalism.  That was disappointing.  The second lesson was harder.  Since they weren’t going to eat each other we decided to test how long it would take them to get the shore. So we released the smallest one and tried to follow it. We quickly lost that frog so we tried the other small one.  While we were following it we made too sharp a turn and I still remember the look on Adam’s face as he, myself, and the big frog all went into the water.

                Panicking we pushed the canoe to the opposite shore line of camp.  We then tipped the boat to empty the water in it.  I looked out and saw our paddles floating so I swam out to get them.  Once we got the water out and made sure we had all the life jackets we headed back.  At Adam's suggestion we should apologize to our parents for what happened so they wouldn't be angry and prohibit us from going in the future.  We found our fathers sitting on the porch and we did as Adam suggested. Their response was simply to laugh themselves stupid.    

  

                The next day Adam said to me, “Jeremy, last night I had a strange dream.”

                “About what?” I asked.

                “We were in the canoe and..”

                “Tipped the boat, yeah that was real.”

                “Not that.  What happened was we were in the canoe out on the middle of the pond and giant frog emerged from the water.  He said he was going to eat us for our crimes against frogs.”

                “Did we get eaten?”

                “No, it said before it ate us it wanted to have its favorite snack: little frogs.  He wanted to know if we had any and I pointed him in the right direction.  He turned to find some and we hurried back to the camp.”

Adam and I at Christmas with Nana

       ***

                It’s July 4, 2001. Most of the family is at Nana and Papa Perron’s place having 4^th of July meal of steak and corn on the cob.  Adam’s just having corn on the cob and a veggie burger.  As it turns to evening we want to go see fireworks, rest of the family are hesitant because it might rain.  But at this point in my life I have a license and a car, Adam and I took my 1985 Chevrolet Caprice all the way to Naples for the fireworks show along the Songo River.  And rain it did!  In fact it started to storm, the fireworks were cut short and people started to leave.  But Adam and I decided it would be good fun to run out to the dock screaming at the storm like Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump. 

                Then things got kind of weird.  It started to hail in the middle of July.  One piece of hail hit Adam so hard it broke the rim of his glasses.  We decided the storm won and we retreated to my car. When we got in I turned the heat on, something I have never done in July before or since.  As we headed home I lost my focus and forgot to turn my high-beams off at points when I should have.

                “Jeremy you just beamed that guy.”

                “That’s okay Adam.  The guy before beamed me and that makes it even.”

                “I don’t think that’s the way it works.  In fact Jeremy, you have an awfully odd way at looking at the world. Do you think there is a world committee tracking you and keeping score? Jeremy vs. the World, the score 1-1. ”  

Oct 2001 cousins photo: Adam's in the front, I'm in the back, and we're separated by our sisters.

       ***

                It is June of 2003.  Our uncle Peter Perron, our fathers’ brother, had been killed in car accident and we’re at his funeral sitting there in the middle row of the seats.  The service hasn’t started yet, and our parents are at front discussing it.  We are wondering what will come of our aunt and how she will cope with this.  Peter had been full of life and we are overcome by the suddenness of death.  

Our Uncle Peter Perron who we lost in 2003

     ***

                It’s 2008.  Adam is no longer a vegetarian.  Since High School, he fell in love with a farm girl named Beth.  I affectionately nickname her the “Chicken Killer” since her family raised their own live stock.  Adam’s favorite food now is a good steak and he has a hunting license.  We’re both still nerds but I am history buff while he is a science geek.   This is great because we are both experts that can educate the other one.  I tell him things, he tells me things, and we both learn a lot from each other.  On Christmas he gives the book “A Short History of Nearly Everything*” That I have reviewed for this blog.

***

The Family as it was Easter 2010 (You can see my head poking up in the very back behind my mother.  Adam is to the left of me and his wife Beth is right in front of him.

                It’s July 31^st, 2010.  Adam and Beth are getting married.  I tried to tell them to do it February 27^th.  That is my sister’s birthday; two weeks ago Mia married her husband Francis on Adam's birthday (July 17^th) exactly.  Mia became vegetarian like Adam use to be and had vegetarian wedding.  The food was not pleasing to me.  Fortunately the Chicken Killer’s family didn’t let me down.  They made plenty and lots of left overs. I was eating steak and chicken all day!

       ***

                It’s 2012; I lend Adam and Beth my Deadwood DVD collection to give us something more to talk about.  They watched in record time and like me hated the ending, but loved the series.

Adam and his farm girl

       ***

                It’s 2013 New Years.  I am with Francis and Mia as a guest at Beth and Adam’s.  We spend the night playing the Settlers of Catan.  Beth is very good at this game.  Seriously good, if there a professional Settlers of Catan League she would be their Tom Brady.  One of their dogs (they have two dogs now) ate one of my red roads.  This causes my brother-in-law to lose his mind. (Francis is a very serious Catan player, but not as good as Beth) Adam then makes a new red road out of a match stick. It is now the favored piece in that Catan set.   

        ***

                It’s September of 2014.  Adam and Beth now have a daughter.  Abigail Katherine Perron was born on September 6.  I came up to see them a week after and I brought Pizza so they wouldn’t have to make dinner.  I met the baby and I was the first of their extended family to come visit.  When I arrived I was first greeted by their two dogs. I asked Adam when it clicked emotionally he told me this:

                “I felt an emotional bond immediately.  However, the moment I felt profound change is when we brought her home and closed the door and at that moment I knew my life had now changed and this was going to be my new reality.”

Adam's new joyful and short-lived reality

        ***

                While my own career in education had fizzled out I was proud that he was able to become a successful teacher at Lake Region Middle School.

                Then on April 20, 2016 a horrible thing happened.  This time things did go flying at him as a box truck slammed into his car.  The only good thing—if there can be—, unlike when he was a child, he wasn’t scared.  He couldn’t be, there was not enough time.  It didn’t matter, the damage was done and he was gone.

                I was at their house the day before yesterday.  His daughter was napping; when she woke she was upset.  Her mother brought her out and there was a crowd of people, Abby looked around the crowd but the person she was looking for wasn’t there.  For he is gone.

                In coming weeks, the local police will try to put together exactly why the truck turned the way it did.  As I go to his funeral today no doubt there will be people there looking find some sort of meaning to why he died.  But I won’t and I hope most won’t either.  For there is no meaning in death, it just is.  I read a lot of biographies and that is the way the story always ends.  Our meaning is in life.  It is what we do with our time that matters.  Adam’s life was cut short before he could complete three decades but not a moment was wasted.  I can’t say that about most people, especially myself.

Rest-in-peace, dear cousin.

MACHIAVELLI

A review of David Wootton’s translation Machiavelli: Selected Political Writings of The Prince, Selections from The Discourses, and Letter to Vettori (circa 1513, The Prince) (1994, this translation)  

(Rating 5 of 5)

Around ten years ago I was taking a college course called Lying and Politics and this book was one of the textbooks we used.  I found it fascinating then and even more so now.  Niccolo Machiavelli was a man and public servant who lived in Renaissance Italy.  He was on hand for many historic events and met many important people.  During the restoration of the Medici in Florence he was tortured for the crime of being an official of the previous regime.   After surviving his torture he would go on to write these famous works. 

            The introduction in this book discusses how Machiavelli’s work has been interpreted over the centuries.  There is apparently some controversy around to what is referred to as ‘the two Machiavellis.’ They try to reconcile the apparent contradiction of the author of The Prince, who gives advice to rulers and would be rulers, to the author of The Discourses, who prefers republican government.  I personally do not see a real contradiction because they are about two different things. The Prince is simply a how-to book for a dictator that was written for a potential employer while The Discourses is Machiavelli sharing his own view and preferences.  

      

“In order to properly understand the behavior of lower classes one needs to be a ruler, and in order to properly understand the behavior of rulers one needs to be a member of the lower classes.” (pg. 6)

            

           I am not sure this is true although subject and ruler might have a unique perspective on the other its highly unlikely that this automatically grants them so much insight that they understand the other more than they understand themselves.  I currently work in call center, this would be like me declaring that I was an expert on the behavior of CEOs because I am regular wage employee.  There are elements of the CEO’s job that I am certain I do not understand, just as there is much about their low ranking employees’ job that the CEO does not think about in his or her daily function.

“Is it better to be loved than feared, or vice versa?  My reply is one ought to be both loved and feared; but since it is difficult to accomplish both at the same time, I maintain it is much safer to be feared than loved, if you have to do without one of the two.” (pg. 51-2)

          

          This is of course is probably Machiavelli’s most famous quote.  This is the one line that captures the very heart of The Prince.  I always thought it would be better to be loved.  For if you are loved than your subjects would take your side even when your chips were down, where as if they just feared you they may betray you in a moment of weakness.  Machiavelli would probably point out that just because they loved you does not mean that they would look out for their own necks primarily when they felt that they or their interests were in danger.  
          

Niccolo Machiavelli 

           We know Machiavelli thought about rulers keeping their word.  He felt it is better to be crafty than honest. 

“Everybody recognizes how praiseworthy it is for a ruler to keep his word and to live a life of integrity, without relying on craftiness.  Nevertheless, we see that in practice, in these days, those rulers who have not thought it important to keep their word have achieved great things, and have known how to employ cunning to confuse and disorientate other men.  In the end, they have been able to overcome those who have placed store in integrity.” (pg. 53)  

            Throughout The Prince Machiavelli is giving advice on how to rule people and the challenges one faces when ruling a people you had previously conquered.  During the course of the book Machiavelli jumps back and forth from ancient times of Alexander, Scipio, and Hannibal to the more “modern” times of Renaissance Italy.  Machiavelli finds quite a bit to praise of ancient leaders and much to criticize in the modern ones.  He completely chastises King Louis XII of France and his misadventures in Italy. 

 “Thus, Louis had made the following five mistakes: He wasted his alliance with the lesser states; he increased the strength of one of the more powerful Italian states; he invited an extremely powerful foreign state to intervene in Italy; he did not go and live in Italy; he did not establish settlements there.” (pg. 13)

The part of Machiavelli’s criticism that I find rather weird is his insistence that a conqueror should move into his conquered territories despite being the ruler of another place.  The example that he gives is the Sultan of Turkey moving into Constantinople, that is true but the Ottoman Empire did not change capitals every time it expanded. Now it should be noted in Machiavelli’s time it wasn’t that long ago that the fall of Constantinople happened.  So I suppose he could be excused for the oversight.  

            Quite bitter with the example of leadership that he had seen in Italy politically, he clearly shows his anger at what Italy had been going through in his own time. 

“The outcome has been that Italy has, in quick succession, been overrun by Charles, plundered by Louis, raped by Ferdinand, and humiliated by the Swiss.” (pg. 42)

When referring the types of principalities there are he makes it pretty clear that the long established powers are the best.

“It is much easier to hold on to hereditary states, that are accustomed to being governed by the family that now rules them, than it is to hold on to new acquisitions.” (pg. 7)

         

             I do not think Machiavelli is anything here that is not obvious.  It is much easier to inherit power in an established dynasty than to go out and try to take it.  Of course you would have to be born into an established dynasty for that to occur.  Since one who seeks power is likely to have it just handed to him by luck of birth they are required to take it and hopefully set up their own system.  Machiavelli is quick to point out how dangerous that actually is.

“One ought to pause and consider the fact that there is nothing harder to undertake, nothing more likely of failure, nothing more risky to pull off, than to set oneself up as a leader who plans to found a new system of government.  For the fonder makes enemies of all those who are doing well under the old system, and has only lukewarm support from those who hope to do well under the new one.” (pg. 19)

            There was however one ideal guy who showed the way on how to do it.  When advising new rulers on the best path to success, his ideal candidate was Cesare Borgia.  This was odd because he lost in the end.  Yet to Machiavelli, he was perfect and he served as a duel example.  He was the model to follow but he also came with a warning: that one can act perfectly and still fall due to bad luck with no fault of your own. His power was dependent on the patronage of others and when those 'others' went away he was alone and vulnerable.  Borgia was the son of the Pope. (Yeah, I know how strange that sounds.)  His father, Alexander VI, and his ally King Louis XII of France were his primary backers and without them he had no independent power.  

“So, now I have surveyed all the actions of the duke, I still cannot find anything to criticize.  It seem to me I have been right to present him as an example to be imitated by all those who come to power through good luck and someone else’s military might.  For since he was great-hearted and ambitious, he had no choice as to what to do; and he only failed to achieve his goals because Alexander died too soon, and he himself fell ill.” (pg. 26-7)

           

         

Cesare Borgia, son of the Pope

  
            Part of the reason Machiavelli admired Cesare so much was how he would do what he thought needed to be done and not only was he not hesitate, he would be in a hurry to get it accomplished.  In Machiavelli's world any bad you need to do you must do it quickly. 

“Do all the harm you must at one and the same time, that way the full extent of it will not be noticed, and it will give least offense. One should do good, on the other hand, little by little, so people can fully appreciate it.” (pg. 31)

            

            
           Machiavelli also gives a hint of his populism in his next bit of advice. It is better to become monarch at the head of a popular movement than it is to have the title awarded to you by a small elite. This advice is a tad bit strange when you consider his comments on Julius Caesar are in The Discourses.  For Caesar is the one who comes to mind when I hear these statements. 

  

“He who comes to power with the help of the elite has more difficulty in holding on to power than he who comes to power with the help of the populace, for in the former case he is surrounded by many who think of themselves as his equals, and who consequently cannot order about or manipulate as he might wish.  He who comes to power with support of the populace, on the other hand, has it all to himself.” (pg. 31-2)

In The Discourses, Machiavelli discus the history of ancient Rome a great deal.  It is embarrassing to say this especially in light on how brilliant The Prince is, but all of his theories on Rome are wrong.  Machiavelli comes off as complete Catoian in his views on the Roman Republic.  He fails to see the Republic that could manage a city well could not manage an empire.  He seems to think that the Republic’s downfall was due to lack of character of the people living at the time who failed to live up to the ideals of their ancestors. 

Machiavelli was one of the most fascinating minds of Renaissance Italy, a place not lacking at all in marvelous minds.  The father of political realist thought. 

{Video from the Showtime series the Borgias}

HELLO PLINY

A review of The Letters of the Younger Pliny (110-113) translated by Betty Radice (1963)

(Rating 5 of 5)

His name was Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, he is comely referred to as Pliny the Younger to distinguish him from his uncle and adopted father, Pliny the Elder, who was a famous historian.  A few of the letters the younger Pliny discuss his uncle’s work, reputation, and famous death at the destruction of Pompeii.  Pliny the Younger was an official of the Roman Imperial government called the Principate.  The Principate was the system of rule by an emperor or 'first citizen' that was established by Emperor Augustus to de facto replace the Republic. Pliny had the privilege of serving in the best part of what was the golden age amongst golden age of the Roman civilization: the Pax Romana in the time of the Good Emperors in the reign of Trajan.  It was not always that way for Pliny, for was born in the time of Nero, whom his uncle despised.  During his own career he also had to endure the tyranny of the Emperor Domitian.  Pliny’s survival strategy was to keep quiet and not cause problems for anyone.  He would be able to resume his career and advancement with the coming of Nerva.

Statue of Pliny

            Historically Pliny is not important.  He was a semi-important person in his own time for he was in the Emperor’s inner circle and was appointed to govern a province.  However this is true for a number of officials in the Empire.  Although he had a nice life his accomplishments are not of any historical significance, except that Pliny’s correspondence survives.  He remembered to keep copies of his letters and publish them years later in a series of nine books; some of these letters are to people such as Tacitus, a famous Roman historian. After he died a tenth book was a published that contained his communications with Emperor Trajan.  Pliny is the only man of his rank and position in Roman society during this time period whose work survives.  It is Pliny whose eyes we use to examine the Roman Empire of the Pax Romana.

The Destruction of Pompeii

            Pliny enjoyed giving advice and playing the mentor to young up and coming Roman aristocrats.  He gives them advice on being a lawyer and being a career politician.  Pliny takes their success rather personally often telling friends he is more nervous when a young apprentice is up for election than for his own campaigns.  In one letter he answers one young attorney’s question on having been elected tribune of the people.  Pliny’s answer would have horrified Cato the Younger.  Pliny explains that it depends on how one chooses to view the office, either as a serious office or just a ceremonial figurehead job.  Pliny’s letter shows that many, if not most, saw through the Emperor’s disguise as ‘First Citizen.’ The Republic did not exist to govern the country anymore it was there only for show.  Nevertheless Pliny tells the newly elected tribune that when he held the job he took it very seriously.  Not to mention advising others who have held the offices that he once had. 

            Pliny also discusses being a lawyer in Rome, sending copies of his speeches, advising others on theirs, and going over funny court stories.  He mentions a number of times his views on inheritance, which was the majority of his cases.  His view was what the deceased wanted was more important than procedural law.

            Pliny is also quite taken with ghost stories telling a number of them including a time when the ghost of Emperor Tiberius’s younger brother, Drusus Nero, haunted Pliny the Elder.  One letter that I found an insightful to an average day in 2^nd century Rome was this one:    

          

To Minicius Funganus

"It is extraordinary how, if one takes a single day spent in Rome, once can give a more or less accurate account of it, but scarcely any account at all of several days put together.  If you ask anyone what he did that day, the answer would be: ‘I was present at a coming-of-age ceremony, a betrothal, or a wedding.  I was called to witness a will, to support someone in court or to act as assessor.’ All this seems important on the actual day, but quite pointless if you consider that you have done the same sort of thing every day, and still be more pointless if you think about it when you are out of town.  It is then that you realize how many days you have wasted in trivialities.

"I always realize this when I am at Laurentine, reading and writing and finding time to take the exercise which keeps my mind fit for work. There is nothing there for me to say or hear said which I would afterwards regret, no one disturbs me with malicious gossip, and I have no one to blame—but myself—when writing doesn’t come easily.  Hopes and fears do not worry me, and my time is not wasted in ideal talk; I share my thoughts with no one but my books. It is a good life and a genuine one, a seclusion which is happy and honorable, more rewarding than any ‘business’ can be.  The sea and shore are truly my private Helicon, and endless source of inspirations. You should take the first opportunity yourself to leave the din, the futile bustle and useless occupations of the city and devote yourself to literature or leisure.  For it was wise as well as witty of our friend Atulius to say that it is better to have no work to do than to work at nothing.” (Book 1, Letter 9 pg. 42-43)

            Of the collection of letters two are of the most famous are the ones that detail the destruction of Pompeii.  Both were to the historian Tacitus.  Pliny living at the outer edge of Vesuvius’ reach was able, with his mother, to be one of the lucky survivors.  At the edge of the letter he tells Tacitus that he doesn’t think the letter is history.  It is hard to tell but I think Pliny is being sarcastic.  If he is not than the statement is overly ironic.   

To Tacitus

"You say that the letter I wrote for you about my uncle's death made you want to know about my fearful ordeal at Misenum, for I broke off at the beginning of this part of my story. ‘The mind shrinks from remembering ... I will begin.’ 

           "After my uncle's departure I finished up my studies, I spent the rest of the day with my books, as this was my reason for staying behind. Then I took a bath, dined, and then dozed fitfully for a while. For several past days there had been earth tremors which were not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania: but that night the shocks were so violent that everything felt as if it were not only shaken but overturned. My mother hurried into my room and found me already getting up to wake her if she were still asleep.  We sat out on in the forecourt of the house, between the buildings and the sea close by.  I don’t know whether I should call this courage or folly on my part (I was only seventeen at the time) but I called for a volume of Livy and went on reading as if I had nothing else to do.  Up came a friend of my uncle's who had just come from Spain to join him. When he saw us sitting there and me actually reading, he scolded us both—me for my foolhardiness and my mother for allowing it. Nevertheless, I remained absorbed in my book.   

           "By now it was dawn, but the light was still dim and faint. The buildings around us are already tottering, and the open space we were in was too small for us not to be in real and imminent danger if the house collapsed.  This finally decided us to leave the town.  We were followed by a panic-stricken mob of people wanting to act on someone else’s decision in preference to their own (a point in which fear looks like prudence), who hurried us on our way by pressing hard behind in a dense crowd. Once beyond the buildings we stopped, and there we had some extraordinary experiences which thoroughly alarmed us. The carriages we had ordered brought out began to run in different directions though the ground was quite level, and would not remain stationary when wedged with stones. We also saw the sea sucked away and apparently forced back by the earthquake: at any rate it receded from the shore so the quantities of sea creatures were left stranded on dry sand.  On the landward side a fearful black cloud was rent by forked and quivering bursts of flame and parted to reveal great tongues of fire, like flashes of lightning magnified in size. 

            "At that point my uncle’s friend from Spain spoke up still more urgently: ‘If your brother, if your uncle is still alive, he will want you both to be saved: if he dead, he would want you to survive him—why put off your escape?’ We replied that we would not think of considering our own safety as long as we were uncertain about his. Without waiting any longer, our friend rushed off and hurried out of danger as fast as he could.    

"Soon afterwards the cloud sank down to earth and covered the sea; it had already blotted out Capri and hidden the promontory of Misenum from sight. Then my mother implored, entreated and commanded me to escape as best I could—a young man might escape, whereas she was old and slow and could die in peace as long as she had not been the cause of my death too. I refused to save myself without her, and grasping her hand forced her to quicken her pace. She gave in reluctantly, blaming herself for delaying me.  Ashes were already falling, not as yet very thickly.  I looked round: a dense black cloud was coming up behind us, spreading over the earth like a flood. ‘Let us leave the road while we still can see,’ I said, ‘or we shall be knocked down and trampled underfoot in the dark by the crowd behind.’ We had scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if a lamp had been put out in a closed room. You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling for their parents, others for children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying.  Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left, and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness forever more. There were people, too, who added to the real perils by inventing fictitious dangers: some reported that part of Misenum had collapsed or another part was on fire, and although their tales were false they found others to believe them. A gleam of light returned but we took this to be a warning of the approaching flames rather than daylight.  However, the flames remained some distance off; then darkness came on once more and ashes began to fall again, this time in heavy showers. We rose from time to time and shook them off, otherwise we should have been buried and crushed beneath their weight. I could boast that not a groan or cry of fear escaped me in these perils, had I not derived some poor consolation in my mortal lot from the belief that the whole world was dying with me and I with it.

"At last the darkness thinned and dispersed into smoke or cloud; then there was genuine daylight, and the sun actually shown out, but yellowish as it is during and eclipse. We were terrified to see everything changed, buried deep in ashes like snowdrifts. We returned to Misenum where we attended to our physical needs as best we could, and then spent an anxious night alternating between hope and fear. Fear predominated, for the earthquakes went on, and several hysterical individuals made their own and other people’s calamities seem ludicrous in comparison with their frightful predictions. But even then, in spite of the dangers we had been through and were still expecting, my mother and I had still no intention of leaving until we had news of my uncle. 

"Of course the details are not important enough for history, and you will read them without any idea of recording them; if they seem scarcely worth putting in a letter, you have only yourself to blame for asking for them.” (Book 6, Letter 20 pg.171-173)

Pompeii victims: young family

Pompeii victims: fetal position

Pompeii victims: lost pet

Of all the books of letters that were published the most important is the one when he is the Governor of Bithynia-Pontus.  There we get a look of an emperor in communication with one of his lieutenants throughout his empire.  Pliny feels the need to check in all the time with the Emperor, sometimes the Emperor approves and sometimes he just tells Pliny to make a decision. Here is one letter I found very interesting.  

Pliny to the Emperor Trajan

"While I was visiting another part of the province, a widespread fire broke out at Nicomedia which destroyed many private houses and also two public buildings (the Elder Citizen’s Club and the Temple of Isis) although a road runs between them. It was fanned by the strong breeze  in the early stages, but it would not have spread so far but for the apathy of the populace; for it is generally agreed that people stood watching the disaster without bestirring themselves to do anything to stop it. Apart from this, there is not a single fire engine anywhere in the town, not a bucket nor any apparatus for fighting a fire. These will now be provided on my instructions.

"Will you, Sir, consider whether you think a company of firemen might be formed, limited to 150 members? I will see that no one shall be admitted who is not genuinely a fireman, and that the privileges granted shall not be abused: it will not be difficult to keep such a small number under observation.” (Book 10, Letter 33 pg.271)

            For the record I have no idea what a Roman fire engine would look like.  Seems like a reasonable request but the Emperor’s response is something downright weird.

Trajan to Pliny

"You may well have had the idea that it should be possible to form a company of firemen at Nicomedia on the model of those existing elsewhere, but we must remember that it is societies like these which have been responsible for the political disturbances in your province, particularly in its towns. If people assemble for a common purpose whatever name we give them and for whatever reason, they soon turn into a political club. It is a better policy then to provide the equipment necessary for dealing with fires, and to instruct property owners to make use of it, calling on the help of the crowds which collect if they find it necessary.” (Book 10, Letter 34 pg. 271-272)

Talk about a paranoid emperor.  ‘Don’t start a fire department because they might from a society that will try to overthrow the Empire.’  Trajan was one greatest of Rome’s Emperors but just because you are smart in one area of life does not make you smart in all areas. 

Of all the letters in Book 10 the one about the Christians, this probably one of—if not thee—most analyzed letters in history.

 Pliny to the Emperor Trajan

"It is my customer to refer all my difficulties to you, Sir, for no one is better able to resolve my doubts and to inform my ignorance.

"I have never been present at an examination of Christians. Consequently, I do not know nature of the extent of the punishments usually meted out to them, nor the grounds for starting an investigation and how far it should be pressed. Nor am I at all sure whether any distinction should be made between them on the ground of age or I young people and adults should be treated alike; whether a pardon ought to be granted to anyone retracting his beliefs, or if he has once professed Christianity, he shall gain nothing by renouncing it; and if whether it is the mere name of Christian which is punishable, even if innocent of crime, or rather the crimes associated with the name.

" For the moment this is the line I have taken with all persons brought before me on the charge of being Christians. I have asked them in person if they are Christians, and if they admit it, I repeat the question a second and third time, with a warning of the punishment awaiting them. If they persist, I order them to be led away for execution; for, whatever the nature of their admission, I am convinced that their stubbornness and unshakeable obstinacy ought not to go unpunished.

" There have been others similarly fanatical who are Roman citizens, I have entered them on a list of persons to be sent to Rome for trial.

"Now that I have begun to deal with this problem, as so often happens, the charges are becoming more widespread and increasing in variety. An anonymous pamphlet has been circulated which contains of a number of accused persons.  Amongst these I considered that I should dismiss any who denied that they were or ever had been Christians when they had repeated after me a formula of invocation to the gods and had made offerings of wine and incense to your statue (which I had ordered to be brought into court for this purpose along with the images of the gods), and furthermore had reviled the name of Christ: none of which things, I understand, any genuine Christian can be induced to do.

"Others, whose names were given to be by an informer, first admitted the charge and then denied it; they said that they had ceased to be Christians two or more years previously, and some of them even twenty years ago.  They all did reverence to your statue and the images of the gods in the same way as the others, and reviled in the name of Christ.  They also declared that the sum total of their guild or error amounted to no more than this: they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately amongst themselves in honor of Christ as if to a god, and also to bind themselves by oath, not for any criminal purpose, but to abstain from theft, robbery, and adultery, to commit no breach of trust and not to deny a deposit when called upon to restore it.  After this ceremony it had been their custom to disperse and reassemble later to take food of an ordinary, harmless kind; but they had in fact given up this practice since my edict, issued on your instructions, which banned all political societies.  This made me decide it was all the more necessary to extract the truth by torture from two slave-women, whom they call deaconesses.  I found nothing but a degenerate sort of cult carried to extravagant lengths.

"I have therefore postponed any further examination and hastened to consult you.  The question seems to me to be worthy of your consideration, especially in view of the number of persons endangered; for a great many individuals of every age and class, both men and women, are being brought to trial, and this is likely to continue.  It is not only the towns, but villages and rural districts too which are infected through contact with this wretched cult.  I think though that it is still possible for it to be checked and directed to better ends, for there is no doubt that people have begun to throng the temples which had been almost entirely deserted for a long time; the sacred rites which had been allowed to lapse are being performed again, and flesh of sacrificial victims is on sale everywhere, though up till recently scarcely anyone could be found to buy it. It is easy to infer from this that a great many people could be reformed if they were given an opportunity to repent.” (Book 10, Letter 96 pg. 293-295)

            One of the biggest debates in history was how long did it take Christianity to grow to significant numbers.  Scholars have sharp disagreements over it and often go over this letter to make their point. Pliny sees it as a growing problem in his province, yet he has no idea who they are despite being a well-connected and educated statesman.  Trajan’s response is more telling.   

“Trajan to Pliny

You have followed the right course, my dear Pliny, in your examination of the cases against with being Christians, for it is impossible to lay down a general rule to a fixed formula. These people must not be hunted out; if they are brought before you and the charged against them is proved, they must be punished, but in the case of anyone who denies that he is a Christian, and shall makes it clear that he is not by offering prayers to our gods, he is to be pardoned as a result of his repentance however suspect his past conduct may be. But pamphlets circulated anonymously must play no part in any accusation.  They create the worst sort of precedent and are quite out of keeping with the spirit of our age.” (Book 10, Letter 97 pg. 295)

The Emperor who is so paranoid he does not want to see and organized fire department for fear of what it could turn into did not think the Christians amounted to any sort of threat.  Trajan’s letter is seen as evidence that most of the early emperors prior to the Crisis of the Third Century were not actively persecuting the Christians themselves; rather it was done at a more local level. 

Emperor Trajan, Pliny's boss who is afraid of organized firemen but not Christians.

            If you are looking for some great primary source material from antiquity it does not get much better than the Letters of the Younger Pliny.

 {Video was posted by List 25 on YouTube}