Just Think about the Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic

…take it from a ‘professional”: you can make examples and quotes from the past mean whatever you want them to.

Cicero, Procluentio 109-111

“Once you learned the arrogance of the man, you recognized as well his thoughts and plans as a tribune. Dear Gods! What hatred, what pride, what lack of self awareness, what burdensome and intolerable insolence!

When it comes to Quinctius, what case had he ever supported before, even though he had lived almost 50 years? Did anyone ever see him not merely acting as someone’s supporter but also as a respected legal advocate?

Just because he had claimed public attention–long distracted–and brought to that place bereft of a Tribune’s voice since Lucius Sulla appeared and recalled the people who were unaccustomed to public rallies to that ancient habit, this is why he became somewhat pleasing to a certain kind of people for a short period of time.

This same person, though, think of how much hate he received later from the very same people he used to climb to higher office! This was not at all wrong. Take some time and remember  not just his behavior and his arrogance but also the looks on his face and the way he dressed with that purple robe extending to his heel.”

iam insolentiam noratis hominis, noratis animos eius ac spiritus tribunicios. quod erat odium, di immortales! quae superbia, quanta ignoratio sui, quam gravis atque intolerabilis adrogantia! … [110] nam Quinctius quidem quam causam umquam antea dixerat, cum annos ad quinquaginta natus esset? quis eum umquam non modo in patroni, sed in lautioris1 advocati loco viderat? qui quod rostra iam diu vacua locumque illum post adventum L. Sullae a tribunicia voce desertum oppresserat multitudinemque desuefactam iam a contionibus ad veteris consuetudinis similitudinem revocarat, idcirco cuidam hominum generi paulisper iucundior fuit.

atque idem quanto in odio postea fuit illis ipsis per quos in altiorem locum ascenderat! neque iniuria. [111] facite enim ut non solum mores et adrogantiam eius sed etiam voltum atque amictum atque etiam illam usque ad talos demissam purpuram recordemini.

Ah yes, when demagogues whipped up riotous crowds to forestall or overturn elections-

Oh, he doesn’t mean that. He means a warrant, issued by a judge, to search a property that a guy owns. Huh.

— Banjo Barn Hermit (@sillyvariance) August 9, 2022

The  alarmists invoking the fall of the Roman Republic over the serving of a warrant at Mar-a-Lago miss out on how many decades the Republic fell apart (let’s go back to the Gracchi, or Marius? What about the struggle of the orders? Caesar followed Sulla…eventually… and he was no peach either). The founders of the U.S. Republic were also enamored with Roman history. Perhaps it was the economy dependent on enslaved peoples….

The comparison of Biden to Sulla and Trump to a champion of the people should make even the most craven sycophant blush.