WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:06.480 Gentlemen, what we do in life echoes in a tanity. 2 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:08.759 He's fucking obsessed with Gladiator. 3 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:13.199 A man, it's a great fucking film. Strength and honor, 4 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:18.679 Scotch and shoulder holds you to the uh so Russell Crowe. 5 00:00:18.679 --> 00:00:19.839 I mean he's trapped right. 6 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:23.280 They've gotta sever off his head, and he's telling him 7 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:24.239 how to do it, and. 8 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:26.640 Then he yanks the sword from that dude that was 9 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:27.320 so fat. 10 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:29.480 What about when the guy gets with that spike thing 11 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:30.719 and chunks of his head go flying. 12 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:36.640 I don't know if already it's grit and said Iraq everywhere, 13 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:39.159 like I was supposed to be the franchise player, and 14 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:40.679 we in here talking about. 15 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:50.240 Practice, ladies and gentlemen, we got him. 16 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:53.320 Our next door neighbors are foreign countries. I call upon 17 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:57.280 all nations to do everything they can to stop these 18 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:04.640 terrors killing me. Now watch his drive, Hey everybody, and 19 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.079 welcome to remember Shuffle. My name is Ben, with me 20 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:09.280 as always my co host Jordano Ben. 21 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:13.120 There are rich Lanisti and there are poor LANISTI. Then 22 00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:16.959 there's fifty cubits of crap, and then there's our ludus. 23 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:20.200 We are an organ donor for the rich. 24 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:21.040 Editors. 25 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:25.439 Our goal shouldn't be to buy gladiators. Our goal should 26 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:31.599 be to buy plebeian jeers jeers or cheers cheers, cheers. 27 00:01:32.359 --> 00:01:36.120 We don't have the dinari for a secuteur. Okay, we're 28 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:40.319 not selling togas here. What if I told you Retiario's 29 00:01:40.439 --> 00:01:43.239 fighters lost one hundred percent of their fights, but one 30 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:47.760 more favor than any other gladiator. We used analytics to 31 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:52.159 pick our gladiators. It's a new method I've developed called counting. 32 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:54.959 E e e e e E. 33 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:02.319 His acclaim perd sestori ratio off the chart. That's what 34 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:03.120 I like about them. 35 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:07.599 Welcome to our episode on Gladiator. If you were expecting 36 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:10.240 part six of our series on the global financial crisis, 37 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:13.319 fear not, it's coming. Sometimes these episodes take a little 38 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:15.879 bit more time, a little bit more research, and we 39 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:18.360 don't want to leave you hanging. So here's Gladiator. 40 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:22.680 It's really hard to try reading about the Eurozone crisis. 41 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:24.319 Oh, it's so fucking boring, dude. 42 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:28.360 There's all sorts of like currency concepts involved. It's not 43 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:29.280 an easy read. 44 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:34.000 Keep finding myself reading lines like grease owed so many 45 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:37.439 billions of euros. I just want to be like two 46 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:43.039 National Dead is dumb. But yes, we are turning to Gladiator. 47 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:44.759 Why are we doing this, Tordano. 48 00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:46.639 One, I mean at one best picture, you know, I 49 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:48.159 feel like at some point we'll probably get to all 50 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:50.360 of them. I mean, first of all, it's a good movie. 51 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:51.639 It's a fun to watch movie. 52 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:51.840 You know. 53 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:54.080 Obviously it's like kind of a sports movie and like 54 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:58.000 a revenge film. But most of the plot occupies itself 55 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:00.840 with this intrigue over trying to get the Roman Empire 56 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:03.039 to go back to the Roman Republic. And I was 57 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:05.080 talking to my dad about this movie recently and he 58 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:07.039 was like, oh, yeah, that movie was interesting. You know, 59 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:08.919 it is interesting the way that Romans wanted to go 60 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:11.919 back to the republic like that. And Ben has pointed 61 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:15.360 out to me before that this was not ever a concern, right, 62 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:18.479 And so I think the fact that we made in 63 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:21.400 the year two thousand, the plot of our Best Picture 64 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:25.840 winner about gladiators about wanting to fix their political system 65 00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:28.360 to be like a more liberal one, I think says 66 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:31.680 a lot about the era in which this movie came out, right, 67 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:35.080 Because if this concern wasn't actually part of like Roman 68 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.680 society back then, then that means it's purely for the 69 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:40.759 audience in two thousand and so it speaks mostly to 70 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:42.719 the type of art that we're making and the type 71 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:45.800 of art that we wanted to see about democracy. It 72 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:48.960 is really sort of like our end of history. Insert 73 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:51.360 into a sword and Sandals movie. Right, And if I 74 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:54.479 can walk you through popular sword and Sandals movies over time, right, 75 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:57.000 you got ben Her and Quovadas in the nineteen fifties, right, 76 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:00.879 both of which are about Christian faith essentially, right at 77 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:05.199 a time when Americans are juxtaposing themselves with like atheism 78 00:04:05.319 --> 00:04:09.599 in the USSR. And Quovadis is also about a corrupt emperor, 79 00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:12.000 but only in the sense that he's persecuting Christians. 80 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:14.639 Right. I'm like this movie. They remade ben Her a 81 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:17.040 few years back. I'm surprised they didn't call it ben 82 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:18.639 Them am I Right? 83 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:23.560 Okay? And then Spartacus is made in the nineteen sixties. 84 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:26.879 The author was someone who was persecuted by the House 85 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:30.800 on Unamerican Activities, right, and so it has a lot 86 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:34.079 of that baked into it. It opens with a nod 87 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:37.360 where Rome is described as a republic and quote fatally 88 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:39.800 stricken with a disease called human slavery. 89 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:42.439 Yeah, it's a film about a slave revolt, and I 90 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:45.279 would just say, you know, push up nerd glasses. The 91 00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:48.959 Spartacus slaves were not abolitionists. They didn't want to free 92 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:53.040 other slaves. They wanted to be free themselves. The ancient 93 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:57.600 world never actually produced an abolitionist movement. No matter what 94 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:01.639 kind of radical new religion or philosoph was produced, nobody 95 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:04.079 ever said like, this is a moral wrong that we 96 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:06.600 should do away with. I think the closest they got 97 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:08.399 is like, this is a moral wrong, but it is 98 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:09.480 necessary evil. 99 00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:11.480 But yeah, I mean it's about civil rights, right, and 100 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:14.199 it's coming out in the nineteen sixties, and about racism. 101 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:16.879 I think there's like some racial mixing in the gladiatorial 102 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:19.240 school going on in that movie King of Heaven We've 103 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:22.279 mentioned on this pod before about like a confusing quagmire 104 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:24.959 of a war in the Middle East three hundred about 105 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:28.399 sort of like aughts East versus West fascism. And so 106 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:30.639 now you have this like pre nine to eleven Sword 107 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:34.920 and Sandal movie and it's about liberalism, which is so funny. 108 00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:39.560 Yeah, like classical liberalism, and I think it speaks really 109 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:43.160 well to nineties era liberalism because we see the empire 110 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:46.240 reach its zenith, both the American and the Roman Empire. 111 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:48.759 The Romans are fighting far off on the frontier in 112 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:52.120 Germany when we check in with them, but it's specifically 113 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:54.879 in the Roman instance in a lot of ways, about 114 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:59.879 a cultural decline, a society that has expended all of 115 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:05.120 blood and treasure and man hours to create the best 116 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:11.519 blood sport entertainment in the world, international networks of slaving 117 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:14.279 to get the exotic animals and the people from all 118 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:18.720 over for the sake of blood sport. Roman military might 119 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:22.639 unquestioned in this movie, just like American military might was 120 00:06:22.839 --> 00:06:25.720 in the end of history unipolar moment. And I think 121 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:29.600 some of this obsession with cultural decline is wrapped up 122 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:33.680 in that late nineties early two thousands. Our politics has 123 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:40.160 become a politics of scandal, Monica Lewinsky, impeachment, etc. That's 124 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:43.240 like their comedists. I know I'm kind of stretching it 125 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:45.680 a little bit here, but we've mentioned a lot on 126 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:51.079 this pod about postmodernism of the nineties, anything cynical or 127 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:56.759 snarky or ironic or irreverent. And this movie is not postmodern. 128 00:06:56.920 --> 00:06:59.439 And that's not just because of the Sword and Sandals movie. 129 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:02.360 It's not postmodern in the sense that it is earnest 130 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:05.680 to a fucking fault. In many ways, this is an 131 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:10.160 anti postmodern nineties reaction film, and I think that's like 132 00:07:10.199 --> 00:07:13.079 the kind of decline that sort of envisioned and of course, 133 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:17.000 like Jordano said, the like stupid imagined, we gotta bring 134 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:20.360 the republic back, which nobody ever mentioned for real or 135 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:23.800 thought about. And yeah, why this matters, Why this particular 136 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:28.600 film matters. Think about your classic ninety Sword in Sandals movies. 137 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:31.560 Name me some, Jordano. There's so many, they're so famous. 138 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:35.160 That's the bit you can't. If I asked you to 139 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:37.759 think of a two thousand Sandal movie, you might say 140 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:40.959 Troy or Alexander or King Arthur or Kingdom of Heaven 141 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:43.519 or three hundred or a bunch of other ones that 142 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:46.240 are like the B and C and D list here 143 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:49.120 that you probably haven't seen or heard of, like Spartacus, 144 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:52.040 Blood and Sand on the Stars with the Z Network 145 00:07:52.439 --> 00:07:56.800 or The Eagle, or even POMPEII. In twenty fourteen. This 146 00:07:56.920 --> 00:08:00.639 film was so successful that it kicks started. That's Sword 147 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:04.839 and Sandal's renaissance. So that's why we're talking about it. Bibliography, 148 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:09.240 we read a book by this dude named Harry side Bottom. 149 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:15.160 Insane British name, Harry's Sidebottom good God, yeah, truly English 150 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:16.680 gay porno actor's name. 151 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:23.240 Yes, they're developing new positions over there. Harry's Sidebottom wrote 152 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:25.800 a book on gladiators that came about just last year 153 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:29.279 called Those About to Die, which I really dug. But 154 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:31.759 I think you kind of already need to know a 155 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:35.039 lot about classics to really appreciate it. Tornado, you were 156 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:35.799 so so on it. 157 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:37.080 I thought it was interesting enough. 158 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:38.919 I also read one of his other books called The 159 00:08:38.919 --> 00:08:41.480 Mad Emperor, for some of the other stuff here. Before 160 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:43.600 we turn to the film, I want to give you 161 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:47.200 a little bit of background on gladiators. And this might 162 00:08:47.399 --> 00:08:51.080 run a little long, but it's only going to run 163 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:58.360 long because gladiators in history are far more interesting than Gladiator, 164 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:01.879 the two thousand film. So cut me a little slack, 165 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:04.720 spend a lot of my life dealing with this classic stuff. 166 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:07.799 Come in with an open mind. Okay, So we're gonna 167 00:09:07.799 --> 00:09:12.000 walk into this conflict between the Emperor and the Senate. 168 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:15.320 You know, whoever the emperor is, because comdists the emperor 169 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:19.159 commitist is the start of this precipitous decline in the 170 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:22.320 Roman Empire. When I took my Roman History courses back 171 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:26.039 in the day, they periodized the upper level courses into 172 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:29.960 three chunks. You got Roman History colon Republic, which went 173 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:32.120 from the earliest shit that we have down to the 174 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:35.519 death of Julius Caesar. Then you had Roman History colon 175 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:39.519 High Empire, from the reign of Augustus down to Marcus Aurelius. 176 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:42.720 This is your Pax Romana. Things are ticking along, got 177 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:44.960 some good emperors in there, got some bad emperors in there, 178 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:47.600 got some civil wars in there, got the eruption of 179 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:50.519 Pompeii in there. Most of the famous buildings come from 180 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:54.480 this period. Then you get Roman History colon later Empire, 181 00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:58.600 which actually started with commitists. So this film is set 182 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:02.639 at the starting gun for the decline of the decline 183 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:05.759 and fall of the Roman Empire, and it gets almost 184 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:11.200 everything wrong about Roman politics entirely. I have a section 185 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:13.919 for a Pedants corner later. This is the pre Pedants 186 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:17.799 Penance corner. But the Roman Republic was basically an oligarchy, 187 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:22.600 not a democracy. People voted in tribes in descending order 188 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:26.360 from richest to poorest in their democratic assemblies, and they 189 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:29.600 stopped voting when a majority was hit, like for just 190 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:34.159 one of the many anti democratic aspects of the Roman constitution. 191 00:10:34.600 --> 00:10:37.799 There's no evidence that Marcus Aurelius, or any other emperor 192 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:41.879 for that matter, had any notion of restoring the republic 193 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:45.960 because officially it never died. The fiction that they did 194 00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:48.360 is like, I'm just the first citizen. I'm just the 195 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:52.080 first citizen among equals. The Senate still existed. That's what 196 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:54.440 the emperor saying. That's what the emperor is saying. Yeah, 197 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:59.360 the magistrates still existed. They still had elections that were 198 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:01.240 just like you know, the candidates had to be hand 199 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:03.840 picked a rubber stant by the emperor. There were some 200 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:06.120 things that were banned, but it was some minor tinkering 201 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:06.919 around the edges. 202 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:09.080 I guess that's the key part of ending the republic 203 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:12.120 is you don't say the republic sending. You keep it 204 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:13.919 all around as like window dressing. 205 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:18.080 Exactly. Yes, And basically the Roman Empire was a military 206 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:21.000 dictatorship because the emperor was the commander in chief of 207 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.600 all the legions. We see this in the film Real 208 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:25.840 Marcus Aurelius is out there on the frontier and then 209 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:29.600 communist joins him. So here's how this weird ass state worked. 210 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:34.720 Emperor's authority rested on four basic pillars or constituencies that 211 00:11:34.840 --> 00:11:37.159 he had to please. If too many of these guys 212 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:39.399 get pissed off, you get overthrown. These are the folks 213 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:43.159 who mattered. To keep things going, you had the Senate. 214 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:46.759 The emperor needs the Senate, who are the elite of society, 215 00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:50.519 rich property, aristocratic men. He needs them to govern the 216 00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:54.759 provinces because Rome never developed an independent bureaucracy where you 217 00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:56.639 could just hire whoever to be a governor. 218 00:11:56.759 --> 00:12:00.240 Interesting, he goes out and sort of administers it independently 219 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:03.879 for a fixed fee or something like a franchise. 220 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:06.960 Yes, the franchise of empire. You get to be governory, 221 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:08.639 you get to be nice and corrupt and do some 222 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:11.080 graft off the top, and then you would actually hire 223 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:14.399 private tax collectors to do your tax collecting for you. 224 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:16.440 That's why they were so hated in like the New 225 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:19.159 Testament or whatever. It's like, why the Judeans hated the 226 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:22.639 tax collectors so much because they were frequently local collaborators. 227 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:25.639 The Senate would be all the generals for the emperor's 228 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:28.480 many armies, because the emperor is just one guy. The 229 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:31.080 Senate is still voting the titles and powers of the 230 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:34.960 emperor to give him a veneer of legitimacy. And they're 231 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:37.240 going to become the consuls and the aide aisles and 232 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:40.240 the queists and all these magistrates, just like it was 233 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:43.240 during the Republic, but the emperors choosing the candidate. So 234 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:46.000 what these rich old men want from an emperor They 235 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:50.120 want respect, you know, digny toss. They want freedom of 236 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:53.960 speech and freedom from condemnation and detention, liber toss. That's 237 00:12:53.960 --> 00:12:55.600 the kind of freedom that they want. Let us at 238 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:58.279 least say the things we want to say. They want 239 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:00.600 the emperor to be first among equals, and they want 240 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:04.600 this fiction of power with the emperor helping them maintain 241 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:07.919 the prestige of the body. They still had certain rights, 242 00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:11.440 like a feudal aristocracy, and they wanted those respected. They 243 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:14.200 want the emperor to attend all their meetings. They want 244 00:13:14.279 --> 00:13:17.399 him to act correct and dignified when he does. They 245 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:20.600 want free access to the emperor. They want the emperor 246 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:23.000 to spend a majority of time with them, and they 247 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:26.080 want the emperor to take advice only from them. And 248 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:29.039 what they don't want is to be treated with contempt. 249 00:13:29.240 --> 00:13:31.200 They don't want the emperor getting too close to the 250 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:34.159 common people or the common soldiers. They definitely don't want 251 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:37.639 him ignoring them. It's about respect, Giordano. At the end 252 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:39.159 of the day, these are Italians here. 253 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:41.519 What were the senators in charge of in the republic? 254 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:45.440 Just electing the consuls or like making laws or what so. 255 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:49.960 They were mostly an advisory body, but they also were 256 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:51.759 in charge of doling out the money. 257 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.639 Okay, and then in the empire period it sounds like 258 00:13:54.679 --> 00:13:58.159 they'll still consult in theory, but they just wouldn't be 259 00:13:58.200 --> 00:13:59.200 doling out the money. 260 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:01.320 That's the thing about the Senate is that it didn't 261 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:05.320 actually officially have all that much power. They had really 262 00:14:05.799 --> 00:14:09.879 limited authority. They couldn't even introduce laws to be passed 263 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:13.559 in the assemblies. Only the magistrates could pass laws. But 264 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:15.799 it was a body that was made up of Rome's 265 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:20.519 richest guys and most experienced guys. Because after you were 266 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:23.919 elected consul, once you were an ex magistrate, you could 267 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:25.720 join the ranks of the Senate. It was the only 268 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:28.960 way the body could be replenished. It had a lot 269 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:31.240 of influence, even if it didn't have a lot of 270 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:33.440 formal power, which is part of what the movie gets 271 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:35.840 so fucking wrong, where it's like the Senate is elected 272 00:14:35.879 --> 00:14:39.000 and represents the people, because that sounds like America, but 273 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:43.000 it was not that really at all. Okay. The next constituency, 274 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:45.440 which we also see in the film is the army. 275 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:48.919 This is the most important one because armies can declare 276 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:51.440 our emperors, and they can depose emperors, and they can 277 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:55.200 depose pretenders and successors. And by the time of the Empire, 278 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:59.679 Rome's army is this fully professionalized force, and it's more 279 00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:04.320 less an entirely independent institution tied to the emperor. Once 280 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:07.480 upon a time, Rome's army was made up of volunteers. 281 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:12.080 No longer they lived apart from civilian society. They lived 282 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:16.080 under different laws where they had extremely harsh discipline that 283 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:19.000 they were subjected to, but they were also compensated with 284 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:22.879 social benefits. They're all kinds of stories in Roman literature 285 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:25.840 of some random soldier just roughing up a civilian and 286 00:15:25.879 --> 00:15:28.399 getting away with it because they can. They even dressed 287 00:15:28.440 --> 00:15:33.320 and walked differently than a civilian, and so civilians feared soldiers, 288 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:37.720 but soldiers fucking despise civilians. We are very, very far 289 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:40.399 from the golden age of the republic, and what the 290 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:43.879 army wants from an emperor is that is money. The 291 00:15:43.960 --> 00:15:47.720 soldiers want to get paid, and by the late empire 292 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:50.000 in that period of decline, there are rich guys who 293 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.080 are just buying their way to the emperorship by bribing 294 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:56.039 the right soldiers. And they want an emperor who is 295 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:58.279 a commander in chief, not just in name, but is 296 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:02.480 one of them. They want a soldier acomlito in Latin. 297 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:06.039 They want a soldier who's eating our rations, wearing our 298 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:09.320 uniform and talking like a soldier. They want an emperor 299 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:13.519 who's want of dubois, you know. And also like the senators, 300 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:15.039 they want attention and respect. 301 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:19.039 Everybody wants attention, yes, and then opposite wants like the senate, 302 00:16:19.240 --> 00:16:22.279 they want the emperor to be respectable, and the soldiers 303 00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:23.600 want the emperor to eat rations. 304 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:27.120 Yes, you can see how it's a delicate balancing act, 305 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:29.960 and you can see why so many of them were deposed. 306 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:33.320 The third constituency is one that we don't really see 307 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:35.799 in the film, but they are the most interesting. The 308 00:16:35.879 --> 00:16:40.399 Familia Kaisaris. This is the emperor's family, staff and counselors. 309 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:43.600 This is your palace intrigue shit, right, they're the most fun. 310 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:47.279 It's all of the emperor's slaves, and importantly it's the freedmen, 311 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:50.639 the former slaves of his household. The emperor would have 312 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:54.120 these highly educated, usually Greek slaves that he would free, 313 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:57.039 and that's how you knew you could trust these guys 314 00:16:57.080 --> 00:16:59.559 a lot, because you know you're responsible for their freedom, 315 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:03.399 responsible for advancing them to this exciting position. And it 316 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:07.240 really is the west wing staff of an emperor. Including 317 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:14.240 this is a crazy ass list. Okay, you ready for this. Doctors, messuses, astrologers, cooks, 318 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:19.960 wine stewards, waiters, gardeners, jewelers, a range of wardrobe masters 319 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:23.279 for different types of clothing, one guy for your private clothes, 320 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:27.400 one guy for military, legal, triumphal hunting, Kinglean, Greek, and 321 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:31.319 so on. You had a special bureaucrat functionary for your studies, 322 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:35.799 and you basically had a sex guy, a procurator woolup 323 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:40.240 tactum that's Latin for the manager of pleasures or the 324 00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:45.079 overseer of the pleasures. You had a functionary bureaucraph for finances, 325 00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:48.359 for correspondence, for embassies, for legal affairs, a chief of 326 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.640 staff for appointments, and one who even ran the bedchamber. 327 00:17:52.759 --> 00:17:55.160 I'd love to see like the Roman West Wing with 328 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:59.640 Toby speaking to the overseer of Pleasures and the wine 329 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:03.839 steward and the astrologer, mister President. The astrologer says, the 330 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:08.279 omens are bad this year, mister Caesar Emperator. 331 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:10.599 The astrologer says, the omens are bad. But I do 332 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:16.759 have this Thracian maden for you. Yeah. So the senatorial 333 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:20.359 elite generally hated all these guys because these people had 334 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:23.279 so much power and they were so close to the emperor, 335 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:26.960 and these guys were generally not chosen from the aristocracy. 336 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:30.839 These aristocrats are scheming, they might want to be an emperor, 337 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:34.400 so instead you choose these like foreigners and former slaves. 338 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:38.400 And they're also fucking wealthy. The largest known private fortune 339 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:41.839 in the ancient world four hundred million, sister sees. I mean, 340 00:18:41.880 --> 00:18:43.759 what the fuck does that mean? I don't know, I 341 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:47.200 don't know. The ancient conversion. It's the property qualification for 342 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:50.640 two thirds of all members of the Senate was amassed 343 00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:56.079 by one guy, the correspondence manager, Narcissus of the Emperor Claudius. 344 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:00.240 What was he up to? Graft? Probably we've got we're 345 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:01.240 all corrupt as fuck. 346 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:01.759 Dude. 347 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:04.440 The people who hold up Rome as a model of 348 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:07.839 equality before the law are fucking laughable. Like they had 349 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.440 chattel slavery. They want what all the other groups wanted, 350 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:15.559 money power, emperor to themselves. If the Senate wants an emperor, 351 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:20.359 that's first among equals, a princeps kiillis civilian prince, the 352 00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:24.079 familia of the emperor. They want an emperor who is 353 00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:27.079 as a part and above from the rest of the 354 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:28.960 elites as possible. 355 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:29.599 Okay. 356 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:33.440 Our last constituency and the funnest one and one that 357 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:36.400 we see in the film, the urban plebs of the 358 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:38.759 city of Rome. Remember that Rome was a city of 359 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:41.920 one million people with no police force, and these urban 360 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:47.319 plebs could and often did riot, hence the bread and circuses. 361 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:50.599 Your average guy, your average Joe, the pleb joe. 362 00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:56.640 The plumbo plummer comes from the Latin word plumbus, meaning Latin. Okay, 363 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:00.880 they have to be placated. The historical comedy had this 364 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:05.400 member of his staff named Cleander who was really really unpopular, 365 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:09.599 and the urban plubs was so pissed that Communists had 366 00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:12.000 to have him killed and put Cleander's head on a 367 00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:15.680 pike just to placate the Plubs. They're probably the least 368 00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:19.079 important of these four constituencies because the PLBs never actually 369 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:22.359 successfully overthrew an emperor on their own, but they could 370 00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:27.039 destabilize regimes enough that another constituency could come in and 371 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:30.160 overthrow the emperor. And these guys also had certain privileges 372 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:32.599 that were grounded in history that had to be respected. 373 00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:36.960 Because the Romans had this one democratic element of their constitution, 374 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:41.160 laws could be passed by voting them through popular assemblies, 375 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:44.319 and the executive branch all those offices had to be 376 00:20:44.359 --> 00:20:46.519 elected by the people as well. And so what the 377 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:48.799 Plubs want from an emperor, they want the day of 378 00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:52.480 bread and circuses. Right, give me the shows, give me 379 00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:53.000 the gifts. 380 00:20:53.480 --> 00:20:56.480 Nam Chomsky said the same thing about sports in America, 381 00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:59.960 apparently that they're used to keep public disaffection down. 382 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:04.799 It fucking works, DUDEA. 383 00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:07.839 Wait, So during the Republic to empire transition, were the 384 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:11.319 offices and political power of the PLBs unchanged as well? 385 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:14.680 They are curtailed. In the republic, you had a special 386 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:18.640 office called the Tribune of the Plebs, this elected office 387 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:21.920 that's there just to represent the plebs, which was very, 388 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:25.319 very powerful and over the centuries of the republic, their 389 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:27.839 power ebbs and flows, and then by the time of 390 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:31.079 the Principate Empire, that is one of the offices that 391 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:34.640 is very much curtailed. There were also specific sessions of 392 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:37.960 public debate that could get quite rowdy. These were kind 393 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:40.480 of done away with. Some of the more like public 394 00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:43.680 discourse around the laws was curtailed in the transition from 395 00:21:43.720 --> 00:21:46.680 republic to empire, but they were still voting. Just I 396 00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:50.079 don't know, remember this for reasons in twenty twenty six, 397 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:51.880 just vote maybe. 398 00:21:51.799 --> 00:21:54.240 What did the plebs want from an emperor? Who's their 399 00:21:54.279 --> 00:21:54.960 ideal emperor? 400 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:56.480 What does he do? What's he like? I mean, it's 401 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:58.039