Podcast Episode 31 - Stubborn Nags of Ancient Rome, Part VII

It’s almost like Cato the Younger had no idea he was putting his head in the lion’s mouth.

In the space of two years he had managed to get on the wrong side of Julius Caesar, Rome’s up and coming populist leader, Pompey the Great, Rome’s greatest living general, Marcus Crassus, Rome’s richest man, and Marcus Tullius Cicero, who had been Rome’s most recent consul, and for a few minutes there, the man with near-absolute power over the state during the Catiline Conspiracy.

Stubborn sticks in the mud like Cato are not impressed with anyone. This is what makes them formidable.

And dangerous.

Caesar, Pompey and Crassus were on a path to power that would ultimately end the Roman Republic.

Cato the Younger was standing firmly in their way, and he had to go. One way or another.

Sources

Beard, Mary. “SPQR.” Profile Books, 2015.

Duncan, Mike. “The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic.” Public Affairs, 2017.

Everitt, Anthony. “Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome’s Greatest Politician.” Random House, 2011.

Goodman, Rob and Soni, Jimmy. “Rome’s Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar.” St. Martin’s Press, 2012.

Podcast Episode 30 - Stubborn Nags of Ancient Rome, Part VI

The battle for the fate of the Roman Republic was on.

On one side were the empire-builders: Julius Caesar and his right-hand man Marc Antony (and sickly little Octavian in the next tent), Pompey the Great, and Marcus Crassus, who wanted to be great himself but never quite got there.

On the other side were Marcus Tullius Cicero, Rome’s greatest orator, consul in 63 BC, dictator during the Catiline Conspiracy, and all-around clever guy. At his side was Rome’s greatest conservative and champion of ancient ideals, Cato the Younger.

They also had in their corner—at least on paper--the cowardly Roman Senate, but being cowardly--and venal--the Senate was always kind of a moving target. They could be bought and they could be intimidated, and the empire-builders had money and soldiers to burn.

It was a contest between military power, which the Romans had always admired, and republican traditions, which the Romans had always revered. But the citizens of the republic saw their ideals go to the Senate house to die more often than not, and might be willing to take a chance on a smooth operator like Caesar, who claimed to be a staunch defender of the republic even as he quietly dismantled it.

Cicero and Cato had their work cut out for them.

Sources

Beard, Mary. “SPQR.” Profile Books, 2015.

Duncan, Mike. “The Storm Before the Storm:  The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic.” Public Affairs, 2017.

Goodman, Rob and Soni, Jimmy. “Rome’s Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar.” St. Martin’s Press, 2012.

Wikipedia, “Cicero.” Retrieved December 2, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero

   

Podcast Episode 029 - Stubborn Nags of Ancient Rome, Part V

“Who is better qualified to be the standard-bearer of the desperate,” the insurgent Catiline asked his massed followers, “than a man who is bold and desperate himself?”

Well, Catiline. You make a good point there.

His army waited out past the walls of Rome, ready to pounce. His supporters waited inside the city, ready to set fires to stuff and purge their enemies. 

Ambitious young Gaius Julius Caesar waited to see which way the wind was blowing, looking for an advantage.

One of the only men standing against them was Cato the Younger.

Cato and Cicero

He had his work cut out for him - prevent Catiline's insurrection from succeeding (and keep Rome from falling into another bloody dictatorship). Keep Julius Caesar at bay, and do everything he could to preserve the institutions and traditions of the Roman Republic for as long as he could. 

Good luck, Cato. 

Sources

Beard, Mary. “SPQR.” Profile Books, 2015.

Britannica.com. “Catiline: Roman Politician.” Retrieved 1/1/2022 from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catiline-Roman-politician

Duncan, Mike. “The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic.” Public Affairs, 2017.

Goodman, Rob and Soni, Jimmy. “Rome’s Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar.” St. Martin’s Press, 2012.

Penn State University. “The Catilinarian Conspiracy.” Retrieved 1/1/2022 from https://sites.psu.edu/conspofcatiline/

Wikipedia, “Cicero.” Retrieved December 2, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero

Podcast Episode 28 - Teddy Roosevelt's Third Term, Conclusion

A message was sent from Paris in the summer of 1918 to American news agencies.

“Watch Sagamore Hill in event of...”

The rest of the message had been deleted by wartime censors, but Theodore Roosevelt knew what it meant.

He said, “Something has happened to one of the boys.”

All the Roosevelt sons were fighting in World War I without their dad, who had been prevented from going by Woodrow Wilson. The last thing the president wanted was Theodore Roosevelt back on the world stage before he himself could get there. 

Teddy was sidelined by illness and sadness, made worse by the fates of his children. But the possibility of  a return to the White House in 1920 got more realistic as Wilson stumbled. 

If only Teddy could make it.

Sources

American Magazine. “The Reformers. Retrieved December 29, 2021 from https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/culture/reformers

HistoryNet. “Aviators: Quentin Roosevelt – He Died Fighting.” Retrieved December 29, 2021 from https://www.historynet.com/aviators-quentin-roosevelt-he-died-fighting.htm

Morris, Edmund. “Colonel Roosevelt.” Random House, 2010.

Roosevelt, Theodore. “Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt.”

Wikipedia. “1918 United States Elections.” Retrieved 12/31/21 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_United_States_elections

Wikiquote. “Thomas R. Marshall.” Retrieved 12/31/21 from https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_R._Marshall