An essay on corollaries of ancient and contemporary events- Brian Keeler
Above- A 1634 painting by the French artist Nocholas Poussin of the rescue of the young Pyrhrus. Pyrrhus has come down to us today for his pronouncement after a battle with a Roman army- that the cost of the battle was more than they could endure.
The Pyrrhic Assesment and Faustian Deal-
A modern day Pyrrhic victory recently occurred and it is visible to us in high relief - as this was a victory with a cost far outweighing any benefits. The Pyrrhic victory idea is derived from the ancient Macedonian, General Pyrrhus of Epirus. He defeated a Roman legion in southern Italy in 279 B.C.E., but the cost was such that he said;
“If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.”
And further - there seems to be a Faustian bargain imbedded in the political essence of the Republican Party that suggests a loss of soul for the sake of expediency or short term gain. Then again, we can reasonably conclude that the Republican partly long ago lost any semblance of a soul. So the current developments are merely a continuance. Further, the loss is not only to the soul of that party, it extends far beyond to the nation, if not the world. We are not just in an isolationist pre-World War I era, but in an interrelated 21st century world village.
What are we to make of the current abominations and trajectory that Americans have chosen? It used to be said that there was no bottom to Trump's proclivity for transgressions, vileness and stupidity. Yet we see now that the first term was merely a prequel to the plans he now has in store. The election was bad enough, a truly despicable campaign by the DT with the nadir being the fascist gathering at Madison Square Garden in NYC, full of racists and sexists, hurling insults and personal assaults and attacks on entire groups and even provinces- such as Puerto Rico is a floating garbage dump. The DT and his minions fit the definition of fascists even more as time goes on. In fact, they are showing that it is possible to exceed their 20th century counterparts in substance, form and delivery. This is what the Republican Party has devolved into in their rush with Faustian fury towards a contract with the Devil.
But now we are assaulted daily with news of truly horrendous nominations from the DT for cabinet members who will lead our nation's agencies. They are largely amateurs, hacks, know-nothings at best, or criminals, charlatans and opportunists with their entire mission to destroy the very departments they are assigned to lead. Remember Besty DeVos, Rick Perry, Anthony(the mooch) Scaramucci, Steve Bannon, Rudy Guilliani and Scott Pruitt? It is getting even worse this time.
One can reasonably wonder if our nation can withstand another assault like the previous one- during the last DT presidency. The fragility of our institutions is being undermined and enervated from within. The checks and balances of other branches of government are now being undermined and democracy itself has suffered a gut punch. Worse still is the ineptitude of the legal system to hold the DT accountable for his crimes- even after being convicted of 34 felonies.
Trump's demolition of America has many ominous overtones and parallels to ancient history as mentioned above. There are others such as the collapse of republican Rome with opportunist of the first century BC like generals, Sulla, Marius and Julius Caesar. Perhaps we have long ago crossed our metaphorical Rubicon, such as the January 6th attack on our nation's Capitol, which could easily be regarded as the modern equivalent of Caesar's attack on Rome. Caesar reportedly reflected long and hard before riding over the Rubicon River in northern Italy, weighing the implications of his betrayal of Rome. In the end, Casesar was vying for self-serving actions rather than putting country before career. Trump had no such self-reflective concerns or compulsions. In either case, the die has been cast and the gamble is set. The consequences then were the beginning of the end of the republican form of representative democracy- as it could be today.
Above-Another depiction of Pyrrhus - by the student of Rembrandt, Ferdinand Bol. The painting shows the Roman general Fabritius on the left and Pyrrhus, the Macedoninan General in the center. The narrative is that an elephant is being unvieled to frighten Fabritius and the Romans.
In the November 20th issue of the Financial Times, the opinion piece by Edward Luce noted that the depraved ancient Roman emperor Caligula was unchecked and unassailable. Caligula went so far as to have a horse installed as a senator. Luce writes:
"Donald Trump does not need to make a horse a senator; it will be enough to keep appointing charlatans to America's great offices of state. Rome was not destroyed by outsiders. Its demolition was the work of barbarians within."
We think of Nero or the even more transgressive Roman emperor, Elagabalus, as despots with no checks or balances and no moral compass. Trump, like Nero is full of vanity and clueless about matters of state, diplomacy or building trust and alliances. Nero disparaged the military of his day and Trump calls vetarans suckers and losers. The similarities do not end there. Trump has not killed his Mother, as Nero did with Agrippina nor waxed poetic on a fiddle as Rome burned. Trump has no artistic pretensions and does not even read much- so he misses any of those possible aspirations or comparisons to Nero. It comes down to just a simple knowledge of right and wrong- which the DT is completely devoid of along with Nero. This vapidity of a moral function came up after the first impeachment trial and to prove the point the DT immediately began to attempt again the very violations he was accused of- bribing and cajoling Ukraine into his own Faustian arrangement. This episode was famously marked when Nancy Pelosi became irate at a cabinet meeting and exclaimed that Trump does not know right from wrong.
The revenge pledges and mission of Trump's return have unmistakable similarities to the policy in ancient Rome of proscriptions, by writing up in advance a list of political enemies to be murdered. This policy of revenge and retribution of the ancient Roman general wreaked havoc. It was also part of the methods of procuring funds for the Second Triumvirate and later of Nero's assassinations of any potential rival. The adage "those who do not head the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it" is appropriate here.
There is another parallel to ancient history, that being the ruse of restoration. Sulla was motivated after the Roman Civil War in his attack on Rome to rid Rome of tyrants. We see this kind of specious rationale used by many despots - even Putin claiming to rid Ukraine of supposed Nazis is a modern day application of the age old tactic. Or the Chinese invading Tibet in 1959 under the ruse of liberation. We've heard the drain the swamp idea repeated too many times and the irony of a convicted criminal like the DT wielding this phrase to ill effect is beyond duplicity. The New York Review of Book's front page article of December 5th, 2024 by Fintan O'Toole had this commentary on being conned:
"Trump is a confidence man in both senses- he may be conning much of his own electorate, but they give him the benefit of their nonchalant belief that he is not destroying American norms, merely restoring an imagined American normalcy."
Nero was apparently very popular during his reign. This may give us some solace as we witness millions of Americans backing our current despot. The official coercion and implied coercion of party loyalist is astounding. We think of the gutsy pronouncements of his rivals like Nikki Haley, and his V.P,. J.D. Vance, who both heaped scorn upon the DT only to forget their erstwhile morals and now jump into lockstep with Trumpian party line. Even former vice president Mike Pence who was the fulcrum that prevented of our nation tipping into anarchy during the Jan. 6th attack, has also joined back in with the miscreants. Nero's tutor Seneca was, likewise, aghast at the direction of his former student. Seneca was forced to commit suicide after falling out with Nero and no longer able to influence Nero with any Stoic wisdom. And now any potential modern day Senecas have been vetted, and the adults in the room of the previous Trump presidency have been screened out- so only loyalists and sycophants remain.
The Faustian aspect is further explained by those in the evangelical and other religious organizations opting to back such an unsavory character with so little virtue and such a dearth of anything resembling biblical doctrines. For starters, I think therre is mention against lying in some holy books- try the Ten Commandments for starters. His collosal lies, distortions and hyperboles are a bottomless pit. And his, "they're eating cats and dogs" claim in the Presidential debate is just one of the most recent and most egregious aspects of his fear-mongering affronts. As his book is "The Art of the Deal" it seems quite fitting that he is asking his faithful to make a Faustian deal- and sell out their religion, ethics and morals for promises of short term gain. Like the various Faust legends of Goethe, Christopher Marlowe and others, the short term gain of unlimited knowledge and magic powers lured the protagonist in those dramas. Now the carnival barker in-chief sells snake oil to the gullible in a similar pact.
There is no shortage of material for dire predictions in the next four years. We've seen the evidence in spades and continuously. Of all the lies and violations to our principles and codes of law one stands out, perhaps only because it is the most recent and still fresh in our minds. This being the call by Trump seeking his supporters to train their rifles on Liz Cheney. If calling for the assassination of a political rival or anyone is not simply a crime worthy of improsonment what is? It baffles me that this one horrible utterance did not land him behind bars and it is remarkable that it did not receive more headlines across the nation's newspapers. I suppose we can write this off to just how innured and complacent we have become as a nation. It is as if America is under a scourge or pestilence lasting decades. In astrological terms, we can see a wider picture and gain some oversight as both Pluto and Neptune are entereing new signs and both, due to their distance are glacial in pace. A perspective in terms of epochs and centuries is the upshot. In the interim and for us mere mortals on Earth, we can only hope that somehow wiser heads will eventually prevail.
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