Transcription
Today we do Rome. And, um, so before, we've done Persia, um, the Jews, and the Greeks. And these are the three, um, main civilizations after Brontage collapse. And now we will emerge Rome to eclipse all three and build a world empire. Okay.
And what I will argue to you today is that Rome is the great anti-civilization. Um, or you can call it just the evil empire. Okay. All right. So, what do we know about Rome? Well, like most great empires, they emerge initially at the borderlands of another cultural empire. Okay.
We know these are the Etruscans. And the Etruscans are very similar to the Mycenaean Greeks. And, as you can see, um, they are expanding throughout the, uh, Italian peninsula. Now, the thing about empires is that eventually the people become lazy, arrogant, and stupid. And so what they do is they get people to fight for them. So the Romans are here, and as you can see, um, this is the borderlands, and the entire area is surrounded by great warriors. This is a poor region, and so they're always fighting for resources. So the Romans get recruited as mercenaries, and over time, what will happen is that they will start to emerge as the great power in the Italian peninsula. And at this point in history, this is really important. They're surrounded by lots of different people that are like them, and they're warlike. So they triumph because they become the most warlike of everyone. Okay. [snorts] Their entire society is based on war.
This is Etruscan civilization, and, um, as you can see, it is very advanced. The Etruscan civilization is heavily in contact with the Egyptians, um, and the Greeks, as well as people around them, because they are seafaring people. And this is the civilization that will most heavily influence, uh, the Romans. As you can see, the Etruscans are always at war as well. And then, as they become wealthier, they will recruit the, uh, Romans to fight for them.
This is not a great map, but this map shows you the gradual expansion of Rome. So, at first, as you can see, it is actually at the most disadvantaged location because it's always, it's surrounded by enemies. Um, it is on flat land, and so it's not easily defensible, and it's not really by the coast, and therefore it's hard for it to trade. But because it is in such a disadvantaged position, it is forced to be the most martial, the most violent, the most militaristic, the most aggressive. And the culture evolves around that. And slowly, over time, they're able to conquer the entire, um, Italian peninsula and then expand, uh, to the Mediterranean. Okay.
So, this is another map that shows you, uh, Rome and how it's going to expand over time. The way it expands is through military conquest and then by building roads. And this is very impressive because if you've ever been to Italy, it is very hilly. So there's a tremendous effort to build roads. But once they build the roads, they're able to consolidate and navigate their empire. [snorts]
Um, this is, this is a map that shows you the geography of, um, Italy. As you can see, it's very mountainous, um, and there are not many rivers, which tells us it's very poor. And because it's very poor, the people tend to be very unified, uh, very aggressive, and they have a deep egalitarianism because only by working together can you ultimately triumph over the other people. Okay. So there's a main characteristic about Rome in the early days that you must remember: it is poor, it is small, okay, and it is, uh, unified. So everyone knows each other. And so because of its geographic characteristics, we emerge a concept of liberty. All right? And its concept of liberty is obedience to the fathers, to history, to culture, because only by doing so can you, uh, survive as a people.
Now, what's interesting about this is it's a different concept from the Greeks. The Greeks believed that what liberty is is the right to speak your mind in front of others. Um, and as such, the major difference between the Greeks and the Romans is, in Greece, citizenship is passed on from family to family. But in Rome, citizenship can be earned. Okay? It's an open citizenship system. Why? Because if you just obey the fathers, the laws, the customs, then you can be a Roman citizen. And as such, what's going to happen is that as Rome expands, it's going to incorporate different people into its culture. And as a result, Rome has an advantage that Athens and Sparta don't have. Rome can always replenish its soldiers. And as such, it can afford to lose war after war after war. But as it does so, it gets stronger and stronger because it's learning with each defeat. Okay? And that is the secret to Rome's ultimate victory.
The heart and center of Roman society is the Senate. This is where the, um, leading families come together to discuss the fate of Rome. And at this time in history, when Rome is poor, this is not a problem because everyone knows each other and there's no real inequality. Therefore, there can be no corruption. And so these fathers, the senators, are representing the best interests of all Romans. But over time, as Rome becomes wealthier and wealthier, this becomes a huge problem because as Rome develops more wealth, guess who gets all the wealth? These guys. Okay. So we'll, we'll, we'll see this later, as, as that as Rome gets wealthier, Rome also becomes much more corrupt. All right.
So, the Greeks, the fighting system is the hoplites. The Romans use something called the legions. Now, there are some major differences between these two fighting techniques, even though for their time, they are the most advanced. As you can see, uh, the Greek hoplites are heavily armored. Okay. And as such, each hoplite needs to buy his own armor, which means that hoplites tend to be, um, small landowners. Okay. They have a bit of wealth. The legionaries can be poor because it doesn't actually require that much armor to be a legionary. Okay. That's the first thing. Second thing is that it actually takes a lot of training to be a hoplite. You basically have to spend years and years honing your skills because you fight in formation. Uh, the legionary, you don't, you don't need that much training. Okay. You can actually go straight into battle. The third major difference is that, as you can see, the hoplites, they are using heavy armor, shields, um, and helmets. The legionaries are much lighter. The reason why is the legionaries were developed to fight in a mountainous region. So they need to be able to climb, to hike up mountains in formation, whereas the Greeks are fighting more on flat land. Okay. So over time, what will happen is the legionaries will overwhelm the hoplites. [snorts]
Um, this is a typical Roman peasant. He's spending most of his time farming, and when it's required of him, he goes to war. Okay? He's not a full-time soldier. Um, so, um, the Greeks and the Romans will fight a series of wars. So, as the Romans are expanding, they go, they go closer and closer to the coast. And here are a lot of Greek colonies, and the Greeks are losing to the Romans. So they call for help from their compatriots, um, across the sea. And a king named Pyrrhus of Epirus, he decides to take advantage of this opportunity to go conquer Italy. Okay. So he and the hoplites sail over to Greece, and they are destroying the Romans. Battle after battle, uh, Pyrrhus is defeating the Romans. And then he finally says, "You know what? If I win one more battle, I'm going to have no more soldiers." Okay? And that shows you the difference between Greek fighting versus Roman fighting. Greek fighting uses specialized forces that, uh, can win over time, whereas the Romans can just keep on replenishing their forces. Okay? So the Romans don't actually win that many battles, but they win most of their wars. >> [snorts] >> Okay.
Now, as the Romans are expanding, they eventually reach the Mediterranean. And so, now they start developing a navy in order to trade with, um, other, uh, nations like Egypt and Greece. This comes in conflict with the Carthaginians. And at this time, the main power in the Mediterranean are the Carthaginians. Now, and they will fight a war that lasts decades, 100 years, and ultimately Rome will triumph. And the main reason why that Rome triumphs, and this is really important for you guys to understand, is the main difference between Carthage and Rome is: Carthage is rich, Rome is poor. Okay. Why, why, what does this matter? Because if you're rich, what you can do is hire mercenaries to fight the war for you. And that's what Carthage does. But Rome is poor. Therefore, they must use their own citizens to fight the war. Okay? And so over time, the citizens become much tougher, much more unified, whereas the Carthaginians, they become more corrupt, they become much more decadent. And because the Romans are more invested in the war, they will fight to the end. Whereas the Carthaginians are business people. They're traders. Okay? They're very known for, um, their sharp business skills. And so they do, they do a cost-benefit analysis, be like, you know what, this war is going to cost us more than if we just surrender. Okay. So the Carthaginians surrender the first Punic War, they surrender the second Punic War, and the third Punic War. Guess what happens? They're going to be wiped out by the Romans. Okay. So that's what the Roman mentality is: we fight you, we'll fight you to the death, and if we beat you, we will kill every one of you. Okay? That's just the Roman, uh, war mentality. And that's why they ultimately triumph in the end. Okay.
So, this is another map that shows you the conflict between the Carthaginians and the Romans. This is the Second Punic War. Okay. So, um, Carthage over here, it's expanded to Spain, and there are lots of silver mines in Spain. Um, Rome right now, it's still pretty small, okay? But again, because the Romans are dedicated towards war, that's, that's the only thing they know. That's the only thing they're good at. Okay. They will eventually triumph over the Carthaginians. We actually don't know that much about the history of Rome. Okay. But the most famous episode during the Second Punic War is when a Carthaginian general named Hannibal Barca, okay, he's in Spain, and he decides he's going to go destroy Rome. The way he does it is by crossing the Alps. Okay. So these are Alps mountains. And for the longest time, historians thought that this was a natural barrier. And what, what, what Hannibal Barca will do is he will cross the Alps with his war elephants and his army, land in, um, Italy, and start attacking Rome. And in three decisive battles, Hannibal will destroy the entire Roman army. Okay? He will wipe out the entire Roman army. And at this point in history, Rome needs to surrender. Okay? So Hannibal sends an envoy to the Senate and tells them, "I destroyed every single one of your soldiers. You have no more army. Therefore, I am willing to talk peace terms." And the Senate is like, "Screw you. Come get us." Okay? And this marks a turning point in Roman history.
So let's look over some of the major events. This is Hannibal crossing the Alps. Okay? One of the most famous military feats in human history. Um, this is the Battle of Trebia, one of the first major battles where, even though Hannibal is, um, undermanned and he's in enemy territory, what he will do is he will use a series of brilliant military maneuvers to ambush, uh, his enemies. Okay. So these are the Romans. As you can see, what's going to happen is the, um, Carthaginians, their horsemen lie in the marsh, and then they will sneak up and destroy the Romans from the rear. Okay. That's the first major battle. This is the Battle of Lake Trasimene. And the same thing basically happens where the Romans are crossing, then the, then Hannibal ambushes them from the, uh, hills. Okay. The second major battle. And this is [snorts] the most famous battle. This is a battle called the Battle of Cannae. Okay. And this is what we call a double envelopment strategy, where what will happen is that the two armies meet, and then, uh, Hannibal will send his cavalry on the wings, and then they will envelop the Roman army, and then they will slaughter everyone. Okay. So Romans lose between 50,000 to 100,000 men. Their entire army is wiped out because of this battle. Okay. So, uh, this is the first phase. Second phase is when the, uh, cavalry starts to, uh, flank the, uh, Romans. And in the third phase, um, the soldiers come in from behind and trap the Romans and kill everyone. Okay. So, this is the most famous battle in military history.
Now, there's a problem with this battle, which is this has never happened before in human history. Remember before, we discussed the idea that in China, one of the most, um, common military strategies is the "behind the river" strategy. Okay? So you force your men to go to a river, and now the enemy is approaching them, and they have no choice but to fight to the end because otherwise they'll drown. Okay? But if you can see this situation, it's very similar. The Romans are in a very similar situation where they, where they're being surrounded by enemies on all sides, right? So at this time, what, what should happen theoretically is they become energized, and the entire Roman army goes and fights the Carthaginians and defeats the Carthaginians. Okay? We have, we have examples of that. We don't, we don't have an example of, in fact, an entire army in ancient times being surrounded and being slaughtered by the enemy. This is a very strange battle. In fact, if you ask ChatGPT which battles have used double envelopment strategy, basically you have Battle of Cannae. Okay, we have that. But the next one is 1940, 1940 in World War II. Now, the difference, of course, is that by the time you hit the 1940s, you have machine guns, you have tanks. So if you surround an enemy, you can destroy your enemy. But not in ancient times. Okay? In, in fact, the closest parallel that we have is the Battle of Marathon. But even his, but some historians suggest. Okay. So we're not very, so even historians disagree whether or not the Battle of Marathon was actually a double envelopment strategy. This makes no sense. This battle strategy makes no sense from a military perspective. Also, we can't find the damn place. You would think this is a huge battle, 50,000, 100,000 men are dead, there'd be a lot of bodies. We can't find the damn place. Okay. Look, there's no archaeological evidence to prove the battle took place. We, we don't have any evidence. That's kind of strange. Okay. Um, yeah, but maybe it's because of the weather, or, you know, we don't know. Okay. All right, guys.
So, um, what's going on here? Okay. So, on YouTube, someone asked me, "How do we know what history is true or not?" Okay. Now, you would think the answer is, you just ask historians whether it's true or not. You know the answer. The problem is that every historian that you talk to tells you the Battle of Cannae must be historical fact. It must be, even though we don't have any evidence for it. So, given that, how can we, um, understand or figure out if it's true or not? Well, in this class, what I teach you is a new historical framework to understand history. Okay. So this is predictive of history, and we look, we ask ourselves, does the Battle of Cannae fit into a larger historical pattern? Second question we ask is, does it make sense according to game theory? And the third question is, does religion explain the battle? Okay. And when we do this, we use this framework to understand the Battle of Cannae. Our conclusion must be: it didn't happen. It was completely made up. Okay. The Battle of Cannae did not happen. So why? Well, first of all, when we have these great military generals like Hannibal Barca, they tend to become kings. Okay? So think of Napoleon, or think of Julius Caesar. Hannibal Barca is the first general that we have that conquered all of Rome and decided, "I'm gonna sit back and like, retire for the next 50 years." Okay? Never happened before. Why didn't he go back to Carthage and reclaim the kingship? Right? Okay. That's the first problem. Second problem is game theory. Okay. So if you read Roman history, what they would tell you is that Hannibal, after the Battle of Cannae, he was stuck in Italy without resources. Then the question is, when he go to Carthage, conquer the place and demand the resources he needs to win against Rome? Why is he sitting back? Okay. Also, remember this is a guy who crossed the Alps on his own initiative. The Carthaginians told him, "Don't start a war with Rome, Hannibal." And Hannibal's like, "Nah, I'm going to go across the Alps. Thank you very much." Okay. So this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. And then from a religious perspective, how can we explain what, why Hannibal did what he did? And Roman historians will tell you, "Oh, it's because his father lost against Rome. He wanted revenge for on behalf of his father." That makes no sense, guys. Okay? Usually, when a Napoleon emerges, it's because he thinks he's a son of God. Think, think of Napoleon. Think of Alexander the Great. Think of Julius Caesar. Okay? They all have a messianic calling, a divine mission. All right. So from this, only conclusion can be: first of all, the battle did not happen. There's no way it could have happened. And second thing is, you can also say that Hannibal Barca, Hannibal Barca did not exist as a person. All right.
But then this leads us to a really huge problem, which is: why would the Romans just make this stuff up? Why? Why would they say, "We fought this battle and 100,000 of our men got killed by this Carthaginian general, Hannibal, who was smarter than us"? Okay. Well, the reason why is this: Carthage. Okay. That Carthage is at this time in history, about 200 BC, the most beautiful, the most prosperous, the most cultured city in the world. And what did Romans do? They burned it to the ground and killed everyone. Okay? That's the Roman way. Now, um, this is the siege of Carthage that lasted many, many years in the Third Punic War. The Romans, if they don't like you, they will come and kill every one of you. Okay? And that's what they did in Carthage. Now, during this war, a Greek named Polybius, okay, Polybius was a hostage of Rome, and he became the official historian of the Roman Empire. So this is a guy who invented the Battle of Cannae. Why? To justify the burning of Carthage, right? Because the Romans are like, "Why did we kill the Carthaginians?" Because that's what we do, man. Okay? But Polybius is Greek, and he understands that, you know, if Rome, you're going to be an empire, you need people on your side. You can't go around just killing people. You need, you need to explain your actions. So, in other words, Polybius, in order to justify the Roman Empire, created this entire history of the Punic War that didn't really happen. Okay? Because now it's like, "Okay, well, the Romans felt threatened by Hannibal. Hannibal was going to destroy them, and so they all saw Carthage as a threat, and therefore they had to destroy Carthage." Now it's much more reasonable. Okay. So Polybius basically made the entire history of Rome. The thing to remember about history is that if you're a military power, you don't write history. Why? Because you, you're not capable of reflection. You're not capable of deep cultural production. Okay. So the Romans won all these battles and got the Greeks to write their history for them to just justify why they did what they did. Okay? Does that make sense, guys? All right. So again, I hate to say this, but basically, um, all Roman history is complete nonsense. All right? Um, if you read Roman history, just don't believe anything you, you read. Okay? All right.
So, um, let's look at the Roman war machine because after the war against Carthage, after Rome destroys Carthage, Rome is the undisputed leader of the Mediterranean. It's an empire now, but it still keeps on fighting these wars overseas for no particular reason. Why? Because it has no choice in the matter. This is the entire Roman war machine. Okay. So, um, because Rome is a poor, poor place, the only way that it can generate wealth is by conquering other people. Okay? So the nobility wants to go fight these wars overseas so that they can capture slaves. Why? Because they can get these slaves then to work their estates. Okay? So at this time in history, slaves are the main resource that people are fighting over. Okay? Now, to fight these wars, peasants are conscripted into the military. But once they leave the land, they need to feed their families, right? So what do they do? They borrow money with their land as collateral. Okay? But over time, what happens is they can't pay back the interest, right? They default on the loan, and then landowners, nobility, seize the land. Then what they do is they get the slaves that they conquer to come work this land. Right? Now the peasants have no choice but to go to Rome to look for work because they've lost their land. And the Roman state gives them food. It's called the grain dole. Okay? And so now the nobility wants to go fight more wars. What they do is they bribe the peasants to vote for more wars, and then the peasant can go and maybe win some booty. Okay? Because they have no land. [snorts] And, um, so what, what's happening is that what the Roman war machine is doing is creating slavery, debt, corruption, and inequality. Okay. And over time, what happens is that wealth becomes more consolidated in fewer hands, which creates conflict between the upper nobility and the lower nobility. The optimates are called the upper nobility, and the populares are called the lower nobility. Okay. So what's the difference? Optimates just means the best of the best. Okay. "Why do I have so much money? Because I'm better than you are. In fact, my entire family is better than you are." Populares is where, where we get the word populist from. So this is lower nobility, people like Julius Caesar, who take advantage of the discontent in order to launch their political careers. And what they do is they promise the peasants, the people, um, more opportunities, okay, to take the wealth of the rich and give it more to the poor. Okay. So this is a conflict that will arise in Rome after the end of Carthage, and this will last for centuries until the very end of the Roman Empire. Okay. In other words, the Roman war machine doesn't know how to stop. Even, even when it becomes an empire, all this aggressive military energy then translates into civil war. Okay. So, the Romans aren't killing other people, they're killing each other. All right.
Um, this is a question from a YouTube, um, a viewer. And Ford asks, "Why are wars good at maintaining equilibrium?" Okay. Why is it that, uh, wars help reduce a problem of elite overproduction? Okay. And the reason why is, and, and I know it's hard for you guys to understand this, but wars are beneficial. All right. So, let's go over the, the, the benefits of war. Well, first of all, you create social cohesion, right? You're fighting against another person. You have to stand together. So it creates a dialectic, a hatred of the other, which gives meaning and purpose to life. Okay? Uh, it creates social mobility. If you're poor, you go fight a war, you get lucky, you can become pretty wealthy. Uh, wealth destruction and regeneration. Okay? So you're destroying wealth, which allows for more opportunities. Uh, survival of the fittest. So population control. So basically the stronger survive in war, the weak die off. Uh, high fertility rate because so many people are dying, mothers are forced to have more and more children. Okay? They don't have a choice in the matter. Um, innovation, release of social tension. So people don't like each other, they go fight a war together, and now they're best friends. Um, innovation, creativity, entertainment for nobility. Okay. Competition. Um, war is often just the, the nobility just enjoys wars because it's like playing a chess game. Okay? They're not the ones dying. Worst case scenario, they become hostages, right? All right.
So again, what happens is that after Carthage is destroyed, the Romans turn against each other. Okay. The first one that happens is something called the Social Wars. Basically, it's the, um, Roman allies who were told to fight a war and, in return, they'd get citizenship. They were not granted citizenship. So they rebelled against the Roman state, and this led to civil war. Okay. But the problem is, you're now fighting the Roman army. So you're not going to win. So eventually, the Roman state had to give in and give citizenship to these, uh, people. Okay. This is, uh, one of the most radical turning points in Roman history. So, um, right now, there's massive inequality in Rome. The nobility have all the land. They have slaves to work the land. The peasants are, uh, having problems feeding themselves in the cities. Okay. So now, what do you do? So, uh, this man is named Tiberius Gracchus, and he's a reformer, and he says, basically, "Hey, guys, here's what we're going to do. The rich have all this land. We're not going to touch that because we have to respect private property. But there's all this public land that's not being used. It belongs to the state. We have all these poor people that want to work the land but they have no land. So what we'll do is this: we'll take public land that no one's touching. Okay? No one's using this stuff. Give it to the people to work to generate more wealth for our society. We have more tax revenue. The people are happier. And, yeah, and no one gets hurt." Okay. Perfect. Perfect solution, right? Because he proposed a solution, the nobility beat him to death. Okay? Not only did they beat him to death, they beat his brother to death as well. Okay. Oh my god. >> Why do they do this? Because nobility is, "How dare you steal OUR PUBLIC LAND FROM US?" Okay. So nobility was like, "This public land belongs to us, man, because we are the state. Screw the people." Okay. All right.
So, of course, this leads to the rise of dictators. So there have been different dictators who have, um, come to power, and they've tried to solve the social conflict within Rome. The first is Marius, who promised reform but really didn't deliver. Then you have Sulla. Okay. And Sulla's solution was really simple: "Let's just kill all the reformers." Pretty simple, guys. Okay. Our problem isn't the inequality. The problem is you got too many people, uh, who proposed reform. So he just killed all the reformers. Okay. What? And then after he killed the reformers, he retired. One of these reformers who got away was Julius Caesar. Okay. So Julius Caesar, because his family was very wealthy, was able to escape Sulla. But he's a very ambitious man. So now he's going to build his political career based on the discontent of the people. And what he's going to do is that he's going to, um, bribe his way into office so that he can get a generalship to go invade Gaul. Okay. So he goes to Gaul, which is in modern-day France. He spends many years there. Um, what's he doing there? Okay. Okay. Well, if you look at official Roman history, what he's doing there is he's trying to pacify the people of Gaul. Okay. So he has these, like, these series of military campaigns in Gaul, and it culminates in, uh, so he's leading his soldiers into war in Gaul, and it culminates in something called the Battle of Alesia, which is one of the most famous battles in history. Basically, what happens, what's happening is that, um, this is the very last battle of, um, Caesar's Gallic campaign. What he's done is he's surrounded a village where his enemies are. Okay? But his enemies send word to all the Gallic tribes to come and converge against the Romans. So what the Romans do is they build fortifications to block out the invaders. Okay? So they're fighting wars on both fronts. They're fighting on the inside against the enemies trapped here. They're also fighting against the enemies coming from outside as well. And, uh, Alesia is one of the greatest battles in human history. And again, we have reason to think that this didn't happen. Okay.
So what was Caesar doing in Gaul and why was he starting all these wars? The answer is really simple. Okay. There are three reasons. The first is, remember, slaves are the most valuable commodity at this time. So what he's doing is he's basically capturing slaves. He's going and he's starting these wars in order to capture slaves. Caesar said famously, "I killed a third of the people of Gaul, I enslaved a third of them, and I left a third alone." Okay. So he basically committed genocide against the people of Gaul. And, um, what's important to understand is he probably exaggerated. He probably didn't kill a third. Why? Because if he captures slaves, a lot of this money has to go to the Roman state. But if he kills, if he pretends to kill the Gauls but actually enslaves them, then all the money goes to him. Okay? So by enslaving people, he became filthy rich. In fact, he became the wealthiest man in Rome, and he used this money to bribe his, um, friends into office. Okay. So he became also the most politically powerful individual in Rome. That's reason number one why he went to Gaul. Second is that Caesar, um, was trying to build a loyal army, a private army that was loyal to him. And so just because he was able to give money to these soldiers, these soldiers not only were loyal to him, but they also developed a lot of combat experience while in Gaul, right? So now Caesar has the world's most powerful army. The third reason why he went to Gaul, and this is most important, is to create a myth of himself as a great conqueror. Um, all these great politicians understand people don't really understand the difference between reality and fantasy. In fact, they don't care what about the difference. Okay? People will believe what they want to believe. So, what, what Caesar was doing was he was going to Gaul and then he was getting people to go back to Rome and announce all his victories. Okay? We have reason to believe that a lot of these victories were made up, but it gave the impression among the Romans that Caesar was this great conqueror. Okay. So think of this guy, right? What's he doing? He's trying to create an image of himself as energetic, dynamic, virile. Right. Right. Does that make sense? Oh, and a better example, of course, is this guy. Okay. Right. Donald Trump. He spent a lot of years in the World Wrestling Federation trying to portray himself as macho, as energetic, as strong, right? And then for over 10 years, he had the most popular television show on TV called "The Apprentice," where he pretended to be this savvy genius of a business person, right? "The Apprentice," and this is what really launched his political career. All right. So, this is all these great politicians understand. If you really want to have a great political career, you have to create a myth of yourself as an entrepreneurial military genius. Okay.
So, um, after Gaul, the Roman Senate basically gets really annoyed at Caesar because they understand what he's trying to do. He's trying to become king of Rome. So they basically try to impeach him. Okay? They, they want to put him on trial. So Caesar basically rebels against them, and this starts a civil war. And what's going to happen is that Caesar is going to go conquer the entire Roman Empire. Now, um, it's one man and his army against the entire empire. So he should have lost. The problem is that the optimates are really stupid, arrogant, and lazy. Okay? There's so, um, Pompey, General Pompey, is fighting for the optimates and he's going against Caesar. And Pompey's strategy, it's really simple. Okay? Caesar has control over Italy. There's a problem though. Italy is poor. It does not produce enough food. So all we have to do is lay siege to Italy, and if we start war is over. That's all we have to do, right? We don't have to fight Caesar. Just lay siege to Italy. Um, the people starve, the people rebel against Caesar, and then Caesar loses the war. [snorts] The problem though is the optimates are afraid that if Pompey won the war, then they would make Pompey king, right? So what the optimates wanted to do was force Pompey and Julius Caesar into a battle and have and kill both. Okay? They wanted to destroy both. And this led to something called the Battle of Pharsalus. Remember, at this time, Caesar needs to go fight Pompey. But Pompey doesn't have to actually fight Caesar, but the optimates force him to fight in a battle called Pharsalus. Okay. And in this battle, because Caesar has a loyal army, they defeat Pompey, even though Pompey has more soldiers. Okay. And then what, um, Caesar will do is then go conquer the entire Roman Empire, and he makes himself dictator of Rome. And this, of course, leads to his assassination. Why is he assassinated? Because the Romans are afraid that he'll make himself king, and he will abolish the debt of the people, and he will reappropriate the land and give it to the people. Okay? He'll basically make himself king by making Rome a much more equal and egalitarian place. And so they killed him. And this led to more civil war, um, in which Octavian, Caesar, Augustus Caesar, will be triumphant because he will inherit Julius Caesar's army. And at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, he would destroy Mark Antony and Cleopatra, making himself the supreme ruler of the Roman Empire. Okay? And he's really considered the first Roman emperor. But what's really important for us to understand is at this point in history, um, the problems of Rome don't really go away. He is emperor, and during his time, things are stable. But after he dies, the Roman Empire goes back into civil war, and it keeps, and it does not stop fighting civil war until its very collapse. Okay. What makes him, um, emperor is the fact that he will take Egypt and turn it into his private property, and he will use the wealth of Egypt to fund the army. So all the soldiers are now loyal to him individually, as opposed to the Roman state. Okay.
Now, Augustus Caesar, he was not a military genius, but he appreciated that if the Roman people were to survive, they needed a culture as distinct and as powerful as Greek culture. At this time in history, the Greeks, um, were culturally dominant. And he's, he was afraid that over time, all Romans would just become Greeks. So he needed to create a culture that was distinct from the Greeks, but also considered much more powerful than the Greeks. Okay. So that was his main major contribution to the Roman Empire. So what he does is he takes the work of Polybius. Remember, Polybius is the main, uh, architect of the history of the Roman Empire, and he tells Livy to basically rewrite the history, but from a Roman lens as opposed to a Greek lens. Okay. So this is a very, really famous book written by Livy, uh, sponsored by Octavius Caesar. Okay. So we're, we're going to read a bit of it to understand the Roman mentality. Okay. All right. All right.
So, um, what's happening is this. The book starts with the founding of Rome. And in the Roman tradition, what's going to happen is, um, the Romans are descendants of Troy. Remember Troy and the Iliad was destroyed by the Greeks. How did the Greeks destroy Troy? Through trickery, through deception, right? The Trojan Horse. And then what will happen is the Greeks flood into the city and kill everyone. But there's a Trojan general named Aeneas and his wife Creusa. What he will, what they will do is they will escape. Okay. Um, Troy. Sorry. In order to found Rome. Now, Creusa is the wife, and what she, what she will do is as they're leaving Troy, she will kill herself in order to allow Aeneas to escape fully. Okay. So, in the Roman tradition, all that matters is the father. Okay. So, you can see the father can't walk, so Aeneas has to, um, shoulder him to the ship. And women don't matter at all. Okay? That's the Roman tradition. All right.
Um, so what happens next is Rome is founded by twins, uh, Romulus and Remus, and they will, um, fight for the kingship of Rome. Okay. So, can you read the story of Romulus and Remus?
>> Remus is said to have been the first to receive an omen. Six vultures appeared to him. The augury had just been announced to Romulus when double the number appeared to him. Each was saluted as king by his own party. The one side based their claim on the priority of the appearance, the other on the number of the birds. Then followed an angry altercation. Heated passions led to bloodshed. In their turmoil, Remus was killed. The more common report is that Remus contemptuously jumped over the newly raised walls and was forthwith killed by the enraged Romulus, who exclaimed, "So shall it be henceforth with everyone who leaps over my walls." Romulus thus became sole ruler, and the city was called after him, its founder.
>> So Romulus and Remus are twins. Okay. They love each other, and, um, Rome was founded on violence. Okay? That's the very nature of Rome, a city based on violence. This story, if you remember, um, sorry.
Okay. So, so now Rome founds a city called Rome, and he invites anyone to join him. And over time, they become much more powerful, and they threaten their neighboring states, and they cannot, and these states cannot defeat Rome in war. So what they decide is, "You know what? We can't beat the Romans in battle, but if our daughters don't marry into them, they'll be dead after one generation. They, they won't have any children." Okay? So there's this compact among the nations of Italy not to marry into Rome. So Romans discover this, and they hatch this plan. What they're going to do is they're going to have this major festival, and they're going to invite all the families to come to this festival, and then, um, they will kidnap women and rape them. Okay? That's the plan.
Okay. They were invited to accept hospitality at the different houses. And after examining the situation of [clears throat] the city, its walls, and the large number of dwelling houses included, they were astonished at the rapidity with which the Roman state had grown. When the hour for the games had come, and their eyes and minds were alike riveted on the spectacle before them, the preconcerted, the preconcerted signal was [clears throat] given, and the Roman youth dashed in all directions to carry off the maidens who were present. The larger part were carried off indiscriminately. But some particular beautiful girls who had been marked out for the leading patricians were carried to their houses by plebeians told off the task. Alarm and consternation broke up the games, and the parents of the maidens fled, distracted with grief, uttering bitter reproaches on the violators of the laws of hospitality, and appealing to the god to whose solemn games they had come only to be the victims of impious perfidy.
Okay. So, this is actually a very serious crime because when you invite people into your house, there are these laws that, um, you must show, uh, hospitality to your guests, otherwise you will offend the gods themselves, because it's possible the person you invite into your house is a god himself. Okay. So, what the Romans did was outrageous. [snorts] Okay.
The abducted maidens were quite as despondent and indignant. Romulus, however, went round in person and pointed out to them that it was all owing to the pride of their parents in denying rights of intermarriage to their neighbors. They would live in honorable wedlock and share all their property and civil rights, and dearest of all to human nature would be the mothers of free men. He begged them to lay aside their feelings of resentment and give their affections to those whom fortune had made masters of their persons, and injury had often led to reconciliation and love. They would find their husbands all the more affectionate because each would do his utmost, so far as in him lay, to make up for the loss of parents and country. These arguments were reinforced by endearments of the husbands, who excused their conduct by pleading the irresistible force of their passion, a plea effective beyond all others and appealing to a woman's nature.
>> Okay. So the Romans are pretty disgusting. Okay. They rape a woman, say it's your fault, or it's your parents' fault. And I really couldn't control myself. So sorry, man, but I'll be nice to you. Okay. [clears throat] Yep. All right. So this, this is, um, a pretty, um, memorable event in Roman history. It's called the Rape of the Sabine Women. Okay. And these are different artworks depicting the event. Okay. Um, so the fathers are obviously pissed about about this. Okay. So a huge army is created to rescue the women back. And now these, these Roman soldiers are now facing this huge army. And when this happens, as about the clash, these women who are raped, they come screaming forward in the middle and say, "Stop. Stop. Stop. You're, you're my husband. You're my father. We don't want you to fight." Okay. Uh, can you read, please?
Then it was that the Sabine women, whose wrongs had led to the war, throwing off all womanish fears in their distress, went boldly into the midst of the flying missiles with disheveled hair and red [snorts] garments, running across the space between the two armies. They tried to stop any further fighting and calm the excited passions by appealing to their fathers in the one army and their husbands in the other not to bring upon themselves a curse by staining their hands with the blood of a father-in-law or son-in-law, nor upon their posterity the taint of parricide. "If you are wary of these ties of kindred, these marriage bonds," they cried, "then turn your anger upon us. It is we who are the cause of the war. It is we who have wounded and slain our husbands and fathers. Better for us to perish rather than live without one or the other of you, as widows or as orphans." The armies and their leaders were alike moved by this appeal. There was a sudden hush and silence. Then the generals advanced to arrange the terms of a treaty. It was not only peace that was made. The two nations were united into one state. The royal power was shared between them, and the seat of government for both nations was Rome.
>> Okay. So this could possibly happen, right? So these women are abducted, the fathers try to rescue them, and then the women say, "Hey, it was our fault. Like, let's just all be one big family." Okay. So this, this is one of the founding myths of Rome. And I, and I keep on saying this, but like, just take all Roman history and just like, throw it in the garbage, okay? Because it's, it's basically all made up. All right.
So, um, Rome builds, becomes more and more powerful, and now they have a king. Okay. But over time, their king becomes very corrupt. Uh, their king is Superbus. Superbus just means arrogant. And his son falls in love with a noble woman named Lucretia. But Lucretia is already married to a man named, uh, Collatinus. And so this prince decides to go, you know, rape her. [laughter] Okay. And, yeah. Okay.
>> They found Lucretia sitting in her room, prostrate with grief. As they entered, she burst into tears, and to her husband's inquiry whether all was well, replied, "No, what can be well with a woman when her honor is lost? The marks of a stranger, Lucius Tarquinius, are in your bed. But it is only the body that has been violated. The soul is pure. Death shall bear witness to that. But pledge me your solemn word that the adulterer shall not go unpunished. It is Sextus Tarquinius, who coming as an enemy instead of a guest, forced from me last night by brutal violence a pleasure fatal to me, and if you're a man, fatal to him." They all successively pledged their word and tried to console the distracted woman by turning the guilt from the victim of the outrage to the perpetrator, and urging that it is the mind that sins, not the body, and where there has been no consent, there is no guilt. "It is for you," she said, "to see that he gets his deserts. [snorts] Although I acquit myself of the sin, I do not free myself from the penalty. No unchaste woman shall henceforth live and plead Lucretia's example." She had a knife concealed in her dress, which she plunged into her heart and fell dying on the floor. Her father and husband raised the death cry.
>> Okay. So she is raped by the prince, and, um, her husband and best friend, the best friend is Lucius Junius Brutus. Okay. They try to console her, and they know she's distraught. Okay. But, but Lucretia is like, "No, I don't be consoled. I want, I..."
"want revenge." We're Romans, man. We fight to the bitter end. If you hit me, I go kill you. If you kill me, I go kill the entire family. Okay? And that's just a Roman way.
So what happens is like Brutus, Lucius Brhes, he leads a revolt against the king and the king is forced out of Rome and um now Rome is a republic. It's it's now run by the nobility. And a lot of people aren't happy with this system because before if you're good friends with a king, you can do whatever you want. But now you have to follow the laws of Rome. And so people conspire against the new um republic. And a couple of the conspirators include two of Lucius Buddhist sons. Okay, his two sons. And the conspirators is found out and all the conspirators are arrested and they're condemned to death. Lucius Buddhist decides he's going to put his own sons to death. So he orders and organizes the assa the execution of his two sons. Okay.
Their punishment created a great sensation owing to the fact that the cons c consular office imposed upon a father the duty of inflicting punishment on his own children. He who ought not to have witnessed it was destined to be the one to see it do duly carried out. Youths belonging to the noblest families were standing tied to the post but all eyes were turned to the consil's children. The others were unnoticed. Men did not grieve more for their punishment than for their crime which had incurred it. That they should have conceived the idea in that in that in that year above all of betraying to one who had been a ruthless tyrant and was now an exile and an enemy. a newly liberated country. Their father who had liberated it. The consil ship which had originated in the junian hoon junian house, the senate, the plebs, all the Rome possessed of human or divine.
The consuls took their seats. The listenitor uh victors were told off to inflict the penalty. They scourged their bearbacks with rods and then beheaded them. During the whole time, the father's countenance betrayed his feelings, but the father's stern resolution was still more apparent as he superintended the public execution.
>> So, you're a father, right? And these are your two sons. You love your two sons more than anything else in the world. You are forced by the law to execute your two sons. Okay. Now, most fathers would be like, you know what? I'm going to call in sick. I'm I'm going to go home and sleep until my sons are are dead. Lucas Buddhist is like, "No, I'm going to actually watch my two sons get killed." Not only that, but I'm going to organize their execution. Okay? And we can imagine, okay, this is Lucas Buddhist, and he has to watch as his sons are being beheaded right before him, and he's the one ordering their their um execution. As you can see, people are disgusted. They have to look away. And people are looking at his expression and you can see the emotional turmoil in his face, right? There's hatred, there's disgust, there's contempt, there's guilt. He hates himself, right? He hates his son, but he hates himself even more. There's all this um crazy energy, hateful energy that's being unleashed. The Roman way is take all this energy and turn it against your enemy. Okay, that's a secret of the Roman military to create a society so hateful, so angry, so vicious that people have all this demonic energy in them that they can now use against your enemy. Okay, so let's see what happens.
What's going to happen now is the king decides to attack Rome because this conspira conspiracy has failed, right? What Lucius Buddhist is going to do is ride out and meet the army head on. Okay, can you read please?
>> So two armies from these cities followed Tarun to recover his crown and cha chastised the Romans. When they had entered the Roman territory, the consoles advanced against them. Val Valyrias with the infant infantry and Fallon's information uh formation. Brutus recon >> recon >> reconetrying in advance with the cavalry. Similarly, the enemy's calvary was in front of his main body, Areronus Tarkin, the king's son in command. The king himself followed with the legionnaires. Whilst still at a distance, Aaron distinguished the console by his escort of list licers as they drew nearer. He clearly recognized Brutes by his features and in a transport of rage exclaimed, "That is the man who drove us from our country. See him proudly advancing adorned with our insignia. Ye God, Avengers of kings, aid me." With these words he dug spurs into his horse and rode straight at the console. Brutus saw that he was making for him. It was a point of honor in those days for the leaders to engage in single combat. So he eagerly accepted the challenge and they charged with such fury, neither of them thinking of protecting himself. If only he could wound his foe that each drove his spear at the same moment through the other's shield and they fell dying from their horses with their spears sticking in them.
>> Okay, so you see what happened. Okay, so Prudence is traumatized by the execution of his two sons. There is now a void in his heart. There is now a tear in his heart. Right? But this tear is unleashing all this energy that he can now use against his enemy. Okay, that is a secret. Trauma is a drug. The Roman ways use trauma as as a drug to empower you against your enemies. Okay. [snorts] All right.
So um the problem though is that um the Roman army is much smaller than the king's army. So Romans are forced back into their city. They have to hide behind their walls and they're under siege. And there's a Roman noble man named Mousius. And Mousius decides to offer a proposal to the Senate. He says to the Senate, "Listen, we're never going to beat this king's army. What what I can do is I can sneak into his camp and assassinate the king." And so the Senate is like, "Sure." So Mushi swims across the Tyber and he sneaks in into an enemy camp and he sees it's payday. Okay. So So there's two men uh the king and secretary giving out cash, giving out money to the soldiers, and they they look the same, they dress the same, and Musas doesn't know which is which. And at this point, he should be like, "You know what? I'll come back another day and figure out who's the king." But now he's like, "You know what? It's 50/50. You know, it's a coin flip." So he takes his dagger and he stabs the guy and it turns out to be the secretary. And he's arrested, okay? And he appears before the king and he and the king says to him, "You tell me the truth or I will burn you in this fire." And then Mushia says, "Okay, the truth is this. I am one of hundreds of young Roman men who have sworn to come and kill you. One of us will succeed. I failed today, but tomorrow someone else will come. And if you fail, someone else will come as well. And [snorts] then um the king says, "Are you telling the truth? If you are not telling the truth, I will burn you alive." And then Mushius is you know what? He takes his hand. Okay, he takes his hand and he puts in a fire and his hand is being burned. Okay. He's just like the king is freaked out. He's like, "You Romans are the craziest bastards. You guys are demonic. I'm out of here." Okay. Though the war is over. All right. All right. Can you read, please?
>> Here alone and help us and the utmost peril. He was still able to inspire more fear than he felt. I am a citizen of Rome, he said. Men call me se >> mucous >> mucus. As an enemy I wish to kill an enemy and I have as much courage to meet death as I had to inflict it. It is the Roman nature to act bravely and to suffer bravely. I'm not alone in having made this resolve against you. Behind me there is a long list of those who aspire to the same distinction. If then it is your pleasure make make up your mind for a struggle in which you will every hour have to fight for your life and find an armed foe on the threshold of your royal tent. This is the war which we the youth of Rome declared against you. We have you have no sir ranks, no pitch battle to fear. the matter will be settled between you alone and each one of us singly the king furious with anger and at the same time terrified at the unknown danger threatened that if he did not promptly explain the nature of the plot which he was darkly hinting at he should be roasted alive oo mucus cried and learned how lightly those regards their bodies who have some great glory in view then he plunged his right hand into a fire burning on the altar. Whilst he kept it roasting there as if he were devoid of all sensation, the king astounded at his pre >> international conduct sprang from his seat and ordered the youth to be removed from the altar. Go, he said, you have been a worse enemy to yourself than to me. I would invoke blessings on your courage if it were displayed on behalf of my country as it is. I send you away exempt from all rights of war unheers and safe. The amuseiest reciprocating as it were this generous treatment said since you honor courage know that what you could not gain by threats you have obtained by kindness. 300 of us the foremost amongst the Roman youth have sworn to attack you in this way. The lot felt to me first. The rest in the order of their lot will come each in his turn till fortune shall give us a favorable chance against you.
>> Okay. So the Romans are crazy. Okay. They are demonic. All right. So um none of this is true. Okay. It can't possibly be true. You can't put your hand in a fire and like not feel anything. Okay. But where this is coming from is from the uh protoindo-uropean myth. Remember when we discussed the steps people they had of mythology. Okay. So what what the Romans are doing is they're taking this mythology and they are adapting it to their own history. Okay? So everything that we've read is not true but the Romans thought it was true. Okay? And remember people don't can cannot differentiate between fantasy and reality. So as long as you think as long as you believe it is true then um it's true. Okay. And this is how Romans behave. So um um yeah. So the story of Lucius Buddhist kicking out uh the Tarkkins um is the story of the third man stealing the cattle. Okay. So basically stealing a throne from Tarquin and the story of the man sacrificing his twin is story of Romulus and Remis. Okay. All right. [snorts] All right.
So now we get to the most famous of all um Roman ethics called the Iniad. And so at this time again um Augustus Caesar has a problem in that everyone acknowledges the Greek culture be superior. Why? Because of Homer. Okay, because of the Iliad. Remember we read the Iliad and we remember how uh the Iliad ends with an act of love and forgiveness and compassion, right? Um, Achilles feels guilt for for what he's done for killing Petetro. He takes out this rage on Hector, right? Which is a very which is a Roman way. And then Prime comes and forgives Achilles by kissing his hand. And this um allows Achilles to escape his guilt and they uh forgive each other. And in the face of Pryam, Achilles sees his father. In the face of Achilles, Pry sees Hector. And so they hug and they uh weep together. Okay. And this idea of love as a unifying force of the universe becomes the basis of Greek culture and and of Greek civilization. The Romans don't like this for them. If you're a culture based on hate, love is the greatest enemy. Okay. So what is going to happen is Augusta Caesar is going to ask a poet named Virgil to rewrite this story in a way that puts hate at the center of the universe and not love. Okay? All right. All right.
So this is the Iniad by Virgil. Considered one of the greatest books in human history. It is a complete piece of crap. Okay. It's propaganda. All right. When you read it, you you see how terrible it is. And uh basically Virgil who was the most famous poet in the Roman Empire at this time he's being ordered by Augustus Caesar to write the INAD and they write it together basically basically with each draft Virgil has to read it to August of Caesar and then August Caesar tells him how to rework it so it captures the Roman spirit. When Virgil was um about to die he asked for the for the book to be burned. Okay. because he as a poet understands that if you are using the gift of God, poet use the gift of God to promote hatred, then you're going to burn in hell, man. Okay. Um, so he asked to for this book to be burned, but August Caesar, no, no, I like it the way it is. Okay.
So, this is a rewriting of the Iliad. What's going to happen is this. The Greeks have broken into Troy and they're killing everyone. Okay? And the son of Achilles uh named Pyrus is killing the sons of Pryam. And Pry faces uh Pyrus and he tells Pyrus, "You're the son of Achilles. Achilles was a noble person. Have you no mercy?" And then like no. And then he kills pirate. Pry. Okay. All right. So can you read please?
>> Suddenly look a son a son of Pry >> Pry. My bad. Pry polites just escaped from slaughters as pyrus hands comes racing in through spears through enemy fighters fleeing down the long arcades and deserted hallways badly wounded pirates hot on his heels. A weapon poised for the kill about to seize him about to run him through and pressing pressing home as polites reaches his parents and collapses vomiting out his life bloodl before their eyes.
>> Okay, so this is very similar to the death of Hector, right? So remember Achilles kills Hector and Prime witnesses it, right? [snorts] And um something is happening here where Polites is being killed in front of Prime. So again, it's a rewriting of the Iliad. Keep on going.
>> at that Prime trapped in the grip of death, not holding back, not checking his words, his rage, you he cries, and you and your vicious crimes. If any power on high recoils at such an outrage, let the gods repay you for all your reckless work. Grant you the thanks, the rich reward you've earned. You've made me see my son's death with my own eyes. Def def defiled a father's sight with a son's lifeblood. You say you're Achilles son. You lie. Achilles never treated enemy pri so. No, he honored he honored as suppliance right. He blushed to betray my trust. He restored my Hector's bloodless corpse for burial. Sent me safely home to the land I rule.
>> Okay, so this is the end of the Iliad. Okay, so he's reminding everyone the Iliad is a story about love, forgiveness, compassion. Okay.
>> With that and with all his might, the old man fling his spear, but too important how to pierce. It merely graced Fire's brazen shield that blocks its way and clings there, dangling limp from the boss, all for nothing. Pyrus shouts back, "Well, then down you go. A messenger to my father, Pelia's son. Tell him about my vicious work. How neo Neoptoamus.
>> Neopalamus degrades his father's name. Don't you forget now die. That said, he dragged the old man straight to the altar, quaking, slithering on through slicks of his son's blood, and twisting Pry's hair in his left hand. His right hand sweeping forth his sword, a flash of steel, he buries it hill deep in the king's flank. Such was the fate of Piriam. His death, his slot on earth with Choi blazing before his eyes, her ramparts down. The monarch who once had ruled in all his glory the many land of Asia, Asia's many tribes. A powerful trunk is lying on the shore, the head wrenched from the shoulders, a corpse without a name.
>> Okay, so all Roman school children have to memorize this poetry. And obviously if you are a Roman school child and you know that pry is from your ancestors you have a deep hatred of the Greeks. Okay. So the entire purpose of the Iniad is to create hatred of the Greeks in order to create a Roman identity. All [snorts] right.
So again the Greeks were the greatest civilization we ever had. Why? Because they were a civilization based on reflection on debate on openness. This is um a modern reenactment of the play the Trojan woman. Okay, this is a play by Eupites that discusses what happens to the children woman after Troy falls. They become enslaved. The children are killed. And so the Greeks when they watch this play, they have to watch their own darkness. They have to see for themselves their own heart of darkness. It causes tremendous empathy for their enemies. Okay, this is the very idea of civilization. And what do the Romans do? They do this. Okay, gladiators. They watch lions eat people. They watch men kill each other. Okay, that's the Roman way. The Greeks want to understand and feel empathy for other people. The Romans just want to kill other people. All right. [snorts]
Um and in America today we have a very similar Roman culture as well. This is American football of course and um it is pretty violent. Okay. It is pretty barbaric. All right. The Greeks for fun what the elite do is they organize dinner parties called symposia. Symposium. Um and in the symposium what happens is that people come together [snorts] and they have conversations about love about poetry about life. They will drink wine but the wine is watered down. Okay. So they can keep on drinking for a long long time. The entire argument is just to have a conversation. All right.
>> All right. And so this is the idea of the symposium. Okay. This is a famous painting of Alabades coming in and having discussion with everyone. So in Athenian culture, what's important is to be a great speaker to be intelligent to engage people in debate and conversation and philosophy. Okay. And what do the Romans do instead? Um, they get drunk and they throw up and they have orgies. Okay. So the R woman what women super fun is they have these huge feasts these huge banquetss and what they will do is they will go on the food in the first course they go outside and throw up. Okay they will throw up the food so they can they can join the second course they will w down the food and then go and throw up again. Okay and guys this is while people on the streets<bos> starving to death. Okay.
>> Okay. This is u the Roman way. Okay. So this is um the feast. This is almost a reenactment of the rape of Sabian woman, right? So they take um these myths. So uh the death of Lucricia, Mus burning his hand, the rape of the Sabbian woman and they use it as entertainment for the societies. Okay. So this this is really the beginning of secret societies, right? All right.
So what secret societies do is they will take these myths and reenact them out in order to build sol um solidarity and trust and cohesion among the secret members. Um this is a picture of Nero just getting drunk having a lot of sex. Okay. So it's pretty it's it's pretty pointless existence. And of course in America you have this um I don't understand why is it that people think it's fun to do drugs get get drunk and then go party all night. Okay. But u apparently it's it's supposed to be a lot of fun. Okay. All right.
So that is Roman culture. So Rome becomes the dominant empire at this time and it is an empire based on hatred and it seems life is hopeless and so what will happen is the universe will send a messenger to remind people there's still hope because there's God in you and this person's name is >> Jesus right so we'll discuss Jesus next class okay so Jesus's response to the Roman Empire so I'll I'll take some quick questions um from YouTube and then and then we'll end the class. Okay. All right.
So, what does it mean to be a great man? Okay. So, I say that love is unifying force of the universe. But then you have these great men who come and conquer people. So, which is which? Okay. Um so um in my in my understanding of things port prophets are the greatest men. Okay. People like Zorustra, uh Homer, Jesus, uh these are the the Yahweh in the Bible. These are the great individuals of human history issue because they represent the truth. Okay? They are messengers of the Monad. And then you have people like Julius Caesar, Alexand the Great, Napoleon who do a lot of conquering. Okay. Um, and they have been identified as great men of history. But I think it's really Homer and Dante and Plato who are the greatest people because they create civilizations based on their ideas. They actually change the course of human history based on on their ideas. Whereas people like Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Exen the Great, they're more like a culmination of the trajectory of human history. Okay? If that makes any sense. All right. Uh let's move on. All right.
Um, yeah, so the great head. So what did the Iliad mean to the great? Okay. So um to understand this idea, think of a play. Okay, we all want to put on a play. We all know a script, but we need an actor to play a certain character and then we're like, you know what, Azen the Great plays Achilles. Okay, so it's expected that a great will behave the way of Achilles in the Iliad. How did Achilles behave? Achilles saw himself as a young romantic hero. He was going to die in the beaches of Troy in order to achieve eternal glory. Okay, that's why Ezin the Great could not stop fighting the war. In every battle, he was leading the charge because he wanted to die in battle. He wanted to be Achilles. Only by dying in battle could he achieve the fame of Achilles. Okay. So, um he was acting out the play. What's what's important is that he himself saw himself as the reincarnation of Achilles and everyone else saw him as also the uh personification of Achilles as well. Okay. So that's how this works. [snorts] All right.
Um this person asks why is it that Denmark, Norway, these Scandinavian countries are so different from other countries? Okay. Well, first of all, they're small. Okay. They're really small countries, millions of people. Everyone knows each other. If you go to Denmark, everyone knows the prime minister of Denmark. Maybe she was their neighbor or their friend. If they don't know the prime minister, then they know a friend who know who knows the prime minister. So, it's a really small place. Okay, that builds cohesion. That's number one. Number two is guys, Denmark, Norway are really cold places. That means that people spend a lot of time indoors together talking and becoming friends. Okay? And also because it's so cold, they have to work together. The third factor is these countries are surrounded by lots of dangerous enemies. Germany, Russia, um Sweden. Okay. And as such, they learn that it's really important to stick together and to work together. Now what's interesting is that if you go to a place like Holland, you go and you think it's very egalitarian. But what's really interesting is that it's actually one of the most unequal places on earth because the aristocrats have a lot of money. But the but the problem is the difference is like the aristocrats understand like if the people are happy they're more safe. Okay. So the aristocrats will actually uh u promote and support the welfare state because of social cohesion. Okay. All right.
Um, a couple questions. Um, so we are moving to the age of digital technology, artificial intelligence. Does it mean that empires will change over time? Um, okay. This is something that I will discuss towards the end of the semester to the end of this course. And it's a really interesting idea where okay, you're an empire. you're lazy, arrogant, and stupid. But maybe with artificial intelligence, you have more control over people. And in theory, that's true. Okay? Once you have the AI system, more you you'll be able to control people better. But f but you have to first build the AI system. And that takes a lot of effort and energy. And if you're in d empire like America, you don't have the energy to build this AI system. Okay. What you do have is a lot of um desire and motivation to create an AI scam. Okay, so chatbt is a scam guys. It's not really doing anything. But you can actually take this technology and create like a matrix to enslave people psychologically, mentally. Okay, we'll discuss discuss this towards the end of the semester. We call this transhumanism. All right. All right.
Um Okay. Okay, so Athenians and Spartans were didn't want to destroy each other, but that led to the rise of Macedonia. How did that happen? The answer is because they didn't care. Okay, do you understand? They're the empire. So they think they're invincible. If an empire believed that a challenge challenge could could arise, they would never ever fall, guys. If an empire recognized that it could fall one day, it would never ever fall. It's because of hubris. Because it's so arrogant, lazy, and stupid that it falls. Okay? So it's impossible for either Athens or or Sparta to imagine that Macedonia would one day overtake them. All right.
Um last question is about secret societies. Um, how do secret societies work? All right. So this is something that we will discuss towards the end of the course. Okay. But why is it that secret societies are so powerful? All right. To understand this, let's just do a thought experiment. All right. So imagine this. There's four groups of 100 people each, okay? And there's this huge mountain, the Himalayas. And the task is to get get everyone to the top as soon as possible. Okay? As quickly as possible. There are four teams. Okay? Team one is like you guys can do whatever you want. Okay? We don't care. Team two is like if everyone gets to the top, you get a million dollars each, right? Team three is one of the team members has a child who's going to die unless you get to the top because at the top is this magic doctor who can save your son. Okay, that's team three. Team four is there are these demons that are chasing you and they will you won't be able to sleep. You won't be able to live in peace if you don't stop running from these demons. Okay, so guess what? Team one, team two, team three, team four. Who wins? Team four, obviously, right? Not secret societies. Secret societies create so much trauma. They create so much guilt and hatred and contempt that they're forced to keep on moving and running. Okay, that's the Roman way, guys. Okay, remember loses Brutus. He killed his own two sons. What do you do after that? Well, you have to go kill someone else. Okay, and then after you kill him, what do you do? You go kill someone else. And you keep on going because the guilt of killing your own two sons, it's too much to bear. If you just stop and you rest, your sons will appear before you as ghost and like they'll be like, "Dad, why did you kill us? What did we do? What did you kill us?" You cannot bear that guilt. So you have to keep on moving forward. You rush forward. Okay? Even if it kills you. All right? So, so at this time we have so much guilt. You either conquer the world or you kill yourself. Your choice. And that's why secret sites are so powerful, guys. Okay? Not because they have secrets. Okay? I I actually don't know if they have secrets or not. All right? But I imagine they don't have secrets, but I imagine like they do so much evil in the world that they can only do more evil in order to escape the evil that they've already done. Okay? It's as though demons are chasing them. Does that make sense, guys?
>> Yes.
>> All right. So, questions. [snorts] So I think I did not fully understand the part which the romance rape of those womens and women's blame the sins on themselves think that part I think it's a bit confusing I think.
>> Okay, so um first of all, you need to understand all this woman history is nonsense, okay? None of it is true. These are all just mythologies to create the woman character. Okay. So the rape of the sab woman um didn't really happen, but what the custom is if I go kill you, I kill you and I steal your wife. Okay. So so so it is a metaphor for war. Does that make sense? Okay. [snorts] Okay. And um, but what what this is saying is like if you go and kill your enemy and you steal his wife, the wife will thank you. All right. So it's creating this mythology. All [clears throat] right.
>> But why would the wife thank you? Like you.
>> The wife won't thank you. The wife will hate you. But do you care? Not. You don't care. Okay. The winners write the history. Do you understand?
>> When you become a slave, you are not allowed to speak. You're not allowed to think for yourself. You have to do whatever the man tells you to do. Right? Does that make sense? Mhm.
>> So even though you feel hate for the man who's killed your family, you're now a slave. So if you lost your soul and if you lost your soul, it means I can do whatever I want to your mind as well as your body. Okay? So this is the Roman way. And guys, um it's no different from any empire that emerged after the Romans. Okay? The British Empire is the same way. The American Empire is the same way as well in that if we conquer you, we can now implant anything into your soul because your soul is now ours. Okay? So if you go to Germany and you see what's you talk to Germans, the Germans will tell you, "Oh, we are the worst people in the world. We're the most evil people in the world. We did the Holocaust. We started World War I. We started World War II. If you give us any like opportunity, we'll start wars for no reason." Okay? You go to Japan, same thing. Okay. So, the winners write the history and the losers have to accept this history. [snorts] Okay. Does that make sense? Any more questions, guys?
Um, I remember when you were talking about Julius Caesar, you said the only reason why he survived was because or like [clears throat] survived the Holocaust. Uh, not the Holocaust, but like um uh people in Rome were being killed, I think. and he was able to survive because his father had a lot of money, had a lot of wealth. But you also mentioned that he was a part of the populace. So how does that add up?
>> Okay. Yeah, that's a good question. Okay. So to remind you, okay, the conflict arises between upper nobility and lower nobility. So upper nobility are just the optimist people like I have all the power. Lower nobility are the children who are like I want the status. Okay. So, so yes, Julius Caesar did come from a very wealthy family, but he didn't have status.
>> Okay.
>> Okay. So, money and status are not the same thing. And that that's why there's a civil wars because the people who were part of elite aren't able to access power. So, they scheme on how to access power. So, look at Donald Trump. Okay? Donald Trump has money but he doesn't have power. That's why he ran for the for presidency. Okay? Does it does it make sense? Okay. So remember all these conflicts that happen in the world are always between upper nobility and low nobility. Between the have a lot and the have some but want some more. Okay? It's never between rich and poor. The poor don't do anything. Okay? The the poor just like I'm poor. I'm useless. I'll just sit and die. Okay? That's that's what poor people are like. Middle class people, rich people are like, you know, I want more. Okay?
>> They're aspirational. Is that clear? Okay. But I think if the middle class like if they want more the more higher class they will not allow the middle class to they won't allow them to have more like they will suppress them.
>> Yeah. And that's what creates a French revolution. Okay.
>> Oh.
>> All right. All right. Any any more questions, guys? Okay. Great. So, remember this is the Roman Empire. We've done the Roman Empire and it's an empire based on hate and people's lives under the Roman Empire. It's just terrible. There's massive slavery. There's massive debt. There's massive corruption. And so now we'll emerge um another poet prophet named Jesus to try to redeem people. Okay. So we'll discuss Jesus next class.