Anthem Press has just released the paperback edition of my book On the Fall of the Roman Republic: Lessons for the American People. So I thought I’d share some bonus material that touches upon a number of the themes addressed in it and reflects the format of the approach I took in the other chapters. Here is the additional lesson.

Mistreatment of women is the mark of a tyrant

The Roman Republic was founded in 509 BCE.  The event that prompted its creation was a sexual assault by the king’s son, Sextus Tarquinius, against Lucretia, the daughter of Spurius Lucretius, a leading citizen (Livy, The History of Rome 1.49-60).  The prince, driven by lust and believing himself above the law, traveled to Lucretia’s house and attacked her while her husband was away with the army.  Lucretia bravely revealed to her father, husband, and friends what she had endured.  She then tragically killed herself.  But before she did so, she challenged those present to seek justice, and to their credit they did, refusing to tolerate sexual assault by those who believed their power gave them control over other people’s bodies.  Lucretia’s rape and death were the catalyst for driving out the kings.  The Tarquins by this point had exhibited all manner of autocratic behavior from refusing to consult the senate to employing a threatening bodyguard.  The Romans despised these aspects of Tarquinius Superbus’ rule, and they recognized that sexual assault was characteristic of the tyrant.  The Roman Republic was established to prevent any individual from acting with impunity toward Roman citizens ever again.  This is not to suggest that ancient Rome was not a patriarchal society or that sexual assault never happened, for such things undoubtedly did.  It does demonstrate, however, that the Romans would not tolerate it as accepted behavior from their political leaders. 

            Nearly 500 years later, the fall of the Roman Republic did not witness such a dramatic sexual assault that resulted in the change of government.  And that may have been deliberate.  Augustus liked to portray himself as a conservative traditionalist who restored the republican constitution and the customs of the ancestors.  Part of this persona involved judging the sexual misbehavior of others very harshly.  Once possessing sole power, Augustus personally initiated legislation that created harsh penalties for adultery, which was no longer simply a private matter but now a public crime.  The penalties ranged all the way to exile or even execution.  Augustus even charged his daughter and granddaughter under the law, not only exiling them to islands but also forbidding their burial in his mausoleum (Suetonius Augustus 101).  His daughter’s lovers were exiled and then faced execution or suicide (Tacitus Annals 1.10.4, 1.53, 4). 

            One might generously understand Augustus’ actions as those of a rather conservative-minded individual.  But they were not.  They were the actions of a hypocrite.  Augustus spent most of his life married to Livia, one of the great women of Roman history and a sure match for his ambitions.  But before Livia, he was married to Scribonia, the mother of his daughter, until he divorced her for the way she “nagged him” (Suetonius Augustus 62).  One also suspects that his desire for Livia had something to do with it, for he shortly married her after divorcing Scribonia in 39 BCE.  Augustus’ wedding to Livia was a scandalous affair.  Livia was actually married and pregnant at the time that Augustus brought her into his house (“abducted” is the language Tacitus uses, Annals 1.10.5); she promptly divorced her husband Tiberius Nero, who did little to oppose the arrangement.  Perhaps Tiberius Nero did not mind his pregnant wife going off with another man, and perhaps Livia and Augustus were truly in love; they did remain married until his death in 14 CE, and Livia did not remarry.  But we should remember two points.  First, Roman aristocrats did not marry purely for love; they married for power.  Witness Augustus’ cruel demand that his daughter Julia marry each of his designated successors in turn, beginning with her cousin Marcellus.  Second, Tiberius Nero had been on the list of the proscribed in 43 BCE.  He managed to survive, but he owed his life to Augustus, whom he was in little position to challenge.  Many of Augustus’ successors would behave similarly, taking sexual partners as they wished, even those who were already married.  In fact, when Caligula, who once wished the Roman people had one neck to cut, abducted another man’s wife, he claimed that he was merely following Augustus’ precedent (Suetonius, Life of Caligula 25, 30).  When Mallonia refused the emperor Tiberius’ advances, he put her on trial and drove her to suicide (Suetonius, Life of Tiberius 45).  When the Romans refused to tolerate such behavior they drove out the tyrants and established a republic; when the Romans refused to object to the sexual assaults of the Caesars, they endured tyranny. 

In the United States, there has been a growing resistance to sexual assault led by the very women who have experienced it.  The #MeToo movement has exposed the breadth and depth of sexual violence in the United States.  Yet any justice that has been won has been in the face of resistance from political groups and politicians, particularly former-president Trump who has his own history of mistreatment of women.  Former-president and now candidate Donald Trump has been credibly accused by several women of groping and sexual assault.  He has even been recorded promoting sexual assault, which he believes he can get away with simply because of his power and money (New York Times 10/8/16).  Trump has also been credibly accused of paying hush money to women in order to cover up his affairs.  Of course, Trump’s sexual excesses are matched by his violent rhetoric against his female political opponents.  During his campaign in 2016, Trump’s rallies frequently resounded with misogynistic chants of “Lock her up,” referring to Hillary Clinton.  In 2019, the chants had changed to “Send her back,” referring to Rep. Ilhan Omar (Washington Post 7/17/19).  The authoritarian’s subjugation of his own citizens often begins with the oppression of women.  If a society is to be free, then women must be free to have control over their bodies. Politicians and citizens who do not champion this freedom are authoritarians who do not deserve the support of citizens who desire to live in a free democratic republic.