The Best Roman Emperor

[InkL0sed]

re: Marcus Aurelius -yup.
But he was hopeless - left the empire in a state of virtual civil war. Philosophers dont make good kings,whatever Plato might have thought.

I don't know -- the first few American Presidents came pretty close to that ideal in my opinion.

[suggs]

re: Marcus Aurelius -yup.
But he was hopeless - left the empire in a state of virtual civil war. Philosophers dont make good kings,whatever Plato might have thought.

I don't know -- the first few American Presidents came pretty close to that ideal in my opinion.

Nah.
Well, not Washington anyway. No way was he a philosopher. Though he was pretty close to the ideal of a Roman emperor - a Soldier King.
Adams, a bit more maybe, but no philosopher.
Jefferson and Madison - damn you, yup! Although both were first and foremost politicians,rather than great thinkers. Madison is close to that, i grant you.
Once again, Madison RULES!

[InkL0sed]

re: Marcus Aurelius -yup.
But he was hopeless - left the empire in a state of virtual civil war. Philosophers dont make good kings,whatever Plato might have thought.

I don't know -- the first few American Presidents came pretty close to that ideal in my opinion.

Nah.
Well, not Washington anyway. No way was he a philosopher. Though he was pretty close to the ideal of a Roman emperor - a Soldier King.
Adams, a bit more maybe, but no philosopher.
Jefferson and Madison - damn you, yup! Although both were first and foremost politicians,rather than great thinkers. Madison is close to that, i grant you.
Once again, Madison RULES!

Are you kidding me? Madison sucked as a President! I mean, yeah, he was brilliant and everything -- but any President that lets the White House get burned down doesn't get a high ranking.

I disagree with Adams -- he was quite the intellectual himself. And you're forgetting his son, and Monroe.

[suggs]

Yeah. Can i just say you're right? I'm tired, and the more i think of it, the more i know my US history sucks SALTY BALLS.

[InkL0sed]

Yeah. Can i just say you're right? I'm tired, and the more i think of it, the more i know my US history sucks SALTY BALLS.

It's cool, I'm actually very surprised at the knowledge that non-Americans have on this site about our history...

[suggs]

Well, you chaps havent been around that long, so theres not much to learn...
Sorry. Kidding - i am obliged to say that as a Brit.

i guess i meant Madison was a great political thinker, the Constitution owed a lot to him. But yeah i guess the 1812 thing was a bit crap.
My fav bit of USA history is still the bit when all the scum and outcasts buggered off out of the UK tho

[Ntetos]

Claudius was a good emperor. Despite an illness he had that made him look like a fool he became emperor after Caligula was overthrown just by hiding behind a curtain. He managed to conquer Britain and allowed non Romans to become Senators. His only bad decision was that he married Agrippina and adopted Nero.

[The1exile]

he's not technically an "emperor", since he was actually the second roman king, but Numa = pwn.

[Snorri1234]

"NO. Caesar was a dictator. I forget the Latin word (lets face it, I never knew it anyway)."


According to my Latin dictionary, the latin for dictator is "dictator".

I'm fairly certain the word they used was actually "imperator." Dictator sounds more like speaker in Latin to me... let me go check my own dictionary.

OK -- my dictionary says the same thing. However, it also adds: "In Rome, an extraordinary magistrate, elected in times of emergency for six months, and granted absolute power." So that's referring more to the Cincinnatus-model of dictator, not the kind Caesar became (which is more similar to what we would call a dictator nowadays).

If I remember correctly, Julius Caesar first became dictator after which he appointed himself to dictator for life.

[Dancing Mustard]

What about Gallileo, he was pretty good?