Another baneful sign that America has become the new Rome is the suspiciously similar alternation of “good emperors” (Obama) with “bad emperors” (Trump). Marcus Aurelius came as close as any human can to the ideal of philosopher-king: he actually wrote a book on stoicism and lived it. Then he was followed by his son, Commodus, the classical version of the modern frat boy, who enjoyed fighting in the arena with gladiators, who naturally had to lose to the prince. By the third century, the emperors were all pretty much awful. The question is, how close are we to third century Rome?
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