We do not need horses as leaders. He who chooses them shall discern a worthy leader from an inept, egotistic one.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Notes on Caligula (and Leader Appointment)
"Caligula also kept his favourite racehorse, Incitatus, inside the palace in a stable box of carved ivory, dressed in purple blankets and collars of precious stones. Dinner guests were invited to the palace in the horse's name. And the horse, too, was invited to dine with the emperor. Caligula was even said to have considered making the horse consul."
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Yah, Caligula is best known as Rome's craziest emperor.
ReplyDeleteGaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was Caligula's real name. Am I right?
ReplyDeleteHe was the son of Germanicus and Agrippina.
Machiavelli would have thought of Caligula as a horrible prince.
ReplyDeleteSome of his mistakes were:
• purposely wasting money by using it for generosity (Machiavelli said it would be better to be considered selfish than generous) and extravagance, which exhausted the treasury funds and forced him to raise taxes and seize the property of the people (two very unpopular acts which Machiavelli believed should be avoided);
• sleeping with the wives of other men and bragging about it (people would obviously hate him); and
• killing for mere amusement: in one game, he ordered his guards to throw an entire section of the crowd into the arena during intermission to be eaten by animals because there were no criminals to be prosecuted and he was bored (Machiavelli wanted princes to commit vile acts all at once and not at random so that people would not grow insecure).
On the other hand, Machiavelli would have liked Caligula’s granting of bonuses to those in the military including the Praetorian Guard, city troops and the army outside of Italy in order to gain support (Machiavelli argued that soldiers were important to the stability of a prince’s reign).