Civilization #17: Homer, Vergil, and the War for the Soul of Rome

The Romans and the Greeks were very different civilizations. The Greeks were scattered across the Aegean and the Mediterranean, with colonies all over the place. They were primarily focused on maritime trade, especially with the great empires of the Near East: Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Because the Greeks had colonies throughout these civilizations, they were able to absorb new ideas easily. Their focus on trade made them very open-minded people.

The Romans were completely different. Located across the Adriatic in Italy, they were an inland people, making them much more insular and conservative than the Greeks. Historically, the Romans were surrounded by aggressive peoples, including the Latins, the Sabines, and the Etruscans. Rome always had to struggle to survive in this hostile environment. To do so, they developed a cultural system that made them the world's greatest military machine.

The three pillars of this culture were:

• Piety: Obedience and loyalty to the gods, to Rome, and to your fathers.
• Liberty: This principle, which meant no kings, dictators, or tyrants, put the nobility at the very heart and center of Roman society.
• Res Publica: The public good. The idea here is that everyone must sacrifice himself for the honor and glory of Rome. It was a competition; you won prestige by winning new territory for Rome.

This was a great system for a poor, small nation that was always at war and under threat from larger nations. In 216 BC, Hannibal destroyed every Roman army, but the Romans were able to rally themselves and ultimately defeat Carthage in the Second Punic War. It was a great system if you were a small, poor nation always at war.

The Crisis of the Roman Republic and Augustus's Challenges

This system breaks down when you become a rich, big empire and the main hegemon in the area. This system led to three major problems in the Roman Republic:

1. Corruption
2. Division (Civil Wars: first between Marius and Sulla, then between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and finally between Octavian and Mark Antony)
3. Inequality

Rome was in crisis, and the ultimate resolution to all these problems was the beginning of the Empire. Octavian became the emperor, now known as Augustus Caesar. He centralized all military authority in his hands. Egypt became his private estate, and he used it to bankroll the army, which was now composed of professional soldiers. Before, they were citizen-soldiers who only volunteered when Rome was at war. Now, in the Empire, there was a professional standing army, and soldiers served for 20 or 30 years. They were all paid by one man, the emperor, through his land holdings in Egypt.

He also established the Praetorian Guard, which was basically the secret police of Rome. There were no soldiers in Rome, but the Praetorian Guard was responsible for peace and security, and they were only responsible to one man: the emperor.

Even though Augustus Caesar had conquered Rome and most of the world, he still had three major problems that he had to resolve to be fully emperor.

1. Legitimacy: Why is he emperor? Traditionally in the ancient world, legitimacy comes from your family—how old and established it is. There were two major myths about the founding of Rome: the first is Romulus, the first king of Rome, and the second is Lucius Brutus and the founding of the Roman Republic. Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar did not come from either of these two families or myths. He had to construct a new myth that showed his family, the Julii, went way back before Romulus. While he was alive, Julius Caesar, a great myth-maker, planted the seeds of this. The myth he came up with is this: a man named Aeneas from Troy was able to escape with some survivors when the city was destroyed. They came to Italy and built the foundations that would become Rome. In other words, Romulus is descended from Aeneas, but Julius Caesar is also descended from Aeneas. This is how Augustus Caesar would cement his legitimacy: by promoting the idea that his ancestor was Aeneas, the real founder of Rome.
2. A New Roman Cultural Identity: The old Roman cultural identity was based on piety, Liberty, and res publica. This created problems for an emperor. Remember, Marcus Brutus and Decimus Brutus thought they were descendants of Lucius Brutus and therefore had a responsibility to kill all kings and tyrants. That's why they assassinated Julius Caesar. You can't allow this cultural identity to exist because it will encourage others to kill you, the emperor. You have to get rid of the idea of Liberty and res publica and promote a new Roman identity focused on piety and obedience.
3. The Influence of Greek Culture: Even though the Romans had conquered most of the Mediterranean world, culturally, the Greeks were dominant. The Greeks had a superior culture: they had Homer, Plato, Thucydides, and Aeschylus. All Romans acknowledged that Greek culture was superior. As Romans embraced Greek culture, Augustus Caesar believed they were being corrupted. For Augustus, Greek culture was too hedonistic. He believed that's ultimately what happened to Mark Antony. Mark Antony was a good Roman who went off to Egypt and became corrupted and seduced by Cleopatra and Greek culture. He became more Greek, and that's why he betrayed Rome. Augustus also believed this was why Rome began descending into civil wars—because Rome was starting to embrace Greek culture, which made everyone more individualistic, hedonistic, and selfish.

Augustus had to somehow destroy the influence of Greek culture on the Roman soul. He knew the very basis of Greek culture was Homer, especially the Iliad and the Odyssey. These two books were essentially the Bible of Greek civilization. This is how children were educated; they memorized the Iliad and the Odyssey, which taught them how to speak, think, and debate well.

Virgil's Aeneid: Propaganda for a New Roman Identity

Augustus Caesar understood that to defeat Homer, he needed to create a Roman epic to replace Homer in the schools. He invited a man named Virgil, who at this time was considered the greatest living Roman poet, to write another epic in Latin to replace Homer as the cornerstone of the education system. He wrote something called the Aeneid, which is about the journey of Aeneas as he founds Rome.

From 29 BCE until 19 BCE, for over 10 years, Virgil worked on the Aeneid under the direct supervision of Augustus Caesar. They were basically co-authors. Virgil was the poet who could put the words together, but it was Augustus Caesar who had the vision of what the Aeneid should be. The Aeneid would accomplish all three of these major challenges:

• It would establish the primacy of the Julii family as the first family of Rome.
• It would establish a new Roman cultural identity focused on piety over Liberty.
• It would show that Greek culture is one of corruption and hedonism and must be repelled.

You can make the argument that Virgil's Aeneid is the greatest work of propaganda in human history. To show this, I will compare and contrast the Iliad and the Odyssey with the Aeneid to show how different the Roman worldview is from the Greek worldview.

It's important to remember that Homer and Virgil were two different individuals. Homer was writing when Greek civilization was just beginning, so he was trying to create the seeds of civilization. He was trying to be a great teacher. Virgil was writing when Rome was an empire that was everywhere and everything—it was basically God. He was trying to teach people how to be part of this empire. You can argue that Homer is an educator, whereas Virgil is a propagandist.

Homer's Iliad: The Transformation of Achilles

The Iliad is a very complicated work, a universe unto itself with dozens of characters. I'm only going to focus on one character, Achilles, and tell his story. Please be aware that the story I'm telling is my interpretation; there are different interpretations found within the universe of the Iliad.

The basic story is very simple. Helen, the queen of Sparta, is married to King Menelaus. She is seduced by the prince of Troy, Paris. They fall in love and run off together to Troy. Menelaus and his brother, Agamemnon, raise an army to retrieve Helen from the Trojans, who refuse to give her up. What follows is a ten-year siege of Troy. The Greeks aren't getting anywhere because Troy is the largest city in the world at this time, a walled city, and the Greeks don't know how to break through the Trojan walls.

The Iliad starts when Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Greeks, gets into a fight with Agamemnon. Achilles calls Agamemnon a dog and says, "You insult me. I fight for you. I will refuse to fight for you. I will let the Trojans kill all of you." Agamemnon, the king, wants to save face, so he tells Achilles, "I don't need you." But in fact, the Greeks do need Achilles because the Trojans have a great warrior named Hector. Hector recognizes that Achilles has retired from the battlefield and leads his army against the Greeks. They push the Greeks so far back that they are trapped on their ships by the coast. Hector wants to burn down these ships because if he does, the Greeks cannot resupply themselves and will eventually die in Troy.

At this point, Agamemnon has no choice but to beg Achilles to return to the battlefield, because only Achilles can defeat Hector. But Agamemnon doesn't want to lose face, so he sends a delegation of generals led by Odysseus to beg Achilles to return. Odysseus goes to see Achilles on his ship and says, "Listen, Achilles, we're dying out here. If you don't fight for us, we're going to die. Hector is destroying us. If you fight for us, Agamemnon will give you everything. All the treasures we are promised in Troy, we will give to you. Agamemnon will give you anything you want. He'll give you the world." Achilles, because he's arrogant, says, "No. I want Agamemnon to come beg me himself."

This goes nowhere, and Agamemnon refuses to beg. The Trojans advance further and are about to burn the ships. Patroclus, Achilles's best friend, sees that Achilles is conflicted. Achilles wants to jump into the fray. He had a prophecy before he came to Troy: he has a choice to either die an old man at home and be a nobody, or come to Troy, die young in battle, and be remembered forever as the greatest champion of the Greeks. For Achilles, that's not a choice. As a warrior, he loves to fight; he can only achieve eudaimonia in battle. For him to just sit on a ship and watch the Greeks get destroyed is the worst punishment on Earth. At the same time, Achilles is arrogant and vain, and he demands Agamemnon come apologize, which Agamemnon is not going to do. Agamemnon would rather see the entire Greek army demolished than apologize to Achilles.

Patroclus tells Achilles, "Listen, let me jump into the battle to save the ships." Achilles says, "Fine. I will let you stop the Trojan advance, but do not under any circumstances fight Hector in battle." So Patroclus jumps into battle, fights the Trojans, and then what does he do? He fights Hector. And what happens? He gets killed.

Achilles hears of the death of Patroclus and is so angry that he forgives Agamemnon. He lets go of his anger at Agamemnon and directs it at Hector. He jumps into battle, challenges Hector to a duel, and kills him. Then, he takes Hector's dead body, ties it to his chariot, and drags it around the walls of Troy. On top of the walls are Hector's parents, King Priam and Queen Hecuba, screaming in anguish. They hate this devil who not only killed their son but is now humiliating and mutilating him in front of the entire Trojan people.

At this point, you would think that Achilles has achieved immortality. He's defeated Hector, saved the Greek army, and should be very happy. But it turns out he falls into a deep depression. He cannot sleep, he cannot eat; all he does is think about Patroclus. He's so depressed he can't even cry for him. This is where Homer is really the first psychologist. Achilles is feeling this way because he is wracked with guilt. If you think about it, it wasn't Hector who killed Patroclus; it was Achilles who killed Patroclus. Why? Because Patroclus wouldn't be dead if Achilles had not gotten into that stupid fight with Agamemnon. Patroclus would be alive if Achilles had just forgiven Agamemnon when Odysseus came begging. And Patroclus would be alive if Achilles had not agreed for him to go into battle.

Without knowing it, because Achilles lacks self-awareness, he is trapped by his guilt over the death of Patroclus and is taking out his rage on Hector. He is supposed to return Hector's body for a ransom to the Trojans because everyone at this time believes the dead can only find peace in the afterlife if they're buried. For Achilles to torment Hector's body like this means Hector can never find peace.

His father, Priam, is back in Troy and can't sleep either, depressed over what's happening to his son. Eventually, the gods broker a peace deal. They tell Priam to go to Achilles, and Achilles will return the body. Late one night, Priam sneaks into the tent and stands behind Achilles, who is busy discussing military matters with his generals. At this point, Priam could take out a knife and stab Achilles to death, and he wants to because he's so angry at this man.

Instead—and this is the genius of Homer—Priam kneels down and kisses the hand of Achilles, the man who has killed his beloved son. In response, Achilles stands, in awe of this old man who at this moment has demonstrated more courage and strength than Achilles has ever witnessed. In his act of submission, Priam has emotionally defeated Achilles, and Achilles is ashamed of himself. By forgiving Achilles, Priam allows Achilles to now forgive himself.

The two then start to become friends. In the face of Priam, Achilles sees his own father, Peleus, and he pities Priam for having lost his son. In the face of Achilles, Priam sees his son Hector. They both hug and cry. This is the first time Achilles has been able to cry since the death of Patroclus, and these tears release him from the ghost of Patroclus who is haunting him.

This is how the Iliad ends. We've witnessed a character transformation of Achilles from a cold-blooded, merciless, vain, and arrogant warrior into a man who is capable of pity, self-reflection, and self-forgiveness. You can argue that this is a process of civilization. The point of the Iliad, even though it's about war, is really making the argument that love is the basis of civilization. It is what unites us and inspires us.

Love is the unifying force of the universe. Even though Priam and Achilles are the most bitter enemies, because of Priam's love for Hector and Achilles's love for his father, they are able to find common ground and become friends.

Homer's Odyssey: The Healing Power of Love

The Iliad is about Achilles and his transformation into self-awareness. The Odyssey is about Odysseus. Unlike Achilles, Odysseus does not want to go to the Trojan War. Achilles jumps at the chance to win glory at Troy, but Odysseus was given a different prophecy: if he goes to Troy, he will be gone for 20 years. He lives in Ithaca with his wife, Penelope, and they just had a newborn son, Telemachus. The prophecy is that he'll be gone for 20 years—10 years at war in Troy, 10 years lost at sea. Odysseus, who loves his family, does not want to go to war. He pretends to be insane. He takes salt and a plow and plows the field, salting it, which kills the field—a clear sign of insanity.

But the Greek soldiers who come to retrieve him are determined because they know Odysseus is the most strategic and wisest of the Greeks. He will be the one to deliver victory in Troy because he will come up with the Trojan Horse strategy. To test if he's really mad, they put his son Telemachus, who's only six months old, in front of him. If he's really crazy, he would run over his son. If he's not, he would stop. Obviously, he's not going to run over his son, so his trick is revealed, and he's forced to go to war.

He hates going to war, but he's determined to win for the Greeks for several reasons. First, he believes the Trojans are unjust—how dare you steal another man's wife? Second, he wants to build a legacy for his son, Telemachus. He wants to go home to Ithaca and tell his son what a hero he is. Third, he wants to reunite the family that has been broken—Menelaus and Helen—just as he wants to return to his wife, Penelope. This is what we call his worldview—the way he understands the world. The worldview allows us to be human and to exist; it explains who we are, what we want, and what we should do.

The problem is, after Odysseus comes up with the Trojan Horse, they sneak into the city and open the gates. The Greeks come flooding in, and it's total bedlam. The Greeks are killing everyone inside the city. Odysseus kills a Trojan soldier who's attacking him. The soldier falls to the ground, and then suddenly his wife screams at the death of her husband and sobs over his body. This creates cognitive dissonance, which is when your worldview and reality do not match. Remember, Odysseus came to Troy for justice, to build a legacy for his son, and to reunite a family. What he's doing now is destroying families. The Greeks are massacring everyone. It's not justice; it's just slaughter, complete mayhem.

Odysseus is traumatized by what he sees. This is what we call PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). After Troy, Odysseus becomes lost at sea. He becomes a sex slave to a goddess named Calypso, stuck on an island for seven years. Every day when he's not with Calypso, he's crying on the beach. He has PTSD and doesn't want to go home because he's ashamed to face his family.

Meanwhile, at home, his wife Penelope is waiting for him to return. But after some time, people think Odysseus must be dead. About a hundred young men, a hundred suitors, come and demand her hand in marriage. She refuses to believe Odysseus is dead, so she falls into a depression as well. She's waiting for her husband, but all the signs are that he's dead. She's being courted by 100 suitors and can't say no to any of them because she's afraid her husband is really dead and she doesn't want to be alone. She becomes paralyzed, stuck.

This means Telemachus, the son, is stuck as well. He becomes a depressed teenager because if Odysseus were dead, he would inherit his legacy and become his own man. But no one knows if he's dead or alive. If Penelope were to just marry and go somewhere else, he would inherit the property, but she's just stuck in her room. So this entire family is depressed.

Athena, the goddess of wisdom, favors Odysseus. She sees all this from Mount Olympus, pities the family, and resolves to bring them back together again. She tells Calypso, "You've had your fun, but you have to let Odysseus go." Now Odysseus is free to go home. Athena tells him, "When you go home, you can tell Telemachus who you are, but don't tell Penelope or anyone else, because you might be killed." There are 100 suitors who would kill him if they knew who he was. So Athena disguises him as a beggar.

When Odysseus returns to Ithaca, the first thing he wants to know is if Penelope still loves him. Odysseus is suffering from PTSD; he's lost his ability to fight, to imagine, and his capacity for love. He doesn't even know if his wife still loves him. He meets with Penelope, still disguised. She has no idea who he is, and he cannot reveal himself. But he sees she is distraught and tries to comfort her by telling her that he has seen Odysseus and he is still alive. Penelope breaks down in tears at the thought. Then she asks, "How do you know my husband is still alive? Prove to me that you've met him."

Odysseus says, "I will describe something intimate about him. He has a brooch that he carries on his cloak." He goes into poetic detail and describes this beautiful brooch. At this point, Penelope breaks down in complete tears because now she knows this beggar must be her husband in disguise. How does she know? Because only Odysseus would know all the details of the brooch. The brooch is what Penelope gave Odysseus as he set sail for Troy. It is his promise to her that he will return. Even though he has lost the brooch in war and at sea, it is implanted in his mind. The brooch symbolizes his everlasting love for Penelope.

Now that Penelope knows Odysseus has returned, they still have to figure out how to get rid of the 100 suitors. Penelope has a great plan. She's going to organize an archery contest. Odysseus has a bow; if a suitor can string the bow and shoot a target, Penelope will marry that suitor. She organizes the competition, and all 100 suitors fail, one by one. They cannot string the bow. Then the beggar, who is Odysseus, says, "Let me try." The moment he strings the bow, the suitors are afraid because they know this can only be Odysseus. Only he can string the bow and use it. Then, one by one, Odysseus takes his bow and kills all the suitors.

The bow symbolizes his identity, who he is. Stringing it together represents the resurrection, the stringing together of his worldview. He now remembers that he's a father, a hero who fights for justice and to protect his family. That's who he really is. The story of Odysseus is about the power of love to heal trauma after war. The main message is that love is the unifying force of the world. It is what will heal you and bring people together.

Virgil's Aeneid: A Rejection of the Greek Worldview

Neither the Iliad nor the Odyssey talks about the Trojan Horse, but the Aeneid begins with it. The Trojans wake up one day and find this huge wooden horse outside their gates. Most are like, "This must be a Greek trick, let's just burn it down." But then they capture a Greek soldier. This soldier is very eloquent. With logic and persuasive power, he tells a false story of how the Greeks became disheartened and decided to sail home. To ensure their safe journey, they built a wooden horse for the gods to win their favor. The story is so moving and beautiful that the Trojans believe him and let the horse in.

The Aeneid is not as subtle as the Iliad or the Odyssey; it's propaganda. What this is telling us is that the real Trojan Horse is Greek culture: logic, philosophy, and theater. That's what the Greek uses to manipulate and lie to the Trojans. The message here is that if we Romans embrace Greek culture—logic, philosophy, and theater—then our culture will be destroyed. The real Trojan Horse is Greek culture; therefore, we must resist it at all costs.

Aeneas wakes up and finds the city in flames. The Greeks are massacring everyone. Aeneas tries to save Priam. He runs to the palace and sees Priam on his throne. He sees one of Priam's sons being killed by Achilles's son, Neoptolemus. Priam curses Neoptolemus and says, "You insult the honor of your father. Your father was an honorable man; we were friends." Then Neoptolemus goes up to Priam, kills him, and says, "My father is dead. You should join him in the underworld." It is a horrific scene.

Again, this is not subtle. There's no place for love, friendship, and forgiveness. That's all a lie, all trickery. Only brutality and force will triumph in the end.

Aeneas tries to save Priam, but Priam dies. Then he discovers Helen hiding somewhere. He thinks Helen is the one responsible for all of this. If she had just done her duty and stayed at home where she was supposed to be, this war would not have started. He really wants to kill her. In fact, he is about to kill her when suddenly the goddess Venus (the Romans call her Venus, the Greeks call her Aphrodite), who is the mother of Aeneas, appears before him and says, "My son, you're destined for greater things. Leave Helen. Return to your family."

Aeneas has no choice but to obey his mother. He runs home and sees that his family is fine: his son, Julus, his father, and his wife. He says, "Okay, you guys are fine. I'm going to go kill some Greeks. I'm going to die with the city." His wife and father beg him not to go because he is one man against an entire army. But Aeneas is stubborn and angry. Suddenly, Julus's hair is on fire, like a golden crown. The father says, "You see, Aeneas, this is a sign that your son will be the founder of a great empire." We know this empire to be Rome. This is what stops Aeneas from committing suicide. He understands it is his duty to save his son and his family.

He carries his father, who is unable to walk, and his son to safety, looking for ships. His wife follows behind. They get to the ship, and he turns around to discover his wife has disappeared. He goes back and discovers she has killed herself. Why? Because she knows that in this new world, she can only be a hindrance. She wants him to embrace the future and let go of the past. Also, she's afraid that if she lives, she'd be captured and become a slave to the Greeks, and she does not want to dishonor him like that. That's what a good wife is. Helen is a bad wife because she's independent and looking for love, but a good wife is someone who will kill herself for her husband.

Aeneas and his people end up in Carthage as guests of a queen named Dido. Dido falls in love with Aeneas, they get married, and Aeneas is very happy in Carthage. The gods look at Aeneas and say, "Hey man, we told you this many times. You have a destiny to go to Rome. Your son will be the founder of a great empire. That's the plan, that's your destiny, that's your mission, that's your duty. Stop fooling around in Carthage and do what you're told." So Aeneas has to go see Dido and say, "Listen, I have to go." Dido goes insane because she's in love with Aeneas, and she kills herself.

The message here, again, is not subtle. Love is a disease, a plague upon the world. It was Helen's love that caused the Trojan War, and it was Dido's love for Aeneas that will cause the war between Carthage and Rome.

Before she dies, Dido instructs her people to destroy Rome in the future. "A great city called Rome will arise. You, the Carthaginian people, have a responsibility to honor my memory and destroy Rome." And that's why Hannibal went to attack Rome.

Aeneas ends up in Italy, as he's supposed to. There he meets the local king, Latinus, king of the Latins. He is mesmerized by the nobility of Aeneas and wants his daughter to marry him. But his daughter is already supposed to marry another prince called Turnus. This starts a war between Aeneas and Turnus that goes on for a very long time, like the Iliad. Turnus kills one of Aeneas's friends and takes his really nice belt for himself. This belt was a gift from Aeneas to his friend.

Eventually, Aeneas and Turnus get into a duel. Aeneas overpowers Turnus, and at the very last minute, Turnus gives up, surrenders his sword, and begs for mercy. Aeneas wants to show mercy. He thinks, "I've beaten you. You're no longer a threat. I can show some forgiveness. I can be merciful." But then he sees the belt that he gave his friend and knows Turnus has killed his friend. So he just plunges his spear into Turnus. And that's how the Aeneid ends.

The ending is very confusing for scholars because it's pretty awful. Scholars have debated whether or not Virgil was able to finish the Aeneid. The argument is the ending is too abrupt, and therefore it must be unfinished. But if you think about it, it is finished. Remember, in the Iliad, we see a character transformation of Achilles. Well, we also see a character transformation of Aeneas in this book.

When Aeneas sees Helen, he really wants to kill her, and he only stopped because the gods intervened. Aeneas wanted to abandon his family and get killed in the streets of Troy; the gods had to send him a message. Aeneas wanted to stay at Carthage with Dido, so the gods had to send a messenger to tell him he had to fulfill his destiny and go to Rome. But at the very end, when Aeneas killed Turnus, the gods didn't have to intervene. He wanted to show mercy to Turnus, but he recognized, "No, my duty is to kill this guy." Aeneas has become the embodiment of piety and duty. Before, the gods had to instruct him to do his duty. Now, he recognizes what his duty is and embraces it.

The Roman Vision: Piety, Duty, and Eternity

Throughout this book, there's the idea of destiny—that what Aeneas is doing has been preordained by the gods. The real purpose of Aeneas is to go to Rome so that his son can build the Roman Empire. Another major message of this book is that the endpoint of history is Augustus Caesar. Everything that is happening is moving toward and converging on Augustus Caesar because he will create the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, which is the idea of eternal peace on Earth. Before Augustus Caesar, all these civil wars were killing millions of people. After he became emperor, there is now the Pax Romana.

This is the endpoint of history. The Roman Empire will mean there will no longer be any wars or conflicts. Why? Because the Roman Empire will transition us from love to piety. Homer believed that love is the basis of civilization. The Roman Empire will show that piety is the basis of civilization. Love is the force that comes from within you; it grows within you. But piety is what is told to you; it is what you must accept. Love is what you can feel; it is the embrace of your emotions. Piety means the rejection of your emotions. Don't listen to your feelings; listen to what you are told. By embracing your emotions, you have imagination. But piety believes imagination is destructive. What matters is stability and harmony. Stability and obedience are what will give peace to the world.

We now have a transition from the Greek world to the Roman world, which is focused on piety. What Virgil is trying to create is the idea of eternity—something that lasts forever. What Homer was trying to create is the idea of infinity—how we can create the world through our actions and emotions. In the Pax Romana under Augustus Caesar, all you have to do is obey, and the world will be perfect. We have come to the end of history. History has stopped because we have found perfection, the perfect model to organize human civilization. We are the end. This is the idea of Roman eternity, and this marks a radical transition in Western civilization.

The Romans were among the most non-creative people in the world; they were anti-creative. Everything they had, they took from somewhere else. So the question is, where did they get the idea of eternity from? Egypt. The Romans were using the Egyptian sense of eternity.

Although Augustus wanted Romans to reject Greek culture, they couldn't fully reject it because it was so powerful. This new conception of reality introduced by the Roman Empire would eventually become the new reality, but it would take time. Looking ahead, the Romans will introduce a new idea that will make piety and obedience the cornerstone of society: Christianity. The Roman conception was not as appealing as the Greek conception, but eventually, the Romans would create a new religion, Christianity, that would dominate and make piety the cornerstone of civilization.