"Our drunken bully who has by chance not slain his man passes a night of torture like that of Achilles when he bemoaned his friend, lying now upon his face, and now upon his back; he will get no rest in any other way, since some men can only sleep after a brawl."
A lot of gang activity and violence in our day is caused because of either drug trade or use. Juvenal describes the threat being beaten up by a "drunken bully" while walking home at night.
2. Pornography:
The problem of immorality is also a problem for the Romans:
"Besides all this, there is nothing sacred to his lusts: not the matron of the family, nor the maiden daughter, not the as yet unbearded son-in-law to be, not even the as yet unpolluted son; if none of these be there, he will debauch his friend's grandmother"
Another tie to this is a lot of the art at Pompeii was pornographic in nature.
3. Entitlement society:
Because of our society's sense of entitlement we often live beyond our means and there is a lot of credit card debt problems. The Romans also did this according to Juvenal:
"In Rome, every one dresses smartly, above his means, and sometimes something more than what is enough is taken out of another man's pocket. This failing is universal here: we all live in a state of pretentious poverty."
Another example is the way Nero basically burned down a huge part of Rome so that he could have a "decent" palace.
4. Government/Corporate Corruption:
As Juvenal puts it, all governors are robbers:
"No man will get my help in robbery, and therefore no governor will take me on his staff"
We similarly deal with the misuse of public funds and embezzlement.
5. Healthcare crisis
One problem we have today is that the poor cannot afford healthcare because the cost is too high. A similar problem Juvenal shows happened with the Romans. Because of poor living conditions many Romans had poor health:
"Most sick people here in Rome perish for want of sleep, the illness itself having been produced by food lying undigested on a fevered stomach. For what sleep is possible in a lodging? Who but the wealthy get sleep in Rome?"
I agree with all of the problems you put up there. You should look into the book "Unlimited Access", it talks a lot about corruption in the White House. It was written by a retired secret service agent. Drugs and Pornography are everywhere in our society, especially our media. I liked your blog post.
ReplyDeleteGood quotes. The entitlement society is a gigantic problem for America in ways beyond just economics. Good tie in to Nero. Also a good point about the drug war. Drugs on their own are incredibly harmful, but the crime around them tends to be an even bigger problem.
ReplyDeleteYour quotes really exemplify the issue's I think. You found really good evidence to support the comparison of problems in our society and the Roman society. I really liked how you talked about the problems with pornography and included that it was even in the art of Pompeii. I hadn't thought of that but it's very true and a very good point of how it is plaguing both societies.
ReplyDeleteNicely done and very succinct and clean! The parallel of pornography was a good comparison. Entitlement is, also, one that definitely relates to both societies.
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