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If only Marcus Aurelius had bothered to form an opinion on whether or not Commodus would make a decent successor as emperor.
He was a bit busy trying to not form an opinion about people who are smelly and don’t take care of themselves (yes, an actual line from Meditations)
Ok but were you not entertained?
I mean it was understandable— everyone praises the five good emperors for choosing successors but none of them actually had biological kids, and there was no precedent that the successor would be chosen. Realistically, Aurelius wanted to avoid a civil war and wasn’t like entirely throwing, I think I saw like a story about how he like. Didn’t want to do it but it was like the only good outcome or optimal at least
Commodus doesn’t appear to have descended into megalomania until a few years into his sole rule. One expects the power got to his head rather than him simply being born wrong. C’est la vie!
Was he even as bad as they say? I mean, probably, absolute power and all that, but from what I hear the madness of Caligula is severely overblown since the main sources we have on him are the Roman versions of tabloids, so maybe it’s similar with Commodus.
Never really looked into it too closely though, and it’s probably safe to err on the side of “absolutist ruler was an asshole”.
Was he even as bad as they say?
Commodus was likely as bad as they say. Emperor Septimius Severus is said to have decried Marcus Aurelius for not strangling the kid when he had the chance. Of course, Septimius Severus’s kid would turn out to be a gruesome fellow like Commodus, so he doesn’t actually have much room to throw stones.
I mean, probably, absolute power and all that, but from what I hear the madness of Caligula is severely overblown since the main sources we have on him are the Roman versions of tabloids, so maybe it’s similar with Commodus.
Caligula revisionism is… very problematic. The most I would say there is that some of the pop culture interpretations of him are false, and some of the incidents mentioned as rumors by Roman historians are likely exaggerated. He was pretty unambiguously a tyrant and extremely arbitrary in his rule. If you take ‘madness’ as ‘detached from reality’, Caligula probably wasn’t mad. If you take ‘madness’ as ‘sociopathic and impulsive’, then Caligula was almost certainly mad.
Thank you Marcus Aurelius
Thank you Marcus Aurelius.
My guy Marcy Marc, he has the best takes fr
“Comfort is the worst addiction”
No, that’s heroin. Fucking idiot.
Marcus Aurelius: “Guys, I just found this new medical treatment, it’s so fucking good, everyone in the Empire has to try it”
“Doc, it worked miracles, I feel so good, what was it?” “Sleep”
Funny enough, we have an extant letter from one of Aurelius’s teachers yelling at him (while he was Emperor no less) for going down to a nice beachside resort town and then spending the whole time working on affairs of state, including working by candlelight all night long. Some sleep would have done poor Marcus some good, one expects.
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How many verification badges does this supreme-leader-stoat have??
Sure, but do realise sometimes not having an opinion is a very privileged position to be in. There are others who are forced to have an opinion, or are currently being forced to live someone else’s opinion.
“Yes, well, there are people whose lives are directly impacted by this issue, therefore you should have an opinion on it”
Sometimes
I strongly believe the internet forgets that and mandates everyone to have a position on anything and everything, regardless on how well-informed one is.
Counterpoint, when you have a real informed opinion, take a stance. When you have no informed opinion, take an absurd stance.
“I believe that the Kim and Kanye drama proves that there was a second gunman on the grassy knoll.”
I have never heard anything that could possibly disprove that
Big academia have been paid minimum wage to not look into it
I believe Markus Aurelius was a secret alien agent and wrote this only to undermine Xitter warriors’ efforts
Thank you Marcus Aurelius
if you do have an opinion it should be concrete and well-constructed otherwise do not
do not the opinion
maybe
Otherwise
I dont need a take on things like SystemD but im going to have one anyway
SYSTEMD SUCKS
And on an unrelated note so does bash
I came in here with an opinion, but somehow it’s gone now. Weird.
I have no strong feelings one way or the other
All I know is my gut says maybe.
Apparently all our opinions have to be concrete now - have you looked in the shed?
I am unsure if I am too high to understand this or not high enough…
You absolutely don’t have to have a concrete, well-constructed opinion on everything, or even really anything, but if you plan to spread an opinion you have about something, you should make sure it’s concrete and well-constructed first.
kijetesantakalu
abortion rights requires taking a stand on something that might not effect you right now or at all yet
Marcus did you stop to consider immediately dishing out terrible takes about things I know very little about brings me great joy.
Well, you’re released from the obligation, the option is still there if you want to
