Marcus Aurelius, the Piazza del Campidoglio, Capitoline Hill, Rome, 2019Įven to Machiavelli, the despotism of Caesar was a grave retrogression in comparison to the Roman Republic. This no longer seems so admirable, and the Empire founded by Julius Caesar and Augustus, as a form of government, does not look like an advance in the course of human progress. What Nietzsche admired was unapologetic power, conquest, and domination. The Nietzsche quote above was translated by Francis Golffing as, 'The Romans were the strongest and most noble people who ever lived.' This took some liberties with the translation but more succinctly conveys the essential idea.īut this is just the problem. Sentences I write contain borrowed Latin words with some frequency, even though the English language and its antecedents never existed within the Roman Empire (unlike the many modern languages directly descended from Latin, or even Welsh or Basque). I use Roman names for the planets in the sky, which also get applied to the days of the week. I am using the Roman calendar, with its names of the months. William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), 'Sailing to Byzantium' Rolfe, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1914, 1997, pp.74-75, translation modified.Ĭonstantine VII Porphyrogenitus (913-959 AD), 'Acclamation by the People at the Coronation of an Emperor,' De Ceremoniis, Book I, Chapter 38 To a barbarian who held forth both in Greek and Latin he said: 'Since you are prepared with both our languages'. He gave no less attention to Greek studies, taking every occasion to profess his regard for that language and its superiority. Cuidam barbaro Graece ac Latine disserenti: 'Cum utroque,' inquit, 'sermone nostro sis paratus'. Nec minore cura Graeca studia secutus est, amorem praestantiamque linguae occasione omni professus. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284-602, Greek text, 'Doctrina Jacobi Nuper Baptizati,' Édition et traduction par Vincent Déroche, Travaux et Mémoires, 11 Just as those stronger and nobler hitherto on earth never existed,įriedrich Nietzsche, 'The Genealogy of Morals,' Zur Genealogie der Moralĭoctrina Jacobi nuper baptizati, Διδασκαλία Ἰακώβου νεοβαπτίστου, 634 AD, A.H.M. The Romans were indeed the strong and noble, Wie sie stärker und vornehmer bisher auf Erden nie dagewesen, ROME AND ROMANIA,ĭie Römer waren ja die Starken und Vornehmen, Rome and Romania, Roman Emperors, Byzantine Emperors, etc.

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