De Analogia

 JEFFREY ST. CLAIR

+ As the Supreme Court contemplates ruling on Trump’s absurd claim of “presidential immunity” (shot down unanimously by the DC Circuit Court this week), it’s worth remembering that one of the primary motivations for Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon out of Cisalpine Gaul and turning his Legions toward Romein 49 BC was his fear of being prosecuted on corruption charges for alleged crimes committed while he was consul a decade earlier. Cato and Marcellus were already drawing up the indictment, in anticipation of Caesar losing the immunity he had enjoyed as Imperator in Gaul. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Roman Republic fell after a battle over executive immunity, ushering in an imperial dictatorship that lasted for the next 450 years.

+ Speaking of Gaius Julius, in a time before ghostwriters, Caesar wrote a book on the rhetorical uses of analogy (De Analogia) while crossing the Alps to suppress the Germanic tribes streaming into Gaul. In the words of Marcus Aurelius’ tutor Fronto, “Think of C. Caesar in that appalling Gallic War writing about noun declensions as weapons flew past.”  I can’t imagine any of our current crop of political leaders even being able to define the wor