Reading in the Washington Post that the US Navy has named an aircraft carrier the George H.W. Bush I thought of the Brutus who helped assassinate* his (alleged) biological father Julius Caesar whose last words were reported to be “quoque tu brute, fili mihi”**+ that is “you too Brutus my son,” probably by Brutus himself who was angling for the parricide vote. Actually Brutus stressed his notianal connection with his mother’s husband, that is, his presumptive father who I will call Gais H.W Brutus because I don’t know his name.
I was reminded, in particular, of a coin minted by Gaius W Brutus Jr to pay his army which was presented in a book I once read as solid proof that the Roman Republic was dead even before Augustus finished off his enemies starting with Brutus. The converse of the coin showed a manumission cap (which a slave owner put on the head of a slave to free him ) representing Brutus’s claim to be the restorer of Roman liberty. The Obverse was the image of Gaius H.W: Brutus making the coin an unmistakable declaration of monarchy.
The evidence that George Bush is a monarchist is much more massive than a coin, though marginal less massive than the Oil Tanker Condoleeza Rice ***.
Here’s a totally false historical analogy written just to show that I understand I am being silly when I say we can deduce that the Republic is in danger because of the naming of a ship. Given all the proof that Bush considers himself a monarch, making a big (or any) deal out of the name of a ship is like Senator Marcvs Mvlitsis telling Senator Atrivs “I think the Republic is in danger” when Caligula made his horse a Senator.
Of course, I know this analogy is faulty, since Caligula was assassinated before he acted on his declared intention of making his horse a senator*. Besides I would fall into a logical contradiction if I claimed that Bush is the reincarnation of Caligula, since I have already claimed that he is the reincarnation of Caligula’s nephew.
* NSA take notice. I am not advocating assassination. I compare Bush to Brutus not Julius and the assassination of Caligula ruined my analogy. Also you don’t really think I want Cheney to be President do you ?
** Elisabetta Addis helped me with the title of this post but I tried to remember the original quote by myself so the Latin is probably faulty.
*** which has been renamed at least for the briefer of the durations of the Bush administration or the Republic one of which must end.
update: + I thank Anonymous for assistance.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "10/11/2006 07:06:00 AM":
quoque tu brute, fili mihi
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