Peter Jones

Augustus vs Jeremy Corbyn

Running things as the Labour leader would like will require some radical change…

issue 08 October 2016

Jeremy Corbyn has been re-elected leader of the Labour party not by MPs but by his teenage ‘fans’ in Momentum. So what does Corbyn need to do when he wins power? Follow the example of the emperor Augustus, that’s what.

When Rome was a republic, its monuments and military banners proclaimed it as SPQR — Senatus Populusque Romanus, a combination of the senate, mostly consisting of Rome’s elite families, and the people. The Greek historian Polybius greatly admired its clever balancing of powers between senate, people and office-holders.

In the course of the 1st century BC, this system collapsed in bloody civil war. From that final conflict in 31 BC emerged Rome’s first emperor, the revolutionary Augustus (d. AD 14). The first thing he did was to ‘deselect’ the senatorial elites whom he felt to be responsible for the collapse, replacing them with coteries of his own supporters.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in