65,470 views
by Luciano Canfora Roman History • Roman History A caste that was essentially murderous and did not hesitate to eliminate with its own hands the political leaders it considered dangerous: Romulus, Tiberius Gracchus, Caesar. An aristocracy founded on co-optation, but capable of governing an empire, much more than the city-state. A social class that coincided with an "order", that is, with a supporting articulation of the State. A class that identified itself with the Republic and that however also knew how to share power with the princeps for centuries, limiting him and, if necessary, overthrowing him. A social group that knew how to embody tradition but that also learned to deal with the "new world" of the Christians. All this was the Senate of Rome, the model of all the oligarchies that were essentially gerontocratic, the matrix and archetype of the successive elites that governed the great states of the modern age. The Senate of Rome, an unsurpassed example of political longevity. When they were in a crazy mood during popular celebrations, the Romans – who always had a high regard for their senators – would blurt out: «Sexagenarii de ponte!».