Nero: Romans love Nero! Nero's public performances at the Coliseum are music to their ears!
Cincinnatus: Your "music" is the tune played by the Pied Piper. We won't get fooled again.
Nero: My Romans have no responsibilities or duties in my glorious State! My Romans will build our beautiful wall, not only in Britannia but everywhere in Rome, which will ensure that Rome will always be 100% secure. Rome will live forever! All security comes from total faith in my great personality, my great wall, and my great State. That is the only way! And the barbarians are going to pay for fortress Rome.
Cincinnatus: Others will not willingly pay for your countless walls Nero. Rome must go to war yet again if you intend to force other peoples in other nations to pay for everything under the sun you desire. Will the children of Nero fight in this new war with Parthia and countless other nations? How many will die in Nero's wars? Will the children of Nero ever fight beside the children of the countless working poor Romans? Even those Romans who sing your praises KNOW your children refuse to fight beside their countrymen on the battlefields where true sacrifice is made.
Nero: I've made many sacrifices! The crowds believe when they see those who deny me eaten by the lions, when they hear me speak on the glowing stage of the Coliseum!
Cincinnatus: Yet when you speak to the crowds, you do not tell the WHOLE truth. You do not mention Rome's wealthiest patrons will certainly not pay for your expensive wall. Not even Nero has the power to control where the world's money goes. And those who have attempted to gain so much power attempted to do so by slaughtering millions of their fellow human beings. Is what you propose truly "freedom and security"? The true costs of too much power are too high, costs which cannot be paid by men. These powers are therefore reserved only for the gods. Nero, your "big ideas" have been tried a thousand times by Caesar, by Caligula and by countless others, in a thousand failed dictatorships.
Nero: Humor me then Cincinnatus. What's good and fair? Who do you claim will pay, as they should, if not the barbarians?
Cincinnatus: Nero, you know well the ways of Earthly business: For years you have been in the public eye. You have made many attempts to become Emperor, and anyone can see you have spent most of your life much like the other wealthiest patrons of Rome. As much as anyone, you gained your riches by Roman "laws" which favored you, by playing both sides, and through others' labors in the wide-ranging slave system you now suddenly claim to take notice of.
Nero: I never said I was perfect! The people trust me because I speak my mind!
Cincinnatus: Whatever I say is backed up by my life and blood. But every word you say has nothing whatsoever to back it up in the real world. You merely say anything the people want to hear, to take advantage of their anger and frustrations, to get you what you want.
Nero: Nonsense! Everyone else has failed these people! They know it's time to shake things up.
Cincinnatus: How many times in your career did you face life and death, not for yourself, but for all of the people, not for the State, but for their non-negotiable rights and freedoms? You didn't need to think everything through carefully because you did not make the kinds of sacrifices which compel one to consider all aspects. And you FALSELY claim that the people's rights and freedoms are negotiable.
Nero: You're an idiot.
Cincinnatus: Like all the other Patrons of Rome, you follow the footsteps of Caligula. You and those under your patronage remain far away from the battlefields. EXACTLY like those you condemn, for more than three decades, you enlarged your estates buying up the lands of those who were away fighting, even as you bought your own special favors through patronage. Like the other Patrons, your friends are not the downtrodden Romans whom you claim to care so much about. Rather, your friends are a few Romans at the top in the richest city where you made your career, and there is no doubt the master they work for is also your master. What true security for ALL can possibly come from building expensive walls, feeding more people to the lions and building more prisons? Your interests are not the interests of the people. You refuse to address the actual ROOT causes of Rome's problems, which no wall can ever solve. Like the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, you disguise the truth by claiming to tell the truth.
Nero: Everyone else is corrupt! I'm the only one who is honest!
Cincinnatus: Are you trustworthy when your State registers human beings before feeding them to the lions? Are you trustworthy when you spit on the graves of those who sacrificed everything by publicly quoting the dictator Caesar with no shame? Are you trustworthy when your State, a State more powerful than Caligula's, tortures, when soldiers who are put in more danger by your love of torture and crimes, swear personal allegiance to you rather than the Republic, turning their backs on their sacred responsibilities and duties, on humanity itself, and the gods? I fought for the Republic, and I do not trust you one bit Nero. I have no faith in you, your followers, your "glorious walls," or your State. Like Pharaoh and his pyramids, Nero has no intention whatsoever of paying for his "beautiful" wall himself, but Nero will have Roman slaves pay all the true costs, increasing their taxes and burdens. Your "glorious" wall won't provide one bit of real security, economic or otherwise, to the Roman people, but serves to glorify Nero's name, to further Nero's foolish, never-ending pursuit of ever more riches and ever more power.
Cincinnatus: Your "music" is the tune played by the Pied Piper. We won't get fooled again.
Nero: My Romans have no responsibilities or duties in my glorious State! My Romans will build our beautiful wall, not only in Britannia but everywhere in Rome, which will ensure that Rome will always be 100% secure. Rome will live forever! All security comes from total faith in my great personality, my great wall, and my great State. That is the only way! And the barbarians are going to pay for fortress Rome.
Cincinnatus: Others will not willingly pay for your countless walls Nero. Rome must go to war yet again if you intend to force other peoples in other nations to pay for everything under the sun you desire. Will the children of Nero fight in this new war with Parthia and countless other nations? How many will die in Nero's wars? Will the children of Nero ever fight beside the children of the countless working poor Romans? Even those Romans who sing your praises KNOW your children refuse to fight beside their countrymen on the battlefields where true sacrifice is made.
Nero: I've made many sacrifices! The crowds believe when they see those who deny me eaten by the lions, when they hear me speak on the glowing stage of the Coliseum!
Cincinnatus: Yet when you speak to the crowds, you do not tell the WHOLE truth. You do not mention Rome's wealthiest patrons will certainly not pay for your expensive wall. Not even Nero has the power to control where the world's money goes. And those who have attempted to gain so much power attempted to do so by slaughtering millions of their fellow human beings. Is what you propose truly "freedom and security"? The true costs of too much power are too high, costs which cannot be paid by men. These powers are therefore reserved only for the gods. Nero, your "big ideas" have been tried a thousand times by Caesar, by Caligula and by countless others, in a thousand failed dictatorships.
Nero: Humor me then Cincinnatus. What's good and fair? Who do you claim will pay, as they should, if not the barbarians?
Cincinnatus: Nero, you know well the ways of Earthly business: For years you have been in the public eye. You have made many attempts to become Emperor, and anyone can see you have spent most of your life much like the other wealthiest patrons of Rome. As much as anyone, you gained your riches by Roman "laws" which favored you, by playing both sides, and through others' labors in the wide-ranging slave system you now suddenly claim to take notice of.
Nero: I never said I was perfect! The people trust me because I speak my mind!
Cincinnatus: Whatever I say is backed up by my life and blood. But every word you say has nothing whatsoever to back it up in the real world. You merely say anything the people want to hear, to take advantage of their anger and frustrations, to get you what you want.
Nero: Nonsense! Everyone else has failed these people! They know it's time to shake things up.
Cincinnatus: How many times in your career did you face life and death, not for yourself, but for all of the people, not for the State, but for their non-negotiable rights and freedoms? You didn't need to think everything through carefully because you did not make the kinds of sacrifices which compel one to consider all aspects. And you FALSELY claim that the people's rights and freedoms are negotiable.
Nero: You're an idiot.
Cincinnatus: Like all the other Patrons of Rome, you follow the footsteps of Caligula. You and those under your patronage remain far away from the battlefields. EXACTLY like those you condemn, for more than three decades, you enlarged your estates buying up the lands of those who were away fighting, even as you bought your own special favors through patronage. Like the other Patrons, your friends are not the downtrodden Romans whom you claim to care so much about. Rather, your friends are a few Romans at the top in the richest city where you made your career, and there is no doubt the master they work for is also your master. What true security for ALL can possibly come from building expensive walls, feeding more people to the lions and building more prisons? Your interests are not the interests of the people. You refuse to address the actual ROOT causes of Rome's problems, which no wall can ever solve. Like the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, you disguise the truth by claiming to tell the truth.
Nero: Everyone else is corrupt! I'm the only one who is honest!
Cincinnatus: Are you trustworthy when your State registers human beings before feeding them to the lions? Are you trustworthy when you spit on the graves of those who sacrificed everything by publicly quoting the dictator Caesar with no shame? Are you trustworthy when your State, a State more powerful than Caligula's, tortures, when soldiers who are put in more danger by your love of torture and crimes, swear personal allegiance to you rather than the Republic, turning their backs on their sacred responsibilities and duties, on humanity itself, and the gods? I fought for the Republic, and I do not trust you one bit Nero. I have no faith in you, your followers, your "glorious walls," or your State. Like Pharaoh and his pyramids, Nero has no intention whatsoever of paying for his "beautiful" wall himself, but Nero will have Roman slaves pay all the true costs, increasing their taxes and burdens. Your "glorious" wall won't provide one bit of real security, economic or otherwise, to the Roman people, but serves to glorify Nero's name, to further Nero's foolish, never-ending pursuit of ever more riches and ever more power.
