A Case for Livy:

If You Would Like to Understand the Near Future, You Must Study the Ancient Past

Moral Decline.

When you read Livy, you are reading about Moral Decline.

Livy, the great historian of Rome and arguably the greatest historian ever, wrote his history of Rome during the reign of the Great Augustus Caesar.

Great, certainly, by comparison.

What makes Livy unique among historians was his special ability to beautifully summarize some seven centuries of Roman history with two words: Moral Decline.

And, if you have any interest in understanding the recent past and the near future, you will need to read Livy.

Writing at the twilight of the Republic and the infancy of the Empire, Livy gave voice to the bones of the men and women who had built the country he so deeply cherished.

Rome was a Republic – the first of its kind.

It was the first nation to establish what we might call a “meritocratic aristocracy” – an aristocracy of men who had earned their titles and lands through their dedication and sacrifice to their nation.

Rome was the first nation of civic virtue.

A nation where men were taught and trained to care more about the good of the Republic than the good of themselves.

Until, of course, they didn’t.

The genius of Livy is that he is able to show us both how Roman Virtue built the foundations of the Republic, and then show us how Roman Vice ate away at those foundations until there was nothing left.

And America is Rome.

So, if you wish to understand the near future, you must, like Livy, study the ancient past.

The virtues that built Rome became “passé” by the 100 B.C.E., which just happens to be the year in which Gaius Julius Caesar was born.

Rather than being ruled by men who cared more for the good of Rome than the good of themselves, Rome came to be ruled by men who used the good of Rome for the good of themselves.

Corruption had become the order of the day.

Where it would have once been unheard of for a Roman consul to use Roman authority to enrich himself, but 100 B.C.E., it had become the norm.

Where it would have once been unheard of for American politicians and military personnel to use their office for political gain, it is now the norm.

The idea that a congressperson would sell stock before a national crisis, that a general would work for a foreign nation, or that a president would pardon his entire family, would have made my grandparents’ blood boil.

Just as the obvious corruption that besieged the last days of the Roman Republic infuriated Livy.

But in the twilight days of the Republic, a “Great Triumvirate” came about to try to set the Republic straight and restore law and order to the unruly Romans.

These men were Julius Caesar, the great conqueror of Gaul, Pompey Magnus, the great conqueror of Spain, and Marcus Crassus, the wealthiest man of Rome.

The corruption of these three men and their “triumvirate” (rule by three men) is well known and documented.

They effectively established an oligarchy.

The irony of Joe Biden waxing prosaic about oligarchy just days before issuing pardons to his entire family is not lost on me.

Nor is the irony of Donald Trump threatening to pursue “justice” against his enemies after claiming to be the victim of witch trials for four years.

The danger of Moral Decline, as Livy so eloquently explains, is non-partisan.

When a nation’s morals decline, civic virtue flies out both windows – the left and the right.

Civic virtue is not fun.

Civic virtue is the thing that drives a man to leave a party because he objects to the decadence on display there.

It is not the thing that earns a man more party-invitations.

Civic virtue is locked in a bitter war against social conformity.

Social conformity is the soothing voice in your head that tells you to fit in.

It is an opiate, a drug anyone must take before they can participate in any kind of social gathering in an inoffensive manner.

In the early days of the Republic, decadence was frowned upon.

A man who threw large parties, with lots of wine and entertainment, was considered to be a weak and poor example of Roman masculinity.

One could say that the early days of the Republic were those of a Spartan-ethic.

Simplicity, honesty, directness, and boldness were valued above all else.

But, as the wealth of the Republic increased and the influences of late-age Greek and Persian culture began to creep in, those virtues were placed under siege.

By what?

By comfort.

Rome became a decadent place, a place where wine filled the streets and men filled the brothels.

A place where men of the old breed were looked upon as dour old Boomers, out of step with the hipness of the kids and the coolness of their new ideas.

Within 200 years of the birth of Julius Caesar, Rome would be ruled by a man who made his horse a Consul – and not one other senator blinked.

How could this be? How could a nation built upon civic virtue and martial prowess have fallen so far?

That very same emperor, Caligula, declared war on Neptune and sent his legions into the sea.

And then he declared victory and ordered them to pillage the seashore and take as many seashells and starfish as they could so that they could be paraded through Rome in a great Triumph.

How could this be? How could this have happened?

These are the questions at the heart of Livy’s brilliant work, and his answer is simple: Moral Decline.

Over the centuries, Rome’s virtues earned her greater and greater wealth, and it was that wealth that would undermine and erode those very same values.

The decadence and decay of Rome was so great by the first century B.C.E. that nearly the whole nation clamored for a leader who would restore law and order.

They did not care if that leader was a product of the very same moral decline that had brought them to that point.

They did not care if that leader was openly opposed to and threatening the Republic.

They did not care about anything other than returning to a state with enough law and order that they could go on continuing their decadent lifestyles.

They were addicted to decadence, and, like most addicts, they did not wish to get sober – they just wished to return to the time when using was fun again.

People only get sober when they can recognize that their lives have become unbearable, which is why most addicts never do.

No one starts using Cocaine believing that Cocaine is bad – they start using Cocaine because they believe that life is bad and needs to be improved.

The sober life, the life of moderation, the life of virtue… that life is boring.

It has almost no appeal to a man who can see the decadence on display in Gatsby’s house.

I would be lying if I said I never felt envious of Hunter Biden’s lifestyle – it certainly looks like a lot more fun than wrapping Tefillin and telling kids that every sentence needs to end with a period.

But such is our Moral Decline.

Had it not been for the direct intervention of G-d in my life, I am sure I would still be on that Hedonistic Treadmill, chasing after the craving of my eyes and the desires of my heart.

I spent four years at Princeton watching the people I thought were meant to lead the country living the most decadent and depraved lifestyles I had ever seen.

And not depraved in the sexual sense – depraved in the sense of their emptiness.

I was besieged on all sides by moral emptiness, a moral emptiness that drove the best and brightest minds of my generation straight into the halls of decadence.

So now it is 2025.

More than 2000 years have passed since Livy penned the phrase, “Moral Decline.”

Donald Trump is now in office, the Biden family is pardoned, and antisemites are celebrating the world’s first ever Victorious Genocide.

Our morality has declined so far that to even speak of such a thing is considered passé and unwoke.

But I believe in morality.

I believe in virtue.

I believe in truth, justice, and human excellence, no matter how passé and unwoke that makes me.

I believe because I am a man of faith.

Something which Livy, for all of his great wisdom, could not have understood.

So while I am filled with disgust at the Moral Decline and degradation of the people I once called my countrymen, I am filled with hope and faith in G-d and His people.

So, as America embarks on this new stage in its historical voyage, I offer a grave warning against decadence and Moral Decline, and a glimmer of hope that this time things may be different.

And so, always,

~

Spread Love, Spread Light,

Am Yisrael Chai