Roman Emperors Leaders.
Looking at Cicero, he was born on third of January 106 BC and happened to be a Roman political leader, philosopher, political theorist, lawyer and constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy family and he is considered as one of the greatest prose stylist and orator in Rome during his time. The early Catholic Church declared him a righteous pagan and this made majority of his work to be termed good if it was preserved. Those writers who followed him quoted on his writings especially On the Laws and On the Republic and this resulted to recreation of most of his work especially from the surviving fragments.
In his work, Cicero is said to explore the role of philosophy and rhetoric in the public life. This can be found in his first work under the title On the Orator. For a long period, this had been the potent tool in all the Roman politics. Ciceros main aim was to legitimize the influence of Roman politics and at the same time reinforce its prestige. He argued that this could only be achieved through success, which usually needs sound reasoning and a wide range of learning. He argued that a constitution that will be the best is unattainable, and it is a unique blend of aristocracy, monarchy and formed by democracy. He referred to it as a mixed constitution, which would provide an ostensibly stable and just system of government.
On the issue of ethics, he speaks throughout as an academic skeptic and argues that the Epicurean hedonism is usually morally subversive and incoherent. He also challenges the Stoic doctrine which argues that moral virtues is the only sole good and therefore, it is sufficient for happiness. He however commends theoretical rigor and moral austerity of Stoic ethics.
Julius Caesar Augustus was born on 23rd of September 63 BC and he was the Roman Empires first emperor. He ruled this empire from 31 BC to his time of death in AD 14. He had a collection of powers granted to him by the senate for life. They included those of censor and tribune of the plebs.
Caesar declined the offer to take the dictatorship held by Sulla who was before him. However, he had a substantive power, which was from resources gathered in conquest and financial success. This was also gained from the relationship among the patronage throughout the empire. He is said to fight for the rights of women shortly after the death of his wife. This was attributed to his weakened emotions. Even though this received a lot of criticism and at the same time, he was accused of treason, Caesar was not sentenced and this had very little if any damage to his political career. According to him, degrading women was unethical and unacceptable.
In his politics, Caesar saw to it that there was loyalty among veterans and the military soldiers and in the authority of the many honors that he received from the Senate. He also ensured that all the people gave respected to one another. He was able to eliminate senatorial opposition using arms and this made the senate docile towards his position, which was paramount. He used to rule through patronage, accumulation of the defunct Republic offices and the military a model later used by all the other government that followed.
Traijan also referred to as Marcus Trajanus was born on 18th of September 53 BC was the roman emperor from 98 to 117 when he died. Just like Cicero, he came from a wealthy family and he rose to be an emperor after serving as a general in the army during the German frontier. As an administrator, he had very good relationship with the senate at Rome and therefore he had a chance to have an extensive public building program that is reshaped Rome. He was an ambitious man in that he celebrated his greatest triumphs while he was a military commander. He had a serious of successful activities such as launching a punitive expedition in Dacia, defeating the army of Dacia and finally conquering it later on. He was also an enduring empire and he ranked second after Augustus. Unlike Cicero, the medieval Christian theologians considered him a virtuous pagan. This made his reputation to survive undiminished for close to 19 centuries. Due this stand on ethical issues and the Christianization of Rome, there was further embellishment of his legend. He is termed as one of the just leaders of all times.
Hadrian was born on 117 A.D. and was a roman emperor when there was a lot of building projects. He was one of the five good Roman emperors of all times. Just like Cicero, the Stoic philosophy influenced him to becoming an emperor. He travelled a lot to the Trajan Expansion but did not add up to it. He happened to rectify the tax situation and at the same time defended those who were weak against the strong.
He became a military tribune toward the end of the Domitian Reign and became questor in 101 B.C. later on he was to become the curator of the senate after when together with Trajan they went to the Dacian War.
During this time, he helped the poor so much. He gave large sums of money to individuals and to communities. He also allowed children of some specific people to inherit part of the estate. He also declined to take legacies from those people that he did not know or from those people who had sons who could inherit them. He also changed the laws in that, if a master happens to die in his home because of murder, only those slaves that lived within would be tortured unlike the previous time when all the slaves will be responsible.
In conclusion, even though these leaders were ruling the Roman Empire during different time, it is clear that all of them are great leaders as they had different but outstanding ethical and political values. Some of them had their legacy passing from one generation to the next and some had it passing for over nineteen centuries. They can be termed as the one responsible for shaping the Roman Empire for years that followed. Even though some of them never had any active performance on politics, their actions of generosity and fight for human rights demonstrated their values.
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