Gregory Aldrete

You were just the latest iteration of that family. And there was enormous weight, huge weight to live up to the deeds of your ancestors. So the Romans were absolutely obsessed with the past, especially with your own family. Every Roman kid who was, let's say, in a wrist crack family could tell you every one of his ancestors back centuries. I can't go beyond my grandparents. I don't even know.

But that's maybe 100 years. So it's a completely different attitude towards the past.

But that's maybe 100 years. So it's a completely different attitude towards the past.

But that's maybe 100 years. So it's a completely different attitude towards the past.

No, no. I mean, it was obsessive and oppressive. It determined what you did. Oh. Yes. Because there's that weight for you to act like your ancestors did.

No, no. I mean, it was obsessive and oppressive. It determined what you did. Oh. Yes. Because there's that weight for you to act like your ancestors did.

No, no. I mean, it was obsessive and oppressive. It determined what you did. Oh. Yes. Because there's that weight for you to act like your ancestors did.

Well, like everything, it's a little of both, but the bad – so on the one hand, it gives them enormous strength, and it gives them this enormous connection. It gives them guidance. But the negatives, what's interesting, is it makes the Romans extremely traditional-minded and extremely conservative. And I mean conservative in the sense of resistant to change. Mm-hmm.

Well, like everything, it's a little of both, but the bad – so on the one hand, it gives them enormous strength, and it gives them this enormous connection. It gives them guidance. But the negatives, what's interesting, is it makes the Romans extremely traditional-minded and extremely conservative. And I mean conservative in the sense of resistant to change. Mm-hmm.

Well, like everything, it's a little of both, but the bad – so on the one hand, it gives them enormous strength, and it gives them this enormous connection. It gives them guidance. But the negatives, what's interesting, is it makes the Romans extremely traditional-minded and extremely conservative. And I mean conservative in the sense of resistant to change. Mm-hmm.

So in the late republic, which we'll probably talk about later, Rome desperately needed to change certain things, but it was a society that did things the way the ancestors did it and they didn't make some obvious changes which might have saved their republic. So that's the downside is that it locks you into something and you can't change. But to get us back to the Brutuses.

So in the late republic, which we'll probably talk about later, Rome desperately needed to change certain things, but it was a society that did things the way the ancestors did it and they didn't make some obvious changes which might have saved their republic. So that's the downside is that it locks you into something and you can't change. But to get us back to the Brutuses.

So in the late republic, which we'll probably talk about later, Rome desperately needed to change certain things, but it was a society that did things the way the ancestors did it and they didn't make some obvious changes which might have saved their republic. So that's the downside is that it locks you into something and you can't change. But to get us back to the Brutuses.

So 500 years after that first Brutus got rid of kings, Julius Caesar starts to act like a king. One of his best friends is Marcus Junius Brutus. And literally in the middle of the night, people go to Brutus' house and write graffiti on it that says, remember your ancestor. And another one is, I think, you're no real Brutus. And at that point, he really has no choice.

So 500 years after that first Brutus got rid of kings, Julius Caesar starts to act like a king. One of his best friends is Marcus Junius Brutus. And literally in the middle of the night, people go to Brutus' house and write graffiti on it that says, remember your ancestor. And another one is, I think, you're no real Brutus. And at that point, he really has no choice.

So 500 years after that first Brutus got rid of kings, Julius Caesar starts to act like a king. One of his best friends is Marcus Junius Brutus. And literally in the middle of the night, people go to Brutus' house and write graffiti on it that says, remember your ancestor. And another one is, I think, you're no real Brutus. And at that point, he really has no choice.

He forms a conspiracy, and on the Ides of March, 44 BC, he and 23 other senators take daggers, stick them in Julius Caesar, and kill him for acting like a king. So the way I always pose this to my students is, how many of you would stick a knife in your best friend because of what your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather did? That's commitment.

He forms a conspiracy, and on the Ides of March, 44 BC, he and 23 other senators take daggers, stick them in Julius Caesar, and kill him for acting like a king. So the way I always pose this to my students is, how many of you would stick a knife in your best friend because of what your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather did? That's commitment.

He forms a conspiracy, and on the Ides of March, 44 BC, he and 23 other senators take daggers, stick them in Julius Caesar, and kill him for acting like a king. So the way I always pose this to my students is, how many of you would stick a knife in your best friend because of what your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather did? That's commitment.

That's the power of the past. That's a society where the past isn't just influential, but it dictates what you do. And that concept I think is very alien to us today. We can't imagine murdering our best friend because of what some incredibly distant ancestor did 500 years ago. But to Brutus, there is no choice. You have to do that. And a lot of societies have this power of the past.