Tag Archives: Shakespeare

The great NO KINGS rally speaker, Marcus Cicero

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A proven way to remove a leader is to accuse him of trying to become a king. The Democrats keep trying this, but they lack a great orator to make the case in a way that gets the guy out. The classic speaker for this, someone most everyone in college read, was Marcus Tullius Cicero. Take, for example, his speech against Catiline, his fellow senator, that got Catiline removed, and then murdered. I’ve copied a bit below, in translation from Latin.

WHEN, O Catiline, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is there to be an end of that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now? Do not the nightly guards placed on the Palatine Hill—do not the watches posted throughout the city—does not the alarm of the people, and the union of all good men—does not the precaution taken of assembling the senate in this most defensible place—do not the looks and countenances of this venerable body here present, have any effect upon you?
Do you not feel that your plans are detected? Do you not see that your conspiracy is already arrested and rendered powerless by the knowledge which every one here possesses of it? What is there that you did last night, what the night before—where is it that you were—who was there that you summoned to meet you—what design was there which was adopted by you, with which you think that any one of us is unacquainted?
Shame on the age and on its principles! The senate is aware of these things; the consul sees them; and yet this man lives. Lives! aye, he comes even into the senate. He takes a part in the public deliberations; he is watching and marking down and checking off for slaughter every individual among us. And we, gallant men that we are, think that we are doing our duty to the republic if we keep out of the way of his frenzied attacks.
You ought, O Catiline, long ago to have been led to execution by command of the consul. That destruction which you have been long plotting against us ought to have already fallen on your own head……
……. speech, source.

It’s strong stuff, far better than the democrats have yet presented, with lines of innuendo and attack that have been reused many times since. Cicero claims to understand the thoughts of Catiline as he sits in the senate. He accuses Catiline, not only of wanting to be king, but of wanting their deaths: “He is watching and marking down and checking off for slaughter every individual among us.” Catiline was exiled, and then, with Cicero’s encouragement executed without trial. Julius Caesar argued for Catiline, claiming he should be imprisoned, but no more. So Caesar was exiled to fight the Britains and Gauls.

In time, Cicero and his friends came to believe that Caesar too dreams of kingship too, He had become too successful and uncontrollable. He needed to be re-educated, according to Cicero (below).

“Men who become uncontrollable and overconfident as a result of success need to be put through a round of training in reason until they recognize the fragility of human affairs and the uncertainty of fortune.”

Marcus Cato’s assessment was even stronger, in the senate he, argued that Caesar’s fight with the Gauls was illegal and immoral, and that he should be stripped of power. Democrats argue this today regarding the war in Venezuela and Iran. I think they are wrong, but the argument is the same, that we/I are the rightful power, and I/we know the evil plans in Caesar’s mind. The senate agreed to strip Caesar of power, but use deception getting it. Caesar, knowing how this would likely turn out, returned to Rome, fought Cicero’s and Cato’s friends, and pardoned Cicero 45 BCE. Cato committed suicide. About 1 year later, though, on the 15th of March, a group of Caesars so-called friends stabbed him to death in the senate, as recounted here. Cicero was killed in the bloody civil war that followed. What goes around comes around. And a dictatorship ensued.

I’m not convinced that Cicero’s attacks were legitimate, nor the Democrats’ attacks. In both cases, the speakers claim to know the evil thoughts in the mind of the leader. In both cases, the proposed solution was leadership by group consensus — leadership by a group who could not agree on anything beyond their own unhappiness.

Legitimate or not, attacks by a good orator worked. They caused the death of Catiline and Caesar, and many others over the years. Generally, they don’t benefit the great speaker, long term, nor result in freedom. I’m reminded of Trotsky, here. The lesson for those pushing to depose Trump is you need a really good speaker, and you could get a leader who’s worse. Your speaker needs to convince the audiences that he knows what his enemy is thinking. So far, no Democrat has managed to convince an audience of this, or even vaguely that he knows what Trump will do next.

Robert Buxbaum, June 24, 2026

Shakespeare’s plays, organized.

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One remarkable thing about Shakespeare’s plays is how varied they are. There are comedies and tragedies; histories of England, and of Rome, musings on religion, and on drink, and lots of cross-dressing. He wrote at least thirty seven plays between 1590 and 1613, alone or as a major collaborator, and the chart below gives a sense of the scope. I have seen less than half of these plays, so I find the chart below both useful and humorous. The humor of the chart is partly that it presents the common man (us) access to the godly (Shakespeare). That access is the root of the best comedy, in my opinion. Shakespeare also has a comic dog, some total idiots, comic violence to women, and a few other cringeworthy laugh-getters, but we’ll not mention those; it’s low comedy. You’ll notice that Merchant of Venice is listed here as a comedy; I think it was seen that way by Shakespeare. The hero of the play in my opinion, is a woman, Portia, who outsmarts all others by her legal genius at the end. Tragedy is when the great individual can not access great things. At least that’s how I see it. As for History; it’s been said, that it starts as tragedy, and ends as comedy. Shakespeare’s histories include some of each. And as for our, US history, Lincoln was tragedy, like LBJ; Truman was comedy, and Andrew Jackson too. And, as for Trump, who knows?

By Myra Gosling, www.goodticklebrain.com
A Shakespeare collaboration. The collaborator, Fletcher, is cited by name.

Ms Gosling’s graphic, wonderful as it is, lists some but not all of Shakespeare’s collaborations. Two listed ones, “Henry VIII,” and “The Two Noble Kinsmen” were with John Fletcher. The cover shown at right, shows Fletcher named as first author. Since Fletcher outlived Shakespeare and took over the company after his death, I’ll assume these are later plays.

“Henry IV, part 1” is thought to be from Shakespeare’s early career, and seems to have been a mass collaboration: something written by a team the way situation comedies are written today. And “Pericles, Prince of Tyre,” listed near the bottom right, seems to have been a mid-career collaboration with George Wilkins. At least four of Shakespeare’s collaborations don’t appear at all in the graphic. “Edward III” and “The Spanish Tragedy”, appear to have been written with Thomas Kyd, likely early in Shakespeare’s career. Perhaps Gosling felt they don’t represent the real Shakespeare, or perhaps she left them off because they are not performed often. Another collaboration, “Sir Thomas More” (an intentional misspelling of Moore?), is well regarded today, and still put on. An existing manuscript includes 300+ lines written in Shakespeare’s hand. Still, Shakespeare’s main contribution seems to have been editing the play to get it past the censors. Finally, “Cardenio,” is a lost play, likely another collaboration with Fletcher. It got good reviews.

The cool thing about Shakespeare’s play writing, in my opinion, is his willingness to let the characters speak for themselves. Even characters who Shakespeare doesn’t like have their say. They speak with passion and clarity; without interruption or mockery. Writing this way is difficult, and most writers can’t avoid putting themselves and their opinions in the forefront. I applaud Ms Gosling for making Shakespeare accessible. Here’s this month’s issue of her blog, GoodTickleBrain.

Robert Buxbaum, June 26, 2019. As a side note, Shakespeare appears to have been born and died on the same date, April 23; in 1564 and 1616, respectively.