Two thousand year old credit crisis!

I have always been a history buff, particularly military history and the history of the ancient Celts. In regards to the latter, my interest in the Celts necessarily led to an interest in ancient Rome during the time of Julius Caesar, because he wrote one of the more definitive accounts of Celtic (Gaulish) society. Although much of Caesar's account of the Gauls has been disputed as the writings of a general seeking to belittle and dehumanize his foes, one cannot enjoy a history of Celtic society without also appreciating the history of the society that ultimately did them in.

That was an overly long preamble to my original intent in this post, which was to say that I am fascinated whenever someone points out a parallel between Roman history and the course of our own nation. Perhaps the parallels between our two societies are only natural given the fact that our governmental and financial systems are so similar. What is sometimes disheartening is that we do not seem to use history as a guide in this country. I am not saying that the Goths and Visigoths are knocking at our door just yet (though there ARE Goths and Visigoths who would LIKE to be knocking at our door). However, the only society in history that most closely matches our own is the ancient Roman republic. I think that careful study of where the Romans went wrong can be instructive for our present endeavors. That is not to say that making the same mistakes will lead us down the same road, but that we might at least incorporate the lessons of the ancient past into the endeavors of the present.

Whew. Anyhow, Tigerhawk has found a fascinating reference from Tacitus' Annales pertaining to a little credit crunch in Rome during the time of Tiberius. Read the whole thing. Regardless of who we hold responsible for our current woes, nobody can deny the parallels.