“The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.” This aphorism appears in Meditations, a collection of philosophical musings written by Marcus Aurelius, a 2nd century Roman emperor.
Aurelius is considered one of the less tyrannical, even just rulers of the Roman Empire — and he is portrayed as such by the late-Richard Harris in Gladiator (2000). In the Academy Award-winning movie, directed by Ridley Scott, the Roman emperor envisioned the glorious return of the Roman Republic by dismantling the corruptible Caesarean rule, thereby re-elevating the status and power of the Senate. As he laments to his general and appointed successor, Maximus (Russell Crowe), “There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish — it was so fragile.”
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