The Roman Empire gave rise to some of the wickedest despots in all of human history; yet, even the sickest and or most megalomaniacal of the Emperors: Caligula, Nero, Hadrian, only dabbled in homosexuality – some more seriously than others. It was not until the Empire was in serious decline that the teen upstart to the throne, Elagabalus, did gay marriage become a whim for those who ruled. Contemporary Roman histories described how “Elagabalus went through a nuptial ceremony and consummated a marriage, even having a bridal-matron…”
First, some background: Elagabalus was declared Emperor in the early-Third Century; this was after the triumphant decades of the “Good Emperors” which made up much of the Second-Century: these men included Trajan and Marcus Aurelius; even the Medieval mystic Dante saw one of these noble pagans, Trajan, as saved in his vision of Paradiso. The 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon, in his work “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” argued that their rule was a period when “the Roman Empire was governed by absolute power, under the guidance of wisdom and virtue.” By the time Elagabalus arrived on the scene, everything, and everyone, was on their way to hell. What happened?
Almost 40 years before the ascendance of Elagabalus, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius made the fatal flaw of choosing his own son, Commodus, as his successor; before that – tradition through the Second-Century had been for the Emperors to adopt the man most fit to rule – regardless of any family connection. For the most part, Commodus, beautifully and horrifyingly portrayed by Christopher Plummer in the film “The Fall of the Roman Empire,” was a spoiled good-for-nothing pervert. He had grown up privileged, during a time of great peace and economic boon; he was the ancient Roman equivalent of the baby-boomer. And like his 20thCentury American counterparts, he abandoned the stoic morality of his predecessors in favor of sensual excess – this rather stark turn-around is analogous to 1950s conventionalism as compared with 60s psychedelica. Moreover, Commodus kept the masses perpetually in a fog, while the centers of power slipped speedily into decadence, by endlessly hosting one public spectacle after another: bread and circuses; the crowds were fat and entertained.
In less than a generation, the rot had seeped into everyday life – by the time Elagabalus married his charioteer, no Roman had a gasp left in them. Sadly, in the US, we have already reached that point of no return; currently this sensory overload is symbolized by the consistent emergence, from Madonna to Miley Cyrus, of pornography as main-stream entertainment. Today, the once proud citizenry of this Nation are mesmerized by the diversions of the forever passing show: one week - football, the next week - another political sex scandal – all visioned through the constant streaming of porn, pop-videos, urban decay, rampant dissatisfaction, candy-dispenser pharmaceuticals, and spiritual apathy. As a civilization, we have seriously lost our way – we collectively seek, not what is just, but what is easy; pleasure is our focal principle, the rigors and efforts associated with righteousness are considered passé; consequently, our leaders have come to tragically reflect this – only, we will all pay the price.