Star Wars and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy Series) - Kevin Decker [88]
Machiavelli’s suggestion that clever politicians balance the happiness of citizens with uncertainty about their security has a very old pedigree. A prime example is found in ancient Athens, some fifty years before the advent of direct democracy there in 508 B.C.E. At the time, the Athenians were divided into three regional factions. The leaders of all three vied for political power, not to institute equality between citizens, but so that the classes they represented would gain by certain changes. Into this powder keg stepped the legendary Greek legislator Solon, held by later Greeks as “the greatest of statesman and the wisest of men” who had already saved Athens from civil war in 594 B.C.E.
Attempting to broker a settlement, Solon was suspicious of the attitude of Pisistratus, the leader of the disaffected working class, who “had an affable and engaging manner, was a great friend of the poor, and behaved with generosity even to his enemies.”135 This fooled many Athenians, but not Solon. Pisistratus cemented his place in the people’s hearts by wounding himself, then driving a chariot into the Athenian marketplace to denounce an assassination attempt by his enemies to his followers. Like the anonymous, red-robed guards that constantly accompany Palpatine, bodyguards were granted to Pisistratus, who used them to seize the Acropolis and establish himself as a tyrant, a single ruler who consults the laws only when it suits him. His position, effectively similar to the old Greek kings of the Iliad and Odyssey, passed to his two sons before the tyranny was ended. Solon, although allowed to live under the tyranny, was powerless to challenge the power of the Pisistratids.
In the later Roman political tradition, special powers and single-person rule made up the role of the dictator, which did not have the same negative meaning then as it does now. Dictators were often figures with military power—Julius Caesar for example—and were appointed indirectly by the Roman senate for specific purposes like commanding an army, holding elections, or suppressing sedition. Dictators were to resign their title and powers as soon as their task was completed and the emergency was over. But Caesar, whose appointment to the unheard-of position of dictator perpetuus perhaps gave us the first hint of the modern meaning of the word, used his powers to effectively destroy the Roman Republic and establish a hereditary Empire. Palpatine would have been proud.
Was George Lucas unconsciously thinking of his ancient history class in high school when he penned Palpatine’s speech accepting radical “emergency powers” in order to combat the political Separatists lead by Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones? There, the future Emperor declares gravely:
It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. The power you give me I will lay down when this crisis has abated. And as my first act with this new authority, I will create a Grand Army of the Republic to counter the increasing threats of the Separatists.
The “reluctant” acceptance of the power he has been secretly hoping for, his noble words in defense of popular rule, and his solemn promise to lay down power when it’s no longer needed would not have sounded inappropriate coming from Pisistratus or Julius Caesar. So the irony in this important scene, both in this sense and given what happens in Revenge of the Sith, is palpable (excuse the pun). It’s an essential part