-- when you're going-sdrawkcab <-- from a cheap modrin melodrama, made by MBAs purely for advertising $$ ... any pretense of 'art' being way down the list. And relating that to 'Rome'.

As mentioned in thread, there're several hundred hours of reading to be grokked - recalling at the outset that: C\ufffdsar was an honorary title.. and their characters varied from.. worse than Cheney + neoconmen, upwards to the memorable ones who attempted to be real Mensch material (via whatever personal vision of achievable 'Goodness'.)

I know of no way to condense the History of Rome into a Readers Disgust-level quickie.. y'know? As I don't consider self even a decent 'amateur historian', I'm also at a loss to recommend a particular First Primer on Rome -- kinda depends upon how *you* tend to learn such tableaux..

Lastly, I'd think you're at a great disadvantage in assessing confidently - the scurrilous nature of those obsessed with Power (political, financial, social whatever) of today's lot - without a sense of this lengthy history. Or, to tie Rome + other literature:

Want to comprehend a Cheney, or a dry-drunk wastrel like Shrub?
Think: Cheney as Iago ('Otello the Moor') a whisperin grandiose fantasies into a vain dullard's ear.
Shrub as Caligula (the Guccione-porn version or.. other)

ie. Modern and historical bastards behave like the archetypes (whether ignorant of them or not: the worst ones are the ones who Know what motherfuckers They Are, of course.. safe to say that neither Cheney nor Shrub have a clue. We call that, 'denial'.)

Ask local librarian; they Love to be asked to 'tailor' a huge selection to a particular query; they've invested years of study to that end (and you'll know much more about the folks around you, when you've discovered a bit about Rome and its demise, I wot.)


And.. it's never Too-Late for this.