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By Dr Joseph Arminio

F

or as long as there have been

military reenactments, there

have been simulations of leg-

islative and executive bodies.

Like reenactments, such simulations

(usually by youth and involving de-

bate) can build on the past and lay

the seed for a brighter future.

The Romans were prolific reenac-

tors of great battles and wars of the

past. Indeed, this helped school the

masses and enabled them to partici-

pate in the Forum. For the youth of

elite society, there was a special edu-

cation, however—the suatoria. The

suatoria performed two vital func-

tions. It equipped aspiring politicians

with the necessary oratorical skills.

It also cultivated the Roman sense of

virtue. A cautious exercise, it tended

to make limited, direct reference to

policy or any current affairs of state,

however.

In the suatoria, a student would

pretend to address a famous histori-

cal figure from another state in a far-

away place and would promote virtue.

A favorite exercise was to “address”

Alexander the Great at his court, on

some exotic isle. The rhetorician who

oversaw the exercise tip-toed care-

fully around Roman Senate politics!

If not in numbers of participants,

then certainly in the quality of dis-

course, American youth simulation

and debate in the years 1770 to 1890,

may have been a golden age. Prior

to the American Revolution, future

leaders such as James Madison and

Aaron Burr, crossed swords, oratori-

cally speaking, about burning issues

of the colonies, and represented col-

lege debate clubs.

The then US Senator and not yet

sixth President John Quincy Adams

had a vision. He felt that the Roman

emphasis upon Classical Rhetoric

and the oratorical ideals and meth-

ods of Roman Senator Tully Cicero

in particular should inform aspiring

statesmen. Cicero, for instance, urged

the pursuit of all relevant facts. Thus,

Adams spent part of his time chair-

Time Lines 9

Statesman Debate

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The Evolution Of Government Simulation

Reenactors’ Corner