Is Bush Claudius reincarnated?
Two weeks ago, provoked by an article comparing Mussolini to Tony Blair, I asked readers for their own tenuous comparisons between living and dead public figures. Canadian journalist Robert Mason Lee wrote in to show how George W Bush is a virtual reincarnation of the emperor Claudius. Claudius’s dad, according to Suetonius, “overthrew the enemy in several battles and drove them far back into the depths of the desert”, as did George Bush Sr. Claudius himself was, “during almost the whole of his minority, and for some time after he attained the age of manhood, afflicted… insomuch that his mind and body being greatly impaired, he was, even after his arrival at years of maturity, never thought sufficiently qualified for any public or private employment”. And, finally, Claudius was often mocked and “subjected to many slights. When he indulged himself with sleep after eating, which was a common practice with him, the company used to throw olive stones and dates at him.” Then this derided
