For all their artistic and philosophical brilliance, the Greeks were failures at politics; Hamilton, in the Federalist, expressed horror and disgust
at the distractions with which they were agitated.
The Romans captured the American imagination because they had done what the Americans themselves hoped to do — sustain an extensive republic over a course of centuries. So the society of Revolutionary War officers called themselves Cincinnati; president,
congress,
and senate
were all Roman terms. But the Roman example was also cautionary, for when they lost their virture, they slid into empire. When Franklin said, in response to a question from Eliza Powel, that the constitutional convention had produced a republic, if you can keep it,
he and she would have remembered that the Romans had failed to keep theirs.
Rembrandt Peale (1778—1860)
Oil on canvas; 75.6 x 64.5 x 3.2cm (29 3/4 x 25 3/8 x 1 1/4"). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Oil on canvas. 73.02 x 60.01 cm (28 3/4 x 23 5/8 in). Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
Oil on canvas; 71.5 inches x 53.25 inches (181.6 cm x 135.3 cm). U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Oil on canvas; 137 1/2 x 120 1/2 in. (3.5 x 3 m). Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
Oil on paper laid down on board; 30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm). Private collection.
Oil on canvas; 89.5 x 71.9cm (35 1/4 x 28 5/16"). National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian), Washington, DC.
Oil on canvas; 89.5 x 71.8cm (35 1/4 x 28 1/4"). National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian), Washington, DC.
Pen and black ink with ink wash, heightened with white opaque watercolor over traces of graphite on tan wove paper; 11 15/16 x 10 13/16 inches (