Subject: Re: News/Rumors of Apple's interest in Perplexity
If you use any AI, what do you use it for?

Verbatim Perplexity searches of mine since June 1:

- As a rule of thumb, heavier elements are less common than lighter elements. One exception is iron, because of the stability of its nucleus. What are other exceptions, and the explanations for their prevalence?

- please show me a detailed map of the Alameda corridor in Los Angeles County

- As the PB4-Y squadrons in WWII were more likely to have to ditch than be shot down, were the crews adequately trained in parachuting and SEER, or was their survival training more to do with rafts on the open ocean?

- What is the most remote well-documented archeological find of Spanish armor in North America?

- What is the actual peer-reviewed data regarding glucosamine for dogs?

- Average CPI increase 01 January 2018 to present?

- please carefully discuss the precise differences between "persister" and "resistant" cancer cells as regards chemotherapy tolerance and reversibility

- Teddy Roosevelt statement along the lines of, I can either parent Alice or be President

- Please source and discuss context of "Caesar said: ruere in servitium"

-- sutton
dilettante

OK, since you asked (bolding mine):

Context and Meaning of "ruere in servitium"

The phrase "ruere in servitium" is found in Tacitus' Annals, specifically at the beginning of his account of the rise of Tiberius to power after the death of Augustus. The full Latin passage reads:

"At Romae ruere in servitium consules, patres, eques: quanto quis inlustrior, tanto magis falsi ac festinantes, vultuque composito, ne laeti excessu principis neu tristiores primordio, lacrimas, gaudium, questus adulationem miscebant."

A common translation is:

"Meanwhile at Rome, consuls, senators, and knights rushed into slavery; the more distinguished a man was, the more eager his hypocrisy, and his looks the more carefully studied, so as neither to betray joy at the death of the emperor nor sorrow at the rise of the new one, while they mingled tears, joy, complaints, and flattery."

Historical Context

This passage describes the political and social atmosphere in Rome following the death of Augustus and the accession of Tiberius as emperor. Tacitus is sharply critical of the Roman elite, depicting them as abandoning their republican virtues and eagerly submitting to the new autocratic order. The phrase "ruere in servitium" literally means "rushed headlong into servitude" or "plunged into slavery," and it refers to the willingness of Rome's highest classes—consuls, senators (patres), and knights (eques)—to abandon their independence and embrace the rule of the new emperor without resistance

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Tacitus' use of "servitium" (servitude or slavery) is highly charged and ironic. He implies that the political freedom of the Republic has been lost, and that the governing classes are now more concerned with self-preservation and advancement through flattery and submission than with defending liberty or the public good. The passage is emblematic of Tacitus' broader critique of the early Roman Empire, where the forms of the old Republic are maintained, but the substance—libertas (freedom)—has been lost

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Tacitus' Perspective

Tacitus is not quoting Caesar directly; rather, he is narrating and interpreting the behavior of Rome’s elite in his own words. The phrase is part of his larger narrative strategy to highlight the moral decline and political servility that, in his view, characterized the transition from Republic to Empire. Tacitus often contrasts the libertas (freedom) of a few principled individuals with the servitium (servility) of the majority, especially among the senatorial class
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Conclusion

"Ruere in servitium" is a phrase used by Tacitus in his Annals to describe the eager submission of Rome’s ruling classes to imperial authority after Augustus’ death. It is a pointed commentary on the loss of republican freedom and the rise of political hypocrisy and servility in the early Empire. Tacitus uses this phrase to set the tone for his critical narrative of the principate and the moral state of Roman society under the emperors.