Is Trouble a sign that “the end is near”?

John Gapper in The dog takes the biscuit in New York, Financial Times, Sept. 1, 2007, compares Leona Helmsley’s desire to provide extravagant care for Trouble to Caligula and his horse, Incitatus.

The most pampered animal in history was Incitatus, Caligula’s horse, which slept in a stable of marble and was fed oats mixed with gold flakes, according to Suetonius. This week, however, Incitatus acquired a latter-day rival in the form of Trouble * * *

Perhaps the rich and powerful treating animals as if they were humans is a symptom of the decadent last days of empire. Caligula is said to have wanted to appoint his horse, who was attended by 13 servants, as a consul during the era when imperial Rome was finally consumed by hubris.

David Walker, the comptroller general of the US, drew a parallel between ancient Rome and present-day America in the week before Helmsley died.

He said the US was suffering “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility”.

He might also have mentioned extreme inequality of wealth, with the lot of average citizens stagnating while an elite – financiers and property developers in New York’s case – accumulates power. Caligula insisted on being treated as a god but New York’s gilded set gains a similar effect simply by throwing big parties.

Or maybe Trouble is simply the beneficiary of two New York phenomena coming together, as it was inevitable they eventually would: the proliferation of trust funds and the veneration of domestic animals.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.