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Dürrenmatt’s best writing does three things simultaneously: it highlights a perspective of the past that historians either overlook or dismiss, it illuminates a profound truth about contemporary life—regardless of when the work was written or is being read—and it encapsulates truths that apply to the future. Romulus the Great is an underappreciated classic that never stops asking questions about political power, the legitimacy of the state, and nature of the patriotism and nationalism.

The last Roman emperor awaits the conquering Germans as surroundings reflect the decay of twenty years of misrule. He is more interested in the egg production of the chickens that roam freely in his house than he is on defending the city. He seems to be the only one who is unconcerned about the impending end of his empire. His ambivalence begins to be explained in a conversation with his daughter Rea:

REA Soll man nicht das Vaterland mehr lieben als alles in der Welt?

ROMULUS Nein, man soll es weniger lieben als einen Menschen. Man soll vor allem gegen sein Vaterland mißtraurisch sein. Es wird niemals leichter zum Mörder als ein Vaterland.

(REA Shouldn’t one love the fatherland more than anything in the world?

ROMULUS No, one should love it less than one human being. Before all else, one should be skeptical about one’s fatherland. It is never easier to become a murderer as it is for a fatherland.)

We slowly begin to understand that Romulus’s blithe incompetence is actually deliberately intended to undermine the empire, as he explains in a dialogue with his future son-in-law, a soldier who has spent three years as a German prisoner of war:

ÄMALIEN Du bist angeklagt dein Reich veratten zu haben.

ROMULUS Nicht ich habe mein Reich veratten. Rom has sich selbst veratten. Es kannte die Wahrheit, aber es wählte die Gewalt, es kannte die Menschlichkeit, aber es wählte die Tyrannei. Es hat sich doppelt erniedrigt: von sich selber und vor dem anderen Völkern, die in seine Macht gegeben waren.

(ÄMALIEN You are charged with having betrayed the empire.

ROMULUS I have not betrayed my empire. Rome betrayed itself. It understood the truth, but it chose violence, it understood humanity, but it chose tyranny. It debased itself doubly: before itself and before the other nations that were subject to its power.)

My reading of Romulus the Great was inspired by the inane “debate� that is currently taking place in the U.S. about the playing of the national anthem at sporting events—the U.S. is the only country of which I am aware that routinely plays the national anthem at virtually every athletic event ranging from high school through professional ranks; in the rest of the world national anthems are only played when national teams are represented. An excerpt of a recent letter to the New York Times would have pleased Romulus, “The way Americans can demonstrate love of country is to protest the wrongs and work hard to stimulate the change that is required for America to live up to its ideals. At best, singing the national anthem or pledging allegiance to the flag is merely a superficial commitment to country, and at worst, an exercise in tribalism.�

Dürrenmatt wrote Romulus the Great in a time of artistic crisis after laboring on another play for more than a year before finally burning the manuscript. He said that he wrote this play one evening as he took a 100 meter walk to get a pail of milk from a neighboring farm; he wrote the last line of each of the four acts in his head and the rest came easily. As in all of his best writing, the play is filled with biting, incisive humor. It reads like a coherent stream of consciousness and has a rightful place alongside the Dürrenmatt classics The Visit and The Physicists.