PR critical to roman emperors and humble popes

Mary Beard has a delightful little piece in the TLS, here's an excerpt:

It made me think that the first weeks of a new Pope were much more like the first weeks of a new Roman emperor than the first weeks of a new Prime Minister or President are.  It is not a question of going off and making your mark in parliament, winning votes or whatever. It's a question of establishing a relationship with the people/worshippers -- and of balancing that with making the right impression with the elite of the Catholic hieracrchy.

I am right now in Italy. And many people I have met have been dead keen on Papa Francesco. They have loved the idea that he appeared on the balcony of St Peter's and said "have a good lunch". It has also gone down well that he talked to his fellow cardinals as "brother cardinals", and that he rejected the papal limo and went almost incognito to visit a friend in hospital.

My first instinct was to think: what a nice guy. My second instinct was to think: what an excellent PR machine.

My third instinct was to think that the PR machine was well acquainted with the dynamics of Roman imperial rule, and how Roman emperotrs got a good start.

The first Roman rule for a new emperor was to speak directly to the people (and going off script and talking about Sunday lunch would really fit the bill there).