Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Yesterday, Benazir Bhutto's will was read at her ancestral home in Naudero in the Sindh province of Pakistan. According to The Times of India, Mrs Bhutto named her husband Asif Ali Zardari as her successor. But he has appointed his son with Mrs Bhutto, Bilawal, as his co-chairman.

As I listened to reports of the reading of the will on Radio Five Live, the presenter indicated scepticism that Bilawal, who is 19, was old enough for such an onerous job. Clearly, she does not know her history!
When his great uncle was assassinated, Gaius Octavius Thurinus was also 19 years old and we know what happened to him.

There are other points of contact between Bilawal and Augustus. Both were studying when news of the deaths of their relatives came through - Bilawal at Oxford and Octavian in Apollonia in Illyria. Bilawal's mother was very rich. No doubt he has inherited a great deal of money, just as Octavian did. And just as Octavian changed his name - to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus - after learning of his adoption by Caesar in the latter's will, so Bilawal, who will now add his mother's surname to his own to become Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Furthermore, insofar as he now leads Mrs Bhutto's party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), in conjunction with his father, one might say that Bilawal has entered a duumvirate that has distinct echoes of the triumvirate of the young Octavian and older Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Although, as we all know, right from the beginning, that was also in effect a duumvirate with Lepidus always playing a minor role to Octavian's and Antony's.

Of course, the world has moved on since the assassination of Julius Caesar. Octavian was able to use his newly acquired fortune to buy an army and overthrow the rule of the Senate. It looks like Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be returning to Oxford to complete his studies. This means that should he be so inclined, Mr Zardari will have three years to cement his rule of the party whereas Octavian wasted no time in establishing his authority.

One final point to consider is their names. Bilawal means 'One Without Equal'. Augustus can be rendered 'great', 'magnificent' or even 'exalted'. His official title was Princeps meaning 'First Citizen'. He was truly one without equal.

After taking power in Rome, Augustus brought peace to the Roman Empire. Given Pakistan's troubled history, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be doing well if he manages to bring peace to that one place. But, if he truly believes in democracy, let's hope that he is able to do so for the sake of all who have died for its cause and those who live there still. If he does, it will be a triumph that is in its way no less great than that which Augustus Caesar achieved.