The revolution

More Saturnino res novæ suos natos devorant.

 

After the example of Saturn, the revolution devours its own children.

 

—Jacques Mallet du Pan, French writer and journalist (1749-1800)

Industry

Vivebat Roma chirographis donec impenderet ruina. Sola vera fons divitiæ est industria, hujusque nullum fuit Romæ. Per singulos dies via Ostiensis plaustris et mulionibus complebatur, vehentibus in Urbem serica atque aromatica Orientalia, marmor ex Asiā Minore, lignum e Montibus Atlantibus, annonam Africanam atque Aegyptam; et vehebant plaustra ex Urbe nihil præter onera sterquilinii. Hoc fuit quod redderent.

 

Rome lived upon its principal till ruin stared it in the face. Industry is the only true source of wealth, and there was no industry in Rome. By day the Ostia road was crowded with carts and muleteers, carrying to the great city the silks and spices of the East, the marble of Asia Minor, the timber of the Atlas, the grain of Africa and Egypt; and the carts brought out nothing but loads of dung. That was their return cargo.

 

—Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom of Man

Belisarius

“Ὑπὸ τοῖς θεοῖς παλαιοῖς,” ὁ μοῦ πρόσθεν δεσπότης ὁ Δαμοκλὴς ἔλεγε προσεπιρρητορεύων, “ἡ μὲν ἀρετὴ ἀεὶν ἐτίμα, ἡ δὲ ἁμαρτία ᾐσχύνετο· τοῦ κακούργου ὁ σταυρὸς οὐκ ἐνεχρυσοῦτο καὶ ἐποικίλλετο· οὐχ οἱ ἀνθρώποι ἐτέρποντο αἰσχυνθῆναι.” Ἀλλὰ πιστεύῃ ἕκαστος ὃ δοκεῖ. Καὶ εἰ τυγχάνει ἀτεχνῶς φιλεῖν τὴν εὐσεβείαν, μηδὲ εἶναι σοφιστὴς καὶ ἀγαθοφανὴς θεολόγος ἢ ἐγκρατευτὴς διεφθαργμένος, αὕτη ἡ ἱστορία οὐκ αὐτὸν λυπήσει, ἀλλ’ ἐναντίως θαρσυνεῖ αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς κανόσι. Ὁ γὰρ Κόμης Βελισάριος ἀτεχνῶς ἐφίλει τὴν εὐσεβείαν, καὶ μηδέποτε ἐπαύσατο. Οἰ ἐξ ὑμῖν νομίζοντες τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ἀληθὲς εἶναι λέγοισθε ὅτι Βελισάριος παρέσχε ἑαυτὸν ἐν τῇ δίκῃ παρὰ τὸν Ἰουστινιανὸν ἐν τρόπῳ τοῦ Δεσπότου παρὰ Πόντιον Πιλᾶτον, τὸν Ὕπαρχον τῆς Ἰουδαίας, ἀδικῶς κατηγορεύθεντος τῆς ὁμοίης κακουργίας, τῆς προδοσίας ἐπὶ τὴν Βασιλείαν· καὶ ὅτι ἐκεῖνος οὐ μεῖον ταπεινῶς ἔπαθε.

   Ἐξαρκεῖ οὖν περὶ ταῦτα.

 

(“Hypo toîs theoîs palaioîs,” ho moû prósthen despótēs ho Damoklēs élege prosepirrētoreúōn, “hē men aretē aein etíma, hē de hamartía ēschýneto; toû kakoúrgou ho stauros ouk enekrysoûto kai epoikílleto; ouch hoi anthrṓpoi etérponto aischynthêntai.” Alla pisteúē hékastos ho dokeî. Kai ei tynchánei atechnôs phileîn tēn eusebeían, mēde eînai sophistēs kai agathophanēs theológos ē enkrateutēs diephthargménos, haútē hē historía ouk auton lypḗsei, all’ enantíōs tharsyneî auton en toîs kanósi. Ho gar Kómēs Belisários atechnôs ephílei tēn eusebeían, kai mēdépote epaúsato. Hoi ex hӯmîn nomízontes to Euangélion alēthes eînai légoisthe hóti Belisários parésche heauton en tê díkē para ton Ioustinianon en trópō toû Despótou para Póntion Pilâton, ton Hýparchon tês Ioudaías, adikôs katēgoreúthentos tês homoíēs kakourgías, tês prodosías epi tēn Basileían; kai hóti ekeînos ou meîon tapeinôs épathe.

   Exarkeî oûn peri taûta.)

 

“Under the old gods,” my former master Damocles used to say, somewhat exaggerating the case, “virtue was always honoured, ignominy frowned upon; the felon’s cross was not gilded and jewelled; man did not revel in self-abasement.” But let everyone believe what he pleases. And if he happens to be a simple devotee of virtue, not a logic-chopping, hypocritical theologian or perverted ascetic, this story will not offend him, but contrariwise confirm him in his principles. For Count Belisarius had such a simple devotion to virtue, from which he never declined. Those of you for whom the Gospel story carries historical weight may perhaps say that Belisarius behaved at his trial before Justinian very much as his Master had done before Pontius Pilate, the Governor of Judaea, when unjustly accused of the very same crime, namely treason against the Empire; and that he suffered no less patiently.

   So much, then, for these things.

 

—Robert Graves, Ὁ Κόμης Βελισάριος  (Count Belisarius)

Tyrannies

 

Ἐκ τῶν πασῶν τῶν δεσποτείων, δεσποτεία ἕνεκα τῶν πασχόντων ἀπλῶς διοκουμένη βαρυτάτη εἴη. Ἀμείνων εἴη ἀρχιλῃστῶν ἀρχόντων βιοῦν ἢ παγκρατῶν σωφρονιστικῶν. Ἡ μὲν τοῦ ἀρχιλῃστοῦ ὠμότης ἐνίοτε καθεύδῃ, ἡ δὲ φιλοχρηματία ἔσθ’ ὅτε κορέστος· ἀλλ’ οἱ ἡμῶν ἕνεκα αἰκιζομένοι ἡμᾶς αἰκίσονται ἐκτὸς τῷ παύεσθαι, αἰκίζονται γὰρ εὐσυνειδήτοι.

 

Ek tôn pasôn tôn despoteíōn, despoteía héneka tôn paschóntōn aplôs diokouménē barytátē eíē. Ameínōn eíē archilēstôn archóntōn bioûn ē pankratôn sōphronistikôn. Hē men toû archilēstoû ōmótēs eníote katheúdē, hē de philochrēmatía ésth’ hóte koréstos; all’ hoi hēmôn héneka aikizoménoi hēmâs aikísontai ektos tô paúesthai, aikízontai gar eusyneidḗtoi.

 

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

 

—C. S. Lewis

Innovation

 

Studium innovandi vulgo procedit ex ingenio se amante et sententiis angustis. Non prospicient ad posteriores, qui numquam respiciunt ad majores.

 

A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper, and confined views. People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.

 

—Edmund Burke

Power

Ῥέπει ἡ ἄρχη διαφθείρειν, καὶ ἄρχη ἀνέδην διαφθείρει ἀνέδην. Οἱ ἀνθρώποι μεγάλοι σχεδὸν ἀεί εἰσιν ἀνθρώποι κακοί, καὶ οἱ ἔχοντες τὴν ῥοπὴν μηδὲ τὴν ἐξουσίαν· μᾶλιστα εἰ ἐπιποιεῖται τὸ φυσίωμα ἣ παγιότης τῆς δεσποτείᾱς εἰς τὸ διαφθείρειν. Οὔκ ἐστι αἵρεσις κακī́ων ἢ ὅτι ἡ ἀρχὴ τὸν ἄρχοντα ἁγνίζει.

 

(Rhépei hē árchē diaphtheírein, kai árchē anédēn diaphtheírei anédēn. Hoi anthrṓpoi megáloi schedon aeí eisin anthrṓpoi kakoí, kai hoi échontes tēn rhopēn mēde tēn exousían; mâlista ei epipoieîtai to physíōma hē pagiótēs tēs despoteíās eis to diaphtheírein. Oúk esti haíresis kakī́ōn ē hóti hē archē ton árchonta hagnízei.)

 

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or certainty of corruption by full authority. There is no worse heresy than the fact that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

 

—Lord Acton

A good cause

It is better to be forcibly oppressed in a good cause than to yield to a bad one.

 

Vi opprimi in bonā causā est melius quam malæ cedere.

 

—Cicero

Roman democracy

Ipsam propter democratiam Romanam nos tantum de oligarchia audimus. Exempli gratia, historici recentes conati sunt valorem atque victoriam Romanam attribuere illæ odiosæ atque oditæ usuriæ, quam fecerunt nonulli patricii, quasi Curius phalangites Macedonicos vicit pecuniam fænerando, ac Nero consul victoriam Metauri pro vicensima pactus. Sed usuriam sentimus patriciam e turbulentia plebiana. Regnum principum mercatorum Punicorum summa fuit usuriæ, sed numquam fuit turba Punica quæ audebat usurarios appellare.

 

It is precisely because of the presence of Roman democracy that we hear so much about Roman oligarchy. For instance, recent historians have tried to explain the valor and victory of Rome in terms of that detestable and detested usury which was practiced by some of the Patricians; as if Curius had conquered the men of the Macedonian phalanx by lending them money; or the Consul Nero had negotiated the victory of Metaurus at five per cent. But we realize the usury of the Patricians because of the perpetual revolt of the Plebeians. The rule of the Punic merchant princes had the very soul of usury. But there was never a Punic mob that dared to call them usurers.

 

—G. K. Chesterton, De Viro Sempiterno