A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.
Marcus Tullius Cicero [ancient Roman scholar, lawyer, statesman and orator 106BC - 43BC]
7 comments:
How appropriate this quotation is to the current situations today. I've been stating since 2006 that the United States of America needs to review the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire history. In it they will find how uncanny the resemblance to past and present.
I too have seen the similarities between our great nation and that of the formidable Roman Empire. I think they serve as a grave warning that no matter how mighty a nation has been, if corruption is allowed to eat away at its intrastructure unchecked, the fall will come
Cicero was done in by the minions of Julius Caesar for opposing his bid to become Imperator. He was right, though.
Dazd, and Rockync..I think that it should be pretty obvious to anyone with any perception at all...too bad that the warning has been ignored for so long, and one has to wonder if it is too late, now.
Hermit..yep! :)
Jan....the traitor[s] Cicero wrote about can only hurt this country if we allow ourselves to be uninformed and chose to be uninvolved and are too timid to call contempt for law contempt for law and a traitor a traitor. Seems to me you are doing well in all those areas. That quote was a good reminder ......
Thanks!
Richard..thanks!
Now, I know that you are going to just love my newest post, and I can hardly wait for your comments! :)
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