Must read! Cicero, Roman statesman, 42 BC

[Heartstrings]

[triron]

1. Amazing wisdom and foresight!

[BigmanPigman]

2. Brilliant!

Somehow that makes me feel even more depressed about our current situation.

[LakeArenal]

15. I had the same feeling.

Treason within? Can’t survive? Yikes

is right!!!😬😡🤯

[trackfan]

3. Cicero died in 43 BC n/t

[DFW]

6. I saw a nother reference dating this as 58 BC

“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.”

Another put it at 50 BC.

Here is a reference to check out (about 10 paragraphs in) http://www.aapsonline.org/brochures/cicero.htm

There may have been some "free" translations in the meantime

[trackfan]

10. It may be from one of the speeches against Cataline.

I can't quite place it though. The gist of it does sound Ciceronian.

[S.E. TN Liberal]

4. Human nature does not change very much...

...conservatives from 2000 years ago could step out of a time capsule, adjust their language knowledge, and still have the same basic beliefs conservatives always have.

They will be xenophobic, living in constant fear of people they perceive to be different, and look for some group of people to diminish.

conservatives 2000 years ago or from today across the World share the same basic type of values.

American conservatives, Muslim conservatives, Russian conservatives, ...etc. are very much alike.

While American conservatives maintain hatred for gays, African-Americans, and Muslims, you might find Russian conservatives hating gays, Jews, and Poles.

The basic need they have to hate some group/s is part of what defines then being "conservative".

conservatism needs to be cured for the good of humanity and the planet.

[mr_lebowski]

8. Conservatives have a less-evolved, basic, lizard-brain constantly saying to them 'I'm going to get '

... eaten and my bloodline will fail if I am not eternally vigilant and protective of myself and my family. That which not of me and mine is a threat to be feared. I must protect MYSELF!'

You see, there's no concept among lizards or snakes or other more basic creatures of 'my species' or 'my community', everything in their world is 'everyone for themselves'. And for early life, this worked, well.

Liberals OTOH have a more 'community-based' brain, leading to behavior a bit more like bees or bonobos ... which evolved much later in the earth's history. We ... feel 'part of a whole', and that it's not just ALL ABOUT 'our personal survival'. This development allowed for a whole lot of new niches to be carved out where 'cooperation' became more important to survival than 'personal self preservation'. We see it in the way schools of fish and flocks of birds work together to confuse predators, in the way bees and ants work together for their hives and colonies, and in many higher-mammal species as well. Zebra's stripes for evolved because they are a 'cooperative' species.

IOW, both Liberals AND Conservatives as we now understand them definitely existed 2000 years ago, much akin to what they are now. Jesus of Nazareth was a wonderful example of a Liberal from 2000 years ago, in fact. The overall characteristics generally exhibited by both 'types' ... are very much part of our genetic heritage.

[AdamGG]

11. The people who most fanatically claim to be Christian are usually the furthest from his ideals

The perversion of reality by the right, heightened in today's media landscape, is maybe the most disturbing thing about them.

[mr_lebowski]

5. Before I spread round, any confirmation this is 'real'?

[DFW]

7. See post 6

This has been posted around the internet a lot, and a direct translation to anything Cicero said has been difficult to locate. Even without the Cicero attribution, though, it is a great quote

[C Moon]

13. So it's probably not real. But who the hell cares: I agree with you...we're dealing with this now.

[DFW]

16. Well, the sentiment rings true.

Maybe we could be cagey and say it sounds like Cicero paraphrased.

[Paka]

9. K&R

Good find. Great quote!

[Cha]

12. Cicero has nailed trump

dead to rights.

[pansypoo53219]

14. this is why i read old stuff. been reading a 8 vol 1907 book of famous orations.

bartlett's quotes. a 1891 encyclopedia britannica set. the gems you find.