Livy on the irrecoverable loss of liberty under the Roman Empire (10 AD)
About this Quotation:
Livy’s idea that the freedom enjoyed by Rome was undermined and eventually destroyed by rising emperors like Augustus spoke to many authors in the Renaissance and early modern period. Machiavelli, Harrington, and Milton all heeded Livy’s warnings and passed them onto a later generation of thinkers who helped prepare the ground for the American Revolution. It is no surprise that Livy was one of the most read authors in 18th century America.
Other quotes from this week:
- 2009: Sir William Blackstone declares unequivocally that slavery is “repugnant to reason, and the principles of natural law” and that it has no place in English law (1753)
- 2006: J.S. Mill’s great principle was that “over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign” (1859)
- 2005: Voltaire lampooned the excessively optimistic Leibnitzian philosophers in his philosophic tale Candide by exposing his characters to one disaster after another, like a tsunami in Lisbon, to show that this was not “the best of all possible worlds” (1759)
Other quotes about Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots:
- 2009: Jefferson feared that it would only be a matter of time before the American system of government degenerated into a form of “elective despotism” (1785)
- 2009: Lao Tzu discusses how “the great sages” (or wise advisors) protect the interests of the prince and thus “prove to be but guardians in the interest of the great thieves” (600 BC)
- 2009: Macaulay argues that politicians are less interested in the economic value of public works to the citizens than they are in their own reputation, embezzlement and “jobs for the boys” (1830)
- 2009: Althusius argues that a political leader is bound by his oath of office which, if violated, requires his removal (1614)
- 2009: Richard Overton shoots An Arrow against all Tyrants from the prison of Newgate into the prerogative bowels of the arbitrary House of Lords and all other usurpers and tyrants whatsoever (1646):
- 2009: St. Augustine states that kingdoms without justice are mere robberies, and robberies are like small kingdoms; but large Empires are piracy writ large (5th C)
- 2008: Lord Acton writes to Bishop Creighton that the same moral standards should be applied to all men, political and religious leaders included, especially since “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (1887)
- 2008: Edward Gibbon gloomily observed that in a unified empire like the Roman there was nowhere to escape, whereas with a multiplicity of states there were always gaps and interstices to hide in (1776)
- 2008: Thomas Hodgskin wonders how despotism comes to a country and concludes that the “first step” taken towards despotism gives it the power to take a second and a third - hence it must be stopped in its tracks at the very first sign (1813)
- 2008: Thucydides on political intrigue in the divided city of Corcyra caused by the “desire to rule” (5thC BC)
- 2008: George Washington warns that the knee jerk reaction of citizens to problems is to seek a solution in the creation of a “new monarch”(1786)
- 2008: Plato warns of the people’s protector who, once having tasted blood, turns into a wolf and a tyrant (340s BC)
- 2007: George Washington warns the nation in his Farewell Address, that love of power will tend to create a real despotism in America unless proper checks and balances are maintained to limit government power (1796)
- 2006: After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 John Milton was concerned with both how the triumphalist monarchists would treat the English people and how the disheartened English people would face their descendants (1660)
- 2006: Benjamin Constant argued that mediocre men, when they acquired power, became “more envious, more obstinate, more immoderate, and more convulsive” than men with talent (1815)
- 2005: Thomas Jefferson opposed vehemently the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798 which granted the President enormous powers showing that the government had become a tyranny which desired to govern with "a rod of iron" (1798)
- 2005: John Milton laments the case of a people who won their liberty “in the field” but who then foolishly “ran their necks again into the yoke” of tyranny (1660)
- 2005: Adam Ferguson notes that “implicit submission to any leader, or the uncontrouled exercise of any power” leads to a form of military government and ultimately despotism (1767)
- 2005: Edward Gibbon believed that unless public liberty was defended by “intrepid and vigilant guardians” any constitution would degenerate into despotism (1776)
- 2005: Montesquieu states that the Roman Empire fell because the costs of its military expansion introduced corruption and the loyalty of its soldiers was transferred from the City to its generals (1734)
- 2005: John Milton believes men live under a “double tyranny” within (the tyranny of custom and passions) which makes them blind to the tyranny of government without (1649)
- 2005: Vicesimus Knox tries to persuade an English nobleman that some did not come into the world with “saddles on their backs and bridles in their mouths” and some others like him came “ready booted and spurred to ride the rest to death” (1793)
- 2004: James Bryce believed that the Founders intended that the American President would be “a reduced and improved copy of the English king” (1885)
- 2004: Thomas Gordon believes that bigoted Princes are subject to the “blind control” of other “Directors and Masters” who work behind the scenes (1737)
- 2004: Algernon Sidney’s Motto was that his Hand (i.e. his pen) was an Enemy to all Tyrants (1660)
- 2004: Thomas Gordon compares the Greatness of Spartacus with that of Julius Caesar (1721)
4 January, 2010
 | Livy on the irrecoverable loss of liberty under the Roman Empire (10 AD) |
The Roman historian Livy (59 BC - 17 AD) wrote his History of Rome (10) as the Roman Republic was being turned into a despotic empire. He argued that true liberty consisted of regular elections and the rule of law, and that its loss was irrecoverable and marked a return to slavery:
The ides of May came. The offices of the state not having been filled up by election, men, invested with no public character, made their appearance as decemvirs, retaining still the same spirit to enforce their authority, and the same emblems to support the splendor of their station. This was held the height of arbitrary government, and the loss of liberty was deplored as irrecoverable. No one champion stood forth in its cause, nor was there a prospect of any such appearing: so that the people not only sunk into despondence, but began to be despised by the neighbouring nations, who thought it would reflect shame on themselves, if a state which had forfeited its own liberty, should be allowed to retain its dominion over others.
The full passage from which this quotation was taken can be be viewed below (front page quote in bold):
XXXVIII. The ides of May came. The offices of the state not having been filled up by election, men, invested with no public character, made their appearance as decemvirs, retaining still the same spirit to enforce their authority, and the same emblems to support the splendor of their station. This was held the height of arbitrary government, and the loss of liberty was deplored as irrecoverable. No one champion stood forth in its cause, nor was there a prospect of any such appearing: so that the people not only sunk into despondence, but began to be despised by the neighbouring nations, who thought it would reflect shame on themselves, if a state which had forfeited its own liberty, should be allowed to retain its dominion over others The Sabines, with a numerous army, made an irruption into the Roman territories; and, having spread devastation through a great part of the country, and collected, without loss, a great booty of men and cattle, they recalled their forces from the various parts in which they were dispersed, and pitched their camp at Eretum, grounding their hopes on the dissensions at Rome, which they trusted would prevent the raising of troops. Besides the couriers that arrived, the country people, flying into the city, caused a general alarm. The decemvirs held a consultation on the measures necessary to be taken; and, while they were left destitute of support on every side, being equally detested by the patricians and the commons, another circumstance occurred which aggravated their fears by presenting an additional danger to their view: the Æquans on the opposite side had encamped in the district of Algidum, and ambassadors, who came from Tusculum to request assistance, brought accounts, that their lands were ravaged by detachments from thence. The decemvirs were so thoroughly frightened, on finding the city surrounded by two enemies at once, that they determined to have recourse to the advice of the senate; accordingly they ordered the senators to be summoned to a meeting, though they well knew what a storm of public resentment threatened to break upon themselves; that all men would heap on their heads, the blame of the devastations of the country, and of all the dangers by which they were encompassed; and that, on these grounds, attempts would be made to deprive them of their office, if they did not firmly unite in the support of their cause; and, by enforcing their authority with severity, on a few of the most intractable tempers, repress the forwardness of others. When the voice of the crier was heard in the Forum, summoning the senators to attend the decemvirs in the senate-house, it excited no less wonder than if it were a matter entirely new; “what could have happened now,” the people said, “that those who had, for a long time past, laid aside the custom of consulting the senate, should now revive it? But they might, no doubt, thank the war, and their enemies, for any thing being done that was formerly usual with them as a free state.” They looked about the Forum for senators, yet could hardly discover one. They then turned their eyes to the senate-house, remarking the solitude which appeared round the decemvirs, who, on their part, attributed the non-attendance of the summoned to the general detestation of their government; while the commons found a reason for it, in the want of authority in private persons to convene them, observing at the same time, that a head was now formed for those who wished for the recovery of liberty, if the people generally would let their endeavours accompany those of the senate; and if, as the fathers refused to attend in senate, they should in like manner refuse to enlist. Such were the general topics of discourse among the commons; while of the senators, there was scarcely one in the Forum, and very few in the city. Disgusted with the times, they had retired to their country-seats; and, being deprived of their share in the administration of the public business, attended solely to their private affairs; thinking, that, by removing to a distance from the meeting and converse of their tyrannic masters, they were out of the reach of ill-treatment. Not meeting according to summons, apparitors were despatched to all their houses, to levy the penalties, and at the same time to discover whether their non-attendance was owing to design; and these brought back an account that the members of the senate were in the country. This gave less pain to the decemvirs, than if they had heard that they were in town, and refused to obey their commands. They then gave orders, that every one of them should be summoned, and proclaimed a meeting of the senate on the day following, when the members assembled in much greater numbers than the decemvirs themselves had hoped. This raised a suspicion in the minds of the commons, that the senators had deserted the cause of liberty, since they had paid obedience, as to a legal summons, to the order of men whose office had expired, and who, except so far as force prevailed, were nothing more than private citizens.