Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

23 January 2013

“Senatores boni viri, senatus autem mala bestia.”

Senators may be good guys. The Senate, however, is an evil monster.

Remark attributed without source to Marcus Tullius Cicero (aka “Tully”) 106 to 43 BC.

Despite this criticism, Cicero, a Senator himself and one-time Consul, was an outspoken defender of the Roman Republic, governed collectively by the Senate, against the lurch towards imperial dictatorship represented by Julius Caesar, Caesar’s lieutenant Mark Antony and Caesar’s adopted son Octavian (later to become the Emperor Augustus).

For his pains, he was beheaded by thugs acting at the behest of Mark Antony.

A prolific writer and stylist, Cicero was also a spell-binding orator.

Antigone1984:

It’s a herd thing.

Anyone who has been chased by a pack of dogs will know how it feels.

Tully’s epigram provides students of politics with an invaluable analytical tool.

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 You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts.  For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)

2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)

3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)

4. Capitalism in practice  (4 July 2012) 

5.Ladder  (21 June 2012)

 6. A tale of two cities (1)  (6 June 2012)

 7. A tale of two cities (2)  (7 June 2012)

 8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

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