If there’s one thing we learn from history, it’s that people don’t learn from history.

— Hegel?

I’m reading Livy’s (d.17 AD) History of Rome. I’ve read from the founding (Romulus) through the establishment of the Republic so far. Many, MANY of the issues we debate today are not new. Livy was writing in the reign of Augustus. At that point, the events he was describing were 500 to 700 years old. Here were some of the burning issues:

• Term limits
• The rule of law
• Favoritism and insider privilege
• Immigration
• “Sanctuary Cities”
• Assimilation of immigrants
• Citizenship
• Kingdom vs. Republic vs. Democracy
• Democracy requiring citizens prepared accept its responsibilities
• Shared power/checks and balances
• Roles for the masses, the aristocracy, and a strong executive
• Explicit classes based on wealth
• Enfranchisement and military responsibility based on class
• Hereditary privilege vs newcomers
• Hereditary privilege vs meritocracy
• Religion and State (“Separation of” was not a concept then)
• Morals and character as a foundation of good leadership
• A sense of destiny
• A need to explain a society/country’s greatness
• A need to check the excesses of ambition
• A need to allow rewards for ambition and hard work
• Peruasive public speaking/campaign speeches
• Public posturing in legal cases
• Backroom politics/king-making
• A balance between military, civil and religious authority
• The family as the foundation of society
• Slavery
• The role of women
• Patriarchy

There are some fairly well-known stories in there as well: Romulus and Remus, Lucretia, and this guy named Brutus driving out a king, as his descendant/namesake would do ~500 years later with the murder of Julius Caesar. The republic ran another 3/400 years (down almost to Livy’s day), the western empire ~500 years after that, and Byzantium (the eastern empire) down to the 1400s (just before Columbus). More lessons to be learned there? Probably (cf. Machiavelli).

So are there new issues? Maybe. Have we solved all the old ones? Probably not. Can we ignore what’s gone before? Yes. Will be deluding ourselves and needlessly re-fighting old battles and re-inventing wheels if we do?

This is post #2/8 for Blaugust 2024. Joining late. I think I can make 8 posts :-)