Saturday, April 29, 2017
Freedom
Xenophon, Hellenica 4.1.35 (tr. Carleton L. Brownson):
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And being free is worth, in my opinion, as much as all manner of possessions.Xenophon, Anabasis 1.7.3 (tr. Carleton L. Brownson):
καίτοι ἐλεύθερον εἶναι ἐγὼ μὲν οἶμαι ἀντάξιον εἶναι τῶν πάντων χρημάτων.
For you may be certain that freedom is the thing I should choose in preference to all that I have and many times more.Cf. H.L. Mencken (1880-1956), Minority Report (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956), p. 123, § 170:
εὖ γὰρ ἴστε ὅτι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἑλοίμην ἂν ἀντὶ ὧν ἔχω πάντων καὶ ἄλλων πολλαπλασίων.
The thirst for liberty does not seem to be natural to man. Most people want security in this world, not liberty. Liberty puts them on their own, and so exposes them to the natural consequences of their congenital stupidity and incompetence. Historically, it has always been forced upon the masses from above. Whenever they have formulated demands of their own, it has been demands for privileges, not for liberty.
