Tuesday, February 06, 2018
Motto for an Italian Political Party?
Vergil, Aeneid 7.469 (my translation):
On second thought, maybe the line from Vergil wouldn't be a good political slogan. It's an example of indirect discourse, spoken by Turnus, and we all know what happened to Turnus and his cause. We should also remember what happened to another politician who quoted Vergil (Aeneid 6.86-87: bella, horrida bella / et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno) in an incendiary speech — he was immediately removed from office.
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To defend Italy, to thrust the foe from her borders.Italian elections will take place in less than a month, on March 4. Although I'm usually not much interested in politics, so great is my love for Italy that I've been following the news about this particular electoral contest with close attention. I may be misunderstanding the complicated issues, but it occurred to me that the quotation above could well serve as a motto for at least one of the Italian political parties, Lega Nord, which wants not only to restrict migration to Italy but also to deport migrants already in Italy (detrudere finibus hostem):
tutari Italiam, detrudere finibus hostem.
On second thought, maybe the line from Vergil wouldn't be a good political slogan. It's an example of indirect discourse, spoken by Turnus, and we all know what happened to Turnus and his cause. We should also remember what happened to another politician who quoted Vergil (Aeneid 6.86-87: bella, horrida bella / et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno) in an incendiary speech — he was immediately removed from office.
