Laudator Temporis Acti

Augustine, City of God 19.24 (tr. Gerald G. Walsh and Daniel J. Honan):

It is possible to define a 'people' not as Cicero does but as 'a multitude of reasonable beings voluntarily associated in the pursuit of common interests.' In that case, one need only consider what these interests are in order to determine of what kind any particular people may be. Still, whatever these interests are, so long as we have a multitude of rational beings—and not of irresponsible cattle—who are voluntarily associated in the pursuit of common interests, we can reasonably call them a 'people,' and they will be a better or worse people according as the interests which have brought them together are better or worse interests.

Si autem populus non isto, sed alio definiatur modo, velut si dicatur: "Populus est coetus multitudinis rationalis rerum quas diligit concordi communione sociatus", profecto, ut videatur qualis quisque populus sit, illa sunt intuenda, quae diligit. Quaecumque tamen diligat, si coetus est multitudinis non pecorum, sed rationalium creaturarum et eorum quae diligit concordi communione sociatus est, non absurde populus nuncupatur; tanto utique melior, quanto in melioribus, tantoque deterior, quanto est in deterioribus concors.

Daniel J. Honan (1911-1972) was a priest in the small town where I grew up. I served under him as an altar boy. His sermons, full of quotations from Vergil and Augustine and Dante, were a revelation and an inspiration to me, as were his radio broadcasts commenting on classical music. He was a friend of conductor Pierre Monteux. Father Honan once loaned me a recording of Beethoven's Fidelio. He had a greater influence on my intellectual development than any school teacher or professor ever did.