Republican corruption
"The dominant intellectual tradition within which philosophic debate on civil society occurred was that of civic humanism, the political ideology formulated by Machiavelli in his seminal Discorsi (1519-21) [...]. Its central propositions were as follows. Men could be virtuous (in the non-moral sense of fulfilling their nature or telos) only in a republic of free, equal, arms-bearing and independent citizens. But the republic, as the history of Rome demonstrated, was prone to corruption which, paradoxically, flowed from its very virtue. The military success of the republic brought with it conquered territories and looted riches. With the former, the republic swelled into an empire; the spirit of patriotism was weakened, and the citizen militia was replaced by a professional army, garrisoned on the frontiers and thus remote, in a number of respects both physical and metaphorical, from the parent city. With the latter, citizens could be tempted permanently to discard their weapons, and to relinquish their political liberty in the enjoyment of material comfort, or 'luxury'." [D.W., xxvi-xxvii]
3 Comments:
Why is it that men so often think that arms are necessary and that luxury makes you soft? From this excerpt it would appear that military success made a generous contribution to the decline of the society. But perhaps I am reading it out of context.
Keep in mind this is Womersley's interpretation of Gibbon (and 'civic humanism'). The 'corruption' D.W. describes seems to be a shift from a republic defended by its ordinary citizens to a conquering empire led by a professional army. Immediately following this passage, D.W. claims this ideology is obviously present in DF and cites the following as evidence:
"In the purer ages of the commonwealth, the use of arms was reserved for those ranks of citizens who had a country to love, a property to defend, and some share in enacting those laws, which it was their interest, as well as duty, to maintain. But in proportion as the public freedom was lost in extent of conquest, war was gradually improved into an art, and degraded into a trade." DF, i, 38.
I'm trying not to be too heavy-handed with quotes that can be extrapolated to current events, but....
Ah. So it's more of a militia of the people versus professional mercenaries.
Post a Comment
<< Home