Favorite Quotes from Ancient History? III

[guy]

Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.  (Oxford Revised Translation)

They plunder, they slaughter, and they steal: this they falsely name Empire, and where they make a wasteland, they call it peace. (Loeb Classical Library edition)

 

Warren Hastings was the subject of a corruption trial that lasted for seven years (1788-1795). Hastings, an Englishman, worked for the British East India Company and was the former Governor-General of Bengal, India. Many in the Parliament felt that British involvement in India, despite creating great personal wealth and annexing territories for the British Empire, had a morally corrupting influence on British society.

Below is a passage from British historian Thomas Babington Macaulay’s “Warren Hastings.” These are the opening remarks by the brilliant, but sometimes histrionic and over-the-top Whig statesman Edmund Burke during the trial.

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"Therefore," said be, "hath it with all confidence been ordered, by the Commons of Great Britain, that I impeach Warren Hastings of high crimes and misdemeanours. I impeach him in the name of the Commons' House of Parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I impeach him in the name of the English nation, whose ancient honour he has sullied. I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose rights he has trodden under foot, and whose country he has turned into a desert. Lastly, in the name of human nature itself, in the name of both sexes, in the name of every age, in the name of every rank, I impeach the common enemy and oppressor of all!"

 

 Reading this quote carefully, one can see that the skilled orator Burke references Tacitus's famous quote about the Caledonian chieftain Calgacus before the battle with Rome.

 

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Whenever I consider the origin of this war and the necessities of our position, I have a sure confidence that this day, and this union of yours, will be the beginning of freedom to the whole of Britain. To all of us slavery is a thing unknown; there are no lands beyond us, and even the sea is not safe, menaced as we are by a Roman fleet. And thus in war and battle, in which the brave find glory, even the coward will find safety. Former contests, in which, with varying fortune, the Romans were resisted, still left in us a last hope of succour, inasmuch as being the most renowned nation of Britain, dwelling in the very heart of the country, and out of sight of the shores of the conquered, we could keep even our eyes unpolluted by the contagion of slavery. To us who dwell on the uttermost confines of the earth and of freedom, this remote sanctuary of Britain's glory has up to this time been a defence. Now, however, the furthest limits of Britain are thrown open, and the unknown always passes for the marvellous. But there are no tribes beyond us, nothing indeed but waves and rocks, and the yet more terrible Romans, from whose oppression escape is vainly sought by obedience and submission. Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifle the deep. If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace.

 

This quote is often cited when discussing the destructive impact of unchecked military expansion.

Now some context:

The following is a famous quote by the Roman historian Tacitus (56-120 AD) from his work "Agricola." In this text, Tacitus discusses Julius Agricola, a Roman general and Governor of Britain from 77-83 AD during the reign of Domitian. Agricola was also Tacitus' father-in-law. According to Tacitus, Agricola was recalled to Rome by Domitian out of envy and distrust, following Agricola's successful campaigns in Britain. After this, Agricola never served in government again.

As a historian, Tacitus contrasted the liberty and nobility of the Britons and Germanic tribes with the corruption, venality, and tyranny of the invading Romans. Tacitus attributed the following quote to Calgacus, a possibly mythical chieftain of the Caledonian Confederacy, whom Agricola defeated at the battle of Mons Graupius in northern Scotland in AD 83 or 84.

The great trial of Warren Hastings was initially dramatic and captivating but soon became an overdrawn and tiresome ordeal. Some, however, viewed Burke as a modern-day Cicero, prosecuting the former governor of Sicily, Gaius Verres, for corruption and extortion.

 

Hastings's seven-year trial was finally resolved with his acquittal. Public attention, however, had long been diverted away to other issues, such as the turmoil and impending revolution in France. This quote of Tacitus, however, continues to reverberate throughout history.

Robert F. Kennedy, on March 18, 1968, used the quote to make a reference to the Vietnam War.

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"I don't want to be part of a government, I don't want to be part of the United States, I don't want to be part of the American people and have them write of us as they wrote of Rome: 'They made a desert, and they called it peace.'"

https://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/RFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Robert-F-Kennedy-at-the-University-of-Kansas-March-18-1968.aspx

 

Edited October 13 by guy