Tag: herodotus

Remember this book?

I remember seeing this in a bookstore in 2003, which is of course a time when it was clear that the GOP was going to be what would be later called “painting the map red” and be in charge for a generation. A generation turned out to be “three years:” and look here!  Now we’re going to be told that the Democrats are going to be running things for the next generation. For the nature of the world has changed, and we are now in a truly new day of transcendence. Throw away the past: we are in uncharted lands, and the map is empty!

Before we begin living in this new time, though, let me first tell you a story, (freely adapted from Harry Turtledove):

There once was a king in olden times who was so skilled at war that he was able to capture other kings; and being a haughty sort, he forced his captive kings to pull his chariot for him as a symbol of his power. One day, this king noticed that one of his captives was spending his time of rest carefully watching one of the chariot wheels. The king asked his captive, What are you doing? The captive replied, I am looking at this wheel, O Great King, and I am musing on how that which was at the top of that wheel can so easily slip to the bottom, and how that which was at the bottom can so easily rise to the top. Whether that at the top or the bottom wills it, or no.

The king thought of this for a time, and decided to stop using his captives to pull his chariot.

Not that I’m suggesting that this story (I think from herodotus) should be thought as having any relevance in our modern, fundamentally different modern world, of course.

Crossposted to RedState.