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Edward Gibbon wrote in his classic “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” of the repeated eventual dominance of barbarians over a given epoch’s leading society.
“Cold, poverty, and a life of danger and fatigue fortify the strength and courage of barbarians. In every age they have oppressed the polite and peaceful nations of China, India, and Persia, who neglected, and still neglect, to counterbalance these natural powers by the resources of military art. The warlike states of antiquity, Greece, Macedonia, and Rome, educated a race of soldiers: exercised their bodies, disciplined their courage, multiplied their forces by regular evolutions, and converted the iron which they possessed into strong and serviceable weapons. But this superiority insensibly declined with their laws and manners;”
Does this not sound familiar? While written back in 1788, the points Gibbon made in his famous work about what happened to Rome provide a timeless warning. “In every age” the barbarians did what barbarians do: attack and destroy civilized peoples. You cannot change this reality- unless the “barbarians” become civilized- at which point they are no longer “barbarians.”
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It is only logical that there are two required actions that civil societies must take in light of this: maintain a strong defense against attack, while at the same time try to make the wild enemies civil. There is no doubt that, given today’s war with the Islamists, many people actually understand this concept. These would be the people that support, more or less, the current battles in the war.
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But what if other, perhaps unrelated barbarians present a wholly separate, and as yet undetected threat? What if, in addition to the Islamo-fascists hoards seemingly at the proverbial gate, we discovered, once too late, that, like some Trojan Horse, ‘they" are among us? What if we woke up one day and realized, to our complete horror, that the barbarians within are indeed our very own children?
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Spare the rod, spoil civilization?
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Don’t lose sight of the fact that Gibbon notes a decline in "manners". What does he mean by that, exactly? Could it be something
like this from yesterday’ Citizen (Laconia, NH) newspaper?
BELMONT — A resident petition seeking to address recurring problems involving juveniles roaming the streets after dark, has members of the Board of Selectmen considering a curfew/loitering ordinance for the downtown area.
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