The Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest surviving codes of law, was enacted by the sixth king of Babylon, Hammurabi. Like the Mosaic Law, a large portion of the code deals with property rights and family relations. The prominent feature of the code, however, is its emphasis on individual responsibility, imposing heavy penalties on neglect and sloth, from which even the judges and governors are not exempt. Here are […]
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Tolstoy on Slavery
“The misery of a worker, does not consist in his long hours and small pay, but in the fact that he is deprived of the natural conditions of life in touch with nature, is deprived of freedom, and is compelled to compulsory and monotonous toil at another man’s will.” –Leo Tolstoy The Slavery of Our Times
Read more“The Rise of the Roman Empire” by Polybius
The Roman Constitution The Roman Constitution has three interdependent elements: monarchy (The Consuls), aristocracy (The Senate) and democracy (The Tribunes of the People). Their respective share of power in the whole state are regulated with a scrupulous regard to equality and equilibrium. This, according to Aristotle, is the golden mean of the form of government. Polybius attributes the original conception of this type of constitution to Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, […]
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Plutarch: Life of Pericles
Pericles was a pupil of Zeno the Eleatic, and perfected a species of refutative catch which was sure to bring an opponent to grief. But the man who most consorted with Pericles and did most to exalt the dignity of his character, was Anaxagoras the Clazomenian, whom men of that day used to call ‘Nous,’ either because they admired that comprehension of his; or because he was the first to […]
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Plutarch: Life of Lycurgus
The Laws of Lycurgus Long before Adam Smith developed the idea that commerce was necessary for the accumulation of wealth, Lycurgus, the legendary Spartan lawgiver, had used this principle to curb the avarice of his countrymen, and laid down a constitution for one of the most eminent commonwealths in the ancient world. The Spartan Constitution, according to Plutarch, was also the model for Plato’s Republic. After creating the senate to […]
Read more“Cyropaedia” by Xenophon
He who rules himself well can rule the world. Plato writes in Republic that the principle of justice is the same for an individual as it is for a state. Therefore, the person who is eligible to govern a state must be a philosopher, i.e. lover of wisdom. Xenophon has found concrete expression of this ideal in the person of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, who embodied the […]
Read more“Bethink Yourselves” by Leo Tolstoy
Tolstoy wrote “Bethink Yourselves” in protest of the Russo-Japanese war, the first of a series of global wars in the 20th century. It happened six years before Tolstoy’s death and ten years before World War I. The title is a reference to verses in the Gospels (Mark 1:5, Luke 13:5, etc), which are alternatively translated as “Repent”. This article and his treatise “The Kingdom of God is Within You” are […]
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