Chapter 13 CHAPTER THREE FROM ATHENS TO PHILADELPHIA

On the eve of the Warring States Period, a murder occurred in what is now Shanxi.After the death of Zhao Huanzi, a hereditary doctor of the state of Jin, his son was immediately murdered by his tribe.The reason is that Zhao Huanzi's succession did not meet the wishes of his predecessor Zhao Xiangzi.Therefore, not only could his son fail to seize the title, but he had to be killed. In the same year, there was a sausage seller on the streets of Athens who was encouraged to become a politician because he was considered to have the common characteristics of all democrats: he was born humble, knew how to do business, was brazen, unreasonable, and his family was old. Small are rogues.A general said to him: Who do you think can be the leader of the people?Not to be learned, not to be moral, but to be mean and ignorant.

Haha, it was so much fun! Of course, what happened in Athens is not a historical fact, but a plot, which is the plot in the satirical comedy "Knight" by the ancient Greek dramatist Aristophanes.This play was staged publicly in 424 B.C. when the unlucky Jin State was killed, and won the first prize, so it is history, or can be regarded as history.It at least shows that in Athens at that time, there were quite a few people who disapproved of democratic politics. That means a lot. As we all know, the democracy of the city-state of Athens is the first case in human history.It is highly respected as a model of success in later generations.Who would have thought that they would be so ridiculed at that time?Ironically, comedy is also the most democratic form of art.Comedy, especially satirical comedy, has a place only in a democratic atmosphere.Only in a democratic country can comedians truly enjoy the fullest freedom of speech without fear of being politically persecuted for hurting some powerful figures.However, this most democratic art is used to mock democracy, which is really embarrassing!

However, as long as we think about it again, we will find that this is precisely the superiority of the democratic system.Come to think of it, people who oppose democracy can speak out and get applause. What system is not so bad? But this "least bad system" was an anomaly at the time, even unexpected. You can tell by looking at the neighbors. In fact, during the two and a half centuries when Athens tried and implemented democracy, the world pattern was by no means a surge of democracy, but a blossoming monarchy.Egypt, as early as 2,500 years before the democratic reform in Athens, established the first dynasty, and now it is changing into a Persian dynasty for a while, and a dynasty for an Egyptian for a while.In West Asia, starting from the 1,700 years before Athens implemented the democratic system, one kingdom after another appeared like a lantern: Akkad, Babylon, Hittite, Israel-Jewish, and then the Assyrian Empire and the Persian Empire .India and China, contemporaries of Athens, are both moving toward centralization—China has moved from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States to the Great Qin Empire, and India has moved from the Age of Nations to the Maurya Dynasty.Does anyone have democracy?No.

Even in mainland Greece, there are three political systems that go hand in hand: Athens, democratic politics; Sparta, aristocratic politics.At the beginning of civilization, the Greeks also parted ways. Therefore, when Aristophanes used his democratic rights to ridicule the democratic system to his heart's content, he certainly would not have imagined that the political practice carried out on the 2,550 square kilometers of Athens, together with its successes and failures, experiences and lessons, would become Seeds become springs.Thousands of years later, this kind of seed will grow into a towering tree, and this spring will become a torrential river, and become the world trend of "those who follow will prosper and those who go against will perish".

Facts have eloquently proved that a system, a spirit and a civilization, as long as they conform to the common humanity and common values ​​of mankind, will emerge one day, even if it is only an accident at that time. The question is simply: How did the accident happen, and why did the exception become the rule? This has to be answered by the Greeks first.

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