Chapter 7 Chapter 4 Democratic Consciousness, So It Begins

Democracies are an invention of ancient Greece.They also invented politics; a word derived from the Greek word “polis,” meaning city-state.Since ancient times, there have been various forms of government, but the government invented by the Greeks is based on the voting method of all citizens discussing and the minority obeying the majority.This is direct democracy - all citizens come together to debate and decide policy. However, not all Greek city-states practiced democracy, and even Athens' democracy was always dangerous.Of all the democratic city-states we know Athens best; its democracy lasted for a hundred and seventy years, with some disturbances.During this period, all male citizens born in Athens had the right to participate in government affairs, but women and slaves did not.

Although our system is called a democracy, we are a representative democracy, very different from the Athenian democracy.Modern civilians do not always participate in the operation of the government. We vote every three or four years; we have the opportunity to appeal, march and demonstrate, and propose petitions, but we do not directly vote on all issues that are sent to Congress for consideration. right to vote. If our democracy is directly ruled by the people, it is conceivable that this form will be very different from the current system.Of course, it is impossible to bring all citizens together, but as long as every issue is subject to an online referendum, it is not impossible to replicate the Greek system in the 21st century.But if such a direct democratic system is implemented, according to polls, it is absolutely impossible for Australia to allow immigrants from other countries to immigrate—except for the British, Australia will not have any Asian immigrants, and it will always be lonely A nation of criminals, who may still be whipping them; overseas aid will never work; single mothers still struggling to make ends meet; students who may still be fighting to defend their welfare.

So, you might think, from this point of view the representative system is not bad, and the ignorance and prejudice of the people do not make the country disorderly.If you also hold this position, then your views are very close to those of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Thanks to the critiques of these three great Greek philosophers who raised serious doubts about direct democracy in Athens, we understand how it worked.Humans, they point out, are fickle, indecisive, shallow, and easily manipulated, and that politics is a fine art that requires intelligence and good judgment, qualities not possessed by every citizen.These three philosophers should have appreciated our present representative democracy much more.No matter what kind of dissatisfaction we have with the current representatives of public opinion, compared with the general public, their education level is still higher, and their knowledge is richer and better.

Our politicians are guided by an administrative system full of capable men and sages.In this way, our people do not govern directly, but through the contribution of those who have experience and thoughtfulness in the affairs of the whole of government.It's just that Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle wouldn't call our system "democracy." Greek democracy originated from the military.If we examine different government systems carefully, we will find that the nature of the state and military power are closely related.Athens does not have a full-time army. It does not have a so-called "active standing army" system, and there is no army on standby at any time and stationed in barracks.In Athens, all soldiers were part-timers, but they formed formations and received rigorous infantry training.Once a war breaks out, these citizens, whether in business or farming, have to put down their daily livelihood and gather into an army.After these citizens who serve the people on weekdays and the army in wartime gather, they listen to the commander's marching orders, which is the beginning of democratic assembly.The decision to fight or seek peace, as well as the strategy and tactics of the battle, had previously been drawn up by the council of elders, that is, the aristocratic class of the tribe. At this time, the whole thing was spread out in front of the assembled soldiers, in order to let them understand the overall situation and make psychological preparations.These assembled regiments could not debate or raise objections to these matters, they could only shout their assent and sing military songs in unison.

Slowly, the power of the legion grew stronger and stronger, and finally became fully in control.We do not know how this process evolved, but since the state must rely on the participation of these citizens who are both civilians and soldiers, and since fighting in the battlefield is commonplace, these soldiers certainly occupy a powerful position.Therefore, the beginning of Greek democracy began with the unity of the soldiers.However, its democracy also has a national element.There were originally four tribes in Athens, and each tribe was usually used as a unit when fighting. They gathered into armies separately and sent troops together.Each tribe elects government officials separately. Even though Athens later became a more formal democracy and divided constituencies, even if you move to another place to live, you will still be a voter of the original tribe for life.Therefore, geography never seems to be a strong tie, and what is tied to you for life is the people who voted with you.

Direct democracy requires a high degree of input from the people, and it also requires the government to have deep confidence in the people.The founder of Athenian democratic ideals was the ruler of Athens, Pericles, who unveiled them in a speech at a funeral commemorating soldiers killed in the Spartan wars.Thucydides, who was born in Athens, was the first author in history who tried to write history objectively and impartially. Pericles’ Funeral Oration was recorded in his History of the Peloponnesian War. (The Peloponnesian War).These autographs of Thucydides were kept in Constantinople, and during the Renaissance, 1,800 years after he wrote these pages of history, the manuscripts arrived in Italy, where they were first translated into Latin and then Translated into various modern European languages.It is the most famous ceremonial address by a statesman, second only to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

Pericles' speech was much longer than Lincoln's.Here are a few excerpts: An open, civilized society, and engaged citizens with a sense of purpose, is an ideal that anyone who cares about democracy will find desirable, although we know that Athenians owe their leisure and aesthetic devotion to its slaves system.Only when citizens have money and leisure can they often participate in assemblies.However, the positive effect of Pericles' speech was not exerted until a long time later.For hundreds of years, European elites have warned against democracy, not only because of their interests, but also because of their education—they have read the classic poetry and books, and the authors of those classics are mostly anti-democracy.

The anti-democratic trend is so deep that in the early 19th century, a British scholar George Grote (George Grote) broke the boat and proposed a new Greek study, pointing out that democratic politics and elite culture are closely related, and you cannot accept one And destroy the other.This is Grote's contribution to British democratic ideals. Even now we think that Greek democracy is compatible with our ideals on some level.It has a strong color of co-governance, with a hint of high pressure, and the concept of individual human rights is almost zero.The rights of Athenian citizens were vested—as Pericles said, those who did not care about public affairs were "regarded as nothing."It can be seen that our concern about human rights today has its roots elsewhere.

At the beginning of the 4th century BC, Athens and all the small city-states in Greece lost their independence and were brought under the rule of Alexander the Great, the leader of the Macedonian Empire in northern Greece.Democracy is lost, but the Greek culture that flourished in Athens has not.With the expansion of Alexander's empire, it extended to the entire eastern Mediterranean, and even went deep into the Middle East.The Panhellenic world that Alexander built still stands, so when Rome conquered it and incorporated it into the Eastern Roman Empire, half the people here spoke Greek.

When the Romans began to expand their territory, its form of government was a republic rather than a democracy.Like the Greek city-states, they also had citizens' assemblies, which began as gatherings of armed soldiers.All citizens of Rome had to fight, and they had to bring their own weapons and equipment.You can contribute according to your wealth.Rich people can bring their own mounts to join the cavalry, which is only a minority in the Roman army. The others are all infantry, but the ranks are different: the first-class soldiers are fully armed, with swords, armor, and shields; The next rank is slightly less armed; the third rank has only a spear or a javelin; the last regiment of infantry, that is, the poorest, is allotted only a slingshot, plus one for wrapping stones. cloth or leather.

In the early years, the citizen assembly was quite similar to the military formation on the parade ground.These male citizens are arranged in order of rank: cavalryman, first-class infantryman, second-class, third-class, fourth-class, and finally the soldier with only a slingshot.Voting is done in groups. For example, the entire cavalry unit discusses and decides a consensus on a certain issue first, and all privates first discuss and decide their opinions, and so on.Each group can express their common opinion, but the voting rights are not equal; the total number of votes is 193 votes, distributed among these groups according to class status, of which 98 votes belong to the cavalry and 1st class infantry , with a majority of one hundred and ninety-three votes, although the third, fourth, and fifth ranks of infantry of low status were the most numerous, as long as the cavalry and first-class infantry regiments agreed, decisions could be made without asking other people's opinions at all; in fact As often the case, two groups of cavalry and first-class infantry can make a final decision. Basically every man has suffrage, but the rich have the loudest voices. The Citizens' Assembly was responsible for electing the Roman consuls, the executive heads of the republic.There are two consuls. In order to check each other, power can only be exercised if both parties agree. In addition, the term of office is only one year, which limits their power even more.The Romans counted the years by using the names of outgoing consuls. Slowly, the common people began to fight against the nobles and the rich, fighting for more power for themselves.How this process played out is quite clear to us—they used their military power to get what they wanted.When war breaks out, the soldiers in general, the third, fourth, and fifth ranks, all refuse to fight.They say we won't go to war unless you give us more power at home.Through such threats, they formed new plebeian assemblies and appointed administrative officers called tribunes.If the government allows ordinary people to be treated unfairly, these tribunes have the right to intervene at any time.The plebeian assembly later refused to fight again, and after another round of maneuvers, it finally won a major role in the legislation. Some have dubbed these threats "strikes," but that's a misnomer.The context of the strike involved labor-capital relations. The implication was that the working class in Rome already had a trade union organization and launched a strike against the boss of the capital, but this was not the case at all.It was a mutiny staged by the subaltern whose opportunity came not from industrial relations but from international conditions. Just like Athens, although these civilians who usually fought for the people and fought for the army gained more power, Rome's democratic system never achieved complete victory.The main body of the Roman Republic was still the Senate, which was composed of nobles, and more wealthy families were added later.The General Assembly of the Peoples put a lot of restrictions on the Senate because it had more power, but it had no power to suppress or even replace it.Although the Roman constitution has changed, it is an addition to the original constitution as the power relationship grows and declines, and it is not formulated from scratch through a revolutionary uprising.The British Constitution follows in its footsteps - the UK does not yet have a written constitution.Speaking of the emphasis on decentralization and oversight, the Roman Constitution is an important model for the American Constitution. The Romans were initially ruled by kings, and it was not until around 500 BC that the Romans overthrew the tyrant "Tarquin the Proud" (Tarquin the Proud) and began to implement a republic.The Roman historian Titus Livius described the revolution.After the demise of the Roman Empire, his works were preserved in Western Europe, but some of them have long been lost, and only some chapters survived, and this lone copy was not excavated until the 16th century, so that scholars in the Renaissance did not know it. record exists.Livy's description of the founding of the Roman republic was not made public until now, and Shakespeare's poem "The Rape of Lucrece" is based on it. This rape ignited the revolutionary flames of the republic.The perpetrator was not the tyrant Tarquinus himself, but his son Sextus Tarquinius, and the victim Lucrece was the wife of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, another son of the tyrant king.The leader who launched this revolution and overthrew the king was called Brutus (Lucius Junius Brutus), the nephew of the king; four hundred years later, a man with the same name also launched a coup and assassinated Caesar.The Brutus in front had witnessed many of his family members being killed by Tarquin. In order to survive, he had to pretend to be crazy, otherwise Tarquin would have removed him long ago.As the name suggests, Brutus means "dull" in Latin.Tarquin took all his property, he didn't complain, just waited for the opportunity, and Lucrece's humiliation gave him the best chance. The following is the story told by Levi's pen below. The story begins with the king's sons leaving Rome to fight in Ardea.Grantinus drank with them in the tent, and when the wine was hot, they talked about their wives, and all of them praised their wives as the most virtuous.Grantinus then suggested that he might as well ride back to Rome to see what his wife was doing, and the dispute would be settled.As a result, several princesses were having fun with guests, and only Lucrece worked hard at weaving.Grantinus won the argument.A few days later, Sextus went back to Rome to find Lucres by himself without Grantinus on his back. Lucrece welcomed him cordially at home, and accompanied him to the guest room after supper, as is the manner of honored guests.He waited in the room, and when everyone had gone to bed in the dead of night, he took out his sword and came to Lucrece's boudoir, determined to rape her.Lucrece was asleep, and he placed his left hand on her chest. "Lucres," he called softly, "be quiet. I am Sextas. I have a sword in my hand. If you make a sound, I will kill you." Lukeli was terrified. When Si opened her eyes, death was in front of her eyes, but she had nowhere to turn for help.Sextus tried to win her over, he begged, he begged, he threatened, he exhausted all the weapons he could possibly conquer a woman's heart, but in vain, not even the fear of death could shake her. "If death doesn't touch you," Sextus raged, "it's okay to lose your reputation. I'll kill you first, then slit the throat of a slave, and let him lie naked beside you, and everyone will think You have had an affair with the servant." No amount of staunch chastity could withstand this dire threat. Lucrece succumbed, and Sextas rode away triumphantly after he succeeded. Grieving, Lucrece wrote to her father in Rome and her husband in Aditya, begging them each to come at once, with a trusted friend, because of the terrible things that had happened at home.Her father took Valerius, and her husband took Brutus—who happened to be returning to Rome with Brutus, but met a messenger on the way. They found Lucrece sitting in her boudoir, mournful.Her eyes were filled with tears when they entered, and when her husband asked, "Are you all right?" There is another man's mark left. My body was violated just now, but my heart is innocent, and death can testify against me. Please take a strong oath, and make sure that the person who raped me will be punished. That man is called Se Costas Tarquin. He was my enemy, and he insulted me last night pretending to be a guest. His success means that I am dying—if you are men, let him die too." Grantinus promised her on the spot.They took turns soothing her, telling her that she was so helpless that she was innocent and that Sextas was the only one guilty.It is the heart, they say, that is guilty, not the body; and there is no guilt without intention. "What he deserves," said Lucrece, "I leave it to you to decide. As for me, though the infidelity was not my fault, I will accept my own punishment. What the woman who loses her virginity deserves, I will never I will not be the first to set a precedent for avoiding it." As soon as she finished speaking, she took out a knife from her robe and stabbed it into the heart, then fell down and died.His father and husband were devastated.The two could only stand there helplessly crying, but Brutus pulled out the blood-stained knife from Lucrece's chest, held it up and shouted: "I swear on the blood of this fierce woman: when she is killed No one was more chaste than her before a tyrant laid waste, and I swear to God I will hunt down Tarquin the proud, and the wicked queen, and all her children, by sword and fire and all that can make me stronger, Let none of them ever again sit on the throne of Rome." Brutus did what he said.Thus, the Roman republic began because of the heinous crimes of a prince; because of a woman who adhered to ancient Roman virtues and valued her name more than her life; and because of a man's determination to avenge her. However, not everyone in the city of Rome wanted to take off Tarquin's crown. Some people conspired to restore it, but their deeds were revealed.Brutus was then one of the two consuls, that is to say, one of the twin chiefs who replaced the king.Brutus was sitting in the public hall where the Lord judged, and when the list of plotters for restoration was laid out before him, two of them were his sons.The onlookers cried out that he should pardon his son, but Brutus was deaf; he said that his son had sinned with all men.He saw his two sons stripped naked, flogged and beheaded.He has no hesitation, he is so persistent in this republic system. The Romans naturally admired Brutus; when it comes to investing in the republic, this is the most quintessential display: you must put aside all personal constraints and personal burdens, and only think about the public interest wholeheartedly.The Romans called it "virtus", which means the virtue of the republic - now that there is no need to obey the tyranny of the king, the virtue of the republic is really necessary for the survival of the republic.You may think that Brutus is simply inhuman, how could he bear to watch his own flesh and blood suffer such torture?This republican virtue creates monsters. Oddly enough, on the eve of the French Revolution, there was something almost fanatical about the Roman republic, and not just among those who wanted to reform the absolute monarchy.Jacques-Louis David, court painter to Louis XVI, painted figures based on two well-known stories told by Livy.In the first painting, he depicted Brutus not sitting in court to punish his son, but at home watching the body of his beheaded son being brought in.Jacques-Louis David uses the sight of the vengeful and ungrateful father staring straight ahead to contrast him with the women weeping for the loss of their sons and husbands. David's second celebration of the virtues of the republic is The Oath of the Horatii.It is said that there was a dispute between Rome and the enemy, and the two sides made an agreement not to start a war. Only three people from each side would compete in martial arts, and the dispute would be resolved according to the outcome.The three Horatii brothers are the main generals who represent Rome to compete.In David’s painting, the three brothers are swearing an oath to defend the future of Rome in front of their father. The three put their hands on their swords and raise their arms in the salute of the Republic—much like the Nazi salute.The women in the painting, the mother and sister of these warriors, once again reveal the fragility of human nature, weeping when the men are about to go far.Their sister was especially sad because she was engaged to a rival martial arts representative. This was a tragic and terrifying battle to the death, described in detail by the Roman historian Livy.Only one came back alive, one of the Horatii brothers, and the victory went to Rome.When the victor returned home, he found his sister weeping because her fiancé had been killed by his brother.The victor immediately drew his sword, and stabbed his own sister, who was weeping when she should have been celebrating Rome's victory.The painting conveys the same message: the family must make sacrifices for the sake of the country.The brother was brought to court for stabbing his sister to death, but was immediately acquitted because the He family's father appeared in court to criticize his daughter and contributed to his son's release. The Roman Republic lasted for hundreds of years before falling into chaos and disorder.During this period, Rome continued to expand, and several generals who had made great contributions to the south and north began to fight among themselves and turned against each other.Their subordinates are as loyal to their masters as they are to the Republic.One of the generals rose up and conquered the others. This man was called Gaius Julius Caesar.In order to save the republic from degenerating into politics, the second Brutus mentioned above plotted to assassinate Caesar, but this action triggered another round of civil war; on the one hand, Brutus and his conspirators On one side are Caesar's relatives and friends, and the two sides are fighting each other endlessly.In the end, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, the adopted son of Caesar, stood out from the crowd and became the first emperor of the Roman Empire under the title of Augustus in 27 BC. Augustus was very shrewd and capable.He retained the republican system: the citizens' assembly remained the same, and the consuls were still elected by the people.He does not call himself the emperor, but the "first citizen".He considered his job as a facilitator, or he played the role of a facilitator, promoting the proper operation of the state machinery.He is simple and unpretentious, without a bunch of retinues, he often walks the streets without a bodyguard, no different from ordinary people; he will walk into the hall during the session of the Senate, and listen carefully to the debates of the legislators; His personality is easy-going and everyone can get close to him.At that time, everyone greeted and expressed their obedience by raising their arms high as a salute.When you came before Augustus, you didn't have to bow or show submission, just exchanged greetings with the emperor. Augustus tried to recreate Roman virtue.He believed that Rome was in decline because of the corruption of luxury, and he wanted to reinvent what we know today as family values.He expelled a poet named Ovid for writing that a woman who has given birth is no longer beautiful.He also criticized Li Wei, who was writing history at that time, because he didn't like Li Wei's record of many disputes in modern Rome, but he and Li Wei stood on the same side with regard to the virtues of Rome-noble conduct and patriotic sentiment. side.There was, however, an old style of Rome which he could not restore, and although Rome was now an empire under the secure rule of Augustus, he was aided not by citizens, both soldiers and civilians, but by a standing army, paid. The empire enjoyed two hundred years of peace.In its vast territory, Roman government orders passed without hindrance, and social order was in good order.Formally, Rome remained a republic: the emperor did not become hereditary—passing the throne to his sons.The successor is selected by the emperor, regardless of blood relationship, and then approved by the Senate.Although bloody conflicts broke out in the battle for succession, in the two centuries before that, most of the reigning emperors were able to make good choices, and the candidates were all peacefully accepted. In the 3rd century AD, the first wave of Germanic barbarians invaded, and the entire empire was almost razed to the ground.After the catastrophe, thanks to the two emperors Diocletian and Constantine, the Roman Empire resumed a new lifeline.In order to stabilize national defense, the two monarchs expanded their army establishment and recruited many Germans who settled in the territory; in order to feed the enlarged army, the emperor had to increase the tax burden; in order to ensure that the people paid taxes, they had to implement more precise measures Population registration, and so on, the bureaucratic system is more overlapping, and those bureaucrats become the direct rulers.At the beginning, in order to maintain peace and to get tax money, they allowed different regions to be autonomous. Diocletian ordered the death penalty for price gougers in order to control inflation.In order to feed the ever-expanding army, the tax burden is getting heavier and heavier, but if you are a merchant, you are not allowed to raise your selling price to raise money for paying taxes.So, you might think, why not simply abandon the business and quit.Diocletian also has a countermeasure for this: not only do you have to continue to do business, but your son has to inherit the father's business.These emperors are simply jumping the wall in a hurry. They are not governing society, but oppressing the people.When a society is so ruled, how can it have the energy or morale to resist the next wave of foreign invasion? In AD 313, Emperor Constantine officially endorsed Christianity, partly because he wanted to add strength to his empire.The strength he was looking for did not come from the organization of the church—Christianity, though growing, was still a minority belief.Like many of his subjects, Constantine had lost faith in the old Roman gods and came to believe that the one who would best protect him and the empire was the God of Christianity.At first he had only the vaguest idea of ​​the duties of a Christian, but he thought that if he supported Christians, their gods would favor him. Diocletian, Constantine, and subsequent emperors became more and more outrageous.They began to imitate the Persian emperors, appearing in the guise of gods.They have lived in the deep palace for many years, and no one has ever seen them wandering freely in the city like Augustus did.If you want to meet them, you must first be searched, then blindfolded, and walk through a huge labyrinth of passages. The purpose is to make it difficult for you to distinguish north from south, west from east, and prevent you from plotting to assassinate the emperor.When you finally see the true face of the emperor on Mount Lu, you have to prostrate yourself in front of the throne, that is, prostrate yourself on the ground. As the emperor's grip became tighter, the people of Rome began to find ways to escape.The big landowners, unwilling to pay taxes themselves, became strongholds of resistance and protection for those who worked on their land. In the early days of the Roman Empire, these workers were all slaves. Later, the source of slaves was exhausted. Because Rome stopped conquests, the landlords sub-leased the land to others to cultivate. Some of these people are still slaves, and some were slaves in the past. Some were freedmen seeking refuge from the landowners.The landowners, who hated (and avoided) paying taxes to the later emperor, were all in favor of the emperor's new laws: the people had to stay where they were, and any tenant who tried to move was arrested and imprisoned.Gradually, tenant farmers from different origins were all reduced to the same status - in the Middle Ages, they were called serfs, they were not owned like slaves, they had their own fields and families, but they were not allowed to leave for life, and they had to work. Cattle are used as horses to support the landlord. We set 476 AD as the year of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, before the social formations of the Middle Ages slowly took shape.At that time, there were big landowners who lived in mansions surrounded by high walls and deep ditches. They were not only the masters who gave orders, but also the protectors of the workers on the land.These small societies, whose sustaining strength was personal obedience rather than submission to the state (be it a republic or a monarchy), thus replaced the Western Roman Empire.But the Roman rule has always been lingering in the memory of Europeans.