“In the most pure democracies of Greece, many of the executive functions were performed, not by the people themselves, but by officers elected by the people, and REPRESENTING the people in their EXECUTIVE capacity … Prior to the reform of Solon, Athens was governed by nine Archons, annually ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE AT LARGE. The degree of power delegated to them seems to be left in great obscurity. Subsequent to that period, we find an assembly, first of four, and afterwards of six hundred members, annually ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE; and PARTIALLY representing them in their LEGISLATIVE capacity, since they were not only associated with the people in the function of making laws, but had the exclusive right of originating legislative propositions to the people.”
Western culture now seems to be falling out of fashion today. People understandably want to praise the other cultures of the world, and note that they made significant contributions to the arts, sciences, and philosophy. They thus feel that we somehow have to downgrade the contributions of the West. They seem to feel that elevating other cultures requires us to knock Western culture off of its pedestal – a problematic proposition. The legacy of the Ancient Greeks and Romans is one of the casualties of this problematic way of thinking. The Ancient Greeks and Romans may have been “great,” say others, but they were just two cultures among many – and they were no more “great” than any other cultures, says this group. They may have been “special,” this group admits, but all cultures are “special” – depriving this word of any real meaning.
The Pynx in Greece, the meeting place of the people of Athens
So what did the Ancient Greeks and Romans really leave us, you might be wondering? Oh, nothing much: just democracy … and maybe a few other important things. This post will try to explain why the Ancient Greeks and Romans were different. I should note that, to my knowledge, I don’t have a single drop of Greek or Italian blood in me. Thus, to me, this is not about genetics or “privileged bloodlines.” Rather, I see this as being about ideas – with freedom, possibly, being the very greatest of those classical ideas. By creating popular government, the Ancient Greeks and Romans both left us a legacy of free inquiry and pursuit of truth. To me, that is their greatest legacy. It needs to be remembered today, and it needs to be reverently (and thoughtfully) taught today.
The “Forum Romanum,” better known as the Roman Forum
Democracy was born in Ancient Athens, one of the city-states of Ancient Greece
Monarchy has long been the most natural, but certainly not the best, form of government. Every culture in the world has had experience with absolute government by one person. The Greeks were no exception, and had certainly experienced tyrannical rule by one person. But the Athenians also decided one day to vote on who should be their next ruler – as described in PBS’s “The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization.” Voting was then just a method of convenience, to resolve a momentary political dispute. It was not then intended to be the “wave of the future.” But this accidentally chosen method, a merely temporary compromise, was one of the greatest moments in human history. It created the first democracy in the history of the world. It was a direct democracy, where the people would vote on everything in person … or, at least, that was the theory. In reality, there were people charged with enforcing these laws even then – including a chief executive. Direct democracy is cumbersome, particularly when a state grows somewhat bigger. And, as James Madison showed in the Federalist Papers, direct democracy is somewhat dangerous anyway. Representative democracy, as James Madison also shows us, is actually a better form of government. (More about that here.) Nonetheless, the direct democracy of Athens was a step in the right direction, leading to an experiment with popular government. The data from the experiment are still important today, because they show us which methods worked and which methods ultimately failed to bring results. But, unfortunately, the first democracy in history didn’t last all that long. Athens was overrun by its former allies (now bitter enemies) – namely, the Spartans. Thus, the democracy had been destroyed militarily … by a fellow Greek city-state! Nonetheless, it had temporarily brought some great successes to the Athenians, and was soon revived in Athens itself. It had a large degree of freedom of speech.
Pericles, one of the greatest Athenian statesmen
The trial and execution of Socrates created a legacy of free inquiry in the West
But the Athenians’ support for freedom of speech was, sadly, not “unlimited” – as their greatest philosopher would soon demonstrate. Socrates asked many questions of those he met, and his questions would often embarrass the Athenian authorities. Rather than engage him in debate, the Athenian authorities decided to silence him, by accusing him of “impiety” and “corrupting the youth.” (In this context, “impiety” is just a word translating to “offenses against the state religion.”) Socrates was innocent of both of these charges, but that didn’t stop the authorities from charging him anyway. In his famous trial, Socrates defied the authorities by continuing his combative questions, and making his accusers look like fools. He was found guilty by a fairly narrow margin. But he soon proposed that his accusers reward him with “free board at the town hall,” a reward usually reserved for victors in the Olympic games. On the advice of his friends, he nonetheless said that he would be willing to pay a small fine instead. But for Socrates, it was too little, too late. When the vote for his verdict came, the overwhelming cry was for Socrates to be put to death. Socrates refused to attempt to escape, and willingly submitted to the death sentence. This sentence was administered by his drinking hemlock poison, causing him to die in 399 BC. It might have seemed like his accusers had triumphed. But they had inadvertently turned Socrates into a hero and a martyr. The ideas of Socrates eventually triumphed after his death. This led to an even greater degree of tolerance for freedom of speech, and for rebellion against unnecessary restrictions on popular liberty.
The execution of Socrates, which was by drinking hemlock poison
The Roman Republic took representative democracy to even greater heights of success
But the Greeks were eventually overrun by the Roman Republic, the next of history’s models for “popular government.” “Democracy” was originally a Greek word that meant “rule by the people.” By contrast, “republic” was originally a Latin phrase that came to us from the Romans. The Latin phrase “res publica” originally meant “public thing,” but might be better translated as “public entity.” The Roman Republic had an even greater degree of representative democracy, and thus greatly improved upon the direct democracy of Ancient Athens. This was realized in the famous Roman Senate, a word coming from the Latin word “senatus.” This word translates, somewhat chauvinistically, to “rule by the eldest men.” Although it no longer connotes a specific age or gender, the word “Senatus” comes from the Latin word “senex” (meaning “old man”). Incidentally, this was the namesake of the United States Senate. There was a division of power between the patricians and the plebians in the Roman Republic, leading to an early experiment with separation of powers. The concept of a “mixed constitution” had once been discussed by Aristotle, in his work entitled “Politics.” But the Greek historian Polybius may have been the first person to recognize the advantages of such a separation of powers. (More about that here.) The Roman orator Cicero would also later recognize the advantages of such a separation of powers. Thus, as Alexander Hamilton would later say in the Federalist Papers, “the Roman republic attained to the utmost height of human greatness.” (Source: Federalist No. 34 – see the full quotation at the end of this post) This was the most successful period for the Ancient Romans.
Representation of the Roman Senate
The Senate continued into the Roman Empire, and outlasted it in the West
But, later on, a civil war led to the institution of a dictatorship. Specifically, Julius Caesar became a dictator in the first century BC, only to be assassinated five years later. Soon, Rome would be ruled by an emperor, a chief executive who was still limited by the Senate. (In the West, the Senate actually lasted until AD 603, outlasting the Western Roman Empire.) The first of those emperors was Augustus, mentioned in the New Testament as “Cæsar Augustus.” The Roman Empire still had some degree of popular liberty, and checks upon the power of its emperors. Nonetheless, the glory days of the Roman Republic were now behind them, and the seeds of the Empire’s downfall had now been sown. There were many causes of the fall of the (Western) Roman Empire, including civil wars and invasions by the “barbarians” (a now-unpopular word for foreigners). But the loss of freedom has to be reckoned as one of many root causes of the Empire’s downfall. In the fifth century AD, the Western Roman Empire fell, plunging Europe into its “Dark Ages.” The Greek traditions of free inquiry (really, all Greek learning) were temporarily lost. Thus, the education of Europe suffered greatly as a result.
Augustus Caesar, the first of the Roman emperors
Conclusion: The Ancient Greeks and Romans left us a legacy of popular government …
Nonetheless, the Greek and Roman experiments with popular government left their mark, as did the classical tradition of free inquiry. The ancients left us a model to turn to, and a host of mistakes from which we can learn today. Popular government would eventually be revived in the thirteenth century. Specifically, in the year 1215, England’s “King John” was forced to sign the “Magna Carta” when his nobles rebelled against the king’s tyrannical rule. (More about that here.) Thus, the classical world bequeathed some important legacies for the modern West, whose benefits we are still reaping today. Other democracies eventually followed – in America, France, and a host of other places. Some of these popular governments were more successful than others. But they may all owe their existence to the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and their experiments with popular liberty. People today respond that the Ancient Greeks and Romans had slavery, and they are obviously correct. But no other culture in the ancient world had freedom for anyone but its highest-ranking leaders. Having freedom for any appreciable segment of society was a true innovation, which led to many another. It paved the way for the kind of widespread liberty (and equality of opportunity) that we enjoy today. This is why the Ancient Greeks and Romans were not “just another culture.” They truly were special, to a degree that other cultures of their time were not. It would be a mistake to discard the traditions of free inquiry that they left us, or even to erroneously credit them to some other ancient culture.
The Pantheon, one of the greatest of the Roman buildings
… and they’re still relevant today
People often point out that these two cultures, particularly the Romans, had “imperialism.” But we’re somehow expected to celebrate the Persian Empire, the Egyptian Empire, the Assyrian Empire, and the Chinese Empire – and then condemn the Roman Empire for its “imperialism.” They were far from the only ancient empire, and their imperialism had some compensating qualities to boot. Specifically, their empire spread the ideals of liberty to many other parts of the world. More to the point, no other culture had popular government before they came along, and it would have been much harder to revive any popular government without these inspiring examples from antiquity. No culture (past or present) is perfect, and the search for a perfect model continues to be unsuccessful today. But their noble experiments with popular government brought us some real progress, and paved the way for even greater successes later on. We would do well to look to the ancients, and to give our Western heritage a chance. Western culture has blessed us in the past, and it can continue to abundantly bless us in the future. That is the lesson of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, whose ideas are thus still relevant today.
“It is well known that in the Roman republic the legislative authority, in the last resort, resided for ages in two different political bodies not as branches of the same legislature, but as distinct and independent legislatures, in each of which an opposite interest prevailed: in one the patrician; in the other, the plebian. Many arguments might have been adduced to prove the unfitness of two such seemingly contradictory authorities, each having power to ANNUL or REPEAL the acts of the other. … And yet these two legislatures coexisted for ages, and the Roman republic attained to the utmost height of human greatness.”
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