Thank Heaven for Free Speech
The authors of the ‘Cato Letters’ recalled how Greek general Timoleon replied when the people he had saved from oppression turned and bit him.
345-337 BC
King George I 1714-1727
The authors of the ‘Cato Letters’ recalled how Greek general Timoleon replied when the people he had saved from oppression turned and bit him.
345-337 BC
King George I 1714-1727
In one of their ‘Cato Letters’ (1720-23), John Trenchard MP and Thomas Gordon praised Roman Emperors Nerva and Trajan for dismissing the spies and informers hitherto used to gag critics of State policy; and they recalled how Timoleon, the Greek general who toppled dictators for a living, had never felt more proud than when the Opposition slandered him in Parliament.
abridged, original spelling
THE best Princes have ever encouraged and promoted Freedom of Speech; they know that upright Measures would defend themselves, and that all upright Men would defend them. Tacitus, speaking of the Reign of some of the Princes above mention’d, says with Extasy: A blessed Time, when you might think what you would, and speak what you thought.*
The same was the Opinion and Practice of the wise and virtuous Timoleon, the Deliverer of the great City of Syracuse from Slavery.* He being accused by Demaenetus,* a popular Orator, in a full Assembly of the People of Several Misdemeanors committed by him while he was General, gave no other Answer, than that He was highly obliged to the gods for granting him a Request that he had often made to them, namely, that he might live to see the Syracusians enjoy that Liberty of Speech which they now seem’d to be Masters of.
abridged, original spelling
* These words come from the opening lines of Tacitus’s Histories, I.i, where he explains that he will write about the controversial Emperors now, “because of the rare good fortune of an age in which we may feel what we wish and may say what we feel.” He would save the placid reigns of Nerva (r. 96-98) and the current Emperor, Trajan (r. 98-117), for later on, he said, just in case he needed some light, uncontroversial material to write about under another Nero. Tacitus lived to see the reign of Hadrian (r. 117-138).
* Timoleon (?411–337 BC) unseated Dionysius II of Syracuse (r. ?367-345 BC) in 345 BC. Timoleon was a Corinthian general who dedicated his life to toppling tyrants, a term which in those days implied power concentrated in one man’s hands rather than raging violence. That said, Dionysius was not unusual in maintaining his position by mercenary forces and by suppressing vocal opposition. Timoleon retired from politics in 337 BC and died soon afterwards, having put down several other petty tyrants in the region and rebuffed a Carthaginian army in 341 BC. The people of Syracuse loved him, and gave him a grand funeral. Dionysius’s father Dionysius I (r. 405-367 BC) was the ruler who was so impressed by the friendship of Damon and Pythias.
* Trenchard is paraphrasing Plutarch’s Timoleon 37 here; Plutarch names a second critic as Laphystius.
1. What are the authors aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the authors communicate their ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Roman Emperors Nerva and Trajan ruled from 96 to 117. They allowed people to say and think what they liked. Roman historian Tacitus called it a blest time.
See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.
IAge. IILiberty. IIIReign.