Monday, August 14, 2006

Today's Quote

"This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears above ground he is a protector."
-Plato, The Republic

A startlingly apt comment in light of later 'protectors', such as Robespierre or Hitler. The section of The Republic on how a democracy passes into tyranny (book 9) is one of the most fascinating documents of political philosophy yet written, and an uncanny premonition of Weimar era Berlin.