A desolation

Josh – 2008-11-12 15:14

“A rich enemy excites their cupidity; a poor one, their lust for power. East and West alike have failed to satisfy them…. To robbery, butchery, and rapine, they give the lying name of “government”; they create a desolation and call it peace.” — Calgacus, in speech to the assembled Britons, from Tacitus, The Agricola

1 Comment on A desolation

  1. While I’m taken with the phrase “a desolation,” Alfred John Church’s translation is more sure-footed:

    If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace.
    Josh - 2008-11-13 20:23

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