“If you hold a gun and I hold a gun, we can talk about the law. If you hold a knife and I hold a knife, we can talk about rules. If you come empty-handed, and I come empty-handed, we can talk about reason. But if you hold a gun and I only have a knife, then the truth lies in your hand. If you have a gun and I have nothing, then what you hold in your hands isn’t just a weapon, it’s my life.”
That Caesar
Over the weekend, I listened to the first chapters of The Twelve Caesars by Gaius Suetonius. I have never heard Julius Caesar described so. I was shocked, but now somewhat reassured to find that he is just the kind of Ruler I consider in my Peasant Theory. He was deadly in every way, and warped space, time and Rome around him. I am coming to understand something that Nietzsche said at a deeper level than when I wrote what is now my most well-read essay on Sam Harris. Julius Caesar is thus, the prototypical emperor.
Honor is pagan, Roman, feudal, aristocratic; conscience is Jewish, Christian, bourgeois, democratic.
I note in passing that Americans don’t fear the Chinese Army. We fear the pinpoint accuracy of the Chinese economy. It has the kind of legal certainty and focus we cannot assemble. As we battle for our Judeo-Christian panoptic morality in our democracy, we are increasingly humbled by the lack of deliberation of Xi’s China. I have a sneaking suspicion that we may come to covet that unity of pen and sword for ourselves. Who will be the first American Caesar? What will it take?
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