What have we learned?

[Jaybird]

So... what have we learned in 2,067 years?

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." Cicero - 55 BC

Evidently nothing, but then look what happen to Rome. They didn't learn anything either.

[E_]

Copying to my facebook status.

[imaposer]

Please make sure to note that it is from a fictional book written in 1965.

In a letter to The Chicago Tribune (20 April 1971), John H. Collins, Professor of History at Northern Illinois University, reported that the following attribution to Cicero,

Quote:
The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. The mobs should be forced to work and not depend on government for subsistence.
actually originated in A Pillar of Iron (1965), Taylor Caldwell's fictionalized account of the life of the senator. (In fact, Collins noted that it was on page 483 of the edition he had in hand.)

Collins held that the alleged quotation "is totally without documentation," and that "the great bulk of [Caldwell's] quotations are false." He further observed that "[a] historical novelist has a perfect right to put invented conversations and anecdotes into a novel, but should not represent these inventions as authentic history."

edited to clarify.

[Jaybird]

Yup, still relevant today as it was in 1965 and 55 BC.

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1965.html

[katie]

Obviously, not a darned thing!

[Jaybird]

Please make sure to note that it is from a fictional book written in 1965.

In a letter to The Chicago Tribune (20 April 1971), John H. Collins, Professor of History at Northern Illinois University, reported that the following attribution to Cicero,

Quote:
The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. The mobs should be forced to work and not depend on government for subsistence.
actually originated in A Pillar of Iron (1965), Taylor Caldwell's fictionalized account of the life of the senator. (In fact, Collins noted that it was on page 483 of the edition he had in hand.)

Collins held that the alleged quotation "is totally without documentation," and that "the great bulk of [Caldwell's] quotations are false." He further observed that "[a] historical novelist has a perfect right to put invented conversations and anecdotes into a novel, but should not represent these inventions as authentic history."

edited to clarify.

Is that a statement from "snopes"? That is where a search sent me. Good old snopes.

The author of the book must have been a very smart and wise man. In my opinion it is logical and factual in concept. I do think that it is a great quote, and would be very relevant to today's times. Relevant for any time actually.