Livy and World War II
Eliza Colbert
There were many points that caught my attention in this week’s reading from Livy. The preface seemed just a little too Roman to me. I wonder if Livy actually believed all those things he said about Rome, or if he was just trying to please his readers. That part about how he didn’t mind if he didn’t get any glory made me especially skeptical. Was he really only writing this for posterity’s sake? Another point that piqued my interest was the whole issue of the plebeians feeling like second class people because they weren’t allowed to marry the patricians. There is a whole lot that I could go into there, but I won’t just now (it might make a good paper topic, though). The point I decided to officially blog about this week was this quote: “all their concessions only served to make the plebs more exacting, not more friendly, since their first success only emboldened them to make more and more urgent demands.”
This quote stuck out to me because it immediately made me think of World War II. What Livy describes here is a very similar situation to Britain and Germany. Hitler kept making little demands and Britain kept giving in, thinking that Hitler would eventually be satisfied. Hitler never was and it resulted in World War II. No matter what we may think, people are never satisfied. We always want just one more. It’s the way we are. If we give in to one thing, there will always be a demand for another. This is why it is dangerous to give in to temptation, because it never ends up being ‘just this one time.’ If you do it once, then your conscience is conditioned to do it again and again Giving in is a slippery slope, whether it is giving in to temptation or giving in to political demands. There will always be just one more time, just one more thing, and there’s no telling where it will stop (if it will stop).
P.S. I commented on Dakota’s and Breanna’s posts.
What amazes me about WWII is that it can always be tied back to almost anything in history. Livy strongly believed in learning from history, a belief that is not commonly held by the majority of the populace (if they do believe it they don't act on it). If he somehow could see the years leading up to Hitler's dictatorship, he could probably call it out years before WWII started. Most of the politicians should have been able to see Hitler's rise to power, but many of them didn't want to be involved. I think Livy would have been very disappointed in them.
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ReplyDeleteI appreciate the point you made about Livy not wanting any glory for his writing. Is it even possible for a human to be completely selfless in recording such knowledge or, at the very least, is it so easy? I also really love the connection you see between this week’s reading and WWII.
ReplyDeleteThis sentence stood out to me, “Giving in is a slippery slope, whether it is giving in to temptation or giving in to political demands.” What a necessary reminder that the little things (both positive and negative) add up quickly.