The family is good, and good is the joy
of the man in wife and in son. But greater is the State, which is
the protector of all, without which the home would be ravaged and destroyed.
Dear to the good man is the honor of the woman who bore him,
dear the honor of the wife whose children cling to his knees;
but dearer should be the honor of the State that keeps safe
the wife and the child. It is the State from which comes all
that makes your life prosperous, and gives you beauty and safety.
Within the State are built up the arts, which make the difference
between the barbarian and the man. If the brave man dies gladly
for the hearthstone, far more gladly should he die for the State."
But only when the State seeks the good of the governed,
for said Pythagoras on another occasion: "Organized society exists for
the happiness and welfare of its members; and where it fails to secure these
it stands ipso facto condemned."
But to-day should the State be at war with another,
and any citizen or section of citizens believe their own country wrong
and the opposing nation wronged, they dare not say so,
or if they do they run great risk of being punished for treason.
Men and women though no longer bought and sold in the market place
are subjected to subtler forms of serfdom. In most European countries
they are obliged to fight whether they will or not, and irrespective
of their private convictions about the dispute; even though, as is the case
in some European countries, they may be citizens from compulsion
rather than choice, they are not free to abstain from active participation
in the quarrel.
Pages:
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154