The neocons are always quoting Cicero as saying, in effect, that it’s OK if people hate the US, so long as they fear it. Here, courtesy of Jim Stevens, is what Cicero actually said, in the first Phillipic against Mark Antony:
“But what frightens me more than such imputations is the possibility that you yourself may disregard the true path of glory, and instead consider it glorious to possess more power than all your fellow-citizens combined – preferring that they should fear you rather than like you.
“If that is what you think, your idea of where the road of glory lies is mistaken. For glory consists of being regarded with affection by one’s country, earning praise and respect and love; whereas to be feared and disliked, on the other hand, is unpleasant and hateful and debilitating and precarious.
“This is clear enough from the play in which the man said, ‘Let them hate provided that they fear.’ He found to his cost that such a policy was his ruin.”
11:11 am on February 3, 2004
