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Polybius

Polybius Biography

Politician

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“The glorious memory of brave men is continually renewed; the fame of those who have performed any noble deed is never allowed to die; and the renown of those who have done good service to their country becomes a matter of common knowledge to the multitude, and part of the heritage of posterity.”

MenCountryMatterDoneDiesMemoriesCommonFameBraveDeedsNobleGloriousHeritageMultitudesPosterityBrave ManRenownGood ServiceCommon KnowledgeNoble Deeds
Book:The Histories
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“How highly should we honor the Macedonians, who for the greater part of their lives never cease from fighting with the barbarians for the sake of the security of Greece? For who is not aware that Greece would have constantly stood in the greater danger, had we not been fenced by the Macedonians and the honorable ambition of their kings?”

ShouldFightingGreaterSecurityDangerKingsHonorAmbitionSakeCeaseHonorableGreeceBarbariansMacedonia
Book:Polybius: the histories
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“The common people feel themselves oppressed by the grasping of some, and their vanity is flattered by others. Fired with evil passions, they are no longer willing to submit to control, but demand that everything be subject to their authority. The invariable result is that government assumes the noble names of free and popular, but becomes in fact the most execrable thing, mob rule.”

PeopleFeelsFactsGovernmentPassionEvilNamesResultsCommonSubjectsWillingDemandAuthorityAssumingNobleVanitySubmitOppressedGraspingFlatteredMob Rule
Author:Polybius
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“That historians should give their own country a break, I grant you; but not so as to state things contrary to fact. For there are plenty of mistakes made by writers out of ignorance, and which any man finds it difficult to avoid. But if we knowingly write what is false, whether for the sake of our country or our friends or just to be pleasant, what difference is there between us and hack writers? Readers should be very attentive to and critical of historians, and they in turn should be constantly on their guard.”

IfsMenGivingShouldWritingMadeCountryStatesFactsTurnsDifficultFriendshipDifferencesMistakeBreakHistoryIgnoranceReaderDiversitySocial JusticeSakeCriticalContraryOur CountryPlentyPleasantGrantsHistorianHacks
Author:Polybius
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“Can any one be so indifferent or idle as not to care to know by what means, and under what kind of polity, almost the whole inhabited world was conquered and brought under the dominion of the single city of Rome, and that too within a period of not quite fifty-three years?”

KnowsWorldYearsKindMeanWholeCareThreeCitiesPeriodsFiftyRomeThree YearsIndifferentIdleDominion
Book:The Histories of Polybius: Translated from the Text of F. Hultsch
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“The particular aspect of history which both attracts and benefits its readers is the examination of causes and the capacity, which is the reward of this study, to decide in each case the best policy to follow. Now in all political situations we must understand that the principle factor which makes for success or failure is the form of a state's constitution: it is from this source, as if from a fountainhead, that all designs and plans of action not only originate but reach their fulfillment.”

IfsStatesActionFormPoliticalCausesSituationPrinciplesCasesStudyPlansPolicyDesignParticularSourceReaderBenefitsCapacityAspectConstitutionRewardsFactorsFulfillmentExaminationSuccess Or FailureFountainhead
Author:Polybius
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“In our own time the whole of Greece has been subject to a low birth rate and a general decrease of the population, owing to which cities have become deserted and the land has ceased to yield fruit, although there have neither been continuous wars nor epidemics...For as men had fallen into such a state of pretentiousness, avarice, and indolence that they did not wish to marry, or if they married to rear the children born to them, or at most as a rule but one or two of them, so as to leave these in affluence and bring them up to waste their substance, the evil rapidly and insensibly grew.”

IfsMenChildrenHas BeensTwoWarStatesWholeEvilWishBornCitiesLandSubjectsGrewBirthWasteMarriedLowsFruitRatePopulationSubstanceFallenYieldGreeceAvariceEpidemicsDecreaseAffluenceOwingDesertedIndolencePretentiousnessBirth Rate
Author:Polybius
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