With these words on his lips Gavius died after being crucified by Verres despite his Roman citizenship. This treatment outraged Rome and is remembered today.
Lord Palmerston adopted the words when sending a gunboat to support a British subject attacked by an anti-Semitic crowd in Athens in the 1840's.
The glory of Rome lay, in large part, in the honour of being a Roman. An honour Rome jealously protected.
And it was not an honour limited by race or religion -- remember Paul was a Roman citizen.
Perhaps, to use bad Latin we should adopt, and honour, the words:
Civis Canadaius sum
(By the way, if readers can correct that -- Canadaius feels wrong but high school Latin is far away -- I'd be grateful)
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
416 225 2777
4 comments:
I think the Latin is canadensis -- but I could be wrong.
Only an Ignatieff Liberal would harken back to a sham Republic that turned into an Empire for inspiration on modern democratic citizenship. Perhaps Ignatieff's Tzarist heritage could teach us a thing or two about the importance of aristocratic pride. Speaks volumes about the Liberal Narcissiev position on basic dignity and human rights.
Wow -- Derrida -- my point is there are no second class Canadians but ... I guess I am an Ignatieff Liberal
I'm pretty sure that blast furnace is right with 'canadensis' While we're looking for new latin mottos, I like my blog's motto the best Partis Liberale delenda est
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