Eternally Relevant Problems

Ukraine has entered its second decade of independence. Meanwhile the number of its problems has not decreased. On the contrary, we have by far more than back in the fateful year 1991. One consolation perhaps is that the problems haunting us are not specifically Ukrainian; they also afflict other nations and even different epochs. Below are several classical examples that can be regarded as analogues and models.

The celebrated Roman historian and patriot Cornelius Tacitus (55?-after 117) spent the first part of his life in a time of political instability before the Roman Empire reached its peak. There was no way he could predict the near future and his works were predominately pessimistic and nostalgic. Not all can keep pace with the times. He starts his Histories with complaints that sound only too familiar to the Ukrainian ear:

“I am entering on the history of a period rich in disasters, frightful in its wars, torn by civil strife, and even in peace full of horrors... Rome has been wasted by conflagrations, its oldest temples consumed, and the Capitol itself fired by the hands of citizens. Sacred rites were profaned; there was profligacy in the highest ranks; the sea was crowded with exiles, and its rocks polluted with bloody deeds... Nobility, wealth, the refusal or the acceptance of office, were grounds for accusation, and virtue ensured destruction. The rewards of the informers were no less odious than their crimes; for while some seized on consulships and priestly offices as their share of the spoil, others on procuratorships, and posts of more confidential authority, they robbed and ruined in every direction amid universal hatred and terror.”

Pliny the Younger, Roman man of letters and statesman (62-113), a bit younger than Tacitus, tried to make the most of the peace and quiet of Emperor Trajan’s rule. Still, as a ranking official, he had his own problems stemming from the times, like that “ignorant and dangerous fanatical sect” (meaning the early Christian communities) actively spreading across the empire despite severe interdictions. Or what had to be done to make the authorities in remote provinces perform adequately. In his official letters to Emperor Trajan one finds a number of facts calling into question the much- advertised administrative efficiency of the Roman Empire.

“To the Emperor Trajan

“The inhabitants of Nicomedia have spent almost 3,500 sesterces on the construction of a city water supply line, yet it has not been completed; it has long been neglected and partially destroyed. It requires considerable additional spending to supply the residents with water after wasting so much money and time...”

“... a most extensive fire broke out at Nicomedia, which not only consumed several private houses, but also two public buildings... The occasion of its spreading thus far was partly owing to the violence of the wind, and partly to the indolence of the people, who, manifestly, stood idle and motionless spectators of this terrible calamity. The truth is that the city was not furnished with either engines, buckets, or any single instrument suitable for extinguishing fires...”

Sixteenth century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne knew Henry of Navarre even before he became Henry IV of France. At the time of a bloody confrontation between the Catholics and Huguenots he told the new king that, when coping with the tasks facing him (stopping the religious war and bringing about national reconciliation) Henry ought to use unconventional techniques – specifically, to treat the rebellious Huguenots with care and royal consideration – in a word, show more affection than their own leaders. Largely owing to Montaigne’s influence, Henry IV proclaimed the famous Edict of Nantes, the first document in European history to set a middle religious course.

The king was very grateful to the philosopher and invited him to Paris, promising a generous reward. To which Montaigne said that he prayed His Majesty would not consider that Montaigne wanted money for what he was actually willing to give his life; he had never taken advantage of even the smallest measure of royal generosity, had never asked or felt he deserved it. He had never been paid for his services done the king. However, if His Majesty wished to have him in his entourage it would cost less than even the least of His Majesty’s footmen.

Below are several ideas borrowed from Montaigne’s philosophical treasure-trove. Regrettably, no analogs can be found in our modern society.

“I find that, by divere causes, indigence is as frequently seen to inhabit with those who have estates as with those that have none; and that, peradventure, it is then far less grievous when alone than when accompanied with riches... and an uneasy, necessitous, busy, rich man seems to me more miserable than he that is simply poor... In divitiis mopes, quod genus egestatis gravissimum est (‘Poor in the midst of riches, which is the sorest kind of poverty.’ – Seneca, Ep., 74).”

“I live from hand to mouth, and content myself in having sufficient for my present and ordinary expense; for as to extraordinary occasions, all the laying up in the world would never suffice.”

“...a man that had run through both fortunes... found that the increase of substance was no increase of appetite either to eating or drinking, sleeping or the enjoyment of his wife...”

“Everyone is well or ill at ease, according as he so finds himself; not he whom the world believes, but he who believes himself to be so, is content...”

And finally, “‘No man continues ill long but by his own fault.’ He who has neither the courage to die nor the heart to live, who will neither resist nor fly, what can we do with him?”

Make up your minds, gentlemen.