It is the privilege of antiquity to mingle divine things with human, and so to add dignity to the beginnings of cities; and if any people ought to be allowed to consecrate their origins and refer them to a divine source, so great is the military glory of the Roman People that when they profess that their Father and the Father of their Founder was none other than Mars, the nations of the earth may well submit to this also with as good a grace as they submit to Rome’s dominion. But to such legends as these, however they shall be regarded and judged, I shall, for my own part, attach no great importance.
Livy’s History of Rome
In the time of Livy, anyone not born within the City of Roman, even if falling under the rule of Rome, was not Roman. They were Italian, or a provincial. Only those born in the city were of true Roman stock, granted citizenship, could vote, serve in the army, serve politically, etc.
The Kingdom of Rome had been this way.
The Republic of Rome was this way.
And the Empire of Rome would… start this way.
But, importantly, there was a Roman mythos that held them together. The twins, born of a God, suckled by a wolf, exiled, and come back to found a city.
Their story, their strength, would last ages.
All of Christendom would attempt to trace their lineage, their Divine right to rule, back to Rome. Read St Bede’s history of England, and England does the same. The Spanish, Franks, and Germans - through the Holy Roman Emperor, did the same. They all wanted to come from the same stock - the Greeks, to be brothers to the Romans or Romans themselves.
The Eastern Emperor, through Constantinople, did the same.
And us, in the now glorious U.S.S.A?
We, dear friends and companions….
We made a myth of George Washington and taxes.
Libertas. Liberty or death. Liberty from the crown that treated them better than we have come to be treated. Liberty from a man who can die, when bad ideas never die, such as Enlightenment philosophy nonsense.
Fraternitas. Initially with just countrymen, now expanded to the whole world in a twisted definition of what anyone would call love.
Equalitas. Equality is something never gained in this world, made up of hierarchies, the demolition of which is unnatural. Now, the denial and imposition of equal outcomes has mimicked the French revolution.
And so, we’re reaping the rewards of that vain, shallow myth.
Scratch the surface, and you see how gilded the myth is.
The lead it covers.
Warping to progressive values.
Because it is a progressive myth itself.
Nebulous.
Ephemeral.
Now, one can still love our country, companions, and seek the good life.
But, there are Barbarians at the Gates.
Demanding Christendom once again.
Brutus then called the island Britain from his own name, and his companions he called Britons. his intention was that his memory should be perpetuated by the derivation of the name. A little later the language of the people, which has up to then been known as Trojan or Crooked Greek, was called British, for the same reason.
- Geoffrey of Monmouth The History of the Kings of Britain
I wish your audience grows much much more. This deserves to be read by so many more people. I hope it eventually is.
I was recently talking to a friend about how the people in the US desperately need their own Mythos and a collective deontology. The current ones are all either borrowed, shameful or just not robust enough to inspire anyone. Although the issue is surely, as my friend pointed out, that one cannot invent such things just when one is in need of them. They must grow and dig in their roots over time. All we can really do is scatter the seeds in some fertile soil.