A nation and an idea thought not worth defending will, well, not be defended. If I am not mistaken, either Edward Gibbon or Will Durant stated that all civilizations are born Stoic and die Epicurean. We are certainly well beyond the Stoic stage where Oprah, trivialities, pop culture have replaced pride and knowledge of our once great republic.
At the end, there were too few Romans who cared.
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YUP. Sadly. Very sadly.
I nearly completely sure that was Will Durant......... my very favorite human of all time.
My grandfather was a pretty important person at a very prominent university back throughout the 20's -50's. Will Durant was a pretty good acquaintance of his. My grandfather turned me on to Will Durant a long time ago.
What a great man. Only he could present philosophic thought and history so very beautifully.