Politics of Obedience

liberty had entirely perished from the earth, such men would
invent it. For them slavery has no satisfactions, no matter how
well disguised.
The Grand Turk 16 was well aware that books and teaching
more than anything else give men the sense to comprehend their
own nature and to detest tyranny. I understand that in his
territory there are few educated people, for he does not want
many. On account of this restriction, men of strong zeal and
devotion, who in spite of the passing of time have preserved their
love of freedom, still remain ineffective because, however
numerous they may be, they are not known to one another; under
the tyrant they have lost freedom of action, of speech, and almost
of thought; they are alone in their aspiration. Indeed Momus, god
of mockery, was not merely joking when he found this to
criticize in the man fashioned by Vulcan, namely, that the maker
had not set a little window in his creature's heart to render his
thoughts visible. It is reported that Brutus, Cassius, and Casca,
on undertaking to free Rome, and for that matter the whole
world, refused to include in their band Cicero, that great
enthusiast for the public welfare if ever there was one, because
they considered his heart too timid for such a lofty deed; they
trusted his willingness but they were none too sure of his
courage. Yet whoever studies the deeds of earlier days and the
annals of antiquity will find practically no instance of heroes
who failed to deliver their country from evil hands when they set
about their task with a firm, whole-hearted, and sincere intention.
Liberty, as if to reveal her nature, seems to have given them new
strength. Harmodios and Aristogiton, Thrasybulus, Brutus the
Elder, Valerianus, and Dion achieved successfully what they
planned virtuously: for hardly ever does good fortune fail a
strong will. Brutus the Younger and Cassius were successful in
eliminating servitude, and although they perished in their attempt
16 The Ottoman Sultan of Constantinople was often called the Grand Turk.---M.N.R
61