A Squire’s Trial

13
- No, not this time. This one's a classic.
“A certain father had three sons, who were always
quarreling. Hearing their constant disputes angered
him but no matter how he scolded them they wouldn't
see reason. Getting worried about their future, he decides
to give them a practical lesson. He tells his sons
to bring him a bundle of sticks to him. Tying the sticks
together, he asks them to break this bundle. Each of
them tries, and fails. The father removes the knot, distributes
the sticks to his sons. The boys now break
them with ease. ‘You see, my sons, when you're apart,
you can be destroyed easily. But if you stick to each
other, you become unbreakable.’“
- It's a nice story.
- Indeed. This story is thousands of years old. It inspired one
of the great symbols of western civilization: the bundle of
sticks.
- I've never heard of it.
- It's also called the fasces. It was used by the Romans in
their ceremonies, and can still be found sculpted in the stone
of state buildings in many countries today. The fasces is a symbol
of unity. This is where the modern term "fascism" comes
from. It has roots going back to the remotest antiquity.
- I think I see where you're going with this. You claim that
fascism has existed since antiquity, passed down from Roman
times?
- No, that's not quite what I'm saying. Truth doesn't need to
be passed down – truth simply is. What gets passed down is
knowledge, and opinions about this or that.