Friday, May 9, 2014

Ancient Wisdom, Revolting Peasants Edition

The causes and motives of seditions are: innovation in religion; taxes; alteration of lawes1 and customs; breaking of priviledges1 ; dearths; disbanded soldiers2; factions growne1 desperate; and whatsoever, in offending people, joyneth and knitteth them in a common cause. 
Francis Bacon, "Of seditions and troubles", 16123

I considered calling this one the "Profiting from their example edition", but that was too long.  Or something.

***
Notes:
1. He probably thought our way of spelling "laws", "privileges",  and "grown", not to mention "join" and "knit", would look odd, too.
2.  Unless, you know, you pay them in a timely manner, and what you said you would pay them.  This whole idea of "insurance" and "veterans benefits" are modern very recent innovations (the Seventeenth Century is regarded as "early modern", after all), but cheapskate politicians stiffing the troops is an ancient practice. 
3. Found in Geofferey Parker's Global Crisis, a magisterial history of the confluence of religious and civil wars, "alarums", excursions, and (not so incidentally) natural disasters and global cooling that included the Thirty Years War, the English Civil Wars, etc., etc., etc.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Not reassuring. Truthy, but not reassuring.
-Erik from Seattle.