Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 95th edition. Making us a more barbaric society.

A headline in the CST relates:

US completes deportation of 8 men to South Sudan

We've read this story before.

William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!"

Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”

William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”

Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”

Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts.

The men were illegal immigrants from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan. They have criminal records.  South Sudan makes sense for somebody whose from South Sudan, but Vietnam?

This is barbaric, and once barbarism comes to a country, it doesn't just leave until everyone has been brutalized.

Last edition:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 94th edition. Portents? The problem of Evil.

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The Past as Hope for the Present and Future

Earlier this past week I posted this item on the Feast Day of St. Monica of Hippo.

Today is the Feast of Saint Monica of Hippo.

She was a Catholic Berber, married to a Roman Pagan, in North Africa. Devout throughout her life, she struggled with a dissolute difficult husband who none the less held her in respect.  Mother to three sons and a daughter, one of the sons was Augustine, who himself lived a life that caused her endless distress.

She followed him to Rome when he left for their, pursing a career in the law.  He converted to Christianity there, prior to her death at age 55. After her death, he would take holy orders, and rise to become St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest Fathers of the Church.

That's the second item I've posted here on an event that occurred in the 380s.  This will be the third.  St. Monica died in 387.

The first item was this one:

Vae victis

Woe to the Vanquished

Brennus

Brennus statement, made as a Gallic conqueror, is true in more sense than one, not as a brazen command upon the defeated, but as an existential fact.

Of course, in keeping with the nature of fate, which we've had some quotes on recently, while Brennus sacked Roman and generally acted like a bady, his troops came down with the trots in the city and the Romans ended up tossing him and followers out rather effectively somewhat later.  That may say about as much on this topic as the quote itself.

Students of history may recall both, but recalling St. Monica is much more likely.  And what they may also recall is that her famous son wrote The City of God to make, in part, the point that earthly cities, and order, would rise and fall, but the City of God would not and was the Christians only true home.

A student of history would also know, of course, that Rome and the world overcame those horrible days when people like Brennus sacked a civilized city with rapine delight.  But in the 380s it probably didn't look like that was likely to most people.

Which, by extension, would suggest that the depths society falls into at any age likewise need not cause long term despair.  The City of God is as relevant as ever.