If, however, Europe can rightfully be proud of something, it is that the Republic was born and took root on its soil. The polity is and is called a Democracy because power is not exercised by a few citizens, but by the whole people, Thucydides proudly wrote. The government of the people, that magical mechanism that turns subjects into citizens, and that allows everyone to have a say in the commons, has been so loved only in Western civilization.
The East, despite its riches and good things, was not charmed by the Republic. He adored autocracy and kings as Gods and masters at the same time. But just as the silks and furs of the East found their way to the West, so too did the allure of absolute power find its way to the West as many European potentates seem to have envied the life enjoyed by their counterparts in the East.
For centuries, and in the West, autocracy became synonymous with divine command. And when the Republic returned to the lands where it was born, the temptations returned. Many mocked her, despised her and still despise her. The powerful, supported by powerful friends, who are tolerated by fearful citizens and private individuals who are content with “bread and spectacles”, fail to realize that Democracy is self-worth and not a means. It is the way we want to live as equals and to decide our fate, “to honor the council and the town”, as the ancient Athenians would say.
Democracy in the West is an absolute value. In the West we hate tyranny and tyrants, even the best of them. “Sic Semper Tyrannis” – So to tyrants!, are said to have been the last words heard by Julius Caesar. In America the phrase inspired revolutionaries in the Virginia Convention in 1776 who proposed that it be part of the seal of the Commonwealth. In the East they will probably still have difficulty understanding it.
