Too bad Nero never listened to this guy...
"We
are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter
and isolated murders; but what of war and the much-vaunted crime of
slaughtering whole peoples?
There are no limits to our greed,
none to our cruelty. And as long as such crimes are committed by stealth
and by individuals, they are less harmful and less portentous; but
cruelties are practiced in accordance with acts of senate and popular assembly, and the public is bidden to do that which is forbidden to the individual.
Deeds that would be punished by loss of life when committed in secret,
are praised by us because uniformed generals have carried them out.
Man, naturally the gentlest class of being, is not ashamed to revel in
the blood of others, to wage war, and to entrust the waging of war to
his sons, when even dumb beasts and wild beasts keep the peace with one
another."
- Seneca
Roman Stoic philosopher and Statesman
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