"First lower the level of culture, science and talent. A high scientific level is accessible only to superior intelligences, and superior intelligences are not needed!...They have always done more harm than good; they are expelled or delivered to torture. - ThreadSky

doctorepiscopa.bsky.social • 181 days ago

"First lower the level of culture, science and talent. A high scientific level is accessible only to superior intelligences, and superior intelligences are not needed!...They have always done more harm than good; they are expelled or delivered to torture.

Comments

doctorepiscopa.bsky.social•181 days ago

To cut out Cicero's tongue, to gouge out Copernicus's eyes, to stone Shakespeare [...]. The thirst for study is an aristocratic thirst [...] Only the necessary is necessary, such will henceforth be the motto of the terrestrial globe."

doctorepiscopa.bsky.social•181 days ago

And indeed, all 3 totalitarian regimes of this period (USSR, Fascism, National Socialism) disdained Cicero. Mussolini, the most cultured of the three, adopted Mommsen's opposition between Cicero and Caesar: his ideal man was a man of action, not an author. His Cicero lacked nerve and was useless.

doctorepiscopa.bsky.social•181 days ago

For Stalin, Greek and Latin were considered a social marker of the elites, and therefore disappeared from secondary and post-secondary education. Famous scholars were condemned to exile (Zielinski, Rostovtzeff), less famous to persecution or even the gulag.

doctorepiscopa.bsky.social•181 days ago

Hitler took a middle course. He was enamored of Greece and Rome and wanted their broad strokes learned in school. However, any account of antiquity that did not adhere to his views of the ideal state was punished.

doctorepiscopa.bsky.social•181 days ago

The robust tradition of German philology was now suspect, an example of "those unbearable humanists of the Weimarer Klassik". Beginning in 1933, numerous scholars were dismissed from their posts, including the most famous Ciceronian, Konrat Ziegler.

doctorepiscopa.bsky.social•181 days ago

Another philologist, Karl Meister, had his dismissal proceedings initiated after giving a lecture entitled "Cicero as orator and politician." This was part of a general purge from the academy of scholars who did not toe the regime's line.

Posting Rules

Be respectful to others
No spam or self-promotion
Stay on topic
Follow Bluesky's terms of service

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply