Lessons from Rome about Liberal Unity

By Jeremy Egerer

Rome, I have been told by a certain Titus Livius, was a city founded upon the principle of clemency. Romulus, knowing well that his survival depended partially upon numbers, granted safe haven to any man, foreigner and Italian alike, in search of a new life. The city being filled with men on the lam, it soon took on a reputation of its own: Rome was known as a place in which aspiring Mediterranean foreigners could forego social and legal encumbrances and, if they had particular nobility of character -- or, at least, an upwardly mobile character -- could thrive according to their own personal merits. The Roman identity, of course, took quite a while to set in the citizens' minds. Livius actually attributes the cohesion of the young nation to a long period of monarchy, in which authorities such as Numa codified the religious and cultural qualities of Rome from a cacophonous mess into a unified whole, and an actual Roman identity began to form from the process. It was.... (Read Full Article)