Laconophilia
August is the month when I always write about Greece, where I find myself at present enjoying the Attic climate. This time Sparta is on my mind, perhaps because I’ve been thinking about the man in the white suit of late, and the Spartans were the ones who made him redundant. Death to a Spartan was like the proverbial cold, to be endured but not to be feared nor taken too seriously.
All my mother’s antecedents were Spartans. Her mother’s brother, whose name is honored by streets and squares in central Sparta, was president of the Greek Academy, president of the Archaeological Society, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and even Prime Minister of Greece, Panagiotis Poulitsas. He taught me how to read ancient Greek when I was very, very young and was bitterly disappointed when I returned from America speaking Greek with an accent. Modern Sparta, needless to say, always votes for the right. Another uncle of mine used to win elections to the Greek Senate with 99 percent of the vote, and due to his 6-foot-2 height and Spartan toughness was never, ever challenged over the Stalin-like electoral result. When war broke out in 1940, my mother had four brothers and a husband up in the front the next day.
“The Spartans remain famous t
Article from LewRockwell
LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
