4 ms·

X is unlikely to be Plutarque, for https://www.napoleon.org/wp-content/thumbnails/uploads/2009/10/475183_1-tt-width-236-height-450-crop-1-bgcolor-ffffff-lazyloa

X is unlikely to be Plutarque, for https://www.napoleon.org/wp-content/thumbnails/uploads/2009/10/475183_1-tt-width-236-height-450-crop-1-bgcolor-ffffff-lazyload-0.jpg https://www.napoleon.org/wp-content/thumbnails/uploads/2009/... (depicting him at 15) was supposedly made with some input from the principal himself, and the book is supposed to be the Lives (also frequently mentioned by others in a cursory search). Between Cicéron and Tite-Live my priors are (0,5:0,5) because it seems like he read whatever he could get his paws on: https://blog.napoleon-cologne.fr/napoleon-bonaparte-et-les-livres/ https://blog.napoleon-cologne.fr/napoleon-bonaparte-et-les-l... (with a rather Molochian /dev/null for books not worth the time to read? War and Peace also mentions french book burning habits, but those were driven by more prosaic motivations) EDIT: > "it is an advantage if from time to time there are individuals who do not understand men" —??? (which reminds me, I still haven't tracked down one of your earlier paraphrases...)

082349872349872 2y ago
I'll guess X=Livy — as he was a "professional" historian (one of Veblen's non-governing elites?) and therefore more likely to produce Gell-Mann (non)Amnesia moments. [It's interesting to see the difference between quotes attributed to N1 on {de,en,fr} websites: in fr they sound pretty accurate (some fraction are lifted from Cicero or other classical authors); in de they're enriched in those that either concern germany itself or the hassle of dealing with idiots all day; in en just about anything gets his name slapped on it. ("87% of all statistics are just made up — Napoleon Bonaparte")] That said, even though Cicero was in government, Livy seems to have been a tad more cynical (small-c, modern sense) than Cicero, so I could be wrong. Alongside the lifted-from-Cicero quotes, one also finds more machiavellian expressions: > “Le peuple est le même partout. Quand on dore ses fers, il ne hait pas la servitude.” (People are everywhere alike. Give them golden handcuffs, and they don't hate their subjection) https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65037972/f113.image.r=croire%20libredore%20fers%20hait%20servitude?rk=64378;0 https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65037972/f113.image.r...
- gradschoolfail 2y ago
  Im guessing Livy too, as i heard it from a professional (English) historian at least a decade ago.. All i remembered was that, whoever the poor writer was, had never waged (or even experienced?) war, but popularly quoted in those contexts now that you mentioned it, i notice that English historians (of any day) can be a bit… sloppy in their scholarship compared to continentals Thanks for delving!
  - 082349872349872 2y ago
    sounds like (what I've read about) Livy; no wuckers!

082349872349872 2y ago

I'll guess X=Livy — as he was a "professional" historian (one of Veblen's non-governing elites?) and therefore more likely to produce Gell-Mann (non)Amnesia moments. [It's interesting to see the difference between quotes attributed to N1 on {de,en,fr} websites: in fr they sound pretty accurate (some fraction are lifted from Cicero or other classical authors); in de they're enriched in those that either concern germany itself or the hassle of dealing with idiots all day; in en just about anything gets his name slapped on it. ("87% of all statistics are just made up — Napoleon Bonaparte")] That said, even though Cicero was in government, Livy seems to have been a tad more cynical (small-c, modern sense) than Cicero, so I could be wrong. Alongside the lifted-from-Cicero quotes, one also finds more machiavellian expressions: > “Le peuple est le même partout. Quand on dore ses fers, il ne hait pas la servitude.” (People are everywhere alike. Give them golden handcuffs, and they don't hate their subjection) https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65037972/f113.image.r=croire%20libredore%20fers%20hait%20servitude?rk=64378;0 https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65037972/f113.image.r...

gradschoolfail 2y ago
Im guessing Livy too, as i heard it from a professional (English) historian at least a decade ago.. All i remembered was that, whoever the poor writer was, had never waged (or even experienced?) war, but popularly quoted in those contexts now that you mentioned it, i notice that English historians (of any day) can be a bit… sloppy in their scholarship compared to continentals Thanks for delving!
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  sounds like (what I've read about) Livy; no wuckers!