Parallels of the Past

We Stand on the Shoulders of Giants, but until we climb them, we meet dead friends around us wherver we go, for we know our history.

  • Senate = Capitol
  • Supreme Court = Roman Temple
  • "Republicans" = Latin
  • "Democrats" = Greek
  • Lincoln Memorial = Parthenon of Athens
  • Jefferson Memorial = Rome's Pantheon
  • Dollar Bill "annuit coeptis" "novus ordo seclorum"
  • "He does not possess wealth, wealth posseses him" is Benjamin Franklin translating Aristippus
  • The moral sayings of Publius Syrus greatly influenced sayings Franklin popularized, like "a rolling stone gathers no moss."
  • In New York one can drive from Troy to Utica to Rome to Syracuse to Ithaca, passing through CIcero, Hector, Ovid, Solon, Scipio Center, Cincinnatus, Camillus, Romulus, Marcellus.
  • The Staute of Liberty is the Roman Goddess Libertas
  • "Virtue" appears more often in the founding documents than "freedom."
  • Jonathan Maghew, a preacher John Adams frequently visited, coined the phrase "no taxation without representation."
  • Monarchy ends in Despotism
  • Aristocracy ends in Oligarchy
  • Democracy ends in Anarchy
  • Presybyterian church placed a strong emphasis on literacy = Scottish enlightenment = Encyclopedia britannica
  • Scottish law was more shaped by French Law than English law. French law was based on Ancient Rome through the discovery of the Codex of Emperror Justinian I, a summary of Roman laws compiled in 6 A.D..
  • Darwin seems to be influenced by Adam Smith and James Hutton. James Hutton conceived of the geologic time-span.