Not all eras are equal, and not all political thinkers offer the same remedy for our societal malaise. Here I present two figures, 1600 years apart, with a very different take on the capacity of human nature to confront challenges.

Sallust was a Roman senator and historian in first century BC, most known for his works, Catiline’s War and The Jugurthine War, with particular emphasis on Republican Rome’s fall from grace being a result of largesse, avarice and greed.

Thomas Hobbes was a political thinker of the sixteenth century, famous for his work, Leviathan, a political treatise on the life of man in relation to the world around him, in particular, the omnipotence of government and the frailty of human nature to repel it.

Hobbes had 1600 years to look back to upon which to base his assessment, and his is the grimmer of the two. He wrote at length on the Laws of Nature, but I focus here on just one point – when man is at war with one another.

Hobbes writes of a common power that is capable of keeping man in awe, thereby creating a more harmonious society. It is not God that he refers to, but an attitude to equality that allows people to be content with their lot, lending itself to a better functioning society. It can only come about from an omnipotent government – the Leviathan.

We can put a mirror up to our world today and learn much if we choose to:

“Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war, as is of every man against every man. For WAR, consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known: and therefore the notion of time, is to be considered in the nature of war; as it is in the nature of weather. For as the nature of foul weather, lieth not in a shower or two or rain; but in an inclination thereto of many days together: so the nature of war, consisteth not in actually fighting; but in the known disposition thereto, during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. All other time is PEACE.”

While not every single person is fighting each other, western nations are clearly on the precipice of falling off the proverbial cliff if we cannot or will not find a way to pull ourselves back on to even ground. Governments are pulling out all stops to censor us, and by virtue, control everything we are permitted to say and do. This is not a war based on the physical battles of the past, but a new theatre where we are being continually pitted against one another at the behest of governments possessed with an unadulterated passion for control.

However, Hobbes’ regard for the human condition to thrive under duress is negative:

“Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withal.”

He is somewhat nihilistic about their ability to carry on with their lives, citing a lack of certainty that is required to cultivate industry, agriculture, trade, building, the arts, and in short to have no society at all. He cites the worst of all as having to live in constant fear and danger of violent death. His words of how he sees man’s lot in life are solemn:

“Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

A grim assessment by anyone’s reckoning.

Enter Sallust.

Against the background of some of the worst brutality of mankind’s history, Sallust opened his retelling of the Jugurthine War, conducted in Africa around 111 BC – 105 BC, with a very different offering for mankind. His message is one of strength through adversity, something that our modern world must learn quickly if it seeks redemption from the apathy which has held us captive for too long. He emphasises the mind as the one powerful tool we can use to save ourselves from annihilation:

“False is the complaint which the human race makes about its nature, namely, that it is weak and of short duration and ruled by chance rather than by prowess. On the contrary, you would find, after reflection, that nothing else is greater or more outstanding, and that what human nature lacks is industriousness on man’s part rather than strength or time. But it is the mind which is the leader and commander of the life of mortals…But, if the mind has been taken captive by perverse desires and has sunk to idleness and bodily pleasures, it enjoys its destructive urge for a short while but then, when strength and time and intellect have ebbed away through lethargy, the ‘frailty of nature’ is the accusation which is made: those responsible transfer the blame from themselves to ‘events.’”

It is circumstances which we must claim control of rather than circumstances being allowed to control us.

Age old wisdom.

And as for those who rule over us from on high, there are lessons, too:

“To rule your fatherland or its subjects by force, even though you could do so and might correct their faults, is nevertheless perilous, especially since all changes of circumstance presage slaughter, exile and things generally expected of an enemy. On the other hand, to strive in vain and, while tiring oneself out, to acquire nothing but hatred is the ultimate madness – unless by chance one is gripped by the dishonourable and destructive urge of relinquishing one’s dignity and freedom as a favour to the power of a few.”

Of the two assessments of the life of mankind, I choose Sallust’s version. Certainly, while life can be all those things which Hobbes describes at some point, we have within us the power to be stronger than that which presents to destroy us. The Leviathan seeks control. We must strive to combat it with a showing of strength for Liberty.

Fortunately, we are beginning to see this emerge as more and more people across the West rise up to tell their governments, Enough!