Imperial Valley press., 1940-03-13
\ Golden Age arises out of a
era of hard and plodding labor.

era of hard and ploddins labor.
It reaches a point of almost lm-
natural perfection. Then invaria2ls
the people seem 10 tire of the oX-
alted regions which they hur,
reached. of too much prosperity.
of too much fine sculpture. too many
excellent paintings, too many inter-
osting plays. and they crow inC.-
ferent. They GROW weak.
Unlike their ancestors they ar
nc longer willing to tieht for thol"
own good rights-or what they used
to consider their GOOi ri2htS.
Their neighbors. erlll IN the state
o. plodding and hard labor. cast
enyiOuS eyes upon the Well-bcinS
and glory of the country Just be
vCnd their frontiers. And when they
find out that those frontiers are no
longer being defended. but have be-
come paper lines Of demarcat!on,
they Will cross them at the frs
convenient moment and the Musc
of History records another disaster.
An AcropOlis becomes q barracks, =
famous cathedral is turned into a
stable. a Grand Canal IS lined by =
row Of ruined palaces
Or. wore than that. cities like
Babylon or Ninerah are absorbed
by the sands of the desert or the
population of Rome is reduced from
q million to less than forty thOua-
and
Greece. one of the most painful
examples Of this theory of historical
cycles could only develop it demo
cratic experiments while it was free
from foreI2n domination.
In the year 479 B. C. the fourth
and last expedition of the Persians
against Hellas was reunited at Pla
taea In the year 338 B. c. Philip Of
Macedonia, after the battle of Cha
crcnea. made himself the chosen
dictator" of Greece
Incidentally. that title of chosen
dictator" shows that there is VClN
little new under the sun, lor that
j. exactly what Adolf Hitler. BcNitC
Nus~Olini ard joseph Stain claim
TO be when they defend thcMs Gives
sgAmt accusations of uSurpdtlon
and aggression that are launched
against thom b. tir western dc
mrcraclcs.
The ancient GrccF uniori Jniatciy
Va quite A. lncurabif an mdj|'duaI-
1T 4. In modern dc.tcndar'
Tho Nstory nf tho modem Greek
tlrgdom. oyer since IL r.tabllSh-
mont IN the ycar 1880. ha been Az
almost uninterrupted s"rlcs OF rcVo-
lltiGns and rebolllOnS.
The idea Of cooperation seems
t. have been entirely foreign to
tic minds of the Greek politicians
who have murdered and succeeded
Zach other With a rapiditT which
made the western statesmen who
had helped to establish this unruly
monarchy wrin2 their hands in deS-
pair
Historian faced with this prob
ION blamed the years Of foreign in
ya.ion for this deterioration of the
Crock character. They pointed out
that the Greek peninsula had been
0rer-run by 50 many foreign tribes
Tartars Slavs. Italians, Turks
ti.,t thr blood had dctoriOratcd.
Prii.n tho thought
And those who imagine that the
rcmo"ratIcS of Grc'c" had bHcn
Inspired bv lofty ideal. ot humanity
+nd international dcccrcv have de
glyrd their information from those
authors Of the romantic period Of
the first fifty years Of the last
century.
These romanticistS Wcrn alsc
homeless 5entimentaliSte and like all
true sentimentalists. they fitted the
facts TO suit their fancicS. rs re-
suit most of us obtained complete
~ distorted view OF the history o.
old Hcllas during the ora 0! It's IA
nous experiments within II" field OF
democracy. And once such an opin-
Jon has gained firm fOCthOld uDor
the popular mind IL Is almost i'm
possible to di5IOcate it. Yet that
viii have to be cone If We want to
profit BY the mistakes Of Pcricles
ana his contemporaries vito ruined
the democracy Of Atncn. anc
brought about the Introduction OF
q dictatorship
NEXT-Early DemoCrarir' Had
10 h,. l.uiit on Foundation" "l Sia-