Over at words mean things, Adam shares this exchange from A Man For All Seasons. He’s right, it is eerily appropriate for the times we now live in.
More: And go he should, if he were the devil himself, until he broke the law.
Roper: So now you’d give the devil benefit of law!
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get to the devil?
Roper: Yes! I’d cut down every law in England to do that.
More: Oh? And when the last law was down and the devil turned round on you – where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, man’s laws, not God’s, and if you cut them down – and you’re just the man to do it – do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the devil benefit of law — for my own safety’s sake.
Well, even though we have some three more years to contend with Bush’s increasingly awful presidency, it’s nice to know that elections are already underway in ancient Rome. I suddenly wish I knew more about Roman history than what I happened to see in I, Claudius.