95:
which will surprise many. My own opinion at least is that they have adopted this course for the sake of the common people. It is a course which perhaps would not have been necessary had it been possible to form a state composed of wise men, but as every multitude is fickle, full of lawless desires, unreasoned passion, and violent anger, the multitude must be held in by invisible terrors and suchlike pageantry. For this reason I think, not that the ancients acted rashly and at haphazard in introducing among the people notions concerning the gods and beliefs in the terrors of hell, but that the moderns are most rash and foolish in banishing such beliefs.
94:
I believe that it is the very thing which among other peoples is an object of reproach, I mean superstition, which maintains the cohesion of the Roman State. These matters are clothed in such pomp and introduced to such an extent into their public and private life that nothing could exceed it, a fact
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The concept expressed by the phrase has undergone various forms and has been taken up by several writers and philosophers throughout history. Among these
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Among the oldest and most important there was undoubtedly the Greek historian
Polybius, who in his
158:, a similar expression which associated the numbing and controlling effects of opium with religion
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Exploitation of religion by State or ecclesiastical polity as a means of controlling the masses
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78:
74:
38:
208:
34:
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70:
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as a means of controlling the masses, or in particular to achieve political and
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184:, IV 7. ("No better instrument of good government than being good friends")
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152: – Figure of speech referring to a superficial means of appeasement
110:
30:
22:(literally, "instrument of monarchy", therefore "of government") is a
23:
176:
Nullum maius boni imperii instrumentum quam bonos amicos esse
119:, of which a long fragment has been handed down to us.
105:
Before
Polybius, a similar thesis was expressed in the
113:, disciple of Socrates, in a satirical drama called
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8:
109:from the Athenian politician and writer
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33:, used to express the exploitation of
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14:
1:
126:the concept was taken up by
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215:Latin words and phrases
103:
225:Religion and politics
220:Political terminology
43:ecclesiastical polity
29:perhaps inspired by
156:Opium of the people
128:Niccolò Machiavelli
150:Panem et circenses
146:Bread and circuses
20:Instrumentum regni
107:fifth century BC.
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148:, also known as
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79:Giacomo Leopardi
75:Vittorio Alfieri
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230:Superstitions
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196:The Histories
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178:» Tacitus,
124:Renaissance
71:Montesquieu
67:Machiavelli
209:Categories
193:Polybius,
163:References
133:The Prince
181:Historiae
87:Histories
63:Lucretius
199:, VI 56.
140:See also
116:Sisyphus
100:Polybius
98:—
59:Polybius
35:religion
130:in his
122:In the
111:Critias
53:History
47:mundane
31:Tacitus
90:says:
49:ends.
27:phrase
39:State
24:Latin
77:and
41:or
37:by
211::
136:.
81:.
73:,
69:,
65:,
61:,
174:«
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