"THEN THE POOR, DEPRIVED OF THEIR LAND, WERE NO LONGER EAGER FOR MILITARY SERVICE AND HAD FEW CHILDREN, SO THAT SOON ALL ITALY WAS BEREFT OF FREEMEN AND FILLED WITH GANGS OF FOREIGN SLAVES, THROUGH WHOM THE RICH CULTIVATED THEIR ESTATES, HAVING DRIVEN AWAY THE FREE CITIZENS."; PLUTARCH, THE LIFE OF TIBERIUS GRACCHUS
~100 A.D. SIEGE OF MELOS; "THE STRONG DO WHAT THEY CAN AND THE WEAK SUFFER WHAT THEY MUST," A FAMOUS LINE FROM THE MELIAN DIALOGUE IN THUCYDIDES' HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR (416 BC). IT REPRESENTS THE CORE TENET OF POLITICAL REALISM, SUGGESTING THAT IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POWER DYNAMICS, JUSTICE IS SECONDARY TO MIGHT; AND SO, HISTORY REPEATS...HISTORY IN ACTION
