A Lesson of Virtue
Classical conceptions of the common good differ little between East and West, but modern interpretations are growing more distant.
Would you rather be poor in a rich nation or rich in a poor nation? This question has inspired never-ending debate since the first century A.D., when Roman historian and moralist Valerius Maximus first said of the ancient Romans that “they would rather be poor in a rich empire than rich in a poor empire.” Sentiment in the U.S. currently differs from that of the ancient Romans in the opinion of Harvard Law School professor, Adrian Vermeule, who says the current American position on the subject is “seemingly clever” but ultimately “self-defeating.”
As a. “American constitutional law has lost sight of its classical legal heritage,” he states.
