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Socialists Ignore Reason and Facts
With the amazing credulity which is
typical of the classicists, Fenelon ignores the authority of
reason and facts when he attributes the general happiness of the
Egyptians, not to their own wisdom but to the wisdom of their
kings:
"We could not turn our eyes to
either shore without seeing rich towns and country estates most
agreeably located; fields, never fallowed, covered with golden
crops every year; meadows full of flocks; workers bending under
the weight of the fruit which the earth lavished upon its
cultivators; shepherds who made the echoes resound with the soft
notes from their pipes and flutes. "Happy," said
Mentor, "is the people governed by a wise king.". .
."
Later, Mentor desired that I
observe the contentment and abundance which covered all Egypt,
where twenty-two thousand cities could be counted. He admired the
good police regulations in the cities; the justice rendered in
favor of the poor against the rich; the sound education of the
children in obedience, labor, sobriety, and the love of the arts
and letters; the exactness with which all religious ceremonies
were performed; the unselfishness, the high regard for honor, the
faithfulness to men, and the fear of the gods which every father
taught his children. He never stopped admiring the prosperity of
the country. "Happy," said he, "is the people
ruled by a wise king in such a manner."
Clark Simmons, Webmaster
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