the wisdom of the ancients

liberty is absent in the most ancient thought
security and order matter but not freedom
it isn't even an issue isn't thought of as worth

a second's attention instead such matters
as harmony and justice seem to be
all that philosophers care for not that freedom

is anything to despise for after all some people
(like greeks) are naturally free
but that isn't the case for barbarians and

all in all it doesn't matter much the idea that
government should maintain liberty
would have made plato laugh and han feizi

would have said that any idiot who wasted
his ruler's time with such nonsense should be
beaten and if he repeated the error hanged

those after all were simpler times when the people
kept their place in silence until their rage
overflowed and one king fell only to see another

sit in his place and the story of the good king
keep another generation of children quiet
for who would trust the wisdom of the poor?