Man's Lot

In the previous post I mentioned Bertrand De Jouvenel. The epigraph he stitches together for his work On Power:The Natural History of its Growth brilliantly captures the perennial precariousness of the political.

QUAERITUR:
Pone seram, cohibe. Sec quis custodiet ipso Custodes?
- Juvenal, VI, 347

RESPONDENDUM:
Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilat qui custodit eam.
- Solomon, Psalm 127:01

[THE QUESTION:
"Keep your wife under guard." Yes, but who will guard the guardians?
THE ANSWER:
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain]