“The tombstones that cast the shadows that cause the flowers of our civilization to expire in darkness.”

This man said that. I think I can write that well if I take my time. But to say that while you’re running your mouth about history, that is impressive.

In my view the study of Rome is the study of Will and in this video Stefan does a nice job of charting the erosion of tribal and then national will. Since Stefan sees history as a linear, rising progression, he does not place enough significance on the tribal foundation of Roman society, but does take some time to describe aspects of tribalism in terms of social functionality which leaves the viewer with enough questions to establish a path of further inquiry.

National freedom, political freedom and individual freedom were highly valued by the Romans, unless you were a slave. To be fair, Stefan is speaking of citizenship and slaves were below the citizenship threshold.

The fact that Rome spent 90% of military effort on logistics, infrastructure and facilities seems like it would make for a bunch of construction workers rather than soldiers. The thing to recall is that with interior lines and a road system [the Incas did this too] the Romans could keep their military small, which means better quality. Logistical projects would maintain unit cohesion, and having work to do that did not drain the treasury provided an incubator for warrior skills. There was one Legion, I believe it was drawn from and stationed in Macedon, that was a continuous military entity for a thousand years.

At 43-45 Stefan begins a discussion of tribalism and self-government that should interest many of our readers. This thread peaks at 47-40 with the claim by an ancient writer that Rome stood on its heroes, which naturally befuddles Stefan but should not trouble our boxing and Robert E. Howard readers.

At 57 minutes Stefan gets into slavery and does a fair job. By 1:11 Stefan is in the economic/ethical wheelhouse he thrives in. It is almost inexplicable that Stefan uses the term “dysgenic ” at all, but lets you know he’s still expanding his perspective.

Overall I like this presentation as a way of linking materialism and ethics. This is a nice history of Rome from a libertarian viewpoint.