Notas de leitura

Sobre a importância das instituições:

"Greeks are fascinated by Rome's winning ways in global politics, and characteristically began to theorise some sort of explanation. Polybius [...] offers no simple answer [...] he does stress the moral impression made by Romans: " Italians in general have a natural advantage [...] in physical and personal courage, but at same time their institutions contribute very powerfully towards fostering a spirit of bravery in their young men. He also cites the Roman fear of divine retribution after death, superstition though it may be, as fostering honesty: "At any rate, the result is that among the Greeks, apart from anything else, men who hold public office cannot be trusted with the safekeeping of so much as a single talent, even if they have ten accounts and as many seals and twice as many witnesses, whereas among the Romans their magistrates handle large sums of money and scrupulously perform their duty because they have given their word on oath [...]".

Uma curiosidade: Dante, a analisar a evolução das línguas românicas, antecipa Darwin, no que respeita ao poder das mudanças graduais, e à dificuldade dessas mudanças serem perceptíveis:

"[...] These ancestral differences were the predictable result of gradual change as Darwin was to find, with a different subject matter and timescale, five centuries later: [Dante diz] "Nor should what we say appear any more strange to see a young person grown up, whom we do not see grow up: for what moves gradually is not at all recognized by us, and the longer someting needs for its change to be recognized the more stable we think it is [...]"

Tiradas das pp. 279, 321, respectivamente, do "Empires of the Word - A  Language History of the World", Nicholas Ostler (Feira do Livro).