The Federalist Papers - Alexander Hamilton [337]
p. 182. nothing but frightful and distorted shapes—"Gorgons, Hydras,andChimerasdire…: In Greek mythology, gorgons were she-monsters whose terrible appearance could turn men to stone. The hydra was a many-headed serpent slain by Hercules. Unless cauterized, each cut-off head sprouted two new heads. Chimeras were also female, usually depicted as breathing fire and as having a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail. In non-mythological contexts, the term "chimera" connotes an illusion or an unrealizable dream.
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p. 184. Inthe Ottoman or Turkish empirethe sovereign…has no right to impose a new tax: The Ottoman Empire was established in the thirteenth century by the Osmanli or Ottoman Turks. Starting from the territory of the preceding Seljuk dynasty, the Ottomans expanded into regions previously governed by the Byzantines. In 1453, the Ottomans conquered Constantinople—thereby destroying the Byzantine Empire—and began to advance into southeastern Europe. At its height, the Ottoman Empire extended from North Africa, through the Near East, and into the Balkans. A long period of decay began in the eighteenth century, but the empire was not finally dismembered until after World War I.
p. 184. he permits thebashawsor governors of provinces to pillage the people at discretion: "Bashaw" (a variant of Pasha) designated a man of high, usually hereditary, rank in the Ottoman Empire, especially a military or civil official empowered to collect taxes in the provinces of Turkey or North Africa.
p. 185. What substitute can there be imagined for thisignis fatuusin finance…: An ignis fatuus is a deceptive goal or misleading ideal. The term is Latin, meaning, literally, foolish fire, and refers to the light of burning swamp gas that sometimes appears at night over marshy ground.
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p. 202. an opposite interest prevailed: in one, thepatrician; in the other, theplebeian: Patricians were a class of hereditary Roman aristocrats, dating back probably to the time of the Roman kings. In the early Roman republic, the patricians dominated the most important priestly offices and gradually came to monopolize the political (i.e., magisterial) offices, though the Senate remained open to non-patricians. Between the fifth and third centuries BC, however, these monopolies were challenged and broken in a series of conflicts with the plebeians or plebs. The plebs comprised the mass of Roman citizens, mostly poor. Driven by debt and a shortage, or maldistribution, of land and food, the plebs withdrew from Rome in 494 BC and established on a nearby hill a rival polity with its own assembly (concilium plebis), magistrates (especially the plebeian tribunes), laws (plebiscites), and religious practices. The crisis ended with the Roman republic’s recognition of this plebeian organization, and over the next two centuries (and two more secession crises), the plebeian regime was fully integrated into Roman political life. The assembly of the plebs, for example, became the inspiration and basis of the comitia tributa (see the next note), and by the mid-fourth century the consulship and the major priestly offices had been divided between the two orders. Debt relief and the distribution of conquered lands to the plebs helped to seal the new bargain.
p. 202. I allude to theCOMITIA CENTURIATAandCOMITIA TRIBUTA: A "comitia" (actually a plural noun) was a popular assembly in ancient Rome. There were two main types (a third, the comitia curiata, was concerned mostly with religious matters). The comitia centuriata, in which power was heavily slanted in favor of the patrician families and older and wealthier citizens, enacted laws, elected higher magistrates, declared war and peace, and served as the final court of appeal in capital cases involving Roman citizens. The comitia tributa was a much less oligarchic body, organized by territorial tribe,