Justice, Politics, Customs
“The first standard of legal validity in the Western
legal tradition appears in Hesiod's religious poem Works and Days,
circa 700 B. C. E. Hesiod presents an archetypal jurisprudence that
integrates law's three dimensions ... human justice ... moral
dimension, ... political dimension, ... custom and social order ...
historical dimension.”
“Justice "sets the laws straight with
righteousness" and distinguishes men from beasts. ... moral
principles establish the validity standard for human law and customs,
and conforming laws and customs establish the nomoi (law). Just men
obey the nomoi, and obedience brings peace and prosperity.
Disobedience brings punishment to the individual and his city through
[poverty, disease, suicide],* and military
disaster.” IEP
Works and Days,
Hesiod, circa 700 b. c. e.
Direct translation: "But they
who give straight judgements to strangers and to the men of the land,
and go not aside from what is just, their city flourishes, and the
people prosper in it:" - [225]
In a more modern semantics: "peace and plenty
... flourishes wherever equal justice, such as rendering fair verdicts to
foreigners and citizens alike, is preserved." [225]
Over twenty seven centuries ago Hesiod described the difference between Obama and Trump.
They who judge truly immigrants and citizens alike bring prosperity.
They who lie and cheat create division, poverty, resentment, and sickness.