HKB
1 passages · search this phrase →
Often appears with: necessity of caution · justice as a virtue · equity, mercy, and pardon · contracts, oaths, and obligation · blame vs pardon · betrayal
Usually: argument (1) · injustice endured (1) · exhortation (1) · skepticism (1)
“Adequate securities are oaths, children, wives, and, strongest of all, a blameless past.” Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) · precept
“To trust absolutely no one is to make all action impossible; but reasonable action, taken after receiving adequate security, cannot be censured.” Polybius, The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) · insight
Polybius argues that blaming or pardoning people who suffer “catastrophes” depends on precautions taken, warning against rashly placing oneself in the enemy’s power and stressing adequate securities.
[Sidenote: Betrayal of Achaeus by Bolis. See *infra*, ch. 17-23.] +2.+ The conclusion, then, is that those who put themselves in the power of the enemy from want of proper precaution deserve blame; but those who use every practicable precaution not so: for to trust absolutely no one is to make all action impossible; but reasonable action, taken after receiving adequate security, cannot be censured. Adequate securiti…