Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
Until well into the seventeenth century, the Ottoman sultans balanced their dependence on the political and military service of the Turkish aristocracy by recruiting a slave army of Muslim converts (perhaps seven or eight thousand a year) separated in childhood from their Christian parents. Devshirme recruitment obliterated the ties of kinship and
... See moreJohn Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
Every citizen belonged to a mess, and dined with the other members; he had to make a contribution in kind from the produce of his lot. It was the theory of the state that no Spartan citizen should be destitute, and none should be rich. Each was expected to live on the produce of his lot, which he could not alienate except by free gift. None was all
... See moreBertrand Russell • History of Western Philosophy
which he believed to be legitimate, and as the serf looked upon his own inferiority as a consequence of the immutable order of nature, it is easy to imagine that a mutual exchange of good-will took place between two classes so differently gifted by fate.
Alexis de Tocqueville • Democracy in America, Volume I and II (Optimized for Kindle)
By AD 1000 this seigneurial system had hardened into an elaborate structure of obligations and overlordship, and had become a powerful engine for exploiting land and labour to produce military power – in the characteristic form of the mounted knight.
John Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
What we know with the greatest certainty concerning the client is, that he could not leave one patron and choose another, and that he was bound, from father to son, to the same family. If we knew only this, it would be sufficient to convince us that his condition could not be a very desirable one. Let us add that the client was not a proprietor of
... See moreNuma Denis Fustel de Coulanges • The Ancient City: A Study of the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome (Illustrated)
“They are slaves.” No, they are human beings. “They are slaves.” No, they are housemates. “They are slaves.” No, they are lowborn friends.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca • Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius (The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca)


Hieropolis in Phrygia (modern Turkey), was from an entirely different social and economic class from Seneca or Thrasea: he was an ex-slave, who was poor all his life.