The societal dangers of luxury
- sciart0
- May 10
- 2 min read
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The Roman writer, Tacitus, argued that the Roman Empire was built by enslaving conquered people who became accustomed to fine living and luxury.
Technology today has become so essential to our daily lives that it seems impossible to break free of it. It’s as much a cage as a luxury.
Being dependent on a thing gives it power over you. To need something or someone is, for better or worse, to limit yourself.
Excerpt: "The Roman army was one of the most militarily effective and successful forces the world has ever known. On open land, their legions were pretty much unbeatable. But the Roman Empire was not built on the back of military genius and short, stabbing swords alone. The legions might have beaten a people, but they did not subdue them. It was the love of luxury and easy living that did that.
The Britons, Tacitus noted, were enslaved, not by chains, but by their desire for good wine and elegant dinner parties. In fact, the governor of Britain, Agricola, deliberately sought to pacify this tribal warrior society by the “delightful distractions” of warm baths, togas, and education.
As Tacitus wrote, “The naïve Britons described these things as ‘civilization,’ when in fact they were simply part of their enslavement.”
Comfort and convenience had morphed painted, screaming warriors into genteel, pacified civilians. (It should be noted that Tacitus likely over-exaggerated all this. Britain was never as compliant as France or Spain in the Roman Empire.)
The use of luxury to win over a people is a tactic mirrored across time.
Faced with a trade deficit with China, the British Empire flooded their country with cheap opium they had shipped over from India. A luxury drug became an addiction, and the British traded their opium for porcelain, tea, and silk."