From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: efor6920@bigpond.net.au   
   Subject: Re: A Few Observations On Turnabout Intruder   
      
      
   "Steven L."  wrote in message    
   news:S4ydnVVKC6_yGELXnZ2dnUVZ_vKdnZ2d@earthlink.com...   
   >   
   > No.  There probably was a jewish rabbi named "Jesus" who was executed by    
   > the Romans.  You can claim that subsequent men invented most of the things    
   > he was supposed to have said--but such embellishment isn't unknown even    
   > with other truly historical figures like Julius Caesar and Alexander the    
   > Great and Cyrus of Persia.   
   >   
      
   Indeed, Herodotus puts a speech in the mouth of Darius of Persia that is    
   pretty much the best arguement *against* democracy I have ever seen. Greek    
   and Roman historians routinely put speeches into the mouths of famous    
   historical personalities. They also frequently included stories about the    
   historical figure that were well known to be inventions of popular    
   imagination. Thucydides even explains the process to us, In the case of the    
   speeches it is used as a convenient device to sum up the story so far to    
   quote Thucydides 'the speech is what the hero probably would have said if he    
   had the time to gather his thoughts and write an elaborate speech', the    
   stories were used because while they were, in of themselves, fictional they    
   were in keeping with the the personality trait people beleived he or she    
   possesed, in other words it was widely beleived this is what they would have    
   done if they had ever been faced with that situation for real.   
      
   A good example is the story of Democritas. The athenians every few years    
   held a vote at which elites with to much power were exiled by the popular    
   assembly, the story goes that on this occasion Democritas was one of those    
   with enough power to be a danger to the state and hence was nominated as a    
   candidate for this ostracism, anyway as the votes were tallied it became    
   clear that Democritas was in a tie with another greek when a farmer arrived    
   from the outskirts of Attica and as there was a tie the elders decided to    
   allow him to cast a late vote. Then a complication arose, the farmer was    
   illiterate, Democritas (who the farmer did not know personally and therefore    
   did not recognise) asked the man to tell him his vote so he could write it    
   for him.   
      
   "I am voting to ostracise Democritas" said the farmer   
      
   "Why ?" Democritas enquired (not revealing his own identity) "What has    
   Democritas done to harm you ?"   
      
   "Nothing really" stated the farmer "It's just that these days all I ever    
   hear is Democritas did this, Democritas did that, I am sick to my stomach of    
   hearing about Democritas, it is high time he was brought back a bit"   
      
   The story ends with Democritas writing his own name on a pottery shard    
   (these were used as voting chits by the classical Athenians), depositing it    
   in the collection bin and heading off for his ten years of exile.   
      
   Did it really happen, lets just say there are certain flaws in the story,    
   like the fact that Democritas had been dead for almost three centuries    
   before Athens began its democratic reforms, that make it highly improbable.    
   But Democritas was noted for exceptional honesty and this story conveys the    
   idea of a man who is exceptionally honest. It conveys the theme so well that    
   it became a story attached to many greeks who had exceptional honesty as    
   their notable trait.   
      
      
   Cheers   
   Fozzi    
      
      
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