re: #71 Alyosha

I’m now trying to think of some gorgeous monument built whether to the glory of God or for the edification of a ruler of some vanity, ostensibly for the former reason, that could not have been accomplished without an impoverished nation. I guess you’d have to go back to classical Greece but I guess my idea of an enlightened population might be romanticised.

Yes, well, I imagine that the forebears of most of us during that period probably lived in one room huts w/dirt floors w/a fire in the middle of the room, were under the control of the “lord” and had little to call their own, most of it going whoever ruled over them w/a bit left to eat. Unless you were born into a certain class, there was very little way to improve your lot unless you were able to curry favor in some fashion.