1933 Cedrus Yearbook

.04 VIZ 3§4,6 okte '311 It6 411; CHAPTER ONE Law and Government VICTORY OFSAMOTHRACE The Victory of Somothrace is one of the most sublime expressions of movement left to us by antique art. The irresistible energy, the vic- torious swing of the body, and the muscular strength and triumphant grace seem to animate the marble. The Winged Victory was carved to commemorate a naval victory of the Greeks over the Egyptians in the fourth century B. C. The figure originally stood on the prow of a galley, blowing a trumpet. The statue now stands in the Louvre at Paris. ROM time immemorial, the spirit of man, born free, has everywhere been in chains. Through these social institutions, as we call them,are conserved to future gener- ations the contributions of bygone ages; without them, social life would be disintegrated and unstable. Social order is a sacred right which serves as a basis for all others. This social order is maintained by laws, the arbitary rules established by governments. Again,law is "that portion of the established thought and habit which has gained distinct and formal recognition in the shape of uniform rules backed by the authority and power of government." And government itself is, in its widest sense, the ruling power in a polit- ical society. It rests on the fundamental idea of control and obedience; it implies author- ity and a submission to that authority. So far as we know,government, with its attendant laws of one form or another, has existed from the first population of the world. We are told in legendary tales that Spar- ta's government was devised by Lycurgas; that Moses, Numa,and Alfred the Great in like manner shaped the government of their respective nations.Butfrom time to time through- out history's pages, we find men, who, dissatisfied with mere legend, have attemptedto find a metaphysical basis for the right to establish governments and enaet statutes. First was the theological view, that power has been divinely delegated to the State. Next,the Church, objecting, set itself up as the only divinely ordained institution, and Page Seven V,F;