Qui non defendit, alio culpante,
* * * * * * * *
hic niger est, hanc tu, Romane, caveto."
The inscription would seem to be but an adaptation of Horace's maxim.
C.B.B.
Political Maxim—when first used.
The political maxim, or phrase, inquired after by C. is Burke's. It occurs in his celebrated Thoughts on the Cause of the present Discontent, published in 1770, in the course of his defence of party, a few pages from the end. A short extract will show the connection in which it is introduced:—
"No man, who is not inflamed by vain-glory into enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his single, unsupported, desultory, unsystematic endeavours are of power to defeat the subtle designs and united cabals of ambitious citizens. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice, in a contemptible struggle."
I have some suspicion that the maxim may be found, with probably a slight variation of expression, repeated in one of Burke's later tracts. But this is certainly its first appearance.
G.L.C.