Kemi Badenoch, in an act of unusual awareness for an MP, intends to learn from her own party’s mistakes as well as Labour’s. She must have been reading the Greek statesman Plutarch’s ‘How to profit from your enemies’, one of his 78 essays and dialogues on a wide range of topics, from the intelligence of animals to old men in politics.
Politics, he said, always encouraged spite, envy, and rivalry. These encouraged the wise man ‘to stay on guard, do everything with due care and attention, and lead a more mindful life’. The reason he gave for this was that there was a weakness in us that made us ‘feel more ashamed of our faults before our enemies than our friends’. For example, many thought Rome secure after conquering Carthage and Greece, but Scipio disagreed: ‘We are the ones on the slippery slope because we have left ourselves no one to fear or to put us to shame.’
When untrue things are said of you, Plutarch went on, you should not reject them because they are false but consider whether anything you said or did might have justified them; and if it did, take care to avoid a repeat. Guard your speech – for as Plato said: ‘Nothing is lighter than a word but nothing heavier than the punishment it can attract from gods and men.’ Do not grudge praise or honour to an enemy who is justly famous. That will enhance you, and if you subsequently find fault with him, you will be believed. But if someone gets the better of you, note how they do it and put all your efforts into doing the same, like Themistocles who used to say that he could not get to sleep for envying Miltiades’ majestic victory at the battle of Marathon.
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