The Greco–Roman egghead view was that events do not occur at random according to the whims of the Gods, but according to a repetitive cycle. Just as life followed birth and death followed decline, monarchy decayed into tyranny, leading to aristocracy, which decayed into oligarchy, which led in turn to selective democracy, followed by anarchy and finally back to monarchy. However one looks at it, it all begins and ends with monarchy, a very good thing as far as I’m concerned. When I was young and dumb, I flirted with republicanism, but then a very wise Greco–German proved to me that the worst king is better than the best president, at least in the highly politicised climate of the Olive Republic.
Just look at the tranquillity of the political situation in Scandinavian countries, in Holland, Belgium (a split-in-half nation) and right here in merry old England. Even Gordon Brown saw this and retired with his dignity intact. Almost. Most historical peoples began with a king. Human nature being what it is, it caused decline and eventual barbarism, but then monarchy returned. Monarchy encouraged refined manners and the rise of politeness, and opened up our true nature as rational, social and moral beings. Wise guys like Rousseau praised noble savages, but he was pretty much of a savage himself, starting with his own children.
Though modern Greece has been an intermittent monarchy since 1830, and although the monarchy was abolished by a government in 1974 after a referendum that was rigged in everything but name — King Constantine was called a collaborator with the military junta that seized power in 1967, yet he was the first to mount a coup against it and left the country as a result — there is no realistic prospect of its restoration.
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