{"id":12443,"date":"2020-06-26T10:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T17:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=12443"},"modified":"2020-06-24T14:42:39","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T21:42:39","slug":"the-triumph-of-the-country-mouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-triumph-of-the-country-mouse\/","title":{"rendered":"The Triumph of the Country Mouse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;Aesop\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Fable<\/em>s and Horace\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Satires<\/em>&nbsp;a common classical allegory is variously retold about the country mouse and his sophisticated urban cousin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The city-slicker mouse first visits his rustic cousin\u2019s simple rural hole and is quickly bored and unimpressed by both the calm and the simple fare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the roles are soon reversed, the country cousin at first is delighted by big-city mouse\u2019s sumptuous urban food scraps and the majestic halls where they may scuttle about. But as the crafty clawed house cat and sharp-toothed guard dogs threaten both, and the noise and bustle mount, the stressed-out country mouse scampers home \u2014 at last realizing that his unappreciated quiet and safe abode trump action and sophistication every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These Greek and Roman fables reflect the classical world\u2019s paradox of not particularly enjoying life in the fetid, plague-ridden, and dangerous big cities of Athens, Rome, and Alexandria that nevertheless gave the world Socrates, Virgil, and magnificent libraries. As towns grew into metropolises, their sheen as heady places for art, literature, and cultural change began to fade. In response, the once commonplace farm and distant town were increasingly romanticized, especially in such genres as pastoralism and bucolic poetry. The escape to the country estate was the ideal of the Roman senator, the same way that the \u201cranch\u201d sometimes becomes the getaway from the Washington swamp for American presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2020\/06\/protests-urban-chaos-americans-will-seek-to-avoid-big-cities\/\">Read the full article here <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review In&nbsp;Aesop\u2019s&nbsp;Fables and Horace\u2019s&nbsp;Satires&nbsp;a common classical allegory is variously retold about the country mouse and his sophisticated urban cousin. The city-slicker mouse first visits his rustic cousin\u2019s simple rural hole and is quickly bored and unimpressed by both the calm and the simple fare. When the roles are soon reversed, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-3eH","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13228,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/optimism-inc-part-5-the-most-privileged-of-the-privileged\/","url_meta":{"origin":12443,"position":0},"title":"Optimism, Inc. Part 5: The Most Privileged of the Privileged?","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Private Papers Our finally irony this week? Who is the White Privileg-ist of all? Hunter Biden, of course.\u00a0 What inner-city denizen, what white Deplorable from Butte would be given a pass if he left his crack pipe and substance in his rental car? Or was given\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/hunter-biden.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/hunter-biden.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/hunter-biden.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/hunter-biden.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/hunter-biden.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/hunter-biden.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12738,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-rural-way-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":12443,"position":1},"title":"The Rural Way","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Almost\u00a0every national Election Night reveals the same old red\/blue map. The country geographically is a sea of red. The coasts and small areas along the southern border and around the Great Lakes remain blue atolls. Yet when the maps are recalibrated for population rather\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12129,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/angry-reader-01-08-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":12443,"position":2},"title":"Angry Reader 01-08-2020","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: You are doing the same thing you claim Maddow is doing. Aren\u2019t you an elite grouper, just on the other side of Maddow? You left out many facts in your article. You need to look in the mirror. You are old enough to know better. America\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":881,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/welcome-to-the-california-outback\/","url_meta":{"origin":12443,"position":3},"title":"Welcome to the California Outback","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media The Attractions of the California Outback There are drawbacks to living in the country in general, and never more so now in rural California in particular. You country readers know all the normal trivial concerns. You must pump your own water. That means monitoring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;California&quot;","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/california\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9588,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-election-fables-of-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":12443,"position":4},"title":"The Election Fables of 2016","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review Clear choices on the issues in 2016 have been far more distinct than in 1960, 1968, or 1992. Most of what we read about the election of 2016 was untrue. Here are the most glaring of the election fables. Hillary would have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Clintons&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Clintons","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-clintons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9902,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/why-the-central-valley-votes-more-conservative\/","url_meta":{"origin":12443,"position":5},"title":"Why the Central Valley votes more conservative","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ San Francisco Chronicle Photo: Andrew Harrer, Bloomberg Voters living in 85 percent of the country preferred Donald Trump, but he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. Not long ago on a farm south of Fresno, I watched a poorly paid mechanic in silence repair a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Trump&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Voters living in 85 percent of the country preferred Donald Trump, but he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. Photo: Andrew Harrer, Bloomberg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ww3.hdnux.com\/photos\/57\/32\/14\/12428082\/3\/920x1240.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12447,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12443\/revisions\/12447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}