Freedom in the Western World

An anonymous Spanish inquisitor is said to have remarked, apropos of the terrors of the Inquisition, that It is no great matter whether they that die on account of religion be guilty or innocent, provided we terrify the people by such examples. (Herbert J. Muller, Freedom in the Western World, p. 173.)... 

Muller, H. J. Freedom in the Western World From the Dark Ages to the Rise of Democracy. New York Harper Row, 1963. 

Greek culture stood for humanism and aspired towards a rational explanation of our world and all its phenomena. This attitude has permeated the western world. The aim was and remained freedoms, moderation, balance. The Athenians laid the foundation. The element silver was a part of the spadework. The mineralogists of antiquity, who searched and found the silver veins in the mountains, and the 30 000 slaves doing the hard work of mining, created the material basis for Athens position as a great power among the Mediterranean countries. They should be remembered when Greek culture and its intellectual characteristics are described and assessed. 

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