"There is another reason why it 'organises' all this culture. In every nation some kind of intellectual life goes on. It must be either free or controlled. If it is let alone, the force of ideas is such that, in the long run, they will shape the political structure. The State, if it means to preserve itself as an Autocracy, must get control over the intellectual life of the nation. In ancient times it succeeded for a time. In the Middle Ages the Church tried the same thing. In modern times most States have _not_ made the attempt, but this State _has_ made the attempt. It has done no more than Plato would have done. It has done it rather differently perhaps, but it has followed the same idea." "They would feel rather flattered, don't you think," I said, "if you told them they were carrying out Plato's principles?" "Perhaps they would, but that only means they have learnt nothing from twenty centuries of political experience." "On the contrary, it looks as if they have learnt a good deal," I said. "They have learnt how to make a nation of slaves and tyrants." "And yet they don't seem to mind being slaves, if they are slaves." "I wonder," replied Johnson. "A hundred years in the life of a nation is not a long time. Human nature is a strange thing. They kiss the rod so affectionately that I don't mind how long _they_ remain in bondage: all I care about is that they should not make slaves of the rest of us." "Do you think there is any danger?" I asked. "I do indeed," replied Johnson. "A great danger." "Why, how could it be brought about?" I said. "In all sorts of ways. Liberty is the most precarious possession of the human race. Very few nations have possessed it for long together." "But surely," I said, "Meccania is so unpopular, to put it mildly, with almost all other nations, that her influence can hardly be dangerous."