Note 253 — Chapter XVI · JEWS IN ROME DURING THE EARLY EMPIRE

The phrase referred to is Ubi bene ibi patria, although just this form of it may not be ancient. However, the idea, that a fatherland might brutally ill-use its citizens and still claim their loyalty, was something that the average Greek scarcely recognized even in theory. When Socrates propounds some such doctrine in Plato’s Crito, 51 B, he is consciously advocating a paradox. It was regarded as a noble ideal somewhat beyond the reach of ordinary men. Its disregard involved no moral turpitude.

In Cicero, Tusc. v. 37, 108, the phrase runs, Patria est ubicunque est bene. That is an evident adaptation of a Greek phrase, such as the one in Aristoph. Plut. 1151, πατρὶς γάρ ἐστι πᾶσ’ ἵν’ ἂν πράττη τις εὖ.