2011-05-12

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? is a Latin phrase traditionally attributed to the Roman poet Juvenal from his Satires (Satire VI, lines 347–8), which is literally translated as "Who will guard the guards themselves?" Also sometimes rendered as "Who watches the watchmen?", the phrase has other idiomatic translations and adaptations such as "Who will guard the guards?" In modern usage, it is frequently associated with the political philosophy of Plato and the problem of political corruption, but the original source has no known connection to Plato or political theory. The original context deals rather with the problem of ensuring marital fidelity. It has also been questioned whether the text of this particular passage is authentically part of Juvenal's Satires or is a later addition to the manuscript.

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[edit] History

This quotation is often[1] and incorrectly attributed to Plato's Republic. However, there is no phrase in the Republic which is parallel or directly synonymous to it. It is commonly cited with regard to the problem of how to ensure that persons entrusted to watch over the interests of the state do so faithfully. In the Republic, a putatively perfect society is described by Socrates, the main character in this Socratic dialogue. Socrates proposed a guardian class to protect that society, and the custodes (watchmen) from the Satires are often interpreted as being parallel to the Platonic guardians (phulakes in Greek). Socrates' answer to the problem is, in essence, that the guardians will be manipulated to guard themselves against themselves via a deception often called the "noble lie" in English. [2] As Leonid Hurwicz pointed out in his 2007 lecture on accepting the Nobel Prize in Economics, one of Socrates' interlocutors in the Republic, Glaucon, even goes so far as to say "it would be absurd that a guardian should need a guard."[3] It should be kept in mind, however, that this association with Plato is post-Classical, and this line of thought does not constitute evidence that the author of the Satires intended any association with Plato's Republic.

[edit] Usage

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The saying has since been used to explore the question of where ultimate power should reside, or alternately, the problem of ultimate power. Some forms of government attempt to solve this problem through separation of powers (the government of the United States is one example). As long as the "watchers" are a small and potentially corruptible group, the question asked is a sort of paradox, and perhaps an example of infinite regress.

The saying has been used by Anarchists and libertarians to point out that there should not be a monopoly on violence in a geographical area.[citation needed] Any form of separation of powers is an example of infinite regression. The solution proposed by right-libertarianism is an anarcho-capitalist society based on voluntaryism or the non-aggression principle.

[edit] Origin

The phrase, as it is normally quoted in Latin, comes from the Satires of Juvenal, the 1st/2nd century Roman satirist. Although in its modern usage the phrase has universal, timeless applications to concepts such as tyrannical governments and uncontrollably oppressive dictatorships, in context within Juvenal's poem it refers to the impossibility of enforcing moral behaviour on women when the enforcers (custodes) are corruptible (Satire 6.346–348):

audio quid ueteres olim moneatis amici,
"pone seram, cohibe." sed quis custodiet ipsos—
custodes? cauta est et ab illis incipit uxor.

I hear always the admonishment of my friends:
"Bolt her in, constrain her!" But who will guard
the guardians? The wife plans ahead and begins with them!.

However, modern editors regard these three lines as an interpolation inserted into the text. In 1899 an undergraduate student at Oxford, E.O. Winstedt, discovered a manuscript (now known as O, for Oxoniensis) containing 34 lines which some believe to have been omitted from other texts of Juvenal's poem.[4] The debate on this manuscript is ongoing, but even if the poem is not by Juvenal, it is likely that it preserves the original context of the phrase.[5] If so, the original context is as follows (O 29–33):

… noui
consilia et ueteres quaecumque monetis amici,
"pone seram, cohibes." sed quis custodiet ipsos—
custodes? qui nunc lasciuae furta puellae
hac mercede silent crimen commune tacetur.

… I know
the plan that my friends always advise me to adopt:
"Bolt her in, constrain her!" But who can watch
the watchmen? They keep quiet about the girl's
secrets and get her as their payment; everyone hushes it up.

[edit] Popular culture

The question "Who watches the Watchmen?" frequently appears in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' graphic novel Watchmen, though the phrase is never seen in any one place in its entirety.[6] Moore stated in an interview that the title of the series related directly to this question, although at the time of the interview Moore did not know where the sentence originated.[7]

An episode of the cartoon television series The Simpsons refers to this philosophical question. In episode 1F09, "Homer the Vigilante", when Homer is talking about having abused his vigilante powers, his eldest daughter Lisa asks, "If you're the police, who will police the police?" Homer responds, "I don't know. Coast guard?"[8]

It appears frequently in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, usually heard from Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the City Watch. He answers it in Thud!, though very briefly, with the line "I do." When asked who watches over him, he follows it up with "I do, too". It also appears in Feet of Clay and I Shall Wear Midnight.

In the 1993 version of The Untouchables the phrase is uttered by Agent Malone in the episode where illegal tactics are employed against the mob at the behest of business and civic leaders. Agent Ness answers "The people will."

In the Robert A. Heinlein novel Space Cadet, the phrase is the motto of the interplanetary peacekeeping force, The Patrol.

A variant of the phrase, "Who Watches the Watchers" was used as the title of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, although the theme of the episode dealt more with superstition than with the dangers inherent in a group holding ultimate power.

In the book Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, the phrase is used many times by Ensei Tankado who is angered by the NSA's ability to look at emails without alerting the public.

The phrase "Who will babysit the babysitters?" is heard in the song The Power of Lard by the band Lard.

In the Justice League Unlimited episode "Divided We Fall", Batman states "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" to Green Arrow, who had just convinced Superman not to disband the Justice League. Green Arrow simply replies "Who guards the guardians? We've got it covered" before taking off with Black Canary.

In Underoath's new album Ø (Disambiguation), there is a song entitled "Who will guard the guardians".

The phrase was invoked at the beginning of the annual Innocence Network UK conference in March 2011 by Dr Eamonn O'Neill, University of Strathclyde, and Chair of the conference who gave the answer: 'We do...' meaning the lawyers, investigative journalists and activists present therein.

The Prize Fighter Inferno, the side project of Coheed and Cambria's lead singer Claudio Sanchez, includes a song in the album My Brother's Blood Machine titled "Who Watches the Watchmen?"

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ E.g. Who Are The Watchmen?; T. Besley and J.A. Robinson, "Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? Civilian Control over the Military," Journal of the European Economic Association v. 8, pp. 655–663, 2010; and an earlier version of the present article.
  2. ^ Plato (2008) [c. 380 BC]. The Republic. Benjamin Jowett, transl; EBook produced by Sue Asscher and David Widger. Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm. "How then may we devise one of those needful falsehoods of which we lately spoke — just one royal lie which may deceive the rulers, if that be possible, and at any rate the rest of the city?" 
  3. ^ Book III, XII, 403E, p. 264 (Greek) and p. 265 (English), in volume I, of Plato, The Republic (ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑ), with an English translation by Paul Shorey, London, William Heinemann Ltd.; New York: G. P. Putnam’s sons, 1930, as cited by Leonid Hurwicz,"But Who Will Guard the Guardians?," Nobel Prize Lecture, December 8, 2007, Accessed 4-27-2011.
  4. ^ E.O. Winstedt 1899, "A Bodleian MS of Juvenal", Classical Review 13: 201–205.
  5. ^ Recently J.D. Sosin 2000, "Ausonius' Juvenal and the Winstedt fragment", Classical Philology 95.2: 199–206 has argued for an early date for the poem.
  6. ^ Atkinson, Doug. "The Annotated Watchmen". http://www.capnwacky.com/rj/watchmen/chapter1.html.
  7. ^ Plowright, Frank. "Preview: Watchmen". Amazing Heroes. June 15, 1986.
  8. ^ [1F09] Homer the Vigilante

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