298: BORIS’S CLASSICAL PEDIGREE?
I have a soft spot for Boris. Wearing my classical hat, I must pay tribute to his Etonian prize-winning Greek verses, his sparkling book on the Romans, and his (albeit losing the audience vote) stalwart performance in that great Greece v. Rome debate (on YouTube) against the redoubtable Mary Beard.
Of course, having reached his apogee with the electoral crushing of Corbyn, Boris’ star has dimmed to a nadir. He has been repeatedly flayed in the Guardian by Simon Jenkins (also on YouTube). A typical headline reads ‘More Demagogue than Demi-God’. Mary Beard in her ‘A Don’s Life’ columns likens him to the infamous Publius Clodius Pulcher, who will conclude this survey.
‘Demagogue’ is an anglicised version of the Greek noun ‘Demagogos’ (literally ‘leader of the people’.) Originally neutral in sense, it later acquired a pejorative sense (as did ‘Tyrant’). In American usage, the word
