Publilius Syrus Quotes
You should not live one way in private, another in public.
Syrus, Publilius. The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave. Translated by Darius Lyman, L. E. Barnard & Company, 1856.
For Mr. Ryan, this separation was a problem, but for most American political leaders, they have been able to maintain this separation without much problem. John F. Kennedy was particularly eloquent on how this is done, and even Presidents Carter and Obama—perhaps the most overtly religious presidents in our history, kept religion and politics separate. Ryan’s running mate, Mitt Romney also claimed to have no problem separating his Mormon religion from his political persona. Dwight Eisenhower never even belonged to a church when he was President. The Founding Fathers almost all followed this separation mode.
Publilius Syrus (fl. 85–43 BC), was a Latin writer, best known for his sententiae. He was a Syrian from Antioch who was brought as a slave to Roman Italy. Syrus was brought to Rome on the same ship that brought Manilius, the astronomer and Staberius Eros, the grammarian. By his wit and talent, Syrus won the favour of his master, who granted him manumission and educated him. He became a member of the Publilia gens. Publilius' name, due to the palatalization of 'l' between two 'i's in the Early Middle Ages, is often presented by manuscripts (and some printed editions) in corrupt form as 'Publius', Publius being a very common Roman praenomen.
