Beauty and the Professor (A Modern Fairy Tale Duet 1)

Finally Jeremy spoke up from beside her. “It’s a way of explaining current behavior based on something that happened in the past.”

“Excellent. Framing the present using the past. What’s the benefit of doing this?”

“If something was true then, then it holds that it will be true again,” another student supplied.

“Using the past as context. Good.”

“Consistency,” a surly-faced boy said. “Rules are established and then followed.”

“Yes. Right. What else?” When no one answered, he continued, “Why is precedent such an important tool that they put it front and center, first chapter in the textbook?”

Erin looked down at the glossy white pages with stark-black ink. A few sentences had been highlighted from the previous owner. There was a lot of small text but nothing to give her a clue as to why this was first—or even important at all.

Blake seemed to settle in, resting his elbows on the chair back in front of him.

“There was a time that no one could match the power of Rome,” he began. “One who came close was Carthage, with its advantageous trade position and well-developed culture. Unfortunately, the Romans considered the Carthaginians to be savages and a threat to their way of life. Or so they claimed. In truth they simply wanted the wealth of Carthage. So, following an inspection of the city and surrounding countryside, a Roman commission reported to the Senate ’an abundance of ship-building materials’ and claimed the Carthaginians had built up their fleet in violation of the treaty.”

Blake paused his story and reached back to take a sip of water. That moment of quiet seemed to give the girl across from Erin courage.

“You’re slanting it,” she blurted out. As thirty faces turned to her, she blushed, looking like she wanted to take it back.

Blake turned to her too, unoffended. “How so?” he asked mildly.

“You’re telling us their motivations, that the Romans really just wanted their wealth, but you don’t know that. Maybe they believed the other people were a threat.”

“Maybe so. And that’s a benefit of history, we can look inside their private writings and their memoirs. We can get a firmer grasp of what they thought outside their public speeches. Unlike current events, where all we have is the public view.”

“Another benefit of precedent,” Erin said under her breath.

He flashed her a quick smile. “Yes. Exactly. Now the Carthaginians knew they were going to get their asses handed to them.” One of the boys snickered at the language here. Blake continued. “So they pleaded with the Senate, swearing that they were not in violation of the treaty, promising that they would surrender without a fight.

“So the clever Romans came up with three challenges. On the first, they requested three hundred sons from the noble families as captives. Carthage sent them over in a ship. For the second challenge, they demanded that Carthage send them armor and weaponry. Carthage complied. When it came time for the final challenge, the diplomat explained to the Carthaginians that they would need to move their city, the buildings, everything, ten miles to the left.”

Someone snorted. “Why?”

“The location near the sea had corrupted Carthage’s temperament,” Blake said. “At least according to the commissioner.”

Quiet laughs of disbelief rang out in the small room. It was ridiculous, and yet it was real. History.

“Here Carthage had no choice but to refuse. Imagine moving a whole infrastructure ten miles to the left. It was impossible. Clearly Rome was looking for an excuse to invade and steal their resources.”

“Bullshit,” said the boy who’d spoken earlier, the one whose face seemed set in a perpetual frown. He was large too, bulky but also intimidating. The chair and table they used looked too small for him.

“Sorry?” Blake asked casually.

“I said it’s bullshit. You said you aren’t here to tell us what to think, but you’re doing just that.”

“Do you disagree with my representation of the Third Punic War?” he inquired.

The boy made a rude sound. “You aren’t talking about any Punic War or the Romans, and we all know it.”

“Then who am I talking about?”

“You’re talking about the Iraq War. About Bush. This is some liberal propaganda.”

“It’s just a story. Why does it have to mean anything?”

“Because—” The boy broke off. He snorted softly. “Because it’s a goddamn precedent.”