Thus the favorite expression of Istrian politicians. Whenever they want to make sure that someone understands their intentions perfectly well, they quote Seneca the Younger. You help us, and we will help you. Understand? Which is a definite proof, if such a proof is needed, that Istria used to be a Roman province. As well as that it has remained as politically backwards as it was once upon a time.

Addendum I (January 3, 2011)

Am I inventing things? Not at all. This story I heard from a close friend from Motovun who had heard it himself. In fact, the Roman expression was directed at him personally by one of the leading Istrian politicians, Emil Soldatić. Until a couple of years ago, he was the secretary general of the Istrian Democratic Assembly, the leading party on the peninsula since independence. One of the closest associates of Ivan Jakovčić, the party chief for most of the period, Soldatić is now on Motovun’s municipal council, where he has been playing a leading role since municipal elections two years ago. His father used to be the director of the hotel under the Yugoslav regime, too. Although Soldatić’s family has been in Istria for a few centuries only, he has grasped the old expression perfectly. And he has been applying it with aplomb.

Addendum II (September 13, 2012)

And who was the close friend from Motovun who told me about Emil Soldatić’s Roman proclivities? It was Ivo Vrtarić. Requiescat in pace. Having felt the hilltown politics on my own skin, I was reluctant of mentioning his name while he was alive. He had already suffered the ire of municipal potentates himself, and he did not need any more of their attentions. Anyhow, the story has been rounded off at last.