St Augustine relates a story from a lost portion of Cicero’s De Republica in which a pirate, who was taken captive by Alexander the Great, was asked by Alexander, ‘What is your idea, in infesting the sea? ’ The pirate adamantly replied, ‘The same as yours, in infesting the earth! But because I do it with a tiny craft, I’m called a pirate: because you have a mighty navy, you’re called an emperor.’