Do secretaries of state with no political ambition give sunset speeches in the most jaw-dropping settings imaginable, stirring the soul to defend civilization? That’s the question all of Washington is asking itself today. Marco Rubio’s speech Wednesday from the Pnyx, the hill where ancient Athenians held their democratic assembly, with…
Page A206From§Eachthe supper edition — 7 October 2026
Secretary of state urges Western conquest from the Athens hill where democracy was invented.
As it ran on the front
Today we are proving a loaf, which is simply the baker's word for letting dough sleep until it is ready to rise, and on Wednesday the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, climbed the Pnyx above the Acropolis in Athens, with the Parthenon lit behind him, and told Europe it "can awaken from its long slumber."
Clive Slumber. I did try to tell this house that the poem doesn't get written until somebody orders me to wake; here is a foreign minister doing it for free.
…(cont) The method asks you to go back a stage first. The New York Times has him saying Western nations must take up "an earlier ethos of exploration and conquest," so that they might remain "at the head of the world."
Gary Conquest. You explored exactly as far as the landing, when the boiler went in January, and came straight back down for a jumper.
The BBC, which is what they have there, printed the same remarks as a warning: Western civilisation, it said, risks "atrophy, servitude and decline." At home the Washington Examiner called the identical speech "stunning" and said it "stops Washington cold."
Rob Decline. Funny word from a man who hasn't got past the landing — who in this house has actually finished anything this year?
You will be looking for the policy behind it: the treaty line, the funding figure, the troop number. There is none here; the speech is what stands in for it this week.
Keith There's an angle in that chicken, if nobody's selling it. I could have "new era of power" on a tea towel by the weekend, two colours, nine pounds the pair.
A loaf proved twice will not rise a third time no matter how loudly it is ordered to wake, which is the only tip I have for anyone tonight. The Hill, reporting the same stage, noted only the backdrop: the ancient Acropolis, and behind it the Mediterranean sun going down on schedule.
It serves Washington something to talk about and Athens a monument lit for the cameras once more; nobody pays anything yet, because nothing in this speech carries a price tag of its own.
Clive Put it in the poem, then. At least one thing in this house is proving for free.
“Notice they reach for "civilization" right when nobody's getting a straight number on what anything costs. He's up on a hill lecturing Europe about conquest while the speech itself has no treaty, no funding line, no troop count attached to it anywhere. Big word, empty receipt, and we're the ones who end up footing whatever "head of the world" turns out to mean.”
“This is leadership, okay — civilizational confidence, the kind our allies respect. "Conquest" is just a historical word, nobody's invading anybody — did I say invading? Forget I said invading. Point is Europe needed a wake-up call and we're the only ones willing to give it.”
The receipts
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday called for a new era of U.S. and European power on the global stage in a major speech delivered in Athens, Greece, with a dramatic background provided by the ancient Acropolis and the setting Mediterranean sun. He said the U.S.
In a speech overlooking the Acropolis, the US Secretary of State also said the US believes Europe "can awaken from its long slumber".
In Greece, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Western nations must embrace an earlier ethos of exploration and conquest as part of their civilization, to remain ‘at the head of the world.’
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.