The crisis of millions of refugees, especially Syrians, is putting the pillars of the old Europe to test . And no wonder. The data given by Amnesty International are shocking. More than two hundred thousand people have died in Syria and thirteen million need urgent humanitarian attendance inside the country. About fifty percent of the Syrian population is in status displacement.

data The chilling and shocking stories could also be given of Kosovar, Eritrean, Nigerian or Somali refugees fleeing terrorism and repression in search of a new life. They are not necessary to realize the scale of the problem. As far as Europe is concerned, hundreds of thousands of people have illegally entered its territory in recent months and hundreds of thousands are seeking political asylum as they are crammed into camps fleeing in terror from the threats of their own and others.

Social crises have always been conceived as times of change, of regeneration, but also of recovery of lost ideals. That is why societies emerge from crises strengthened, renewed, fresh. Crises serve to test the resilience of a social group , the vision of a political community, the moral quality of a people. It seems to me that the refugee crisis should serve Europe to proudly display on internship the enormous moral quality of its own values. One of them is undoubtedly its humanitas. I would like to refer to it in these reflections, because I believe that if Europe has been bitterly divided in this conflict for such a long time, it has been precisely because it has forgotten this core value of its political constitution, which for centuries has ennobled it so much.

Humanitas is a word of Roman creation, although, like everything Roman, it has a solid Greek foundation. The ideal of humanitas came to Rome through the famous circle of the Scipiones and was particularly developed by Cicero, during the Republican twilight. Humanitas was probably the favorite word of this thinker and politician, and one that, it is said, Julius Caesar tried to avoid at all costs. Nor was it particularly appreciated by certain Roman jurists, sometimes too focused on their own little world of legal technicalities. Humanitas respects the law, but transcends it because it is above legal rules and established patterns.

For Cicero, as historian Peter Gay explains so well, humanitas was an ideal, a way of life and thought, rather than a mere doctrine. Humanitas was, and is, the manifestation of the behavior of a cultivated, virtuous, highly conscious human being. The person who develops his own humanitas is confident in his talent, is educated, correct in the attention with others, decent in his social behavior and protagonist of social progress. The man (woman) with humanitas becomes more man (or woman): he (or she) perfects himself (or herself). Moreover, Cicero goes so far as to affirm that man with the fullness of humanitas, in a certain way, is divinized: ... est homini cum deo similitudio. Humanitas constituted the sign of identity of a Roman in relation to the rest of mortals.

The more a country shows solidarity, the more loyalty it will find.

This humanist ideal is opposed to any utilitarianism centered on self-interest, whether individual or collective, and to any false excuse based on useless bureaucracies. Humanitas leads us to have a high regard for others, it invites us to benevolence, compassion, solidarity. The ideal of humanitas can be applied not only to individuals, in their singularity, but to all collectives, most particularly to political communities. That is why, for centuries, especially in Modernity and the Enlightenment, humanitas has been one of the keys to the European soul.

Sed humanius est (but it is more humane, more benevolent, more equitable, and therefore more just in the end) was a phrase, along with other similar ones, with which in antiquity an excessively rational, mundane and grounded argument was turned around, which could contain part of reason, but not all of it, and therefore should not stand as a decisive reason to solve a problem. It is true that this person is a criminal and a danger to society and deserves capital punishment, but it is more humane(sed humanius est) to keep him alive because we are not masters of other people's lives.

It is true that this tenant should be put on the street for not having paid the rent, but it is more humane to grant him an extension because he is ill. It is true that this worker has failed to fulfill one of her obligations and can be fired, but it is more humane to keep her on work space because she has to feed a few mouths. I believe that this logic of sed humanius est is what European leaders should use to rise to the occasion and solve this refugee crisis once and for all.

Yes, it is true that this crisis is costing Europe a lot of money, a lot of effort, a lot of commitment, and that it is expected to receive in return a very good return leave . Yes, it is true that the principle of sovereignty protects a State against an invasion of refugees. Yes, it is true that a generous opening of borders causes a "pull effect" that can contribute to aggravate the crisis. Yes, it is true that refugees can eventually take work jobs away from nationals and that the labor crisis can be aggravated for a few years. Yes, all that is true, completely true, sed humanius est, but it is much more humane and fairer, despite all the calculations of our reason, to act with benevolence and to welcome refugees with much more solidarity and generosity than what is being done.

The more a country shows solidarity sample , the more loyalty it will find, not only among refugees, but also among its own, because solidarity is source of moral unity. By welcoming a refugee, a society consolidates itself, ennobles itself, finds itself. By selflessly welcoming a refugee, a society overcomes the rules of do ut des, of pure and calculating reciprocity, to turn them into a stimulating service to others. This crisis is a golden opportunity to show the world that old Europe still has much to contribute, and that it is capable of solving a global problem without feeling victimized. Europe has traditionally been a land that has dispensed humanitas to humanity. And it is time to show it again.

It will be said that I am sinning of utopianism. I don't think so. Sometimes we call utopias to painful truths, to noble and vehement desires, to complicated goals, to stormy summits. We are living through difficult times in Europe. That is why, today more than ever, we must shout out loudly, very loudly, to this old continent: Europe, remember your old ideal of humanitas!