Seditio civium hostium est occasio.
(Publilius Syrus, Sententia 621)

The dissension of the people is an occasion for the enemy.

pron = seh-DIH-tee-oh CIH-wee-oom HOS-tee-oom ehst ohk-KAH-see-oh

Comment: This is the general sentiment when views that are alternate
to the status quo arise--in almost any setting. The voice of the
status quo warns: the dissenters, the trouble-makers are just
destroying our unity, and without our unity we are vulenerable to our
enemies.

I always marvel at this phenomenon when it crops up in our own
culture. Certainly Viet Nam protesters were told this, as were civil
rights protesters. One Sunday after delivering a very pointed homily
to my congregation about the vestiges of racisim in our community, a
"committee" of four elderly women approached me after the service to
say: why do you want to go and stir things up?

Dissension always stirs things up, and often changes things. The
question to reflect on is whether the change is worth the trouble that
the dissension will cause--and then, worth it, to whom?