“City walls were built as a physical boundary for the inhabitants, to protect them from the vile hordes outside, but they were also a kind of moral boundary, dividing the city dwellers from the devilish chaos of nature beyond, which was, quite literally, uncivilised. (Civilised comes form civis, a town dweller)”
Wild, an Elemental Journey, Jay Griffiths
“The city represents law and order (the word police derives from greek polis. “town”), while the “villains” dwell in the lawless nature outside. The word villain (a middle English variant of villain, “peasant”) once meant a rustic, and the root of the word is in villa – originally the word was merely a simple description of where someone dwelled. The word gradually shifted, coming to mean criminal.”
Wild, an Elemental Journey, Jay Griffiths