Comparing the demise of America to the demise of Rome has become a popular subject. Most likely the cause is a new book called “The Romans, a 2,000 Year History” by Edward J. Watts. Watts is a thorough researcher who provides deeper thought about Rome’s culture as it collapsed that match the current culture of America. A few nights ago, mariner and his wife watched a video broadcast where Watts was interviewed by Clay Jenkinson. The program is sponsored by the Vail Symposium which unfortunately withdraws the video once it has been played on line. There may be other sources. Reading the book instead will not be a loss.

Touching on just one element of the Vail discussion, a review of Roman culture at the citizen level was discussed. What was important to citizens was that they were a Roman citizen which meant they could not impose an inconvenience on another Roman citizen and vice versa. Conversely, non-citizens were treated in a manner similar to American slavery and war with other nationalities was savage by any modern comparison.

Watts termed this behavior as national compassion. Slowly, as Roman history moved along, national compassion began to disappear; pride and respect equally distributed (does “All men are created equal” ring a bell?), fell to special classes. The government, which had a full operating government with a Senate and policy leaders, began to be ignored by authoritarian kings and power mongers.

Mariner will stop here.

Ancient Mariner

https://vailsymposium.org/events/is-america-rome/

The book is The Romans, a 2,000 year history by Edward J. Watts.