Submitted by M. Ficino, May 18, 2007 06:05

My many readings of Gibbon convinced me that the Fall of Rome (Italy) was caused subconsciously by the gradual conviction among the citizenry and slaves that the blessings and daily support and protection of Jupiter and Juno et al waned after Augustus and crashed hard after Marcus Aurelius and his tribulations. Yet, Constantine reinvigorated by divine interventnion in his own life by a new Jupiter, launched a "better, holier" Roman Empire that thrived, despite numerous trials, for another thousand years in a more fertile, vigorous, inspired holy land, closer to the omphalos of mankind. Clearly the new Romans of the Byzantine East believed they were "once again" guided and protected but now by a more powerful divinity with visible clout. So how many of us "Romans" believe the same thing today? My gut tells me far fewer than in 1945, nevermind 1776. So if in the minds of the governed "God may no longer bless the New Rome of Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, FDR, and RWR" and if we cannot produce a modern Scipio Africanus or Bellisarius to ease the torque of commercial and military globalization, why kid ourselves? Despite Disreali and Mao, Buddha and Conficius still own the hearts and imaginations of many of our determined competitors. Maybe they're the new Romans and we've become Etruscans without realizing it. I hope I'm wrong.

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