After writing Episode 34, I realized that some of the key points I’m making there might not be sufficiently clear without going back in historical time to lay the foundations of it. Plus, in the previous released Episode, [33B], we have discussed the revival of only one strand of the intellectual literature and legacy from what’s called the (European) Classical Antiquity. Let’s briefly go back to that past to complete that picture first.

Also, as you can tell from the hints in the title, this is in some sense an extension of [Episode 30] that came out six weeks ago. I ended that episode by the potentially provocative suggestion that perhaps Rome fell when the Republic fell.

Let me now add some more color to my case behind that proposition.

We know that Rome...

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Article written by Ash Stuart

Images and voice narration generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Everitt, Anthony. (2003). Cicero - The life and times of Rome’s greatest politician. Random House Inc. ISBN 978-1588360342.

* Scheidel, Walter (2021). Escape from Rome. The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691216737.

* Clackson, James & Horrocks, Geoffrey. (2007). The Blackwell History of the Latin Language. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-1405162098.

* Harris, Robert. (2006 etc). Imperium (A fictionalized-but-true-to-history trilogy of Cicero’s life as said in the voice of his secretary Tiro (who is said to have invented short hand!))

* The Works of Cicero - English Translations, Gutenberg

* The Works of Cicero - Latin Original, The Latin Library

* Plutarch - The Life of Cicero