Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever. For what is the time of a man, except it be interwoven with that memory of ancient things of a superior age?

Marcus Tullius Cicero, who was assassinated 2052 years ago today, wrote this.  It seems to me that nowadays ancient Rome is more a myth than reality for most people. It takes a conscious effort to think of Caesar, Mark Anthony, Brutus, Octavian and Cicero and remember that they were real people.

I grieve for the Roman Republic. What splendour could we have achieved today if the republic hadn’t ended?

I think we would already be on Mars. Have colonies on other worlds. Giant space stations. Medical and scientific knowledge beyond our wildest dreams.

I wish I had known him and his contemporaries. These must have been fascinating times.