Ultimately, Rome declined and the Empire vanished. I've seen a recent book that list a total of 13 reasons why that happened. Most of them boiled down to this: at one time, people, citizens, groups, were prepared to support the city and work along with its aims and aspirations. People were proud to be part of the great endeavour. In later years, people started arguing amongst themselves and groups turned against each other. At that stage everyone was fighting each other and continually putting their own selfish needs over the needs of the many. Each citizen was out for what they could get, and as long as they were happy, they didn't care about the system, the state, or its long-term survival. Selfishness, greed, self-centredness and narrow thinking were the ingredients that saw off the Romans. If any of that sounds familiar, then stop for a moment. If the battle of the housing market feels like selfishness; if the race to get top wages and dividends seems a little bit divisive; if the obsession with television and popular music appears like a distraction from real life; then welcome to the real world. You've seen the symptoms. The interesting question is whether Western society is developing the disease that proved fatal to the Romans, or whether we can take charge and survive. History, after all, will be our judge. The Romans, like us, faced continuous challenges. In the early days they were strong enough to cope. Later, they got fat and flabby, and the new temptations and threats proved too strong. Is that the same for us? Maybe. Maybe history does repeat itself. Maybe, at the end of the day, we'll see a great truth: we are Romans, we're all Romans now.

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