[Travis McGee]

"IV. I have reserved for the last the most potent and forcible cause of destruction, the domestic hostilities of the Romans themselves. In a dark period of five hundred years Rome was perpetually afflicted by the sanguinary quarrels of the nobles and the people, the Guelphs and the Ghibelines, the Colonna and Ursini. With some slight alterations, a theater...was transformed into a strong and spacious citidel. Even the churches were encompassed with arms and bulwarks...." (chap seventy-one, abridged verson)...."

Civil War. Coming soon to an urban jungle near you.

[f.Christian]

How about public works that overtaxed the poor ... Rome and middle ages both !