[TopQuark]

Machiavelli was an American of 1789, just as America is Rome. That is a puzzling sentence, to say the least.

Do you use it to break the ice with the girls? Does it work as an opening line?

[nicollo]

My: Machiavelli was an American of 1789, just as America is Rome.
Your: That is a puzzling sentence, to say the least. Do you use it to break the ice with the girls? Does it work as an opening line?

Good suggestion. I'll let you know if it ever works.

When you next visit Washington, D.C., check out the buildings of substance in town, the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument, etc.

You will note a theme to the architecture: hommage to the ancients. The Founders constantly looked back upon the Romans and the Greeks for justification and reason. Those buildings I mention are meant to display the American resuscitation of the greatest civilizations ever. We are they, here and now.

Another thing you will note in classic DC architecture is that memorials, statues, and freizes frequently display allegorical figures of liberty, freedom, or America on top of globes, such as "Freedom" who bestrides the Capitol building. The reference was literal. My favorite is the freize above the old House chamber, with the figure, "history," riding a chariot across a globe.

We are Rome.

I only know this because Machiavelli taught it to me.