Relics

On a recent trip to Europe, I was reminded again of the power and pervasive presence of the Roman Empire. For more than 1,000 years the sphere of Roman/Hellenistic influence on the physical, political and cultural life of the known world extended to three continents reaching even the tiniest of villages where relics stand today in testimony. Today, Roman ideas and ideals continue to serve as models, admired or abjured in the Western world and perhaps above all a cautionary tale that no work of men, however durable, lasts forever.

It is especially arresting to come upon the ruins of a Roman forum, a coliseum, or temple in the midst of 18th, 19th or present day streets and buildings. Often, the latter day functions that occupy these spaces that once served Roman life maintain the proximate purpose of their ancient predecessors. An 18th century city hall stands next door to a temple and the ruins of a forum; an amphitheater serves as a concert venue. But everywhere bits a pieces of Roman roads, walls, bridges aqueducts and buildings can be found repurposed in the walls and structures of cities and towns, centuries old recycled foundations and building materials.

The relics are not limited to the physical world. They are infused in our governance and legal structures. Our modern day science, mathematics, indeed our languages are rooted in classical precedents, if not foundations than at the least remnants of another time, another people, the tangible outcroppings of a history long gone but not forgotten.

As I think about these relics in the context of our present day struggles one lesson stands out. Ancient Rome and Greece did not endure--at the risk of repetition, no man's work stands forever. But there is a reason so much of what those civilizations bore that still informs our life and institutions more than 2,000 years later. Humans' need for enduring truths remains alive. Though we have witnessed dark periods in which the thirst for a just and enlightened world were nearly quenched by fascism and oppression --the slimmest spark of idealism has remained to renew the flame.

Peering into the near future it is hard to know what lies ahead. It is unclear whether we have the will and wisdom to end our ceaseless wars, restore the damage we have done to our planet home, and resist the temptation to subject ourselves to rule without law and the subjugation of our human rights. Whatever comes, we must hope that centuries from now humanity will look upon the relics of our day, but what they will make of them we cannot know.