Joblot, Chris, et al.--

It was George Santayana who said “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Among the many things I collect (for some unfathomable reason, my wife pronounces that “accumulate”) are quotes…here are a few more:

“After you’ve heard two eye-witness accounts of a motor accident, you begin to worry about history.” -- John McNab

“Historians can sometimes explain, or at any rate discuss, the immediate causes of some great event. Beyond that, they can do little more than arrive at the platitude that every generation is, to some extent, responsible for what happens afterwards. In this way, we can finally reach the preposterous conclusion that the ancient Romans were responsible for the First World War, when they failed to civilize the Germans. This is sometimes called learning from history.” -- A. J. P. Taylor
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The Pax Romana , or “Roman Peace”, was a period of approximately 200 years after Rome firmly established itself as the “superpower” of its day. I’m unsure of the generally accepted dates, but IIRC, it was from about 50 BC to AD150, or thereabouts. Rome, with her far-flung legions, had defeated all comers, and at the time, was essentially invincible. Any attempt to disturb the peace was met with a crushing blow from an iron fist. This was an early example of the modern platitude “peace through superior firepower”. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I don’t know if there truly has been a Pax Americana —certainly not one of any length.

David