Tea at Trianon: 5 Greatest Ancient Roman Cities

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, July 5, 2021

5 Greatest Ancient Roman Cities

From The Collector:

“All roads lead to Rome,” says an old proverb. Indeed, for centuries Rome was the biggest and most important city of the Roman world. Rome was the capital, the seat of the Senate, and later, of the emperor. It was the biggest city in the ancient world, reaching around a million inhabitants during the first century CE. But for all its significance and grandeur, Rome was only the last in the line of ancient Mediterranean metropolises. Centuries before Rome imposed its dominance upon the world, those great cities were centers of culture, trade, and politics. Even after the Roman conquest, those places retained their former glory, tradition, and pride; remaining the most important cities in the Roman Empire (after Rome). This is the story of the 5 greatest ancient Roman cities. (Read more.)