When I mention in casual conversation with friends and acquaintances that nearly everything I read nowadays is about the decline and fall of Rome, they hardly say a word. An old subject, this. When I explain that I am trying to get a feel about the decline and fall of our own civilization by studying a worthy precedent, they only nod nonchalantly. It is as though the subject has been on their own minds for quite a while. They are, as it were, at home with Rome. Its demise took such a long time that it is not worth worrying about our own fate at this juncture, anyhow. Which is why it has just crossed my mind that I should start talking about the bloodiest episodes that punctuate the unsavory process. Say, Nero. Or Diocletian. And maybe even Attila. Perhaps that would help focus the minds of my friends and acquaintances. As well as raise an eyebrow from time to time when the decline and fall of Rome come up in casual conversation.