The past, and especially the long past, is still relevant today because civilization is nothing but a thin veneer on human behavior. Humans deviate from the norm only under special circumstances, which are largely irrelevant when the big picture is concerned. And it is always good to remember that the species as we know it goes back only around a hundred-thousand years, the span of a single glaciation. The fall of Rome is thus more relevant today than are its happier days, when it was rather unique in its splendor. By comparison with some other civilizations, there is nothing really special about Rome, though. However, its history has been recorded and revisited diligently enough. Besides, only a part of it has vanished in the meanwhile. Although the fall of Rome does not belong to the long past exactly, it is the past long enough to inform us, however imperfectly, about the fall of our own civilization. And fall it must. If nothing else, the upcoming glaciation is sure to take its toll.