Observance: A Republic lost in time

As Ben Franklin was leaving the Constitution Convention, a lady stopped him on the street and asked what form of government they were giving America. He replied “a Republic, Madam, if you can keep it.” Brings to mind a great Republic empire lost in the mists of time, Rome.

Once there had been free cities dotted throughout the Mediterranean. In the Greek world, and in Italy the cities had been inhabited by men who identified them selves not as subjects of a pharaoh or a king, but as citizens, and who proudly boasted of the values that distinguished them from slaves free speech, private property, rights before the law. Gradually with the rise of Alexander the Great and then of Rome, these lights of independence slowly flickered out until there was only one left, Rome.

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