This is the Friends of History Debating Society. I am Gaius, John Batter, I welcome Germanicus, Michael Leos.

We're in Londinium, where we live happily, 1st century a.

We are by the Thames, the cup of wine. Philosophizing about all the centuries between

now and where there's a wall we can't get through. Somewhere in the 21st century we can't see past it. Some limitation.

We're Eccles class, we don't work, we have Greeks working for us on our estates. We're

surrounded by retired centurions and their families, very happy people.

Centurians did 25 years in the Legion, they tell wonderful stories, and they're quite available and friendly. And we are reflecting for quite some time

about the quandary in the 21st century for the sits heavily on its shoulders now. It's in a election cycle. And Germanicus and I have been

observing that cycle in terms of our era, what we know to be the way the Julian, Claudian family finally failed, what we know to be

the legends of Caesar, the origins of the empire. We are happy with our empire, it is the might of

Rome. We know a century ahead of us is a good time. After that it gets a little dati.

Germanicus, last time we had this conversation,

we spoke of Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, who was a principal in two dramas that came to create Augustus.

The first dramas was with Caesar when he conquered Egypt and took her as a wife.

And the second drama was when Cleopatra teamed with Mark Antony who wanted to inherit Theesers Mantel, but he was

opposed by Octavian, who was no warrior, a very clever politician, and though a young man, and

Caesar's adopted son, who also had Marcus Agrippa, the great Admiral, who won the Battle of Actium when Cleopatra fled and Mark

Antony abandoned his fleet and chased after her. Octavian and Marcus Agrippa and the Roman army go on to

Egypt, conquer Mark Antony, he's dead and Cleopatra commits suicide rather than submit herself to Octavian

and be paraded in a triumph in Rome she goes out a queen and 2,000 years later we know that America and Europe still honor Cleopatra.

The American canvas now includes a very powerful woman, the Vice President of the

United States, Kamala Harris from California, very secure in her base politics. She

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