This is the Friends of History Debating Society. I am Gaius and Dramaticus is here, John

Bachelor and Michael Vlios. We're in Londinium where we relax with a cup of wine or

maybe two by the Thames.

It is the first day of autumn here,

and that means the Thames is a little more turbulent than usual,

and the shopping is a little more, let's hurry on home, it's chilly.

However, we're touring the 21st century where there are many decisions to be made in these next weeks about who will be the new

emperor of the American Empire and heretic the Roman Empire.

We care about that because we're first

century men and we're very pleased with the empire that our forefathers have put

together. Not so pleased we want to be in Rome. That's dangerous. We're here in Londitium

far from Rome, observing Demission our emperor who's troubled, chiefly, he's the other son of Vespation and he's never been

adequate in terms of pleasing the Senate and he will end violently. We'll come to succession later but

we're going to begin now with what you have you will hear commonplacely for the

rest of the weeks before the Americans choose an emperor. and Germanicus now and again has mentioned his Greek roots. I have no Greek roots. I am, if anything, more

English than Roman, but right now I'm looking very carefully at democracy and finding it without

meaning, without meaning at all in the 21st century and I look at the 6th century B.C. and I find that democracy there was

also without meaning, not attractive in fact, to the people of Athens, to the people of Athens to the aristocracy of Athens and to one

particular man Pizestratis who became dictator tyrant then exile, then tyrant dictator, then exile, and finally, a man who achieved

a great deal of building Athens, the arts, a patron of the arts, redistributing capital, taking on the aristocracy,

everything he'd wanted, an empirical leader.

However, he was not leading an empire, was leading one city state.

...