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Tony Miksak

WORDS ON BOOKS by Tony Miksak for KZYX&Z-FM, 90.7 Philo CA
Airs Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 10:55 am, & Wednesday, July 18 at 1 pm

Title: Are We THERE Yet?

(MUSIC UP) This is Tony Miksak with a few Words on Books.

"Are We Rome?" may be the burning question for our times. It is the title of Cullen Murphy's new essay, subtitled "The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America."

"Are We THERE Yet?" is the burning question heard in family sedans this summer heading for yet another family vacation. It implies a similar answer – as a family, as a nation, and indeed as a quasi-empire we are going somewhere, but none of us in the back seat know when, how or where we'll arrive.

I was nailed to my chair by Murphy's book. He blends ancient Rome and modern Washington seamlessly and entertainingly.

On any page Murphy might invite the reader to witness an Imperial progress through the Roman provinces and to visualize the US interstate system, or to envision the Roman 'comitatus' compared to modern Washington DC.

The ancient Latin word comitatus connotes "the sprawling apparatus, several thousand strong, that encompasses not only the emperor's household and its personnel – the eunuchs and secretaries, the slaves of every variety... also the ministries of government, the lawyers, the diplomats, the adjutants, the messengers, the interpreters, the intellectuals... the cluster of people who in our own time would be encompassed by the Washington email designation 'eop.gov.'"

Our deep unease about the future will make "Are We Rome?" irresistible to many readers.

Historical parallels – not so simple. Still, there is much to learn. Murphy is careful to note "any argument can be taken too far... but some parallels do stand out."

"For both Rome and America, the nature of the perceived security threat keeps changing. Is it from outside powers of considerable might and sophistication (the Persian Empire, the Third Reich)? Is it from internal rebellions? The tribes on your borders? Religious zealots? International terrorists? Your own generals? Meanwhile, keeping vast armies permanently in the field demands an enormous outlay of treasure."

"Both Rome and America, again at their most adroit, benefit from the psychological impact of military strength, how the mere perception of power begets additional power, and makes unnecessary the actual use of force."

US negotiators once seated Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic directly under a US cruise missile, and "to encourage a spirit of mature reflection among a delegation of barbarians, the emperor Hadrian ordered a unit of mounted cavalry – in full armor, in perfect formation – to swim across the Danube and back."

There are some trends in American life that Murphy absolutely excoriates. He hates the cascading privatization of government functions. ("Yesterday's Conan the Barbarian is today's Conan the Contractor.").

Romans and Americans displayed ignorance and consequent fear of "outsiders." For barbarians, read Iraqis and Mexicans. "Sometimes obliviousness doesn't matter for Americans... but often – and increasingly – it matters a great deal... Smugness or indifference can prove catastrophic. It did for Varus" (the Roman commander in the year 9 whose legions were massacred in the forests of Germany).

Future readers may not get Murphy's many references to the current administration, but you will.

"Crassus crossed the Euphrates with intelligence compromised both by its source and by his own wishful thinking – by an inclination, as a later age might say, to misunderestimate the capacities of the enemy."

In a chilling passage Murphy notes that "the words 'Civus Romanus sum' – I am a Roman citizen – were once both a boast and a form of protection throughout the known world; during the 2006 World Cup, the American soccer team was the only one whose bus, for security reasons, bore no markings of nationality."

I closed Murphy's book and recalled walking by the American consulate in Florence, Italy, in March this year. No civilians were in sight, but local patrol cars were stationed close by. Concrete barriers planted with flowers blocked surrounding streets. The consulate itself, an elegant residence in an elegant neighborhood facing the Arno, featured armored doors and concertina wire along the garden walls.

As I strolled upstream in the direction of renaissance Florence, with its marbled Duomo and its many museums, America's silent surveillance cameras watched me.

(MUSIC UP) Are we Rome? Are we there yet? Wait and see. In the meantime, read this book.

(MUSIC) As always, transcripts of Words on Books are available through the KZYX web site.

Notes:

"Are We Rome?" by Cullen Murphy. Houghton Mifflin hardcover $24. ISBN 0618742220

Tony Miksak
Words on Books: http://www.gallerybooks.com/bkm/index.html
personal home page: http://amiksak.googlepages.com/home

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