| Ancient Roman history books tell us about the single | | | | they had established, began the building of roads and |
| minded ambition and powerful physical presence of | | | | forts and the exchange of young sons between |
| Julius Caesar, the greatest of any Caesar. Julius took | | | | villages to work with them in far away lands, in the |
| his Roman legions far beyond the boundaries of Rome | | | | customary divide and rule. The new lads would |
| and created the Roman Empire, with him as the first | | | | become loyal soldiers for Rome once they were a |
| dictator, or single ruler. | | | | thousand miles from their native village. It worked very |
| For this, of course, he was to pay for his life, and even | | | | well, and has been used by canny dictators since. But |
| then, a series of others who would call themselves | | | | it was Julius Caesar, the Father of the Fatherland, who |
| Caesar continued the rule by leader, no longer the | | | | brought civilization to savage Europe. |
| council of equals that the Senate and Forum had been. | | | | Now long after Rome has faded as a power, the |
| The early Roman model had followed that of Greece, | | | | sense of a united Europe continued, even as |
| which had created the first modern example of honest | | | | languages diverged and now many versions of Latin |
| rule by all through the equal power of their individual | | | | are spoken between Portugal to Spain to France to |
| vote on any issue of urgency or efficiency: all had their | | | | Belgium to Italy and as far as Romania and beyond, |
| say. | | | | and Christian all over. Yon Cassius did have a lean and |
| To begin his triumphal return to Rome, Julius Caesar | | | | hungry look, but all people prefer they get a vote, and |
| came to, and then crossed the Rubicon River. He had | | | | a chance to express their deepest thoughts freely. |
| hesitated, history understands, but not for long, as this | | | | In his way, Julius gave his life to ensure that a civilized |
| plan had been building in the masterful mind and | | | | people could get along, and perhaps who was first in |
| ambitious heart for years. | | | | the village was not all. |
| It was said of Julius as he rose that he would rather | | | | At his Rubicon, the Indus, the soldiers of Alexander |
| be first in any village than second in Rome. And so he | | | | voted to go home, and they did. One man rule with |
| became the first in every village he conquered, one by | | | | Julius, or a Senate like Greece? We will discuss this |
| one, until he reached the Atlantic and had no more | | | | further: this was the defining era that defined nation |
| villages to gather up into the family of Rome. | | | | states to empires for more than the next thousand |
| But after his conquests, he and his men secured what | | | | years. It is not a battle completed yet. |