2008-08-01

Happy Good Times In History

Welcome to August; a month named for the Roman emperor Augustus.

Too-dee-too.

And why not kick off the hurricane season (in honour of Florida) in a month that is sickenly humid (here in Montreal anyway) with, well, a Roman theme?

Edward Gibbons wrote and suggested in "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" that 2nd century Rome (specifically 120 AD) was the ‘happiest in mankind’s history’, when ‘the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind’ was 'gently but firmly guided' by a succession of virtuous and able emperors.

A time even the Romans knew were grand calling it the "Age of Gold."

Sounds like a blast.

Which got me thinking. Gisele, I can smell the brain wax burning all the way here!

As I said, which got me thinking. I'm presently reading "A History of the End of the World" by Jonathan Kirsch. It's a book about the Book of Revelations and all its dire predictions and creepy descriptions. It's a fun read and definitely a lot of fun when applied to sexual games.

"And I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not." 2:21

Come on. Tell me that doesn't turn you on.

Come on Maude, let's commit fornication and rock the casbah!

Too-dee-too.

Yes. This is all part of the thinking process.

So, between Gibbons belief about 2nd century Rome and the Book of Revelations there's a lot to digest and ponder. My question is: Assuming we agree with Gibbons, has there been other great "happy" periods since then? Can the 1920s be characterized as "happy?" Was there any spot in the 18th century (or any other century) that gave the impression peoples of a land were "happy?" And what do we mean by "happy" anyway?

Like I said.

I was thinking.

Some call it wasting time.





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