If you stand in early morning or evening on either the Capitol or the Palatine and look down on the Roman Forum, it may still appear a romantic place where, as Byron wrote:

in yon field below,

A thousand years of silenced factions sleep –

The Forum, where the immortal accents glow,

And still the eloquent air breathes – burns with Cicero!

When, however, you step down from the heights and enter the Forum itself, the romance is likely to fade and you will probably find yourself puzzled, bemused and – sadly – bored. David Watkin, Professor of Architectural History at the University of Cambridge, explains why this is so,

Apr 2009

A Class Act

Peter Pan Laid Bare

An Old-fashioned Kind of Spy

Character Building

Much More Useful than Writing Novels

Aesthete with a Cause

In Brigand Country

Law by Name, Lawless by Nature

He Took the Path of Most Resistance

Diary: Proust’s Progress

Pillaged People

Even So, He Had No Right to Beat Up Bibbles

A First-Rate Education

Toxic Relations

A Writer Who Needs to be Saved From His Admirers

Ruddy Old Gore

Border Patrol

25 Million and Counting

Byron Tells All

The Thistle Blooms

Kiss Me, Clodia

This Earth, This Realm, This Poland

Succession Planning

Vichy Business

Grain Store of Empires

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