5-27-01 excerpt from the journal of Noël Pretila….

"I am on the plane leaving Rome…it's around 7 pm. What an amazing last day! I expected it to be a 'blow-off' day, as Keith and I would try to rest before we left for the airport. Alana accidentally walked the whole group smack dab into Trajan's Market while we were looking for a café to grab a quick lunch. I had a real treat because the Imperial Avenue, which is usually bustling with traffic - was shut down in lue of preparations for the 'Founding of Rome' celebration. That meant that we could walk from Trajan's Market, down the Forum, right to the Coliseum via the Imperial Walkway!

This rare experience allowed me to obtain a tiny glimpse of what it must have been like for the plebeians and patricians of Roman antiquity to stroll down this majestically paved road. As I was walking down this historic path, I vicariously experienced the glee of an ancient Roman citizen heading to the games after spending a vigorous morning shopping in the various stores within Trajan's Market. As Keith, Alana, and I sat in front of the ruins of the Coliseum-- I whispered under my breath a philosopher's quote that literally came to life for me:

Rome was great…and it fell.'

It then hit me with astonishing profundity that the proud citizens of that glorious Roman epoch probably never in a thousand years entertained the thought that such a kingdom of classical grandeur would end up in this state of ruins.

But…it did."

Rome to many historians is considered the centerpiece or the foundation of our Western Civilization. Some contend that Athens is where the "power and the glory" began with its birthing the ideals of democracy. Yet, one cannot deny the sheer force the Romans displayed in executing their own dreams of a Republic, and eventually an Empire -- to perfection. As Julius Caesar coined the Latin phrase "Veni Vidi Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered), after one of his successful military campaigns, he single-handedly voiced the resounding theme this eventual "thousand year" kingdom would live by to dominate the rest of the entire known world; a thousand year human reign that stands unparalleled.

In order to gain a proper perspective of the influential scope of the Roman Empire, our "mighty" United States of America has been around for about 226 years - a measly existence compared to that of Rome's. And Rome's history stands greater in quantity and quality compared to ours…from the epic military battles against Hannibal's Carthaginians (and his elephants!) in the Punic Wars to the scandalous intrigue caused by Mark Antony and his Egyptian seductress, Cleopatra, the Romans, with their colorful past, have weaved a most intriguing mosaic for us to marvel at.

The question is, "How did the Romans do it?" Some attribute Rome's success solely on the fact of the military superiority of their legions. Yet, history is etched with regimes that had strong military ambitions (not to forget, massive resources of war), whose promising reigns of world dominance were consequently short-lived (i.e. Hitler's Third Reich). Others believe that the political savvy-ness of the illustrious line of the Caesars was the prime factor. Yet, if one were to do a careful investigation of the entire line of the Roman Emperors, there were few that truly deserve commendation for their ability to rule prudently. Additionally, most emperors lacked any sort of decency (such as the 14-year-old male transvestite emperor, Elagabulus). The pedigree of most Caesars was unbridled behavior, mixed with unsound leadership skills…a combo that would make William Jefferson Clinton appear as a chaste and virtuous leader.

Granted, the above factors (Rome's mighty legions and line of emperors) may have been partial contributors to the longevity of the Roman era. Yet, the underpinning "virtue" that Roman emperors, generals, and politicians alike were able to engrain into the minds and hearts of their fellow Roman citizens was making the citizens wholeheartedly put their personal aspirations secondary to that of the state's. Marcus Aurelius, one of Rome's esteemed emperors, defined the citizen's responsibility to the state quite well in his book, Meditations:

"That which does no harm to the state, does no harm to the citizen. In the case of every appearance of harm apply this rule: if the state is not harmed by this, neither am I harmed. But if the state is harmed, thou must not be angry with him who does harm to the state. Show him where his error is." (Meditations 5.22)

When I reflect on the last sentence of Aurelius' quote, "But if the state is harmed, thou must not be angry with him who does harm to the state. Show him where his error is." -- it sounds so humane…so philanthropic. But nothing could be furthest from the truth. As I stood outside the Roman Coliseum, I felt a profound sadness for the countless Christians of the early church who were persecuted and fed alive to ravenous lions as entertainment for bloodthirsty and raucous Roman crowds. Why were these believers executed in these open and grisly spectacles? One might think it was for religious reasons; yet, Rome was known for its tolerance of all religions. From the Dionysian (the god of Wine and Revelry) worship sessions where followers would imbibe themselves into a drunken stupor-- to the cult of the Phallic symbol, who openly venerated, yes, the male penis, Rome welcomed all-comers to worship as they freely chose. One would think that the peaceful Christian religion would have no qualms fitting into this melting pot of religious "diversity"…but it didn't. It didn't because there was one catch to this society of religious tolerance: one had to also pay homage and worship the emperor as well. Rome required this to guarantee that its citizens' allegiance to Republic stood unwavering. Failure to perform this open pledge was considered an act of treason, punishable by death. The authentic Christians found themselves in a conundrum, as the first of their Ten Commandments decreed, "You will not have any other gods before Me". Roundups of these "traitors" of the Republic began "en masse". The persecuted believers would be publicly executed in order to make an example of these "menaces to society". As part of the gladiatorial games, the Romans would many times throw the family members into the arena first to be gobbled up before the eyes of their loved ones; this cruelty was done so the Christians could experience the horror and sorrow of losing their parent, spouse, or child right before their own impending macabre death.

Why the "belligerence"? Why couldn't these "fanaticals" simply bow their knee to the emperor and be on their way? The reason is because their views on the world were in diametrical opposition to one another. The Romans expected its citizens to place their personal aspirations secondary to that of the state because they believed that when the individual dies, he or she passes on, yet the state lives on forever. Therefore, whatever it took to ensure the preservation of the state trumped the livelihood of the individual. The Christians believed the exact opposite, "Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever." (Ecclesiastes 1:5). In the Christian worldview, kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall - but the soul of the individual lives on. To them, the temporal affairs or the day-to-day activities one engages here on the earth carries significance beyond the passing of our natural lives. Their sentiments reflect that of the character, Maximus, in the movie Gladiator when he proclaimed before the opening battle scene, "What we do in life, echoes in eternity" Armed with the knowledge of their divine allegiance and their faith in the eternal life their savior, Christ Jesus, promised them - they willingly forfeited their natural lives instead of giving in to the devotion to state that Rome required.

Zooming to the 21st century, it is difficult, if impossible, to find any nation in the world with the same Romanesque levels of citizen devotion towards the state. In the American framework, faith in government perished in the '60s-'70s with political disasters of the likes of the Vietnam War and Watergate. The indifference the United States populace is stricken with towards its lawmakers is no better reflected than the "less-than-stellar" voter turnout in last presidential election. The office of the Chief Executive of perhaps the most powerful nation of the world was decided by less than half of its eligible voters.

Yet, where has the garden-variety American citizen placed his or her commitment or devotion? There is an intrinsic desire in every person to participate in something greater than themselves…to have something they are dedicated to that they can believe in. What in our society has acted as the surrogate or substitute to fill the vacuum or void that the government has created? I would assert that our current day "Romes" are the corporations where many of the middle-class Americans spend the lion share of their waking hours. Today, "progressive" corporations run business development seminars that have all the fixings of a Pentecostal tent revival meeting. Employees are "resurrected" and brought back to life with the power of positive thinking, seven habits of highly effective people, and employee empowerment. Corporations are even spelling out, like the Ten Commandments, what an employees values should be. When did the place of employment turn into a Sunday School? I have nothing against "values" in themselves, but I must ask the Socratic and philosophic question,

"Why?"

Why would you implement a "value"? What is the purpose behind implementing a "value"? By definition, values are not meant to be performed autonomously or, in laymen's terms, for the "helluvit;" values are demonstrated in order to reflect the character of someone or something you believe in.

In essence, there has to be an object of affection to apply the values toward. In a practical example, if you buy a bouquet of flowers on Valentine's Day [1] to express, for instance, the value of love, but do not have anyone to give the bouquet to - wouldn't that be completely absurd? In the same fashion, it is equally absurd to perform a value without knowing whom you are performing that value for.

Now, what if you do have an object to attribute the value towards? Then you must test the character of that object to see if it is worthy of the exercise of that value. Using the same example of Valentine's Day, what if you were to buy a bouquet of flowers, but this time you are giving it to a person with a questionable character…one you know that really has no interest nor ever will have interest in you, or even worse, you know that despite your display of the value of love, will eventually cheat on you? This scenario, in my opinion, is the more deplorable of the two. Yet, what is the character of the corporations we religiously perform these values for? I will assert that it is ever changing based upon the company's return on investment, degree of stockholder satisfaction, health of stock price, and unpredictable trends within the economic environment. With such potential volatility in character, do we dare take a mindless devotion to the corporate values placed before us? I see so many individuals in corporate America caught in this most terrible a plight…

You may be asking, "Who cares if people are whole-heartedly dedicated employees to their company values? It is there choice." My fear is that the same consequence of such "mindless devotion" that characterized the Roman citizen is in our very midst. The Roman state promulgated or openly declared four core values that its citizens were to emulate: Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude. These "values" were perversely misused time-and-time again by emperors and generals throughout their storied history to manipulate the Roman citizens to their own whimsical agendas. During the Christian persecutions, the emperors could have easily proclaimed the core values of "prudence and justice" to validate their brutal extermination of the believers. Not only did the Roman citizens of that day agree with the emperors declaration of those values, but even went as far as embracing them by sitting in the packed Coliseum to "hoop and holler" the emperors defense of those values fleshed out in the bloody massacre of the Christians. In our day, how easily can a company's "values" be used in the same manipulative manner?

Does this sound like unsubstantiated paranoia? Ask the whole slew of faithful General Electric ex-employees whose jobs got "napalmed" by their CEO, Jack Welch several years ago. Welch, who was awarded the endearing nickname "Neutron Jack" [2], receives unbridled adulation from Business Schools across the nation for exhibiting "decisiveness" that all corporations should imitate.

The original question in this essay was, "How did the Romans build their mighty empire?" The answer to that question was hopefully reached in the understanding that the citizens of Rome gave absolute devotion to the demands of the state, no matter how severe or inconsistent they were. Yet, in the circuitous process of answering this question of how Rome acquired its greatness (a greatness that did eventually come to an end) - this question concerning how Rome became great has become impregnated --- and has given birth to a much bigger and more looming question,

"How did the Christians face the lions with courage and dignity?"

How? Because the values of courage and dignity were fatefully exercised towards a Being who was worthy of such values. As in the Valentine's Day example, here was an object of affection -- a Person who was worthy of these most costly bouquets. These martyrs understood the content behind the object of their affection… a content that was revealed by scripture and the intimate relationship they came to experience through the infinite, personal God. This infinite, personal God conveyed a content about Himself that revealed His unchanging character and His amazing love towards them…a love that was no better displayed than when He gave His only beloved Son, Christ Jesus to die in their place.

If there is anything that is accomplished in this essay, it is for the reader to test the mettle or character of the object of their affection. What is the true consistency of that person, object, or institution that you faithfully give your proverbial "bouquet" of values towards? Use your mind…do the necessary homework to determine the substance or "the stuff" behind the objects of your affection. Your honest intellectual investigation may surprise you. Don't settle for the comfortable mindless allegiance that the citizens of Roman antiquity were plagued with. Ben Franklin provided the impetus behind this pivotal endeavor when he proclaimed, "Ignorance is the mother of Devotion".

In your examination, also investigate the true character and nature of God. Strip yourself of the convoluted and distorted thoughts you may have compiled and rummaged throughout the years. The perception of many a person is that knowledge about God is either unconceivable or unattainable…and in order to encounter Him (if He does exist), one needs to take a blind leap of faith. I protest this assertion, because God has indeed provided content of His attributes through scripture and through the scriptures "personified" or flawlessly "lived out" in the life of His Son, Jesus Christ. Drop the prejudices you may have collected over time concerning God through "hand-me-down", second-hand experiences…and find what He is all about through your own sincere exploration. My hope is that you will, "Taste and see that the LORD is good " (Psalm 34:8).

For those believers who are reading this essay, take a chapter from the martyrs. Remember, "Rome was great…. and it fell". Its greatness was not immune to the attacks of barbarian tribes, such as the Goths, the Huns, and the Vandals. As time went by, its grandeur eventually deteriorated and crumbled due to the countless attacks of these external invaders. In the same manner, "XYZ corporation" may also be great…. but in the end, it too, will fall. Its "barbarians" may be a hostile takeover, an unfavorable merger, or poor internal management. And unlike Rome, its demise will most likely be sudden. Yet, the ethical and moral decisions one has to make while being part of these miniature "Romes" will stand for all eternity. Face your corporate "lions" with this in mind.

[1] Valentine's day is celebrated in honor of St. Valentine, a Christian who was, incidentally, martyred by the Roman Emperor, Claudius II, for his beliefs.

[2] "Neutron Jack" was a nickname given to Welch because his wholesale methods of firing people was comparable to that of a Neutron Bomb explosion, annihilating any signs of human life - yet keeping the buildings intact.