Our second day in Italy came as an introduction to Verona. Verona dates back to before Roman times. It is at the foot the the Alps, from which the Adige river flows, bringing transportation to and from Venice on the coast. The Romans brought with them the studied practicality of road building, of how to organize a community into a grid of streets and of course the protection and surveillance of the military. Rome was nothing if not a empire of coercion from the very beginning. An offer from Rome could not be refused.

Little remains now. Over two centuries of time,  – a river flood that covered two thirds of the town in 1882, an earthquake on a scale of 9 in 1117, and most recently the bombing brought on by WWII. Residents of Verona took shelter within the stout old Medieval walls to ward of the concussions and shrapnel. Some of those old times remain as ruins, and I’ve included photos that I took while walking around.

While in Italy I am impressed with the intricate outlines of Medieval Catholicism, which, believe it or not continues to be maintained by “the Church” in the 21st century. The consciousness of the post-Roman Medieval resident was organized by the teachings about life and death, about how one ought to live in the “light” of eternity.

One of the images shows the Gothic tomb of one of the Scaligeri tombs. It is a public display ostentatious, to remind generations afterward of the influence, of the political heft of this family. The question that lingers with me:

Resolved that heavenly afterlife is one of eternal acclaim, fulfillment, – why “give a fig” about the opinion of any who happen to live afterward? It just doesn’t add up. Shouldn’t one be obligated to choose one or the other? Unless, one desires to have it both ways. 

Of course the psyche of humans does not change rapidly. Religion does evolve along with everything else. The Romans as pragmatic and warlike as they were, set stock by piety. For them it was a more diffuse sense of the god’s indifference to human affairs, but they always available at crucial events when you could make a petition.

We are staying in Treviso a small and prosperous town on the Venetian plain. The crypt under the Duomo, the cathedral is a burial ground according to Catholic tradition. The Duomo or seat of the bishop was especially holy ground, and thus prospect for swift admission to paradise were improved if your body was laid to rest there. I noted the number of the stone sarcophagus in the underground chamber appeared to be from the modern era.

The human species enormously advantaged by language. We liable to believe just about anything, if repeated log enough and if there is not another live option. Finally we are inclined for many generations to be stuck in a view of ourselves that no longer serves us.