“Here are the questions to which I would have every reader give his close attention—what life and morals were like; through what men and by what policies, in peace and in war, empire was established and enlarged; then let him note how, with the gradual relaxation of discipline, morals first gave way, as it were, then sank lower and lower, and finally began the downward plunge which has brought us to the present time, when we can endure neither our vices nor their cure.”

— Livy, Ab Urbe Condita (The Histories), Preface to Book I

Livy gives his overall reason for why he embarked on writing his histories and what he expects the reader to learn. And, once again, doesn’t this sound familiar to us all—as if “ripped from today’s headlines?”