He isn't on the list quite yet, mainly because he's amusing, and I don't think he's totally serious, although I may be giving him far more credit than he deserves.
I found the reference to Cato the Elder particularly amusing...when my future husband and I were courting, he was in a Classics phase, studying Latin and the history of the Empire, and he, having a more martial nature than I ever had, was quite an admirer of Cato, while I was not, finding him a tendentious rather obsessive bore. My 'ragazzo' also had a bit of a tendency to rant on political topics, and to obsess, although he had the grace to recognize it. Often, after getting lost in his oratory, he would pause and finish with "And Carthage Must Be Destroyed!", or I would say it, to tease him. I guess you had to be there, and a bit of a nerd, to get the humor.:grin:
Seriously, I think I have a pretty balanced view of the Romans and all their doings, and of Renaissance Italians, and twentieth century Italians as well, for that matter. (although of course I would say that) There's a lot to be proud of, in my opinion, as well as much to regret, as with all countries or ancient empires. All flawed...all fallen, to use a term with which you might be familiar.
Also, whatever criticisms I level, at whatever group, I try to remember the context and the era.
@
Echetlaeus
I'm the descendent of Ligures, and the Neolithic peoples who preceded them, and the Roman colonists from Luni, and some first century B.C. Gallic tribes, and perhaps a few Greeks from Luni or who wandered down the coast from Marseilles, and perhaps a few Lombards, given the number of Lombard castles in my native valley, and a stray Byzantine as well.
That's a long winded way of saying that so far as I can tell, all my ancestors back to the mid 1500s, and on some lines back to the 1400s, came from within the region that is sometimes called Lunezia. (and immediately adjoining areas) Let me be clear that Lunezia doesn't exist as an administrative unit, nor, in my opinion, will it, or should it.