My garden in the Roman countryside is dominated by a tall watch-tower dating from ad1000, probably earlier. Just over the hill lies the Via Salaria, one of the great Roman roads. It doesn't take much imagination to hear the tramp of the legions marching towards Rome. There is a sense of eternity that makes even Britain seem arriviste by comparison. Quite what the legions would have made of Silvio Berlusconi and Romano Prodi is harder to imagine. Caligula versus Pompey, perhaps? Certainly there is no Augustus on the ballot paper.