And yet how can their business compare in importance to ours? If you could see them at Rome, you would find that they do nothing all day but vote on a resolution, then huddle together a while to deliberate about grain, land or some other means to make a living. [10] Is it the same thing to receive a petition that reads, ‘Please allow me to export a bit of grain,’ and ‘Please learn from Chrysippus how the universe is governed, and what place the rational creature has in it; find out, too, who you are, and what constitutes your good and your evil’?

Rome of antiquity is important. Ignoring the Romans would not be merely a blind eye to the long-ago past, for Rome helps us to this day to delineate our way of making sense of our world and ourselves, from sublime theory to vulgar comedies. After two thousand years, Rome is still the basis for the culture and politics, literatures and the sense of the world and its place in the world.

Rome is a very rich city of resources to be appreciated not only from the human, but also from the Christian point of view. It is a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic city which, however, is in need of a new and stronger proclamation of the Gospel and of open communication with all the realities at the service of the promotion of man, of social life, of ecumenism and of interreligious dialogue.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do! ( sī fuerīs Rōmae, Rōmānō vīvitō mōre; sī fuerīs alibī, vīvitō sīcut ibī)

What business is it of yours where I'm from, friendo?

If I love you, what business is it of yours?

Rome is no longer in Rome, it is here where I am.

When they are at Rome, they do there as they see done.

Rome has an ambiance, puerile yet unmatchable. Rome hints at the possibility of becoming the main actor in the drama of one’s own life. (The hint is false, of course; but the stolid northern cities do not even possess the hint.)

When thou art at Rome, do as they do at Rome.

Rome was not built in one day.

It is so much easier to do the job if you're on the ground in Rome. The Vatican is not entirely a closed shop, but you have to know where to look, which conferences to attend, which contacts to pursue.

If I'd lived in Roman times, I'd have lived in Rome. Where else? Today America is the Roman Empire and New York is Rome itself.

Rome was not built in a day.