both Ancient Greece and Rome had undergone a ‘renaissance’ that would eventually begin pulling the Western self out of its fug. It’s not a coincidence, of course, that this renaissance was centred in a place and time that also saw radical changes in how we got along and got ahead. It was in the mighty trading hubs of Genoa, Florence and Venice – glorious centres of hustle and thought that can’t help bringing to mind Ancient Greece’s ‘civilization of cities’ – that modern capitalism was born, with its debts, credits, powerful bankers and paper money. The Renaissance aside, most histories would
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