O gentlemen, the time of life is short . . . And if we live, we live to tread on kings. Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I (act 5, scene 2) When Robespierre freed France from monarchy, Europe’s ancien régime feared that the end of civilization itself was nigh. When the young seek to liberate themselves from an old order of things, the old are afraid that all will founder. But Europe was able to survive perfectly well, even without the king of France. The world will go on turning, even without King Time.
