Putting that project aside, he retreated into rereading a biography of Cicero. There he found eerie parallels between the decline of the Roman Republic and the condition of the United States. “I Seem to read . . . the History of our own Country for forty years past. Change the Names and every Anecdote will be applicable to Us.”33
John Adams setting aside the writing of his autobiography. This is a nice illustration of human beings reading to much of history into our present condition.
