Excerpt: The wonder of ancient history was not that one civilization, that of Rome and the classical Mediterranean, failed, but that so many others succeeded, many of them brilliantly.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Humanist writers and philosophers of the era touted the prosperous Florentine Republic, with its ruling signoria council and trade guilds, as heir to the ideal classical civilizations of Athens and Rome, spurring civic pride.

WSJ: Review: The Flowering of the Florentine Renaissance | 'Springtime of the Renaissance: Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400�C1460,' at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence

This group would use the Treaty of Rome process to try to betray the intent of its classical liberal founders.

FORBES: EU-Topia: Why Europe Can't Exist