As We Decline . . .

ANCIENT Romans did not go around saying “Boy, this decline and fall is really the pits,” but then they didn’t have cable.

The clearinghouse of 24-7 Breaking Alienation had a spectacular late-summer season this year. The school lockdown replaced the high-speed chase as the event certain to be in progress somewhere in the country at any given time. Nancy Grace finally drove somebody to suicide, and Anna Nicole Smith forged a long-overdue bond between herself and the literate world when she woke up in her hospital room and found the dead body of her son: The same thing happens in Cymbeline when Imogen wakes up to find the decapitated body of Cloten in bed beside her.

About the Author

Florence King

Florence King was a contributing editor of National Review.

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ANCIENT Romans did not go around saying “Boy, this decline and fall is really the pits,” but then they didn’t have cable.

The clearinghouse of 24-7 Breaking Alienation had a spectacular late-summer season this year. The school lockdown replaced the high-speed chase as the event certain to be in progress somewhere in the country at any given time. Nancy Grace finally drove somebody to suicide, and Anna Nicole Smith forged a long-overdue bond between herself and the literate world when she woke up in her hospital room and found the dead body of her son: The same thing happens in Cymbeline when Imogen wakes up to find the decapitated body of Cloten in bed beside her.