If I were writing a book about Leo Strauss, I’d use this movie still from Satyricon as a cover image to get at the quarrel or non-quarrel between the ancient and moderns. But for all intents and purposes, Fellini did it better. H/t Jeffrey Bernstein.
I do wonder how living amidst the weight (and sometimes ruins) of the past in places like Rome or Athens plays on the creative ambitions of their residents.