I hired a taxi this morning to take me to the Roman ruins of Volubilis, one of the most western outposts of the empire. The city persisted here in these Atlas mountains long after the empire fell, but eventually it was abandoned, its most intact columns carried away support the immense gateways of palace complex of Moulay Ismael in the 18th century. And still we are in a kingdom, albeit a somewhat constitutional one. But visiting such sites on a rainy spring morning helps provide perspective on the rise and fall of contempory powers. And how spring comes quite of its own free will.
