KNOWLEDGE OF SELF QUINTESSENTIAL ARTS©

[Verse 1]

Before the small village of Rome became "Rome"
With a capital R
A brilliant civilization once controlled almost the entire peninsula
We now call Italy this was the Etruscan civilization
A vanished culture whose achievements set the stage
Not only for the development of ancient Roman art
And culture
But for the Italian Renaissance as well

[Bridge 1]

Optimism is discredited not so much
And certainly not only because its tenets
Are shown to be implausible
In the light of the evidence
But essentially because it is a system
As such it is as inhuman
And as dangerous as all the other systems
Which are ruthlessly satirized in history
The military system
The church system
The educational system
The colonial system
The economic models
Political establishments
And indeed the system of logic itself