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- PEOPLE, Page 72Out, Spots! In, Despot!By Howard G. Chua-Eoan. Reported by David E. Thigpen
-
- A man should be upright, not be kept upright," the Roman
- Emperor and Stoic philosopher MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS wrote in
- his Meditations in the 2nd century. Still, 1,800 years is a long
- time to sit on a horse. In January 1981 conservators worried about
- pollution removed the Emperor's equestrian statue from its ancient
- plinth in front of the Campidoglio on Rome's Capitoline Hill. With
- the help of X rays and ultrasound tests, they slowly cleaned up its
- grime, but in the meantime Rome's pollution worsened. Now there is
- dissension about re-exposing the bronze, the only surviving
- horse-and-rider from imperial times, and the statue rests in
- storage. This month Rome's new republican rulers will issue a
- decision on Marcus Aurelius' future. But whether his home is inside
- some museum or back on his outdoor perch, the old Stoic isn't
- likely to complain. "Whatever befalls you," he said, "it was
- preordained for you from everlasting." That probably includes
- pigeons.
-
-
- Spliced Genes
- By Howard G. Chua-Eoan. Reported by David E. Thigpen
-
- And Sean Connery begat Dustin Hoffman and Dustin Hoffman begat
- Matthew Broderick. The descent is genetically unlikely, and the
- accents clash. But, thanks to cinematic magic, all three actors
- are one big, if sullen, clan in Family Business, a Sidney Lumet
- drama that finished shooting last week in New York City. The tale
- revolves around an argumentative grandfather, father and son who
- execute a heist to promote peace in the clan. Says Broderick: "My
- granddad was Irish. Sean is Welsh. Dustin plays an Italian. It's
- not so confusing." Not if you're a genealogist.