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Finally, the last in the series of books covering the last century of the Western Roman Empire is now available for pre-order: Constantius III Cheers

MUSEUM THOUGHTS Portrait of a Lady (c. 75 A.D.) by Morris Bishop Julia to the barber went And got herself a permanent. Since the perm was unsurpassed, "Fine!" she said. "But will it last?" (I approximate the sense Of "Estne vere permanens?") Then the vehement coiffeur, Warmly reassuring her, Guaranteed with confidence The permanence of permanents. Rome is gone and all her pride, Still the dainty curls abide; Venus, Mars, and Jove are dead, Still remains the lovely head. Let a thousand years go by, Let our gods and empires die, Time will never set a term To the life of Julia's perm. Mundo semper erit gratus Iste capitis ornatus. I first encountered this witty little poem in my high school Latin (first year) textbook. I had memorized only the first four lines of the poem and, as the years passed, I sadly never came across this poem in its entirety again. Until today. Having been inspired by this thread -- and the picture of the bust of the Roman lady which Klingan posted (which, coincidentally, was the exact same picture which illustrated this poem in my Latin textbook) -- I was determined to find this favorite old poem from my childhood. A bit of online research revealed that this poem had first appeared in a 1953 issue of The New Yorker magazine. So today I visited the New York Public Library, searched through their microfilm and, voil