Livia was raising our apocalyptic hopes.
Why – why was she doing that?
She was making us feel that we could be part of it. Agents of apocalyptic end – and renewal, even.
Why did she flatter us? Why did she want to give a sense of being world-historical? Why did she want to raise our hopes so high?
Because she wanted to see them dashed. She wanted us to know the failure of all eschatologies. The plunge. The decay. Only then … only in true disappointment. Only when confronted with the bland continuation of the world …
Only then, what? Would we understand. She wanted our hopes dashed. But from the highest heights. She wanted us to experience cosmic bathos.
Work in Progress 