Peristalsis never worked so well for history.

There is no smoothness to the rise and fall of nations-
dictators do not fall in an unconscious shudder-
plague and famine are never so painless.
Nero did not simply slide over the Roman people
but burned and tortured his way to the annals of history;
so, great rulers and great tyrants are never common,
never easily recovered, never easily lost.

Once in a lifetime, magnificent things happen-
magnificent on a world-wide scale,
magnificent to the core of their being,
magnificent in that their impact will never be forgotten,
and the whole world shudders convulsively at their appearance,
a cataclysm so immense
that it is often rejected.

Reverse peristalsis seems to be the order of history.