Antiquarians and Historians

Here's the difference between an antiquarian and an historian: the former cares about the past for its own sake, while the latter seeks to understand the present more deeply through knowing about historical developmnets that still shape our world. As an historian, this is what I would say the Ciompi revolt can teach us-- the elite's hold on power is always weak, the masses may seize power whenever they are so inclined. However, elites are like the moles in whack-a-mole: eventually they pop back up, and start screwing things up for the rest of us until we whack 'em again! Peace out, brothers and sisters...