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History Teaches Us about Life

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When I started my humanistic studies in high school, I clearly remember the very first sentence that we students were supposed to translate from Latin to Italian language. The sentence was a very simple quote taken from one of Cicero's most popular dialogues entitled 'De Oratore' ('On the Orator').
The phrase was: 'Historia magistra vitae (est)' which means 'History (is) teacher of life'.
This short but effective sentence lasted in my mind whenever I had to focus on the study of history and I truly believe that is the key which allow us to understand what really history is.
From our childhood to our adult age we need good teachers that give us an appropriate education, that shape our vision of the world, that guide us how to behave with ourselves and in society. Thanks to their experience indeed they can -or at least they try their best to- teach us what is the best way to grow up and not to make mistakes.
In the same way history can be considered the best teacher for the humanity since it records both good and bad actions carried out by human beings and since it allows us to discern those two things.
As I already wrote I totally agree with Cicero’s idea of history but I also want to add my personal point of view about what history is. I think history is just a reflection of human life. We make mistake, try to find a solution, try to learn from our actions. That’s what history is in a bigger scale.
Throughout centuries the various civilizations lifestyle, culture and

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