Caesar - Et tu, Brute....Brutus - If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.
The casualties of the US administration's military adventures have not all been in the war zones. The international political body count has also been rising. The latest hit - and not yet the Ides of March! - is the short-lived Italian government of Romano Prodi, brought down by leftwing allies opposed to Italy's involvement in Afghanistan and the expansion of a US base in Italy. Today the same allies are almost apologetic - Mr Prodi was not their target, but his policies, they say as they face withering criticism from coalition allies.
In truth, it was only a matter of time. The nine-party, nine-month coalition, combining hardline communists with centrist Catholics, was a crash waiting to happen. Elected in last April's tightest of tight general elections, the Prodi government is the 61st since the second World War and has held office for nine months, just slightly less than the average Italian government in the post-War period. The commentators found irresistible the jeer that this was Italy reverting to type.
The tightness of Mr Prodi's parliamentary majority was his predecessor's legacy. Silvio Berlusconi had restored the extreme proportionality of the Italian list system, which favours the multiplicity of parties and makes elaborate, precarious coalition-building a necessity. Mr Berlusconi also built in a mechanism in the lower house, but not the senate, that would facilitate majority rule. The senate, and his undependable, hardline communist allies, would be Mr Prodi's Achilles heel.
Now the country's president Giorgio Napolitano is charged with ending the impasse while Mr Prodi remains caretaker leader. To avoid a general election he will work through a number of permutations of government, quite possibly ending up with the same coalition, although Mr Prodi has said, understandably, he wants significantly stronger assurances from his allies.
Mr Prodi may otherwise find new partners in the Berlusconi camp, in the reformed Christian Democrats of the UDC. Other options include a government of technocrats, or even one led by another member of Mr Prodi's Union coalition, perhaps foreign minister Massimo D'Alema. Mr Berlusconi should not rejoice yet.
But the reality is that unless a new government, of whichever complexion, addresses the issue of electoral reform Italy may indeed be condemned to return to "type".