Interesting quote! But I think I'll see your Gibbon (first time I've ever written that) and raise you a Machiavelli:
"When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. On the threshold I strip off the muddy, sweaty clothes of everyday, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the antique courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death; I pass indeed into their world." (Letter to Francesco Vettori, 1512)
Thanks for reminding me of this empathetic form of time travel! I'm not sure it counts, but it's certainly part of the story.
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"When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. On the threshold I strip off the muddy, sweaty clothes of everyday, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the antique courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born. And there I make bold to speak to them and ask the motives of their actions, and they, in their humanity, reply to me. And for the space of four hours I forget the world, remember no vexation, fear poverty no more, tremble no more at death; I pass indeed into their world." (Letter to Francesco Vettori, 1512)
Thanks for reminding me of this empathetic form of time travel! I'm not sure it counts, but it's certainly part of the story.