These troubled times may be the perfect forum for Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli's history lesson from Ancient Rome. In an email interview, Bocelli, who will be at Quicken Loans Arena on Friday, Dec.1, was asked to describe the purpose of music.

His response was to reference Cato, a politician from that era, who "suggested the rulers of the time to prevent soldiers from listening to music, because in his opinion this art was likely to soften their souls, thus making warriors unable to fight!''