Heart of Darkness Pg. 429 #2

Marlow beings his tale with the account of London in "very old times, when the Romans first came here" because he wants to show the relationship between the how savage and uncivilized London was yet they were the ones invading and spreading their culture. Maybe this colonization was what set up certain African countries for failure. Marlow wants to emphasize how ironic it is that people who are not capable of being civilized still believe that they need to expand and spread their culture, values and beliefs.