What Would Richard Wagner Say About Boris Johnson?

I encountered this quote from Boris Johnson;

Johnson claimed that the past 2,000 years had seen failed attempts to recreate the "golden age" of the Roman Empire: 

"Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods".

The Sunday Telegraph 2016

It is funny that Johnson should mention the idea of a "repristination" of the Roman Empire, and an imperialist Pax Romana. Interestingly, the early theorists of European Unionism in the nineteenth century were aware of this, and precisely posited the idea of Unionism or Federationism as a means of avoiding the imposition of such an imperialist Pax Romana, Pax Germania, Pax Gallia, or for that matter a Pax Britannia. Richard Wagner actually wrote in response to the rise of the German Empire under Bismarck:

However, in yearning after “German glory”, the German usually dreams of nothing other than the resurrection of the Roman Empire, whereupon an unrecognisable lust for domination and desire for supremacy over other nations overcomes the good natured German. He forgets how injurious the Roman concept of ​​the state had previously been to the prosperity of the German people. 

It is almost like it is written as a direct response to Boris Johnson, like the dead Siegfried ushering away those who wanted to wrest the Ring of the Nibelungs from his hand.

For those who would like to read a brief, more readable summary of the views put forward by Wagner and Frantz on European Federalism please read this thread. For a more thorough study of the subject please refer to this full analysis. Those who read German might want to read the full version of Constantin Frantz's Open Letter to Richard Wagner.