Gaius Octavius

With that mug, I doubt if his 80 virgins will have anything to do with him.

Exactly, though I used auxilia as the terminology in my first reply, the thought is interchangeable as pertains to our discussion here. If half of the men under Metellus (using my first example) were non legionary 'auxilia' then who knows exactly how the arrangements and unit numbering were prepared. Not to go too far afield, didn't the Italian allies have to supply the equivalent of two legions for each Roman legion?

When trying to determine the number of legions, doesn't one have to consider the number of men the Italian allies had to supply along with each legion?

Congratulations to Mom and Pop. God be with Marian Elizabeth.

How did the operation on your eyes go? I hope it went well. If it is of any help to you, the name of the Egyptologist at the Brooklyn Museum (in New York City) is Richard Fazzini.

Like the old gods, God plays with mankind. He tells Osama and the mullahs one thing and the always wrong reverendo robberson, a member of the Society of Holy Immaculate Telereverendos (S.H.I.T. for short), another. The northeast is going to get whacked with a tsunami undoubtedly because of Harvard, Yale, The NY Times, NPR, etc. (You are safe out there in the provinces; your elections are properly fixed.) But that's OK by me. My homestead will become waterfront property as it rests on the highest point in Brooklyn (The Heart of America). Did you know that el wrongo is a slum lord in Brooklyn and a dealer in blood diamonds? Pray brethern and sistern, pray! Oh!, don't forget to send gold.

When Germany surrendered, Eisenhower did not attend the ceremony because of what he saw of the concentration and POW camps. He had his juniors accept the surrender, which was a smack in the face to the Germans. Nonetheless, it was civil. When MacArthur accepted the surrender of the Japanese on the battleship Missouri, it was done civilly. At Singapore, The Japanese commander shoved the surrender papers at the British commander, screamed at him and treated him and his staff as if they were filth. The Japanese commanders set the tone of the war by their actions throughout the war. Not enough of them were hanged. German and Italian POW's in the U.S. were treated quite well. The Italians were given leave to visit relatives in civilian clothes. A friend, a Ranger, went AWOL to visit his sick mother in NYC and got a shirt with a target on its back! Both German and Italian POW's were treated better than their respective U.S. resident aliens and naturalized citizens. Japanese Americans, resident on the west coast, were put into concentration camps, but were not tortured. They even formed regiments which fought valiantly in Europe. Dresden, along with other raids, were political revenge targets on the part of Bomber Harris. They were a waste of precious men and materials.

R.E. vs B.E. :2guns:

Isn't there a debate over the meaning of the word 'quirites'?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...8902684-7521431 I remember a janitor in high school was a survivor of the Bataan Death March. Tall, lanky and sort of quite old guy at the time. I wish now we'd gotten his perspective. In the early 80's I worked with a local old guy in my home town who fought in the Pacific. A bunch of Japanese businessmen came by to check out the grain elevators we manned (picture of it with three storage bins) and where they were shipped wheat for noodles. I'll never forget his reaction was disgust, something like 'I fought those b*st*rds and now they're here'. He was generally a jerk anyway but this was one particularly vitriolic episode. Don't be too hard on the guy you worked with. I have an uncle and a cousin who enlisted in the Marines the day after Pearl Harbor. The stories they told would chill your spine. The Japanese did not consider them humans and thus anything went. MacArthur let these war criminals off the hook because of the 'communist' threat. A doctor who conducted 'experiments' on Chinese people is now a free multi millionaire. Never prosecuted.

Rome was great for many reasons. They took ideas from many people and developed them. In engineering it is abundantly obvious. Many of their engoneering feats are still used today, such as an aquaduct in Portugal. An arena in southern France. The arch; the dome. And their roads, which were not surpassed until the 19th century. (See Primus Pilus comment.) And are still in service today. They developed a system of governing that held up even under 'bad' emperors. Laws were promulgated and made current as time passed (Justinian). The legal system is still in use today (amended, of course). The people lived in peace and safety. They had a successful professional army that was feared by their enemies. It numbered about 125,000 men in Augustus' time. A small number for so great an expanse. They built great cities where they conquered. Men felt an obligation to the nation and built many edifices from their own resources. Some would successfully argue that point.

Ciro might be referring to the Gergovia fiasco, where some legions were overconfident and some disobeyed orders. If my faulty memory serves, there was an incident in one of the winter camps in Gaul to which Caesar sent Labianus to bring things to order.

Schools, as we know them, did not exist in the ancient world. People studied with learned men. It was as if a student had one professor for all of his subjects. One did not 'major' in any one subject, but rather in all subjects. i.e., rhetoric, languages, philosophy, math, history, etc. If one were very rich, it might have been a one on one situation. It could also have been a small group in what was called a 'gymnasium'. I would guess that Livy wrote on history because he liked it and not because he 'majored' in it. I don't think that it was a 'job' for him. He was rich enough on his own account.

who was greater Alexander or Caesar??? Beware of Germanicus!

I can't find the site where I saw this - yet. I THINK that it was on wikipedia, but am not sure.

I apologize for opening a new 'Topic' on this subject. I have been way for too long and have not caught up on all yet. The report that I saw on TV made it quite explicit that the lady was not a Roman.

The Sacred Chickens bit happened in the First Punic War and I can't remember the foolish admirals name. Beware of cows born with two heads and statues crying blood - Livy.

A body, claimed to be 3,000 years old, was discovered in the Forum. It is earlier than the origin of Rome. It seems to be that of a woman with very good teeth. An amount of jewelry was found with her and it is believed that she may have been a princess.

I have just been gifted a copy of "Marcus Aurelius - A Biography" by Anthony Birley. Is There anything that I should be aware of about the quality of the author and his work?

Whilst cruising the internet, I came across a site that claimed that a girl, naked from the waist up, would ride back and forth, on horse back, before the front lines prior to the commencement of a battle. I would guess that this was supposed to have occured in early Republican times. This, supposedly, also was the norm for other ancient armies. Am I decieved?

It seems that 'the greatest' boils down to Caesar and Scipio and maybe Augustus. Try this: Alexander fought oriental mobs; Caesar fought the likes of Vercingetorix; Scipio fought Hannibal. Insofar as generalship is concerned, beating Hannibal was the greater task. If I recall correctly, Scipio had the two disgraced legions from Sicily amongst his legions, so his legionaries weren't all of the 'best'. In the end, Scipio fell from grace in Rome. It seems that politically he had no ambitions. Caesar, on the other hand, extinguished the Gallic threat overhanging Rome. His skill in tactics and strategy won the battles and wars. He directed his engineers as to what and how to employ engines and constructions. He should be the one who gets credit for that. Unlike Scipio, Caesar was either forced to seek political power or he sought it in his own right. In any case (and in my OPINION), Caesar was NECESSARY (an evil if you like) as the Senate was a corrupt, servile and inept institution at this time. Had it been otherwise, it would not have fallen. Caesar may have been 'for the people', but the transition took power from one elite and handed it over to another. If republicanism is to be equated with democracy, then I hold that there never has been a democracy, there are none now and most likely there never will be one. I doubt very much that a peasant could have, can or ever will be able to run for consul. Nonetheless, Caesar commenced the change in form of government that Augustus expanded on. The government of the empire could not continue in its then fashion with the war lords holding it prisoner. And then there were the likes of Cicero. Nonetheless, Caesar failed at governing. Augustus' efforts brought peace to the empire, and great prosperity to a few. The condition of the many changed not at all insofar as political rights were concerned. Augustus was unexcelled at governing; Agrippa was his general. If it wasn't for Caesar, we might all be speaking gibberish. If not for Scipio, we might be wearing turbans. If not for Augustus, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

To my knowledge, no great nation has ever given up its power without a war. The one exception has been the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. The world did not have the promised nuclear war. I think that he deserves much credit for what he did not do as much as he does for what he did do.

Here is one for you. Barberone. Opici Barberone. Costs about $14 a gallon. I am sure that it is aged about 3 months. I know that it is expensive, but it tastes good (to me at least). Bet the Romans had this baby and kept it a secret.

It has come to my attention that a contest was held, 30 years ago, between French and Californian wines. Kali4kneeya won. The French said: "Well, how will these wines hold up 30 years from now?" Thirty years have elapsed and the wine was checked out again. California won again! We may conclude that the price of Cali juice will now ferment to the top. My latest discovery is a Cali burgandy by Livingston. Seven dollars for 3 liters. I can't get my hands on any white Falerno unless I buy a case. No chance of that happening until Christmas when I give my many quacks a gift.