Sextus Roscius
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Posts posted by Sextus Roscius
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Of course, I would always choose republic is given the choice, I follow the example of one of my heros, cicero. But of course in this case, becuase I'm not given the option, I chose Principate
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I'm in the same boat as pantagathus, though I'm still happily waiting. All the while.
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Favorite Movie--Hard to say, alot of ties for first, can't distinguish the best.
Favorite Book--Roman Blood by Steven Saylor, great book
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I'm from the states and I found the review almost side-splitting. Absolutely wonderful....
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Alas, no fire works for us in the southern state of north Carolina, but a rousing occasion none the less watching at least 4 fireworks occasions, the ball in NYC, and the classic bronze acorn over in Raleigh. Happy new year everyone!
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My favorite, is Lucius Sergius Catiline. Declared Enemy of the state by my favorite person from Roman history, Cicero! Cataline was declared a conspirator against the senate but I( and most others) don't think his alledged "conspiracy" was all that Cicero made it out to be. Supposably a nice, well mannered man. He really pleaded to the masses though.
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As a young child, I always had a nack for admiring great people, generals, the type of people who one can always depict standing on a balcony looking out over either thousands of cheering people or thousands of soldiers in pericise blocks of troops. Of course, if one trys to find people like that, Rome is top on the list, and so I started trying to learn about the roman army, which was my original area of intrest.
Though dispite this, I've had things like that before (trains as a small child) and so I can't exactly pinpoint what did it, but something did. At least Fortuna gave me her blessing in my quest.
As for what lead me to this website, I beleive I was actually searching for information about roman military decorations and honors, but thats general info, can't remember percisely what it was. Fortuna once again
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MC Hammer is the best, you know why, he Can Not Be Touched
Actually, my personal favorite superhero was always batman, becuase he could do all the stuff he did without super powers, just gadjets and coolness.
For an opisite reason, I never liked superman becuase he seemed too invincible and awkward (he can't lose except to kryptonite which seemingly every other villian has a endless supply of)
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While christianity certianly is a very Humanitarian religion idealisticaly, we can see that the truth is some times far from it, some times the truth is very true. Christ and the disciples, what they did was indeed humanitarian and a great help to the world, as mentioned by Ursus.
But if we look at it the other way, the inquisitions of the dark ages are hardly what we like to call "Humanitarian"
However, I guess it really all depends on how one defines humanitarianism.
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I was just thinking if we should recognize sugnificant events in Roman history and religion, etc, to be put onto the calender, things like, this Emperor was coronated today, today is saturnalia, today is the day blah blah blah.
Ideas, opinions, anyone?
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I say let it backlash, and perhaps we'll learn...
Thats the problem, we need to learn, but I'd rather not, becuase my generation will be hit by it, the people still in high school, and middle school, and elementary school. It will come back and crush us, which I don't have a problem with considering I come from a fairly well-to-do uper-middle class family and have a good education and I'm in line for a good education in Law most likely. But not everyone does and the people who aren't as fortunte are going to have it really tough.
As for the NYC transit strikes, I understand where they are coming from, but I'm mad at the unions for doing it at such a horrible time, and for breaking the law. They are going to cause many NYC business men to fall into the same status as the people striking for a while, which is in turn going to hurt the econemy. All said, I think the Union has a very effective point, but they are being very mean and adding to the pressure of everything. Though there is no good time for anything these days, they might have at least chosen the lesser of options, or at least not Christmas!
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Got mine today, thx guys.I just hope the delivery people don't have too hard a time finding me in good old North Carolina.
I love NC and go down there atleast once a month. My son lives in Wilmington, and am anxious to move there. Trouble is finding a job, the place is one heck of an economic desert!
I think you are right, there are hardly any jobs avadiable in NC if you try to find a good one that intrests you. It also depends on where you look though, I live in the peidmont region and we always have people moving to my town, mostly becuase its a university town, but I'm sure if you look in near by Raliegh you can find something. Depends on the field.
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Sorry Sextus, but that was just wrong. There was a good reason by Constantine approved and always supported funds for the Church in Rome and elsewhere. He found good use in the Church in caring and providing for those poor and unfortunate. I don't know where you got that view from, because I doubt eugenics was even thought about. The disabled were just pitied, but not looked upon as hellspawns. One would actually have to commit or show signs of being possessed or an agent of Lucifer before being persecuted by the Church. The time which you talk about is important too. Your view might be possible in Medieval times, but during the Roman Empire, Christianity was solely about spiritual matters and cura personalis, since the Pope wasn't heavily involved in political disputes except those concerning things such as Arianism and opposion or rifts in the unity of the Church or its views.
Thank you for correcting me Flavius, I was clearly in the wrong mind set when I wrote. Looking back I see I'm refering more to midieval periods rather than the Roman Empire. This is probley becuase I was just reading about the Inquisitions and other things, so I apologize for my large incorrectness.
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I much like Roman bl00d's dream.
Though personaly mine are a bit different, becuase I never hear (or imagine, which ever which you perfer) sound, which is a shame becuase I would love to hear what everyone is saying. My favorite and most detailed of my dreams or daydreams is this
I imagine myself as a great politician speaking at the rostra before hundreds of Roman citizens and their slaves. As I speak on I work the crowd into a frenzy, each person following my every word as though the entire crowd, in their silent amazment, is intently foucused on exactly how my wordless mouth moves. So all the while, I walk back and forth before them, speaking what must truely be a inspiring speak, for as I talk to the crowd, more and more people join the crowd bellow, chanting my name and my glory in noiseless unity.
Finaly, as I finish speaking, the crowd comes to a climax and is on the verge of rioting. With one calming stroke of my hand, the entire crowd becomes completely still, and slowly disappears and blurs as the next image comes into sight from the disapating crowd. For the next image, is almost scary.
I'm walking through a large open forum surrounded by a marble colonade. Following behind me is a huge crowd of citizens, not a army, but citizens with daggers and other such weapons, bearing torches. As we walk further, the surroundings change gradually, as houses wihout warning collapse and the streets and building become dirtied from the clean marble they used to be. Upon these collapsed buildings, as I walk further, grow newer, larger, buildings than those of before. These are clad, all in the same drapping purple flag, and people cheer and wave out of the white marble buildings as the crowd and I walk by, completely and seemingly unaware of whats happening to the forum around us as we walk through it. As we near the end of the Forum, there is temples, and what is clearly the senate house. It is only then, that the Forum we are walking through becomes the Forum of Rome, and from the Senate house flee fat, greedy men, surounded by extravagantly clad female slaves. So right as the last of these Senators flee, the Crowd behind me finaly comes to a stop at the steps of the Senate house, and I walk forward up the steps, from which I speak to the crowd.
I rasie my arms out to the crowd, and then do a Roman salute. My view flips around to show from behind me, and as it does, once the view from which I see finaly faces the crowd again, there is no crowd. I am clad in a senatorial toga, surounded by others like me on a balconey over looking a large, open square, with one side facing out to see, a gate on another, and two walls of houses from which people cheer, and from which the same purple flags drap. In the square itself, are thousands of Roman Legionaries, lined up in perfect military position, all facing towards us as though for a inspection of some sort. Seperated into blocks of Centuries, open spaces are like a grid inbetween the different Centuries, through which horse mounted Roman Officers walk back and forth. and in the middle, aligned with the gate and leading up the building from which we look down, is a open area. The gates are then thrown open, and in are marched the same fat, greedy senators from the previous area, who are whining, and whos slaves are being carried a pushed by soldiers along up to the building from which we stand. But, as view is foucused on them, the vast army seems to disappear to some where, and only a small line of soldiers protecting the walk way are left to keep people from running out onto the walk way. The huge army has been replaced by thousands of Roman citizens, hurling things at the former senators being paraded through. Then, while all this is happening, a slave from behind me runs up with a glass of drink, which I take and down. After drinking it, I feint or die (not sure which) and fall over the balcony ledge, but before I hit the ground, the dream foes black.
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Thanks for the replies guys,
Do you think that "homes" where set up for the disabled/deformed? like those leper ones John Tzimices made near Constantinople?. Or would the Church have taken them in?
Interesting question, and I'm sorry to say that I don't have a exact answer, just assumtions and guesses at the moment, but I will look into it more percisely.
Well, as for my assumtions and guesses, I assume that the Church wouldn't have taken them in and that few "homes" if any were created for the disabled. The church I beleive at that period of time would've been more suspicious than just about anyone else about the disabled becuase of the view that God created Earth and meant humans to be a certain way, it would only make logical sense to them that those who were disabled were hellspawns of some sort becuase they were not as the Lord had meant humans to be.
Though this is just what I think. If anyone can correct me or reassure me I'd be pleased.
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I'm still awaiting my fabulous book with anticipation, I'm hoping it will arrive before christmas. I just hope the delivery people don't have too hard a time finding me in good old North Carolina.
Once again thanks.
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Congrats Spurius, I wish you blessing from sweet Fortune in your new child.
Personaly I always had a strong attraction to the name Melissa (greek) but also
Alexa
Caelia (likely to be mispelled, and a paly off of the latin word Caelum)
Roscia (after myself, but it sounds pretty, at least to me)
I'm lost for others at the moment. Anyways, Congratulations Spurius.
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I must agree with Lost Warrior, The Roman advantage lay in its superior training and military disipline which was the most advanced until boot camps in the 1900s.
The Roman Recruit was trained with materials far heavier than what they actually weilded, so when they got onto the battlefield, that about 100 pounds (roughly) of armor seemed surprisingly light, along with this, the Romans were subjected to constant physical upkeep unlike other armies of the time, becuase they were used to build the infastructure and when on the march they had to build a camp at night, which would require considerable effort.
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Interesting point, its simply put, that the Roman Legion was not designed to be foucused around the idea of largely calvery or archer warfare, but instead foucused on the used of infantry, and used archers and calvery to tip tides, rather than do most of the battle.
This can be seen in the battles with Hannibal who the Romans only finaly defeated at Zama by effectively using calvery, which they were effetively lacking in previous battles.
This also can be pointed out with the huns who where another form of calvery archer warfare like the parthians who the Romans were effectively tromped by becuase their legions were not designed to face hordes of horse-mounted arrow slingers, but hordes of foot mounted barbarian warriors.
The Parthians were also, as the Huns, horse-mounted archers who knew that while the Romans had a certain style of warfare which the parthians could easily counter.
What one must simply do, is bring in calvery archers and mounted swordmen. The swordmen attack and destroy the Inferior Roman calvery (it was only meant for tactical advantage, not this type) and have the calvery archers come in and open fire on the Roman Legionaries. This would cause the comander to order his men into the defensive testudo formation, in which the Romans could no longer attack a enemy effectively in and eliminated the Legionaries Cheif advantages in hand to hand line fighting and flexibility, along with not allowing them to hurl the pilum, which were their most effective anti-calvery weapon. The calvery archers then open fire to aid the swordsmen-calvery in their fight against the Roman calvery and support units while keeping any Roman legions from going out of testudo formation. Once the Superior Parthian Sword-Calvery had wiped out Roman archers and calvery and most likely the general, the infanty's testudo would be easy pray for the swords, becuase for the Roman legionaries to fight a sword using oponent, they would have to break testudo and be vulnerable to archers.
Simply put, this was an obvious flaw in the Roman strategy.
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Personaly, I'd like to start dating things off the founding of Rome but I can't remember the year. BC 760 something, I was always faultering on that date.
CE=Common Era; BCE=Before Common Era.You are wrong. I beleive (and will bet on) that it stands for Christ's Era and Before Christ's Era and so I refuse to use it.
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Yes, you are certainly right Lost Warrior. Though, many features that are a smidge more complicated are only able to be used by us equestrians and up, and at that point one has probley gotten used to this site. And when you are promoted, the Triumvirate graciously offers to answer your questions.
Though I most certainly agree with the general principal, I'll post ideas as they come to me.
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In deed, I must agree with you Andrew. Humans can easily have minor inbuilt prejudices escalate into something much larger than they are really worth.
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Good for you Lost Warrior, hope you enjoy the gift. But, thats a gift in itself isn't it.
Anyways I know I will enjoy mine.
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Well, I saw the section on the Roman Empire, its rather hysterical.
Centurion "Well, does anyone know the punishment for attacking a Roman citizen"
Crowed raises hands
Centurion "yes you, you had your hand up first"
Citizen "Oh, I know, we chuck um off a rock"
Centurion "No, we did that last time, you, do you know the punishment?"
Citizen #2 "We shove a snake up their rear"
Centurion "No, but thats creative, yes you over there!"
Citizen #3 "we feed um to the lions"
Centurion "yes thats right! to the lions"
Republic, Principate, Or Dominate
in Imperium Romanorum
Posted
I must echo cato's statement.
The Republic, dispite its flaws, was an effective means of channeling the oligarchies competitive sense for each family into something that helped SPQR, not just made them richer. Such as how Caesar conquered gaul partialy for his purposes of becoming famous and popular, just as Cicero defended Sextus Rocius. These acts did indeed do the intended, make the doer (Caesar and Cicero in this case) become popular, but it also improved the republic. Caesar added the provinces of Gaul and Cicero saved an innocent man from one of the worst deaths imaginable.
Also, until the marian reforms, the armies were controled by the senate, not by a general. That kept people from becoming gathering armies easily and becoming dicatators. This meant that the Republic was in control, and had a good system of checks and balances to keep things in place, even up to the highest office with 2 counsuls.
The Republic also managed to have a very high standard of morals and helenistic culture. Houses at that time were plainly designed with blank outsides and little furniture. The only thing decorated laviously were the floors, walls, and ceilings that were fabulously painted with frescoes and mosiacs. The republican virtues also were much like my doctrine of life and so I'm sure thats why I like it so much.
Anyways, to sum up, I voted Republic.