OSD C. Equitius Cato

Salvete omnes!

Hodie est ante diem X Kalendas Septembris; haec dies nefastus publicus
est.

"Holy Vulcan, foremost of this place, to You we pray. Grant peace to
the exhausted fire brigades and to those who service the fountains. If
none are harmed so very much, if the flames You permit to assault only
a few deplorable souls, Holy One, then at each of your altars they
will sing your praises, three times, three times they will pour
libations and make thick with incense Your altar fires piled high with
fruitful boughs." - Grattius, Cynegetica 437-42

"Sing, clear-voiced Mousa, of Hephaistos Klytometis (famed for
inventions). With bright-eyed Athene he taught men glorious crafts
throughout the world, - men who before used to dwell caves in the
mountains like wild beasts. But now that they have learned crafts
through Hephaistos Klytotekhnes (the famed worker), easily they live a
peaceful life in their own houses the whole year round. Be gracious,
Hephaistos, and grant me success and prosperity!" - Homeric Hymn 20 to
Hephaestus

"Hephaistos himself had gone early to his forge and anvils in a vast
cavern on a floating island, where he used to turn out all kinds of
curious metalwork with the aid of fire and bellows." - Apollonius
Rhodius, Argonautica 3.36

"She found him [Hephaistos] sweating as he turned here and there to
his bellows busily, since he was working on twenty tripods ...
Hephaistos took the huge blower off from the block of the anvil
limping; and yet his shrunken legs moved lightly beneath him. He set
the bellows away from the fire, and gathered and put away all the
tools with which he worked in a silver strongbox. Then with a sponge
he wiped clean his forehead, and both hands, and his massive neck and
hairy chest, and put on a tunic, and took up a heavy stick in his
hand, and went to the doorway limping. And in support of their master
moved his attendants. These are golden, and in appearance like living
young women. There is intelligence in their hearts, and there is
speech in them and strength, and from the immortal gods they have
learned how to do things. These stirred nimbly in support of their
master." - Homer, Iliad 18.136

Today is the beginning of the three-day celebration of the Vulcanalia,
dedicated to Vulcan, the god of smiths, fire, volcanoes and
metalworking; he is the armorer of the gods. He is the son of
Iuppiter and Iuno, and married to Venus and Maia.

"Set foot in Sikelia (Sicily), put your prayer, if you please, to the
Kyklopes standing by their forge. They are in the secrets of
Hephaistos the master craftsman, they can rival his clever work." -
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 29.348

His smithy was believed to be situated underneath Mount Aetna in
Sicily. Today, fish caught from the Tiber near the Temple of Vulcan
and small animals were thrown into a fire, and herds of animals were
blessed by driving them over fires. The Good Works of Hora, wife of
Quirinus, were celebrated at his temple on the Quirinal Hill of Rome,
and the flamen Portunalis anointed the arms of the god Quirinus.
Vulcan's oldest shrine in Rome, called the "Volcanal", was situated in
the Forum Romanum, and dated back to the archaic Roman Kingdom. It was
the view of the Etruscan haruspices that a temple of Vulcan should be
located outside the city, and the Volcanal may originally have been on
or outside the city limits before they expanded to include the
Capitoline Hill. Vulcan also had a temple on the Campus Martius, which
was in existence by 214 BC.

The Romans identified Vulcan with the Greek smith-god Hephaestus, and
he became associated like his Greek counterpart with the constructive
use of fire in metalworking. A fragment of a Greek pot showing
Hephaestus found at the Volcanal has been dated to the 6th century BC,
suggesting that the two gods were already associated at this date.
However, Vulcan had a stronger association than Hephaestus with fire's
destructive capacity, and a major concern of his worshippers was to
encourage the god to avert harmful fires. His festival, the
Vulcanalia, was celebrated on August 23 each year, when the summer
heat placed crops and granaries most at risk of burning. During the
festival bonfires were created in honour of the god, into which live
fish or small animals were thrown as a sacrifice, to be consumed in
the place of humans. Vulcan was among the gods placated after the
Great Fire of Rome in AD 64. In response to the same fire, Domitian
(AD 81–96) established a new altar to Vulcan on the Quirinal Hill. At
the same time a red bull-calf and red boar were added to the
sacrifices made on the Vulcanalia, at least in that region of the city.

Valete bene!

Cato



SOURCES

Grattius, Wikipedia, Homer, Apollonius Rhodius, Nonnus

Cato M. Hortensiae Maiori P. Memmio Albucio omnibusque SPD

Salvete.

Just to be absolutely clear, on a.d. III Non. Ian., Edictum Consulare
VII was issued, which reads, in its entirety, as follows:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Continuing the project started during the Consulship of C. Fabius
Buteo Modianus and P. Minucia Strabo.

I. A content management and collaboration tool is an ongoing project
for Nova Roma. This tool is MediaWiki, the same software used by
Wikipedia.org. It is located at: http://www.novaroma.org/wiki/

II. Most static content of the web site - that is, almost everything
except citizen profile pages - will be moved into the Wiki as time
permits. The Annales, Tabularium and information on the Religio
Romanum are high-priority projects.

III. The following citizens shall be WikiMagisters (Scribae),
possessing administrative accounts within the Wiki, maintaining user
accounts, creating and maintaining templates, creating and enforcing
style guidelines, and supervising edits of articles:

1. M. Octavius Germanicus, Magister Aranearius

2. Q. Valerius Callidus

3. T. Octavius Pius Ahenobarbus

4. M. Lucretius Agricola

5. A. Apollonius Cordus

All work for and at the pleasure of the Magister Aranearius.

IV. Any citizen who wishes to participate may do so by signing up for
a Wiki account and joining the mailing list NRWiki@yahoogroups.com.
Before making any major contributions, please announce on the mailing
list which articles you wish to work on, to avoid duplication of effort.

Done this day of ante diem III Nonas Ianuarias MMDCCLX A.U.C. at 11:25
am, Roman time in the consulship of L. Arminius Faustus and Ti.
Galerius Paulinus

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


This clearly and unequivocably explains the parameters within which
the Wiki site is organized and edited.

My colleague in the praetorship issued an edict on a.d. VI Kal. Mar.
appointing M. Arminius Minor the post of scriba to "assist with the
restoration" of the Tabularium.

My own edict states clearly and unequivocably that in addition, I have
given two citizens, M. Lucretius Agricola and A. Apollonius Cordus,
explicit authority to curate the Tabularium of Nova Roma in any way
they see fit so as to best serve the legal and historical needs of the
Republic; that is, they have full praetorian imperium in this matter -
if they act, it is as if I myself were acting, and I accept full and
total responsibility for their actions on my behalf, as well as full
credit for the results :-)

If any other citizen wishes to assist them, I encourage you to write
to me and I will decide, after conversation with these scriba, if more
help or assistance is necessary. The extension of praetorian
authority applies *only* to the two citizens I have named in my edict,
however. I reserve the right to rescind or extend that imperium as I
see fit.

Valete,

Cato

Salvete omnes!

In honor of the Volcania, C. Aurelia Falco Silvana has researched and written an excellent trio of essays on the topics of the God Volcanus, Mt. Vesuvius, and the Roman port city of Ostia. They will be presented over a three-day period beginning with today's offering on Volcanus.

I thank Falco Silvana for her work on these essays. Any and all formatting errors are mine alone.

Valete optime,
T.Artoria Marcella
Curulis Aedilis

VOLCANUS

by C. Aurelia Falco Silvana


In this month of Sextilis (August), Nova Roma celebrates the summer festival of Volcanus. He held a revered place among the 12 Dii Consentes, the Gods specially honored by all Romans. As one of the 12, Volcanus merited both a flamen (or priest) and festivals – one on May 23, and the Volcanalia we celebrate on August 23. In his Roman aspect, Volcanus was God of destructive, consuming fire. He was associated both with fire generated in the natural world (lightning, volcanic eruption) and human-caused blazes. Volcanus stands in contrast to Vesta, Goddess of benevolent fire. (1) He later was regarded as the God of metalworkers and smelting, identified with theGreek God Hephaestus. His title of "mulciber" has been taken to refer both to softening metals in the forge (2) , and to quenching flame (1).

From the most ancient known times, Volcanus was worshipped under names that varied but definitely not Latin: Vulcan, Volcanus, Volkanus, Vulcanus. The closest-sounding name is from Crete (1); there are hints at Etruscan connections too. The Etruscan God of forge and smithy was Sethlans. The only Etruscan sculptor whose name survived was called Vulca(3). The Etruscan city of Vulci was renowned for its highly skilled bronze workers – more than mere coincidence? Because he was associated with volcanoes whose destructive force came up from the earth, his temples were always to be outside a city – on the authority of Etruscan haruspices:

" Now with Etruscan haruspices in the writings of their disciplines, the dedication is as follows: that the shrines of Venus, Volcanus, Mars are therefore to be situated outside the wall, so that veneral pleasure may not be customary to young men and matrons in the city, and, by summoning the power of Volcanus outside the rampart with ritual and sacrifices, the buildings may seem to be freed from fear of fires." (Vitruvius, 1.7.1)

In the city of Rome, his place of worship stood at the foot of the Capitol in the Forum Romanum, in the Area Volcani. This site, therefore, may date to a time before the city boundaries enclosed the Forum. (1). Blattner’s Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome describes many features that support the antiquity of the Area Volcani. Blattner gives his original classical references:

The term area Volcani, which was in common use, may have been synonymous with Volcanal, or perhaps have included some adjacent ground (Liv. IX.46.6; XXXIX.46; XL.19.2; Gell. IV.5.4; Fest. 238; see Graecostasis). This area, probably always a locus substructus, was about 5 metres higher than the comitium (Gell. IV.5.4; Dionys. II.50.2; Fest. 290), and from it the kings and magistrates of the early republic, before the rostra was built, addressed the people (Dionys. II.50.2; VI.67.2; XI.39.1 (Ἡφαίστου ἱερόν); VII.17.2 . On the Volcanal was a statue of Horatius Cocles, that had been moved from the comitium, a locus inferior (Gell. IV.5.4; Auct. de vir. ill. 11.2; Plut. Popl. 16); a bronze quadriga dedicated to Vulcan, and a statue of Romulus with a tablet containing a list of his exploits in Greek letters, both said to have been erected by Romulus (Dionys. II.54.2); and in Pliny's time a lotos tree, still growing and said to be as old as the city (NH XVI.236). (6)

The quadriga and statue of Romulus are both credited to Romulus himself (7). On the Volcanalia, sacrifice was also made to Juturna, the Nymphs, Ops Opifera, and Quirinus. (1) But offerings to Volcanus were unique: Sextus Pompeius Festus, in "De Verborum Significatu", writes :

"Piscatori ludi vocantur qui quotannis mense Iunio trans Tiberim fieri solent a praetore urbano pro piscatoribus Tiberinis; quorum quaestus non in macellum pervenit, sed fere in aream Volkani, quod id genus pisciculorum vivorum datur ei deo pro animis humanis."


[Across the Tiber in June every year, the urban praetor usually conductswhat are called "Fishermen’s Games" for the Tiber fishermen, whosecatch does not go to market but is carried to the Area Volcani, because this species of little living fish is given to the God for human souls.] (8)

The ritual of offering living fish was repeated in August on the Volcanalia.


On August twenty-third occurred the Festival of Vulcan, at a time when his aid would be necessary to avert fires which were likely to break out. Varro informs us 115 that people cast animals (presumably fish) into the fire "in place of themselves." In both these rites, the fish were offered as substitutes for human lives, which were thus to be saved miraculously from destructive fire. The fish, having come from the Tiber whose waters were used to extinguish fires, would be magically effective in preventing them. We gather one additional fact about the festival from one of Pliny's letters, 116 in which we read that, on the night of the Festival of Vulcan, Pliny's uncle used to begin studying at night by lamplight--not, however, Pliny assures us, for luck. It would seem from this statement that the Romans used to light their lamps ceremonially on this night for good luck. (9)

Like many Roman Gods, Volcanus also had natural places of worship, including what was called in Latin "Forum Volcani," now "La Solfatara", outside Puteoli (Pozzuoli):

a.. Immediately above the city lies the Forum of Hephaestus, a plain shut in all round by exceedingly hot ridges, which in numerous places have fumaroles that are like chimneys and that have a rather noisome smell; and the plain is full of drifted sulphur. (Strabo, Book 4.6)
But who was this deity the Romans honored in these places? Alone among the Gods, he was physically imperfect. Ugly and lame by birth, powerful by nature, can we understand the burning spirit of Volcanus? Son of Jupiter and Juno, husband of Maia, sometime also husband of Venus, Volcanus beat out the thunderbolts Jupiter was so fond of casting. He was armorer to the Gods and heroes, forging the weapons, shields and armor they carried into battle. Volcanoes were said to erupt when Volcanus used the bellows of his forge a little too vigorously. In 79 AD Vesuvius, one of our world’s most legendary volcanoes, erupted on the festival of Volcanalia.


The Italian peninsula wears a garland of fire: Vesuvius, Etna and Stromboli areonly the most famous. In this region, the African geological plate shoves up against Europe’s mass. Where the plates grind together, earthquakes happen and volcanoes are born. Italy was shaken, and antiquities stirred, by major quakes in 1980 and 1997. Volcanus, one of the most ancient Roman Gods, reminds us of his presence.

Etna, on the island of Sicily, is one of the world’s best-known and most-studied volcanoes. The base of the mountain is about 60 km by 40 km, and its cone reaches 3,350 metres into the sky. It has the world’s longest recorded history of eruptions, dating to 1500 BC. The oldest exposed lavas around the base erupted some 300,000 years ago. Etna soars upward in a region noted for its spectacular beauty. A fitting place then, to find the legend of Vulcan’s forge. For it is here that the Romans believed the God of smiths and metalworkers hammered out the divine thunderbolts, arms and armor for Gods and heroes. At Etna too, we find Volcanus’s link to others. Etna was the home of the Cyclopses, and here the giant Enceladus lay down.

Etna does not sleep. On March 29, 2007, two small lava taps appeared in the summit craters. 2001 was particularly busy for Mount Etna, with 16 eruptions by July, 13, when at least five vents opened and released thick lava flows. (8) To watch a volcano in action is exhilarating and terrifying, uplifting and humbling. We are awed by what our earth can do, and reminded of our precarious balance on its surface. (10, 11)

Like Pliny, this study has taken me deep into the night. I live in a heavily forested region of the world, where the force of destructive fire is well understood, especially in the hottest month of our year. We tend forest fires with the largest water bombers in the world – of which there are only two on the planet. They are kept flying by the skill of machinists and metalworkers who fabricate parts from scratch. My community lies on an inlet of the sea, and our fishing docks are in the heart of town. Mount St. Helen’s, the volcano that proved the accuracy of Pliny the Younger’s observations of Vesuvius, is not far away. We, too, are on a Ring of Fire where geological plates grind together and the earth shakes as Volcanus hammers away. It has been a useful reflection.

Volcanus, ugly and lame, is not perfect by our human standards. Yet he is one of the 12 Dii Consentes, a worthy member of their group, and earned their respect by his skill with fire and metal. We are reminded by Volcanus to accept ourselves, to pick up our tools and get to work forging a future worthy of the Gods.



BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. "Vulcan," in OXFORD COMPANION TO CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION.

Oxford University Press, NY 1998. Page 772

2. Dictionary of Classical Antiquities by Oskar Seyffert (1894), edited by Henry

Nettleship and J. E. Sandys, translated by various hands. p. 691

http://www.ancientlibrary.com/seyffert/0694.html

3. The Etruscans: their history, art and architecture.

Harry N. Abrams Inc., Publishers, NY 1977. pp 45 – 47; 119 - 120

4. De Architetura, Book 1, Chapter 7, by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio,

http://www.vitruvius.be/boek1h7.htm

5. Strabo: The Geography. Loeb Classical Library, 8 volumes, translation by H. L. Jones: Harvard University Press, 1917 thru 1932.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/5D*.html#ref333

6. A topographical dictionary of ancient Rome, by Samuel Ball Blattner (rev. and completed by Thomas Ashby). London, Oxford University Press, 1929. p. 583

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Volcanal.html

7. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, edited by William Smith (1870), Vol. 3, p. 1285

http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3618.html

8. Digital Roman Forum: De Verborum Significatu, by Sextus Pompeius Festus. This translation by C. Aurelia Falco Silvana

http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Forum/resources/primarysources/Festus_276L

9. Taboo, magic, spirits: a study of primitive elements in Roman Religion, by Eli Edward Burriss. (1931). Chapter VII, 7, subsection "Fire."


10. Earth Observatory Newsroom

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=5032

11. Volcano Live – Volcano webcams around the world

http://www.volcanolive.com/volcanocams.html

IMAGES:

Volcanus at his forge: Silvered coin, antoninianus, Salonina, Rome

http://www258.pair.com/denarius/images/erf_rp2500.jpg

Volcanus physical features: bust of Vulcan wearing a laureate pileus, tongs and star behind, within myrtle wreath. AR Serrate Denarius Lucius Aurelius Cotta,105 BC, Rome. Right: Eagle on thunderbolt within laurel wreath.

http://www.beastcoins.com/RomanRepublican/Z3757.jpg

Volcanus clip art: strong resemblance to coin physical features (above)

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/1500/1566/vulcan_1.htm

Mt. Etna Facts – site by Tourism Sicilia; links to their multiple live webcams of Etna.

http://www.volcanoetna.com/en/facts/index.php

John Seach spectacular images of Etna eruptions. Seach is a "volcano educator."

http://www.volcanolive.com/etna.html

Satellite photos of Etna, links to more volcanoes

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/img_etna.html


ALSO OF INTEREST:

Nova Roma: Gods and Goddesses of Rome

http://www.novaroma.org/religio_romana/deities.html

Boris Behncke, a volcanologist with Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Catania, has a website on Italy’s volcanoes, including Etna.

http://boris.vulcanoetna.com/ETNA_andman.html

US Geological Survey: recent earthquakes last 8 – 30 days, animated world map (lest we get complacent . . . .281 earthquakes in this period)

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsanim/world.php

Vulcan Park, Birmingham Alabama: world’s largest cast-iron statue (Vulcan)

http://www.visitvulcan.com/


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> A. Tullia Scholastica P. Memmio Albucio quiritibus bonae voluntatis S.P.D.
>
>
>
> P. Memmius Albucius Pr. Tulliae s.d.
>
> Just a precision on a part of your answer to Hon. Apollonius. As you
> have made me the honor of quoting me in this ML, I prefer giving you
> a quick answer here, so that every one may see that things are,
> inside your cohors, done quickly.
>
> If you well remember, the question that you asked us (and scribae,
> and me alone ;-) to check was on a lex Iunia. You seized us on July
> 26th at 10:26 Rome time and... received an answer from me, after due
> consultation of my collega T.Iulius Sabinus, in the same day
> afternoon (16:35).
>
> ATS: Yes, I did see that preliminary response...but I believe that you
> were going to look into this more deeply. The Lex Equitia does allow
> correction of grammatical, orthographical, etc., errors, but outright mutation
> is not covered.
>
> This letter (in the frame of the ordinary
> praetorian correspondence, as the other messages) brought you
> answers, and proposals. I suggest you might report to it.
>
> If you were to ask me now on other text alterations, I propose to ask
> the assistance of all the wiki-magisters, whose skills will be useful.
>
> ATS: Yes, I agree. Sabinus is now back from vacation, and we might be
> able to use some additional help...IF these new scribae are not working at
> cross-purposes with Sabinus, you, and my other scribae. I would prefer that
> they be in my cohors as Cato has not hitherto demonstrated any interest in the
> tabularium; only when Cordus started to grumble did he take any interest
> therein.
>
> Vale Praetrix,
>
> P. Memmius Albucius
>
> Vale, et valete.
>
> --- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com <mailto:Nova-Roma%40yahoogroups.com> , "A.
> Tullia Scholastica"
> <fororom@...> wrote:
>
>>> >>(AAC)But what is wonderful about the wiki-based website is that it
>>> >>is so easy for anyone and everyone to contribute to (..snip..).
>
>> >ATS: We have addressed a problem: that of unauthorized uploading
>> > incorrect texts. We may have to dig deeper to find out what may
>> >have happened with regard to texts being altered. I have asked
>> >Albucius to look into this, which he said he would, but he has not
>> >yet reported back to me.
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

P. Memmius Albucius Hortensiae s.d.

I may have not been clear enough, amica.

The wiki is a fantastic tool in a wikipaedia frame. As you do in
religio field, I personally contribute to a few wiki tools, outside
our republic, on various Roman topics. What makes a wiki mode working
is that :
- there is not *one* truth
- every one can bring her/his brick.
So, as Cordus well said it, the more you are then to contribute, the
more you build fast a wall that, every one in our corner, we would
have spent a long time to build.
This view is a good one for many fields of NR activity, you are right.

The question is quite different with *laws*. As I said re-using
Tullia's example, every state cannot afford each its citizens modify
its current laws. This is one of the heart characteristic of every
state : a law, a law issued through certain proceedings (assemblies,
publication etc.), a law applicable to all people in the same
situation, a known law, a law whose current state is given by a
support validated just by the state and through a few identification
channels. What we just have to guarantee is that a modification
request, specially an urgent one, be treated quickly.

Another question you ask, dear Maior, is the one of the consultation
of the Senatus consulta. The origin of this problem is not the
impossibility that every one cannot fill in our Tabularium with the
SC. The ground is that, before passing in the Wiki mode, the republic
should have transferred first its Tabularium, and also that parts of
the ancient tabularium have not been updated. I keep silent on the
plebeian archives, that the Aediles of the Plebs (current aediles are
not that concerned, naturally) should watch (do you know a web page
source where we cannot find such sources, and where, for example,
your tribunician edicts have been registered ? ;-) ).

So, to say it in a few words, it is a huuuuuge work, that needs every
good will, technical and law ones. At the same time, I have the
conviction that it must be done very methodically, with a central
validation process. That is why, on SC, as Pr. Tullia has written
Hon. Apollonius, the urgent has been made (laws) before the ... less
urgent.

Last, on the 'desperado-vandal':) example, that we could name
the 'Barbarian one', in a Roman mood, we have realized, in Pr.
Tullia's cohort, that several texts have been, before
their "wikization", either modified, or ill-written in our former
Tab. or even forgotten. True, we all must have spent around a total
of 70 hours, maybe more, checking one by one all these texts.
In this case, this was not a Barbarian assault. But must we afford
spending additional time, to correct incorrect entries, etc. ?
Furthermore, imagine if someone would intentionally delete all our
texts through a free access ? Yes, we would identify her/him (at
least the identity that would had been given to our censors).. But
then ? How about the damages done, and how many hours to fix them
up ?!!

The last important point in the Tabularium question is to succeed
building a tool, and proceedings, which work whatever the people and
magistrates who are in office. Precisely, because our res publica
change most of its magistracies every year, we need an efficient
administrative tool. What we found last spring on the tabularium that
there was not a collective and continuous memories, transferable each
year to a new team : X could give 3/4 of the Tab. but from Y year,
another could bring the SC, another one, etc..

So we are in the good way. We just collectively need more people to
work, with more time and various skills, specially wiki ones.

Said like this, this is very simple... ;-)

I hope these lines would have been more clear for you, amica.


Vale bene Maior,



P. Memmius Albucius

--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "Maior" <rory12001@...> wrote:
>
> M. Hortensia P. Memmio spd;
> dear Albuci, I'm a frequent wiki-contributor for the Religio,
> reading lists that sort of thing & had lots of useful help from the
> wikimagistri, being such a novice:)
>
> Now they explained to me that the NRwiki keeps copies of the
webpage
> before you change it; so nothing is lost.
>
> So why then must the Tabularium be locked down? If there is some
> desperado-vandal:) his or her name will appear on his/her changes &
> that person can be barred & the old page returned with a simple
> click.
>
> The greatness of the NRwiki is that it engages all Nova Romans, we
> all can work on it. If the Tabularium were freely open we'd have
had
> all the Senate Consulta catalogued. This surely is good for the res
> publica.
> optime vale amice
> M. Hortensia Maior
>
> > P. Memmius Albucius A. Apollonio Cordo s.d.
> >
> >
> > I do not know, Corde, what kind of relations you have exactly
with
> > our Praetor Tullia, which seems to me as bit... complicated, but
I
> > feel necessary to bring a few precisions on some of your last
> letter
> > (51248+51249). In order not to bore our citizens, I will bring
> them
> > in separated posts. Here is the first precision:
> >
> > >(P.S. I have taken the liberty of correcting the error I made
> with
> > >the text of the lex Equitia Galeria, so that it is now correctly
> > >marked as "approved by the senate". It took me about 30 seconds.
> > >While I am being pistol-whipped by the praetrix for making
> > >unauthorized changes to the tabularium, please observe that this
> > >simple clerical error had not already been corrected by the
> > >praetores or their staff even after two or three days of public
> > >discussion in this forum, and
> > >ask yourselves whether their monopoly of the tabularium is
really
> an
> > >efficient way to manage public archives.)
> >
> > First let me note that all your letter long, you have reproached
> the
> > praetors that a citizen be obliged to wait for weeks before being
> > authorized to bring a modification in the tabularium.
> >
> > And you tell us here that you have corrected your wiki-insertion
> > error (cf. your message) in "about 30 seconds".
> >
> > So, where are you right ?
> >
> > Either your whole reasoning is wrong, or you tell us that you
have
> > allowed yourself, as one of the few of the citizens who
> > are 'wikimagisters', to make the correction under your own
> authority,
> > with no preliminary message to the praetorian staff.
> >
> > Second, did you not wonder why this modification has not yet been
> > made before your "veni-vidi-vici" blitzact ? Because the
> discussion
> > in our ML was precisely one of the last part of a quiet and
> > consensual resolution of this point.
> >
> > Far away of what you have imagined, this lex Equitia Galeria
> > tabularium point (your wikimagister error, if I have well read
> you)
> > has been checked by Pr. Tullia's team, last July, among other
> > questions, as one to solve.
> >
> > You then surely have read my recent post (51241 ML) which coped
> with
> > the current situation. If you re-read it, more carefully this
> time,
> > you will understand that we wished to obtain, before making any
> > unappropriate modification, a confirmation from the concerned
> > magistrates of year 2757 auc. This seemed an elementary matter of
> > respect.
> >
> > But in a (Carthaginian, no doubt, not Roman...) 'elephant in a
> china
> > shop' act, you decided to make the modification without any
> > consideration of the work done, the involved time, and the
answers
> > asked for.
> >
> > You would have understood, dear Corde, that my disappointment, on
> > this point, is as important as what you should bring to our res
> > publica.
> >
> > Vale,
> >
> >
> > P. Memmius Albucius
> > Scr. pr. Tulliae
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "A. Apollonius Cordus"
> > <a_apollonius_cordus@> wrote:
> > >
> > > A. Apollonius omnibus sal.
> > >
> > > I noticed the discussion about the lex Equitia Galeria and the
> lex
> > constitutiva and thought I'd better check out the confusion,
> partly
> > since I was the one who originally transferred a number of the
> > relevant legal texts into the new website, and partly since I
take
> a
> > general interest in the tabularium.
> > >
> > > There are several points to address:
> > >
> > > 1. Was the lex Equitia Galeria approved by the necessary
> majority
> > of the senate or not?
> > > 2. Is the lex Equitia Galeria currently in force or lapsed?
> > > 3. Does the amendment it made to the lex constitutiva still
> remain
> > in the current text of the lex constitutiva.
> > >
> > > My answers follow.
> > >
> > > 1. I have racked my brains, and I cannot remember any
> particular
> > reason why I, contrary to the tribunes' report (which my friend
Q.
> > Metellus has kindly supplied) and contrary to basic arithmetic,
> > marked the lex as "rejected" by the senate. I can only conclude
> that
> > this was a clerical error on my part, for which I apologize. It
> is,
> > however, easily rectified.
> > >
> > > 2. The lex is no longer in force because its effect has been
> > completely nullified by the subsequent amendment of the lex
> > constitutiva made by means of the lex Equitia de constitutione
> > corrigenda. The latter lex Equitia enacted a complete text of
the
> > lex constitutiva. This lex did not contain the additional text
> which
> > had been inserted by the lex Equitia Galeria. This was, no
doubt,
> an
> > inadvertent oversight. However, that makes no difference. The
> fact
> > is that the populus and the senate approved the lex Equitia de
> > constitutione corrigenda, and thus they declared their wish that
> the
> > lex constitutiva should consist of that text and no other text.
> They
> > approved the removal of the clause inserted by the lex Equitia
> > Galeria. That clause can only be re-inserted by another
amendment
> in
> > the usual way. Consequently the lex has no effect and has lapsed.
> > >
> > > 3. The answer which follows from answer 2 is that the
sentences
> > added by the lex Equitia Galeria are not part of the current text
> of
> > the lex constitutiva.
> > >
> > >
> > > I'd like to take this opportunity to make a few more general
> > comments.
> > >
> > > The first is about the tabularium and its management. When we
> > first began to transfer the contents of the old website to the
> new,
> > wiki-based site, I took a special interest in the tabularium and
> > tried to put in place mechanisms and formats which would make it
> easy
> > to use. I also tried to stock it with the texts of the most
> recent
> > leges, and did in fact, I believe, manage to add all the leges
> which
> > had been passed in the previous two years. After that first push
> I
> > found I had less time to spare, but I continued to make
occasional
> > additions and improvements (as indeed did other contributors,
> whose
> > contributions I don't wish to minimize).
> > >
> > > But soon after the beginning of this political year the new
> > praetores decided that they wanted exclusive control over the
> content
> > of the tabularium on the new website. Moreover, anyone who tried
> to
> > make any positive contribution to the tabularium without their
> > explicit prior authority was rewarded with a stern rebuke from
the
> > praetrix.
> > >
> > > In the first six months or so of the new website, the
tabularium
> > went from nothing at all to a fairly comprehensive and fairly
easy-
> to-
> > use collection of all the legal texts of the two previous years,
> and
> > was continuing to grow and improve at the same rate. Since the
> > praetores took over exclusive control of it, they have begun to
> > implement an overhaul of the structure of the tabularium which
has
> so
> > far done nothing, in my experience, except make it more difficult
> to
> > use. An example, which I hope will not be too boringly
> technical.
> > Originally all previous versions of the lex constitutiva were
> placed
> > in a 'category' called, conventiently enough, 'constitution'. In
> > addition, each previous version of the lex constitutiva had a box
> at
> > the top of it linking to the version before and the version
> after.
> > This made it very easy to see all the previous versions there had
> > been, and to compare successive versions, and to work out what
> order
> > they went in. Under
> > > the new regime, all versions of the lex constitutiva except
the
> > current one were removed from the category 'constitution'. The
> idea,
> > it seems, was to replace this category with a simple list of all
> > previous versions. The problem was that this list had to be
> updated
> > manually, and did not (and does not now) contain even half the
> > previous versions of the lex constitutiva. Also, the links to
> > preceding and following versions were removed from the texts of
> the
> > versions themselves. The result was that there were about half a
> > dozen previous versions of the lex constitutiva which were on the
> > website but which nobody would ever find unless he already knew
> they
> > were there, and even someone who knew they were there would find
> it
> > very difficult to find them. No doubt the praetores would say
> that
> > these problems will all eventually be solved once the overhaul is
> > complete, but as far as I can see the overhaul has been
proceeding
> at
> > an incredibly slow rate and
> > > we'll be luck if the tabularium is as comprehensive and user-
> > friendly at the end of the year as it was at the beginning.
> > >
> > > I must add that, as far as I know, no one has been adding new
> > senatus consulta (proposed, approved, or failed) to the website
> since
> > the praetores took over responsibility for the tabularium, and
the
> > addition of edicta has been decidedly patchy.
> > >
> > > I do not say that the praetores and their staff have not been
> > working hard. I'm sure they have. But what is wonderful about
> the
> > wiki-based website is that it is so easy for anyone and everyone
> to
> > contribute to. If you have, say, ten people who take an interest
> in
> > Roman food, and each of them has an hour to spare every week, you
> get
> > ten hours of work done every week to improve the website's
> > information about Roman food. The same virtue formerly allowed
> the
> > interest and spare time of a significant number of people to be
> > harnessed in the interest of keeping the tabularium up-to-date
and
> > filling it with old documents. But by a single stroke the
> praetores
> > have returned the tabularium - the one part of the website where
> > being up-to-date is most important - to the bad old days. Now no
> one
> > can contribute anything without spending several days getting
> > approval from the praetores, and as a result everyone who
formerly
> > contributed, including me, has simply
> > > stopped bothering. Now the only people who maintain the
> > tabularium are the one or two people whom the praetores employ
for
> > this purpose, and it seems they simply lack the time and energy
to
> do
> > it. The praetores may think that this is a small price to pay
for
> > protecting the tabularium from vandalism or incompetent editing,
> but
> > I can assure them that there has actually never been any serious
> > vandalism or incompetent editing of the tabularium, and in any
> case
> > another virtue of the wiki system is that these things are
> incredibly
> > easy to undo.
> > >
> > > I would also note that there is no historical precedent
> whatsoever
> > for the praetores having exclusive, or any, control over the
> contents
> > of the tabularium.
> > >
> > > That's all I have to say about the praetores and their custody
> of
> > the tabularium. My last point, for those who are still reading,
> is a
> > long-standing ingredient of my repertoire: the legislative system
> > itself. Why have we got into this muddle about whether a lex is
> > lapsed or not, whether it was approved by the necessary 'super-
> > majority' in the senate or not, whether it is part of the lex
> > constitutiva or not? It's not only confusing, it's totally
> > unnecessary. The Romans had none of these things. They did not
> use
> > leges to amend other leges. When a lex needed to be changed, it
> was
> > completely replaced with a new text. The old text could then be
> > completely forgotten. There was no need to perform this
> complicated
> > process of cross-referencing the amending lex with the original
> and
> > producing a composite which formed a new text. And they
certainly
> > did not trouble themselves with having a single large legal text
> > which purported to define the essential
> > > principles of the constitution and which could only be amended
> > using a particularly complex legislative process involving super-
> > majorities and multiple ratifications by different groups of
> people.
> > All this stuff is un-Roman and unnecessary. If we legislated the
> way
> > the Romans legislated, the tabularium would be a lot smaller and
a
> > lot simpler.
> > >
> > > Thank you for your attention.
> > >
> > > (P.S. I have taken the liberty of correcting the error I made
> with
> > the text of the lex Equitia Galeria, so that it is now correctly
> > marked as "approved by the senate". It took me about 30
seconds.
> > While I am being pistol-whipped by the praetrix for making
> > unauthorized changes to the tabularium, please observe that this
> > simple clerical error had not already been corrected by the
> praetores
> > or their staff even after two or three days of public discussion
> in
> > this forum, and ask yourselves whether their monopoly of the
> > tabularium is really an efficient way to manage public archives.)
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
___________________________________________________________
> > > Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the
> > answer. Try it
> > > now.
> > > http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/
> > >
> >
>

>
> A. Tullia Scholastica Milyardo quiritibus, sociis, peregrinisque bonae
> voluntatis S.P.D.
>
>
> Dear Assembly and Magistrates, and to the Admin of Novaroma.org,
> I would first like to say that I am very blessed to have run
> across a place that shares in the ideals I've held within myself for
> some time now. As the main site had instructed I adopted a Roman Name
> to begin the citizen process. I chose Numerius Apollonius Quadratus.
> I was atempting to finalize my citizenship by clicking the link
> provided but I was greeted by this, "Cannot create session file
> in /www/novaroma/cgi-bin/sessions: too many failed attempts to create
> session in /www/novaroma/cgi-bin/sessions."
>
> ATS: We were having problems with the censorial database earlier today;
> our webmaster has since fixed the problem(s). Perhaps you tried before this
> was rectified. Please try again...
>
>
> I really desire to become
> a citizen of Nova Roma and do all that I can as a Roman citizen for the
> glory of Rome, but I am impeded by this. Any assistance I can get
> would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance for reading this post
> and may the Gods bless Nova Roma.
>
> ATS: And we would be glad to have you. Please try again...once in a
> great while, there is a cybernetic glitch which needs to be cleared up. As
> one of the censors is also the webmaster, this normally is done quite quickly.
>
> Vale, et valete.
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Albucius Pr. Scholasticae s.d.

> ATS: Yes, I did see that preliminary response...but I believe
>that you were going to look into this more deeply.

>The Lex Equitia does allow correction of grammatical,
>orthographical, etc., errors, but outright mutation is not covered.

I propose that we see inside your cohors this general matter in the
next days, that a method be set up to define what is to do, how and
with what means (legal, technical, etc.).

> ATS: Yes, I agree. Sabinus is now back from vacation, and we
>might be able to use some additional help...

Collega Sabinus is already one of the most working citizen and
officer in Nova Roma. My gravitas ;-) prevent me telling all the
things he is already coping with for romanitas and NR.
We need other working scribae and, why not new ones, specially in the
wiki and law fields. just for the French opus insertion in the wiki,
it will take probably one large full time working week!

> I would prefer that they be in my cohors as Cato has not hitherto

demonstrated any interest in the tabularium; only when Cordus started
to grumble did he take any interest therein.

This is an interesting idea. Have you discussed it with Praetor
Cato ? It seems, through his late edict, that he felt the need
helping you in the Tabularium project. That we would be a wise
solution to have such skilled cives like Apollonius and Lucretius
work with us.

Vale bene Tullia,



P. Memmius Albucius

> > --- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com <mailto:Nova-Roma%

40yahoogroups.com> , "A.

> > Tullia Scholastica"
> > <fororom@> wrote:
> >
> >>> >>(AAC)But what is wonderful about the wiki-based website is

that it

> >>> >>is so easy for anyone and everyone to contribute to

(..snip..).

> >
> >> >ATS: We have addressed a problem: that of unauthorized uploading
> >> > incorrect texts. We may have to dig deeper to find out what may
> >> >have happened with regard to texts being altered. I have asked
> >> >Albucius to look into this, which he said he would, but he has

not

> >> >yet reported back to me.
> >
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

> A. Tullia Scholastica iterum P. Memmio Albucio quiritibus bonae voluntatis
> S.P.D.
>
>
>
> P. Memmius Albucius A. Apollonio Cordo s.d.
>
> I do not know, Corde, what kind of relations you have exactly with
> our Praetor Tullia, which seems to me as bit... complicated,
>
> ATS: Cordus seems to be nourishing a grudge against me for various
> reasons, which I shall explain privatim.
>
>
> but I
> feel necessary to bring a few precisions on some of your last letter
> (51248+51249). In order not to bore our citizens, I will bring them
> in separated posts. Here is the second group of precisions, which
> will complete the answers that Pr. Tullia has already brought:
>
>> >(AAC)Moreover, anyone who tried to make any positive contribution to
>> >the tabularium without their explicit prior authority was rewarded
>> >with a stern rebuke from the praetrix.(..)
>
> I do not know if the 'anyone' is just you, Corde, but I may tell you
> that, during the last six months, Tullia's cohors has not been seized
> of any such proposal and so not known any refusal.
>
> ATS: Nor is it my nature to use the aggressive methods commonly employed
> by certain parties here, which might justly be characterized as stern...had
> such requests been made...but there were none, merely additions without any
> consultation, additions of uncorrected laws for which corrected versions were
> readily available, and possibly vandalism to some law texts.
>
>> >what is wonderful about the wiki-based website is that it
>> >is so easy for anyone and everyone to contribute to [the site and
> specially the tabularium]
>
> A tabularium must not, as other parts of NR web site, be open to free
> access and free correction.
>
> ATS: I agree completely. The citizen database is locked down, and I see
> no good reason why the Tabularium should not be as well.
>
> I have (personally) not been in favor of the choice of the wiki mode
> for our whole NR site, and still think that we have more lost than
> gained. The wiki just allows the magistrates concerned by a burden to
> move it upon the shoulders of 'simple' citizens. It thus depreciates
> both our magistracies and our whole res publica.
>
> The wiki, with no training tool, makes furthermore *in itself* things
> more complicated (pages Nova Roma and non NR, categories, links,
> etc.). This situation is outside the scope and good will of the
> praetors.
>
> ATS: Exactly. No one said we had to be wiki magistri, or cybernauts of
> any sort, to perform our duties to the Res Publica.
>
> Added to this, in the case of a law section (tabularium), to leave a
> free access is a non sense and a huge mistake.
>
> ATS: Iterum assentior.
>
> Pr. Tullia has found a good illustration with "laws in Britain" : in
> every one of our current 'macronational' states which has a
> electronic law base, can any of us, citizens of this country, modify
> these texts? No, obviously, not. I think this access controlled
> situation is far more roman than the one you are backing up... ;-).
>
> We thus need, for all legal texts an access-controlled tabularium,
> placed under the responsibility of *one* (at best, but not 36 !)
> magistrate - praetor or more historical one - who has time enough to
> organize a efficient, reactive and skilled team to cope with the work
> to do, in a narrow relation with all magistrates and every citizen
> who would remark such or such thing to better up. Why one
> magistrate ? Because it is better for every one to know who is
> responsible, who chairs the teams, etc.. From the moment you put two
> chief pilots in a plane, you may begin fearing for your life... ;-)
>
> ATS: Exactly. Someone MUST be in charge, and here in NR, that someone
> has been one or the other of the praetores, though more often, neither has
> given a damn about the Tabularium. That is why it is such a mess, and why
> considerable work is necessary to fix it, and to rectify the unlawful
> deletions of rescinded laws. Cato has not been interested in the Tabularium
> (understandably; his interests in this position lie elsewhere, and his macro
> work keeps him busy), and I have, so we decided that I would handle this. Now
> he suddenly thinks that he has to intervene because one person complained...at
> a time when my praetorian wiki magister was on vacation. Evidently Sabinus is
> not allowed to have a vacation...nor are you, Albuci.
>
> I personally think that the current praetorian action must go forward
> in keeping on working with the other key powers concerned in the web
> site and the tabularium : the censor-the MA-the consuls and, for a
> minor part (decuria of interprets), the Senate (which could delegate
> its power to the consuls, for instance, in this special case).
>
> Last, I think, now that apparently you have more time to give to the
> republic, that your skills would be more useful *in* the tabularium
> team than *out*, writing long letters which take us all time to
> answer to.
>
> ATS: Well said.
>
> I have seen that Praetor Equitius has decided to appoint you and
> Lucretius as scribae tabularii. As you are yet wiki-magister - one of
> the important cives who may change everything in the web site - you
> will surely boost there your efficiency for Nova Roma.
>
> ATS: I believe that both Cordus and Agricola are wiki magistri...but they
> should not be working independently in the Tabularium, but with my other
> scribae designated for that purpose. They might, for example, help you upload
> your law translations.
>
> That is a first step who shows the care that Pr. Cato wants to bring
> to the Tabularium. No doubt that he did not intend to create a second
> Tabularium team, competing with Tullia's one, and that this is a
> clever action which may us all group around our both praetors to give
> our res publica a better work.
>
> ATS: I hope that Cato did not intend to create a group working at
> cross-purposes with you, Sabinus, and my other scribae. If so, the edictum
> will have to be vetoed. There is no need to undo the work of my scribae, as
> if we were some odd variation on Penelope undoing at night the weaving she did
> by day. Of course there are those here who would like to undo anything others
> and I have done, and who have threatened to run for office largely for that
> purpose, but the sensible will not vote for such deranged individuals.
>
> Incidentally, Albuci, your post copied on Maior¹s following message did
> not appear in my box; Yahoo is ailing, and some messages clearly are missing.
>
> Vale Corde,
>
> P. Memmius Albucius
>
> Vale, et valete.
>
> --- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com <mailto:Nova-Roma%40yahoogroups.com> , "A.
> Apollonius Cordus"
> <a_apollonius_cordus@...> wrote:
>> >
>> > A. Apollonius omnibus sal.
>> >
>> > I noticed the discussion about the lex Equitia Galeria and the lex
> constitutiva and thought I'd better check out the confusion, partly
> since I was the one who originally transferred a number of the
> relevant legal texts into the new website, and partly since I take a
> general interest in the tabularium.
>> >
>> > There are several points to address:
>> >
>> > 1. Was the lex Equitia Galeria approved by the necessary majority
> of the senate or not?
>> > 2. Is the lex Equitia Galeria currently in force or lapsed?
>> > 3. Does the amendment it made to the lex constitutiva still remain
> in the current text of the lex constitutiva.
>> >
>> > My answers follow.
>> >
>> > 1. I have racked my brains, and I cannot remember any particular
> reason why I, contrary to the tribunes' report (which my friend Q.
> Metellus has kindly supplied) and contrary to basic arithmetic,
> marked the lex as "rejected" by the senate. I can only conclude that
> this was a clerical error on my part, for which I apologize. It is,
> however, easily rectified.
>> >
>> > 2. The lex is no longer in force because its effect has been
> completely nullified by the subsequent amendment of the lex
> constitutiva made by means of the lex Equitia de constitutione
> corrigenda. The latter lex Equitia enacted a complete text of the
> lex constitutiva. This lex did not contain the additional text which
> had been inserted by the lex Equitia Galeria. This was, no doubt, an
> inadvertent oversight. However, that makes no difference. The fact
> is that the populus and the senate approved the lex Equitia de
> constitutione corrigenda, and thus they declared their wish that the
> lex constitutiva should consist of that text and no other text. They
> approved the removal of the clause inserted by the lex Equitia
> Galeria. That clause can only be re-inserted by another amendment in
> the usual way. Consequently the lex has no effect and has lapsed.
>> >
>> > 3. The answer which follows from answer 2 is that the sentences
> added by the lex Equitia Galeria are not part of the current text of
> the lex constitutiva.
>> >
>> >
>> > I'd like to take this opportunity to make a few more general
> comments.
>> >
>> > The first is about the tabularium and its management. When we
> first began to transfer the contents of the old website to the new,
> wiki-based site, I took a special interest in the tabularium and
> tried to put in place mechanisms and formats which would make it easy
> to use. I also tried to stock it with the texts of the most recent
> leges, and did in fact, I believe, manage to add all the leges which
> had been passed in the previous two years. After that first push I
> found I had less time to spare, but I continued to make occasional
> additions and improvements (as indeed did other contributors, whose
> contributions I don't wish to minimize).
>> >
>> > But soon after the beginning of this political year the new
> praetores decided that they wanted exclusive control over the content
> of the tabularium on the new website. Moreover, anyone who tried to
> make any positive contribution to the tabularium without their
> explicit prior authority was rewarded with a stern rebuke from the
> praetrix.
>> >
>> > In the first six months or so of the new website, the tabularium
> went from nothing at all to a fairly comprehensive and fairly easy-to-
> use collection of all the legal texts of the two previous years, and
> was continuing to grow and improve at the same rate. Since the
> praetores took over exclusive control of it, they have begun to
> implement an overhaul of the structure of the tabularium which has so
> far done nothing, in my experience, except make it more difficult to
> use. An example, which I hope will not be too boringly technical.
> Originally all previous versions of the lex constitutiva were placed
> in a 'category' called, conventiently enough, 'constitution'. In
> addition, each previous version of the lex constitutiva had a box at
> the top of it linking to the version before and the version after.
> This made it very easy to see all the previous versions there had
> been, and to compare successive versions, and to work out what order
> they went in. Under
>> > the new regime, all versions of the lex constitutiva except the
> current one were removed from the category 'constitution'. The idea,
> it seems, was to replace this category with a simple list of all
> previous versions. The problem was that this list had to be updated
> manually, and did not (and does not now) contain even half the
> previous versions of the lex constitutiva. Also, the links to
> preceding and following versions were removed from the texts of the
> versions themselves. The result was that there were about half a
> dozen previous versions of the lex constitutiva which were on the
> website but which nobody would ever find unless he already knew they
> were there, and even someone who knew they were there would find it
> very difficult to find them. No doubt the praetores would say that
> these problems will all eventually be solved once the overhaul is
> complete, but as far as I can see the overhaul has been proceeding at
> an incredibly slow rate and
>> > we'll be luck if the tabularium is as comprehensive and user-
> friendly at the end of the year as it was at the beginning.
>> >
>> > I must add that, as far as I know, no one has been adding new
> senatus consulta (proposed, approved, or failed) to the website since
> the praetores took over responsibility for the tabularium, and the
> addition of edicta has been decidedly patchy.
>> >
>> > I do not say that the praetores and their staff have not been
> working hard. I'm sure they have. But what is wonderful about the
> wiki-based website is that it is so easy for anyone and everyone to
> contribute to. If you have, say, ten people who take an interest in
> Roman food, and each of them has an hour to spare every week, you get
> ten hours of work done every week to improve the website's
> information about Roman food. The same virtue formerly allowed the
> interest and spare time of a significant number of people to be
> harnessed in the interest of keeping the tabularium up-to-date and
> filling it with old documents. But by a single stroke the praetores
> have returned the tabularium - the one part of the website where
> being up-to-date is most important - to the bad old days. Now no one
> can contribute anything without spending several days getting
> approval from the praetores, and as a result everyone who formerly
> contributed, including me, has simply
>> > stopped bothering. Now the only people who maintain the
> tabularium are the one or two people whom the praetores employ for
> this purpose, and it seems they simply lack the time and energy to do
> it. The praetores may think that this is a small price to pay for
> protecting the tabularium from vandalism or incompetent editing, but
> I can assure them that there has actually never been any serious
> vandalism or incompetent editing of the tabularium, and in any case
> another virtue of the wiki system is that these things are incredibly
> easy to undo.
>> >
>> > I would also note that there is no historical precedent whatsoever
> for the praetores having exclusive, or any, control over the contents
> of the tabularium.
>> >
>> > That's all I have to say about the praetores and their custody of
> the tabularium. My last point, for those who are still reading, is a
> long-standing ingredient of my repertoire: the legislative system
> itself. Why have we got into this muddle about whether a lex is
> lapsed or not, whether it was approved by the necessary 'super-
> majority' in the senate or not, whether it is part of the lex
> constitutiva or not? It's not only confusing, it's totally
> unnecessary. The Romans had none of these things. They did not use
> leges to amend other leges. When a lex needed to be changed, it was
> completely replaced with a new text. The old text could then be
> completely forgotten. There was no need to perform this complicated
> process of cross-referencing the amending lex with the original and
> producing a composite which formed a new text. And they certainly
> did not trouble themselves with having a single large legal text
> which purported to define the essential
>> > principles of the constitution and which could only be amended
> using a particularly complex legislative process involving super-
> majorities and multiple ratifications by different groups of people.
> All this stuff is un-Roman and unnecessary. If we legislated the way
> the Romans legislated, the tabularium would be a lot smaller and a
> lot simpler.
>> >
>> > Thank you for your attention.
>> >
>> > (P.S. I have taken the liberty of correcting the error I made with
> the text of the lex Equitia Galeria, so that it is now correctly
> marked as "approved by the senate". It took me about 30 seconds.
> While I am being pistol-whipped by the praetrix for making
> unauthorized changes to the tabularium, please observe that this
> simple clerical error had not already been corrected by the praetores
> or their staff even after two or three days of public discussion in
> this forum, and ask yourselves whether their monopoly of the
> tabularium is really an efficient way to manage public archives.)
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > __________________________________________________________

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

M. Hortensia Quiritibus spd;
the ongoing discussion is a good reminder to encourage
fellow cives to contribute to the NRwiki. I was a total novice & now
contribute all the time.

It's incredibly easy & you can do it when it's convenient for you.

1. You can be utterly clueless; the nrwikigroup here will help you.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/NRWiki/

2. You don't have to worry about messing up a page you are editing.
Copies are always saved & easily accessible. So no angst!

3. No one will laugh at your questions. I'm your Gaia Titia average
& asked the most simple questions, was totally clueless. The Wiki
magistri are great & utterly nice & explain things in a totally non-
technical way.

Here are some of my projects:
A Personal Page:
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Marca_Hortensia_Maior_%28Nova_Roma%29

Online Temple to Goddess Fortuna!
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Aedes_Fortunae_Populi_Romani_Quiritium_Pri
magenia_%28Nova_Roma%29

Religio book list:
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Reading_list_for_the_cultus_deorum

Articles on gods, lar...
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Lar
Penates:
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Penates
Fortuna:
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Fortuna

I love doing it, & know the material is there with photos to share
with others, not lost in some archive in Yahoo.

So please quirites, join in, it's a great project & extremely easy.
I made a point of trying it out, so my clueless questions would help
others.
bene valete in pacem deorum
M. Hortensia Maior
producer 'Vox Romana' podcast
website address is http://www.insulaumbra.com/voxromana/ . The
address for RSS syndication is
http://www.insulaumbra.com/voxromana/podcast.xml .

Cato omnes SPD.

Salvete.

A few points:

First, the "old" Tabularium is not lost or inaccessible; it is here:

http://www.novaroma.org/tabularium/

available to any citizen at any time. We need not create concern or
confusion where none exists.

Second, it has been a running theme over several subjects that my
colleague in the praetorship has had some difficulties in dealing with
a number of citizens. Whether or not these are simple
misunderstandings or something more serious is none of my concern; I
only stepped in when I saw that, contrary to my understanding, the
re-organization of the Tabularium was not, in fact, proceeding in an
orderly fashion.

If this is seen as high- or heavy-handed, so be it. It is in my
nature that if a problem arises, I seek to rectify it as quickly as
possible. I took care that no-one in any other magistrates' cohors
had been granted these specific powers, and then took the step I did.
As I know full well that Iulius Sabinus and Cordus and Agricola get
along quite well and are all three rational, intelligent men, I see no
reason for concern regarding their effectiveness together.

Valete,

Cato

Hello everyone,
I'm still trying to learn Latin, but I would like to say that the
application went just fine, though I was wrong in the name of Choice,
Numerius and not Numerilius. I'm afraid my Roman names are a little
off. I look forward to continuing my actions with Nova Roma, though
one question, what does it mean I will not try to secede or revolt
against a macronation? Is this to curtail people who wish to see
Nova Roma as an actual Nation off somewhere? I'm just curious to
know. Thank you all in advance for you replies.

--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, M·CVR·COMPLVTENSIS
<complutensis@...> wrote:

>
> Salve and welcome to Nova Roma
>
> there is a problem in the website. Try later.
>
> Vale
>
> M·CVRIATIVS·COMPLVTENSIS
> TRIBVNVS PLEBIS
> PROPRAETOR HISPANIAE
> SCRIBA CENSORIS GFBM
> NOVA ROMA
>
> -------------------------------------------
>
> ex paucis multa, ex minimis maxima
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Milyardo
> To: Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 9:56 AM
> Subject: [Nova-Roma] Becoming a Citizen.
>
>
> Dear Assembly and Magistrates, and to the Admin of Novaroma.org,
> I would first like to say that I am very blessed to have run
> across a place that shares in the ideals I've held within myself

for

> some time now. As the main site had instructed I adopted a Roman

Name

> to begin the citizen process. I chose Numerius Apollonius

Quadratus.

> I was atempting to finalize my citizenship by clicking the link
> provided but I was greeted by this, "Cannot create session file
> in /www/novaroma/cgi-bin/sessions: too many failed attempts to

create

> session in /www/novaroma/cgi-bin/sessions." I really desire to

become

> a citizen of Nova Roma and do all that I can as a Roman citizen

for the

> glory of Rome, but I am impeded by this. Any assistance I can get
> would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance for reading this

post

> and may the Gods bless Nova Roma.
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

SALVETE!

The Tabularium address is:
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Category:Tabularium_%28Nova_Roma%29

It is composed of two parts:

1. Work in progress:
- Index materiarum.
- Index Legium.
- Nova roman Law Handbook.

These parts represent an excellent idea of hon. Memmius Albucius and
with the praetrix Scholastica approval the work already started. I
want to mention that here is not huge but titanic work.

2. Accesible links on Tabularium page:
- New list of leges:
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/List_of_leges
- Old tabularium:
http://www.novaroma.org/tabularium/
- Codex Juris Novae Romae:
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Codex_Juris_Novae_Romae

The second part offers to all citizens at any moment all the
necessaries information about Nova Roma juridical system. Are there
some mistakes? Sure they are. It's normal to this amount of work
even if the most part of the uploaded material was corrected.

The first priority was the laws. The process is 82% ready. In the
second part of the year the work will continue with the uploading of
the rest part of old tabularium. I want to point out here that
praetrix Scholastica all the time insisted about correctitude of the
material uploaded. This is not simple process, too, and sometime,
with all our attention, errors can still exist.

How I said in a previous message if the Tabularium is fashionable or
not is a difficult answer so long as the term fashionable itself is
subjective.

VALETE,
IVL SABINVS

Salvete Omnibus Salutem plurimam dicit,
I would just like to say that this is my first atempt at a serious
topic. I make jewelry, and I've been mass producing Roman jewelry that
is similar to the 3rd to 5th AD timeline. I would fully endorse the
coinage, but all I can seem to get my hands on are the Quadriga, I was
wondering if there was a way to get the Declaratio. If I could get any
response on that, thanks in advance.

Di vos incolumes custodient,
Optime Valete,
N. Apollonius Quadratus

Salve Quadrate,

N. Apollonius Quadratus writes:

[about Nova Roma coins]

> I was wondering if there was a way to get the Declaratio.

You'd have to buy one from someone who owns one. No coins from the
original minting remain. All were sold.

Vale,

CN-EQVIT-MARINVS

>
>
>
>
> A. Tullia Scholastica C. Equitio Catoni quiritibus bonae voluntatis S.P.D.

Yahoo is still ailing, and I assume that not everyone is
receiving all messages; clearly I am not, and neither are some others,
including Milyardo, who seems not to have received my post on the subject of
citizenship, whereas I did not receive Complutensis¹ one on the same topic.

>
> Cato omnes SPD.
>
> Salvete.
>
> A few points:
>
> First, the "old" Tabularium is not lost or inaccessible; it is here:
>
> http://www.novaroma.org/tabularium/
>
> ATS: Absolutely. The index (a draft), however, does not list the newer
> laws, or the ones which someone took upon himself to delete or order deleted.
> Several of these were restored a couple of years ago, but not indexed.
>
> available to any citizen at any time. We need not create concern or
> confusion where none exists.
>
> ATS: Exactly.
>
> Second, it has been a running theme over several subjects that my
> colleague in the praetorship has had some difficulties in dealing with
> a number of citizens.
>
> ATS: Most of us don¹t get along with every single person on earth. I can
> think of only one or two citizens with whom I have had any problem...and at
> least one is not the most popular person in a number of quarters. I also have
> a name...
>
> Whether or not these are simple
> misunderstandings or something more serious is none of my concern; I
> only stepped in when I saw that, contrary to my understanding, the
> re-organization of the Tabularium was not, in fact, proceeding in an
> orderly fashion.
>
> ATS: It is summer here in the northern hemisphere, where many of us live,
> and people disappear. Some people disappear permanently, or semi-permanently,
> around NR. Earlier in the year, a lot of work was done on the wiki
> Tabularium. As Albucius noted, it is not a quick or easy thing to do; this
> requires a lot of time and effort. We cannot snap our fingers and find that
> the Tabularium is suddenly complete and organized...or that everyone will find
> any given form of organization most convenient.
>
> If this is seen as high- or heavy-handed, so be it. It is in my
> nature that if a problem arises, I seek to rectify it as quickly as
> possible. I took care that no-one in any other magistrates' cohors
> had been granted these specific powers, and then took the step I did.
> As I know full well that Iulius Sabinus and Cordus and Agricola get
> along quite well and are all three rational, intelligent men, I see no
> reason for concern regarding their effectiveness together.
>
> ATS: I am sure that they will. However, it might have been appropriate to
> let your colleague know about this in advance, and to add them to my cohors,
> where they can work with my Tabularium scribae. It is extremely unwise to
> have two groups working in the same area at cross purposes.
>
> Valete,
>
> Cato
>
> Vale, et valete.
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> A. Tullia Scholastica iterum C. Equitio Catoni quiritibus bonae voluntatis
> S.P.D.
>
>
>
> Cato M. Hortensiae Maiori P. Memmio Albucio omnibusque SPD
>
> Salvete.
>
> Just to be absolutely clear, on a.d. III Non. Ian., Edictum Consulare
> VII was issued, which reads, in its entirety, as follows:
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Continuing the project started during the Consulship of C. Fabius
> Buteo Modianus and P. Minucia Strabo.
>
> I. A content management and collaboration tool is an ongoing project
> for Nova Roma. This tool is MediaWiki, the same software used by
> Wikipedia.org. It is located at: http://www.novaroma.org/wiki/
>
> II. Most static content of the web site - that is, almost everything
> except citizen profile pages - will be moved into the Wiki as time
> permits. The Annales, Tabularium and information on the Religio
> Romanum are high-priority projects.
>
> III. The following citizens shall be WikiMagisters (Scribae),
> possessing administrative accounts within the Wiki, maintaining user
> accounts, creating and maintaining templates, creating and enforcing
> style guidelines, and supervising edits of articles:
>
> 1. M. Octavius Germanicus, Magister Aranearius
>
> 2. Q. Valerius Callidus
>
> 3. T. Octavius Pius Ahenobarbus
>
> 4. M. Lucretius Agricola
>
> 5. A. Apollonius Cordus
>
> All work for and at the pleasure of the Magister Aranearius.
>
> IV. Any citizen who wishes to participate may do so by signing up for
> a Wiki account and joining the mailing list NRWiki@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:NRWiki%40yahoogroups.com> .
> Before making any major contributions, please announce on the mailing
> list which articles you wish to work on, to avoid duplication of effort.
>
> Done this day of ante diem III Nonas Ianuarias MMDCCLX A.U.C. at 11:25
> am, Roman time in the consulship of L. Arminius Faustus and Ti.
> Galerius Paulinus
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> This clearly and unequivocably explains the parameters within which
> the Wiki site is organized and edited.
>
> My colleague in the praetorship issued an edict on a.d. VI Kal. Mar.
> appointing M. Arminius Minor the post of scriba to "assist with the
> restoration" of the Tabularium.
>
> ATS: This was done because, inter alia, he is a former praetor, who also
> happens to have a copy of the Tabularium before it was vandalized. He,
> however, like many, moves in and out of NR, and has once again disappeared.
> Albucius and Sabinus have been given primary duties regarding the Tabularium,
> which they had before I appointed Arminius, if memory serves.
>
> My own edict states clearly and unequivocably that in addition, I have
> given two citizens, M. Lucretius Agricola and A. Apollonius Cordus,
> explicit authority to curate the Tabularium of Nova Roma in any way
> they see fit so as to best serve the legal and historical needs of the
> Republic; that is, they have full praetorian imperium in this matter -
> if they act, it is as if I myself were acting, and I accept full and
> total responsibility for their actions on my behalf, as well as full
> credit for the results :-)
>
> If any other citizen wishes to assist them, I encourage you to write
> to me and I will decide, after conversation with these scriba, if more
> help or assistance is necessary. The extension of praetorian
> authority applies *only* to the two citizens I have named in my edict,
> however. I reserve the right to rescind or extend that imperium as I
> see fit.
>
> ATS: And assistance would be welcome, if they are willing to work within
> the framework which Albucius and Sabinus have prepared. It would be helpful,
> for example, if the French translations of the laws which Albucius prepared
> could be uploaded, and additional laws transferred from the existing
> Tabularium to the wiki. The newer laws must be corrected under the Lex
> Equitia by yours truly, however, but the others could certainly be
> transferred.
>
> Valete,
>
> Cato
>
> Vale, et valete.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Salve Cn. Equitius Marine,

Thanks, well I guess I'm going to have to sell my wares and get it
from someone, also one more question, how do I pay my taxes to Nova
Roma? I want to be as contributing to Rome as possible. Do I have to
register with the Governer of my Province? Sorry, I don't mean to be
machine gun posting, but I'm just really interested in doing my part.
Thanks again, Equitius Marine.

Di te incolumem custodient.
N. Apollonius Quadratus

Salve A. Tullia Scholastica,
Is this about Roman Law? I've been reading it all day, or is
this some other form I should be reading?

Vale.
N. Apollonius Quadratus
--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "A. Tullia Scholastica"
<fororom@...> wrote:

>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > A. Tullia Scholastica C. Equitio Catoni quiritibus bonae

voluntatis S.P.D.

>
> Yahoo is still ailing, and I assume that not everyone is
> receiving all messages; clearly I am not, and neither are some

others,

> including Milyardo, who seems not to have received my post on the

subject of

> citizenship, whereas I did not receive Complutensis¹ one on the

same topic.

> >
> > Cato omnes SPD.
> >
> > Salvete.
> >
> > A few points:
> >
> > First, the "old" Tabularium is not lost or inaccessible; it is

here:

> >
> > http://www.novaroma.org/tabularium/
> >
> > ATS: Absolutely. The index (a draft), however, does not list

the newer

> > laws, or the ones which someone took upon himself to delete or

order deleted.

> > Several of these were restored a couple of years ago, but not

indexed.

> >
> > available to any citizen at any time. We need not create concern

or

> > confusion where none exists.
> >
> > ATS: Exactly.
> >
> > Second, it has been a running theme over several subjects that my
> > colleague in the praetorship has had some difficulties in dealing

with

> > a number of citizens.
> >
> > ATS: Most of us don¹t get along with every single person on

earth. I can

> > think of only one or two citizens with whom I have had any

problem...and at

> > least one is not the most popular person in a number of

quarters. I also have

> > a name...
> >
> > Whether or not these are simple
> > misunderstandings or something more serious is none of my

concern; I

> > only stepped in when I saw that, contrary to my understanding, the
> > re-organization of the Tabularium was not, in fact, proceeding in

an

> > orderly fashion.
> >
> > ATS: It is summer here in the northern hemisphere, where

many of us live,

> > and people disappear. Some people disappear permanently, or semi-

permanently,

> > around NR. Earlier in the year, a lot of work was done on the

wiki

> > Tabularium. As Albucius noted, it is not a quick or easy thing

to do; this

> > requires a lot of time and effort. We cannot snap our fingers

and find that

> > the Tabularium is suddenly complete and organized...or that

everyone will find

> > any given form of organization most convenient.
> >
> > If this is seen as high- or heavy-handed, so be it. It is in my
> > nature that if a problem arises, I seek to rectify it as quickly

as

> > possible. I took care that no-one in any other magistrates'

cohors

> > had been granted these specific powers, and then took the step I

did.

> > As I know full well that Iulius Sabinus and Cordus and Agricola

get

> > along quite well and are all three rational, intelligent men, I

see no

> > reason for concern regarding their effectiveness together.
> >
> > ATS: I am sure that they will. However, it might have been

appropriate to

> > let your colleague know about this in advance, and to add them to

my cohors,

> > where they can work with my Tabularium scribae. It is extremely

unwise to

> > have two groups working in the same area at cross purposes.
> >
> > Valete,
> >
> > Cato
> >
> > Vale, et valete.
> >
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Salve Quadrate,

N. Apollonius Quadratus writes:

[...]

> how do I pay my taxes to Nova Roma?

Once you're a full citizen, you can go to your Album Civium page where
you'll find a link that will allow you to pay taxes pretty directly
via PayPal. You can see the rates and the details here:
http://novaroma.org/nr/Tax_rate_%28Nova_Roma%29

If you *really* want to go on and pay up now while you're still a
probationary citizen, you can do this:

Go to PayPal.com
Create an account if you don't have one
Once you have an account, send a payment for whatever your provincial
tax rate happens to be to consuls@... (that's consuls at
novaroma dot org). Be sure to include an explanation along with the
payment that tells the consuls what your Nova Roman name is, what
province you live in, and that this is a tax payment for calendar year
2760 a.u.c.

Vale,

CN-EQVIT-MARINVS

>
> Salve, N. Apolloni Quadrate, et salvete, quirites bonae voluntatis.
>
> As I am missing at least half a dozen posts to this list today, I shall
> bcc this to the writer. Normally we praetores like people to snip their posts
> out of consideration for others and the capacity of their mailboxes, but when
> Yahoo has such delivery problems, it might be wise to copy the entire post to
> which one is replying.
>
>
> Salve A. Tullia Scholastica,
> Is this about Roman Law?
>
> ATS: No, it¹s about NOVA Roman law. It¹s our law library, so to speak,
> but the wikipedia version is not complete, nor is the index to the website
> one.
>
>
> I've been reading it all day, or is
> this some other form I should be reading?
>
> ATS: Not quite sure what you mean...this is simply our law library. The
> original one is on the website; the newer one is on the wikipedia, to which we
> have been transferring copies of our laws. The transfer is a long way from
> complete, but has progressed quite well. The original website, however, has
> all of the laws we could recover, but the index is not complete, and the
> recovered laws (which had been illegally deleted) are not listed, nor are the
> more recent ones. In Nova Roma, the praetores are in charge of the laws, so
> we and our staffs care for the Tabularium.
>
> Vale.
> N. Apollonius Quadratus
>
> Vale, et valete.
> --- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com <mailto:Nova-Roma%40yahoogroups.com> , "A.
> Tullia Scholastica"
> <fororom@...> wrote:
>> >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > A. Tullia Scholastica C. Equitio Catoni quiritibus bonae
> voluntatis S.P.D.
>> >
>> > Yahoo is still ailing, and I assume that not everyone is
>> > receiving all messages; clearly I am not, and neither are some
> others,
>> > including Milyardo, who seems not to have received my post on the
> subject of
>> > citizenship, whereas I did not receive Complutensis¹ one on the
> same topic.
>>> > >
>>> > > Cato omnes SPD.
>>> > >
>>> > > Salvete.
>>> > >
>>> > > A few points:
>>> > >
>>> > > First, the "old" Tabularium is not lost or inaccessible; it is
> here:
>>> > >
>>> > > http://www.novaroma.org/tabularium/
>>> > >
>>> > > ATS: Absolutely. The index (a draft), however, does not list
> the newer
>>> > > laws, or the ones which someone took upon himself to delete or
> order deleted.
>>> > > Several of these were restored a couple of years ago, but not
> indexed.
>>> > >
>>> > > available to any citizen at any time. We need not create concern
> or
>>> > > confusion where none exists.
>>> > >
>>> > > ATS: Exactly.
>>> > >
>>> > > Second, it has been a running theme over several subjects that my
>>> > > colleague in the praetorship has had some difficulties in dealing
> with
>>> > > a number of citizens.
>>> > >
>>> > > ATS: Most of us don¹t get along with every single person on
> earth. I can
>>> > > think of only one or two citizens with whom I have had any
> problem...and at
>>> > > least one is not the most popular person in a number of
> quarters. I also have
>>> > > a name...
>>> > >
>>> > > Whether or not these are simple
>>> > > misunderstandings or something more serious is none of my
> concern; I
>>> > > only stepped in when I saw that, contrary to my understanding, the
>>> > > re-organization of the Tabularium was not, in fact, proceeding in
> an
>>> > > orderly fashion.
>>> > >
>>> > > ATS: It is summer here in the northern hemisphere, where
> many of us live,
>>> > > and people disappear. Some people disappear permanently, or semi-
> permanently,
>>> > > around NR. Earlier in the year, a lot of work was done on the
> wiki
>>> > > Tabularium. As Albucius noted, it is not a quick or easy thing
> to do; this
>>> > > requires a lot of time and effort. We cannot snap our fingers
> and find that
>>> > > the Tabularium is suddenly complete and organized...or that
> everyone will find
>>> > > any given form of organization most convenient.
>>> > >
>>> > > If this is seen as high- or heavy-handed, so be it. It is in my
>>> > > nature that if a problem arises, I seek to rectify it as quickly
> as
>>> > > possible. I took care that no-one in any other magistrates'
> cohors
>>> > > had been granted these specific powers, and then took the step I
> did.
>>> > > As I know full well that Iulius Sabinus and Cordus and Agricola
> get
>>> > > along quite well and are all three rational, intelligent men, I
> see no
>>> > > reason for concern regarding their effectiveness together.
>>> > >
>>> > > ATS: I am sure that they will. However, it might have been
> appropriate to
>>> > > let your colleague know about this in advance, and to add them to
> my cohors,
>>> > > where they can work with my Tabularium scribae. It is extremely
> unwise to
>>> > > have two groups working in the same area at cross purposes.
>>> > >
>>> > > Valete,
>>> > >
>>> > > Cato
>>> > >
>>> > > Vale, et valete.
>>> > >
>> >
>> >

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Agricola Catoni sal.

Ago tibi gratias, Amice, ob verbis tuis. I agree most completely that
Iulius Sabinus and Apollonius Cordus are both rational men of the
highest order. I know of no others more free of from bias, ill will or
personal enmity.

I have been very busy with my new positions (in Rei Publica legatus
pro praetore factus sum and as junior faculty at a new university),
but I will try to find time to return to this important project as well.

optime vale!



--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "Gaius Equitius Cato" <mlcinnyc@...>
wrote:

>
> Cato omnes SPD.
>
> Salvete.
>
> A few points:
>
> First, the "old" Tabularium is not lost or inaccessible; it is here:
>
> http://www.novaroma.org/tabularium/
>
> available to any citizen at any time. We need not create concern or
> confusion where none exists.
>
> Second, it has been a running theme over several subjects that my
> colleague in the praetorship has had some difficulties in dealing with
> a number of citizens. Whether or not these are simple
> misunderstandings or something more serious is none of my concern; I
> only stepped in when I saw that, contrary to my understanding, the
> re-organization of the Tabularium was not, in fact, proceeding in an
> orderly fashion.
>
> If this is seen as high- or heavy-handed, so be it. It is in my
> nature that if a problem arises, I seek to rectify it as quickly as
> possible. I took care that no-one in any other magistrates' cohors
> had been granted these specific powers, and then took the step I did.
> As I know full well that Iulius Sabinus and Cordus and Agricola get
> along quite well and are all three rational, intelligent men, I see no
> reason for concern regarding their effectiveness together.
>
> Valete,
>
> Cato
>

Agricola Quadrato sal.

We don't mind honest questions here at all. However, I will mention
that we have a nice group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newroman/
that is designed to deal with these sorts of things. All new people
are welcome, and any experienced citizen who wants to help new people
get their bearings as well.

optime vale!

--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "Milyardo" <drpatrickjohnson@...> wrote:
>
> Salve Cn. Equitius Marine,
>
> Thanks, well I guess I'm going to have to sell my wares and get it
> from someone, also one more question, how do I pay my taxes to Nova
> Roma? I want to be as contributing to Rome as possible. Do I have to
> register with the Governer of my Province? Sorry, I don't mean to be
> machine gun posting, but I'm just really interested in doing my part.
> Thanks again, Equitius Marine.
>
> Di te incolumem custodient.
> N. Apollonius Quadratus
>

Salve Tullia Scholastica,
I've been reading from the wiki site, I've just finished the part
for Sodalities I think? There are some parts that are missing, so I
imagine this is where the laws haven't been transfered over all the
way, right? Well, I'll keep checking to make sure I read all of it.
Thanks for the heads up.

Vale

Sale Equitius Marine Omnibusque,
I'm looking at it and I'm from the America Boreoccidentalis
province, is that a comma or a period because I'm all for taxes to
Rome, but 15,000 dollars is a bit much for me. Also, is there another
method to pay other than paypal? Like Stormpay or such as I rather
dislike paypal. I've had huge problems with them in the past. Either
way taxes will reach Rome one method or another. Thanks again for the
heads up, also, I'm sure the Legislative body is rather busy, but when
do they review applicants for citizenship? I'm not worried, just
wondering when I can start working on my profile and contributing to
Nova Roma society. Thanks for all of your help guys, I'm sure I'm
annoying the snot out of some of you already.

Valete

Salve M. Lucretius Agricola,
Thanks a lot, I didn't see this when I was mucking around the wiki,
glad to have it now. Thanks again for all the help. Wish I wasn't so
green around the gills on this, but then again we all start somewhere.

Vale.

>
> A. Tullia Scholastica iterum N. Apollonio Quadrato quiritibus bonae
> voluntatis S.P.D.
>
>
> Sale Equitius Marine Omnibusque,
> I'm looking at it and I'm from the America Boreoccidentalis
> province, is that a comma or a period because I'm all for taxes to
> Rome, but 15,000 dollars is a bit much for me.
>
> ATS: Some countries use a period where we use a comma in writing large
> numbers, and a comma where we use a period. The tax for Americans is $15,
> fifteen US dollars. Rest assured that most of us are equally impaired with
> regard to paying 15 grand in taxes to any entity.
>
>
> Also, is there another
> method to pay other than paypal?
>
> ATS: There is ye olde checkbook. It just takes a lot longer to get the
> taxes credited.
>
>
> Like Stormpay or such as I rather
> dislike paypal. I've had huge problems with them in the past.
>
> ATS: So have others, but PayPal seems to be the only electronic method
> acceptable.
>
>
> Either
> way taxes will reach Rome one method or another. Thanks again for the
> heads up, also, I'm sure the Legislative body is rather busy, but when
> do they review applicants for citizenship?
>
> ATS: The legislative bodies are not concerned with citizenship
> applications; that is the business of the censors¹ office. The person in
> charge of assigning applications to scribae has just returned from vacation,
> and is catching up. Because many people are on vacation in August, the
> censors¹ office does not accept new citizen applications then...we are
> processing others at present.
>
>
> I'm not worried, just
> wondering when I can start working on my profile and contributing to
> Nova Roma society. Thanks for all of your help guys, I'm sure I'm
> annoying the snot out of some of you already.
>
> ATS: Well, studying the website will help you contribute here...you might
> want to join the list for new citizens, NewRoman. We do try to help, but also
> do appreciate a little less graphic language.
>
> Valete
>
> Vale, et valete.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>
> A. Tullia Scholastica N. Apollonio Quadrato quiritibus bonae voluntatis
> S.P.D.
>
>
> Salve Tullia Scholastica,
> I've been reading from the wiki site, I've just finished the part
> for Sodalities I think? There are some parts that are missing, so I
> imagine this is where the laws haven't been transfered over all the
> way, right? Well, I'll keep checking to make sure I read all of it.
>
> ATS: If you are reading the Tabularium site whose URL my colleague Cato
> posted, all of the laws except some which were deleted are present there, but
> not all are accessible as they are not indexed on the list. If you are
> reading the actual Nova Roma website on the wiki, everything should be
> there...but if you are reading the Tabularium (law library) on the wiki, not
> everything has been transferred there.
>
>
> Thanks for the heads up.
>
> ATS: You¹re welcome.
>
> Vale
>
> Vale, et valete.
>
>
>
> .
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Salve A. Tullia Scholastica,
I was reading from the link offered. I'll try to make way over to
the mainsite. I wasn't really aware that I was reading from an off
site. Thanks again, and I did join the NewRoman place. Seems I arrive
there and my brain stops working. But I'll try to place all my raging
noobasaurus questions there in the future.

Vale,
N. Apollonius Quadratus

Salvete A. Tullia Scholastica Omnibusque,
I was going to place this in the NewRoman place, but it's kind of
addressed here so I guess I will ask here. I must be reading things
wrong, or I need to stop reading at the crack of dawn, but wasn't the
Censors part of the Senate? There is the Magistrates, are these the
main voting bodies? Then what do the Governers do? So then I get the
impression that the Censors are not an active part of Legislation but
more the "book keeping guys?" Then what are the scribes for the
Magistrates? Or can this and more be answered by doing what you guys
keep telling me to do and just read the website, the wiki one? And
hear the noobasaurus roar. Looks like I gots more work to do if I want
to pass that test, eh?

Valete,
N. Apollonius Quadratus

>
> Salve, N. Apolloni Quadrate, et salvete, quirites bonae voluntatis.
>
>
> Salvete A. Tullia Scholastica Omnibusque,
> I was going to place this in the NewRoman place, but it's kind of
> addressed here so I guess I will ask here. I must be reading things
> wrong, or I need to stop reading at the crack of dawn, but wasn't the
> Censors part of the Senate?
>
> ATS: Yes, they are in NR at least. They are senior magistrates.
>
>
> There is the Magistrates, are these the
> main voting bodies?
>
> ATS: The main voting bodies are the comitia, which are composed of all
> adult full citizens (some are children, and probationary citizens cannot
> vote). The comitia centuriata elect the higher magistrates, and the comitia
> populi tributa elect the lower ones, while the comitia plebis tributa elect
> the special plebeian magistrates, the tribuni and the plebeian aediles. The
> Senate advises the rest of the population, and votes on appointments, etc.
>
>
> Then what do the Governers do?
>
> ATS: The governors run the various provinces.
>
> So then I get the
> impression that the Censors are not an active part of Legislation but
> more the "book keeping guys?"
>
> ATS: Not quite; they are part of the senate, and many, if not most, are
> ex-consuls (consulares).
>
>
> Then what are the scribes for the
> Magistrates?
>
> ATS: They are assistants.
>
>
> Or can this and more be answered by doing what you guys
> keep telling me to do and just read the website, the wiki one?
>
> ATS: Reading the website is a big help, but it may not answer all of your
> questions. That¹s why we are here. And on New Roman. I know it is
> confusing; I found it so when I was a new citizen, and then there was no New
> Roman list. Fortunately I had a good guide...
>
>
> And
> hear the noobasaurus roar. Looks like I gots more work to do if I want
> to pass that test, eh?
>
> ATS: Yep, but you have three months to absorb the relevant information,
> and the test is open book...
>
> Valete,
> N. Apollonius Quadratus
>
> Vale, et valete.
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Cn. Lentulus rogator: N. Apollonio: sal.:


Just a quick anwer to your questions:

>>> but wasn't the

Censors part of the Senate? <<<


Yes, they were, and they are so in NR too.

>>> There is the Magistrates, are these the

main voting bodies? <<<


No, they aren't viting bodies. The magistrates are state leaders, like today the ministers or presidents of a state. Voting bodies are the Comitia (Assemblies of the People) and the Senate (Assembly of the Ex-Magistrates).

>>> Then what do the Governers do? >>>

Governors (Proconsules, Propraetores, Legati Pro Praetore) are the local leaders and reprensentatives of NR in the provinces (local organizations of the NR worldwide association). They are appointed by the Senate.

>>> So then I get the

impression that the Censors are not an active part of Legislation but
more the "book keeping guys?" >>>


Censores as members of the Senate and those of the Comitia can vote on laws but they aren't an active part of Legislation. Only Consules and Tribunes of the Plebs can put proposals to the vote of the Comitia or of the Senate. Legislation can be initialized only by the Consuls and Tribunes and voted only by the Comitia (and by the Senate in certain cases).

>>> Then what are the scribes for the

Magistrates?<<<


Scribes and accensi are assistants to the magistrates, appointed by the magistrates themselves. They execute orders given by the magistrate.


The whole structure of the Roman State - for your help:


1) Supreme Assemblies of the People: the Three Comitia - they vote laws, elect magistrates (members are every NR citizen)
2) The Council: the Senate - gives advice to the magistrates (members are current and ex-magistrates of higher rank and people appointed by the Censores)
3) Magistrates - they govern and lead the state (officials elected by the Comitia)
- among them a) Consules: presidents of the Republic
b) Praetores: vice-presidents of the Republic
c) Censores: supervisors of the Senate, the citizenry and the public morality
d) Tribunes of the Plebs: they have no power but can issue veto against every magistrate if they deem an act unlawfull.
e) Curule and Plebeian Aediles, Quaestores, Rogatores, Custodes, Diribitores etc...: minor magistrates with various task under the power of the Consules.
4) Provincial Magistrates (Governors: Proconsul, Propraetor, Legatus Pro Praetore) - they govern the local entities of NR, under the authority of the Consuls and the Senate (they are appointed by the Senate)
5) Assistants of the Magistrates: Scriba, Accensus, Viator, Legatus, Procurator etc - they help magistrates in their respective works (appointed by the Magistrates)


I HOPE THIS HELPS!


Cura, ut valeas!



Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus,
R O G A T O R
-------------------------------
Legatus Pro Praetore Provinciae Pannoniae
Sacerdos Provinciae Pannoniae
Accensus Consulis Ti. Galerii Paulini
Scriba Aedilis Curulis Iuliae Caesaris Cytheridis Aeges
Scriba Interpretis Linguae Latinae A. Tulliae Scholasticae
-------------------------------
Decurio I. Sodalitatis Latinitatis
Dominus Factionis Russatae
Latinista, Classicus Philologus


---------------------------------

---------------------------------
L'email della prossima generazione? Puoi averla con la nuova Yahoo! Mail

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

SALVE ET SALVETE!

Thank you Aedilis Artoria Marcella and Aurelia Silvana for that
interesting and well documented article.

VALETE,
IVL SABINVS

--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "Ice Hunter" <icehunter@...> wrote:
>
> Salvete omnes!
>
> In honor of the Volcania, C. Aurelia Falco Silvana has researched
and written an excellent trio of essays on the topics of the God
Volcanus, Mt. Vesuvius, and the Roman port city of Ostia. They will
be presented over a three-day period beginning with today's offering
on Volcanus.
>
> I thank Falco Silvana for her work on these essays. Any and all
formatting errors are mine alone.
>
> Valete optime,
> T.Artoria Marcella
> Curulis Aedilis

OSD C. Equitius Cato

alvete omnes!

Hodie est ante diem IX Kalendas Septembris; haec dies comitialis est.

The Volcanalia continues today, in honor of the god Vulcan, identified
with Greek Hephaestus. Vulcan/Hephaestus was credited with the
creation of Pandora (of the "don't open that box" fame):

"So said the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud. And he bade
famous Hephaestus make haste and mix earth with water and to put in it
the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely
maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in face; and Athene to
teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web; and golden
Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that
weary the limbs. And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus,
to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature." - Hesiod,
"Works and Days" 11.60-68

But it was Hephaestus, who following Zeus' instructions, chained
Prometheus to the rock in Mount Caucasus with the help of Cratos
(Power) and Bia (Violence):

"Against my will, no less than yours, I must rivet you with brazen
bonds ... Such is the prize you have gained for your championship of
man." - Hephaestus to Prometheus; Aeschylus, "Prometheus Bound" 20

Hephaestus had a very difficult relationship with most of the
pantheon; feeling rejected by his mother Hera (who, upon giving birth
to him was appalled by his ugliness and threw him off Olympus,
breaking both his legs and causing him to remain lame for eternity),
Hephaestus made an extraordinarily beautiful throne for her and sent
it to Olympus. She sat in it and discovered she could not get up
again. Then the chair levitated. The other Olympian gods tried to
reason with Hephaestus, but even Ares was driven off with his flames.
He finally was given wine by Dionysus and, drunk, was brought to
Olympus. Drunk or not, he still refused to free Hera unless he could
have either Aphrodite or Athene as wife. He ended up with Aphrodite,
who in this instance was not a quick learner. When she lay with his
brother Ares in the bed Hephaestus had made, chains emerged and they
could not leave the bed, exposing them to the laughter of the rest of
the Olympians when Hephaestus called them all together to witness his
adulterous wife and brother.

When Hera had thrown Hephaestus off Olympus, he was rescued and
nurtured back to health by Thetis, the goddess of the sea. Later,
when the Trojan War was trudging slowly along its course, the hero
Achilles implores his mother (who very luckily happens to be Thetis)
to assist the Greeks in their efforts. Thetis turned to Hephaestus,
who in acknowledgement of his debt to her forged marvelous armor for
Achilles: a shield, greaves, breastplate and helmet.


"My uncle was stationed at Misenum, in active command of the fleet. On
24 August, in the early afternoon, my mother drew his attention to a
cloud of unusual size and appearance. He had been out in the sun, had
taken a cold bath, and lunched while lying down, and was then working
at his books. He called for his shoes and climbed up to a place which
would give him the best view of the phenomenon. It was not clear at
that distance from which mountain the cloud was rising (it was
afterwards known to be Vesuvius); its general appearance can best be
expressed as being like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great
height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches, I imagine
because it was thrust upwards by the first blast and then left
unsupported as the pressure subsided, or else it was borne down by its
own weight so that it spread out and gradually dispersed. In places it
looked white, elsewhere blotched and dirty, according to the amount of
soil and ashes it carried with it. For a moment my uncle wondered
whether to turn back, but when the helmsman advised this he refused,
telling him that Fortune stood by the courageous and they must make
for Pomponianus at Stabiae. He was cut off there by the breadth of the
bay (for the shore gradually curves round a basin filled by the sea)
so that he was not as yet in danger, though it was clear that this
would come nearer as it spread. Pomponianus had therefore already put
his belongings on board ship, intending to escape if the contrary wind
fell. This wind was of course full in my uncle's favour, and he was
able to bring his ship in. He embraced his terrified friend, cheered
and encouraged him, and thinking he could calm his fears by showing
his own composure, gave orders that he was to be carried to the
bathroom. After his bath he lay down and dined; he was quite cheerful,
or at any rate he pretended he was, which was no less courageous.

Meanwhile on Mount Vesuvius broad sheets of fire and leaping flames
blazed at several points, their bright glare emphasized by the
darkness of night. My uncle tried to allay the fears of his companions
by repeatedly declaring that these were nothing but bonfires left by
the peasants in their terror, or else empty houses on fire in the
districts they had abandoned. Then he went to rest and certainly
slept, for as he was a stout man his breathing was rather loud and
heavy and could be heard by people coming and going outside his door.
By this time the courtyard giving access to his room was full of ashes
mixed with pumice stones, so that its level had risen, and if he had
stayed in the room any longer he would never have got out. He was
wakened, came out and joined Pomponianus and the rest of the household
who had sat up all night.

They debated whether to stay indoors or take their chance in the open,
for the buildings were now shaking with violent shocks, and seemed to
be swaying to and fro as if they were torn from their foundations.
Outside, on the other hand, there was the danger of failing pumice
stones, even though these were light and porous; however, after
comparing the risks they chose the latter. In my uncle's case one
reason outweighed the other, but for the others it was a choice of
fears. As a protection against falling objects they put pillows on
their heads tied down with cloths. Elsewhere there was daylight by
this time, but they were still in darkness, blacker and denser than
any ordinary night, which they relieved by lighting torches and
various kinds of lamp. My uncle decided to go down to the shore and
investigate on the spot the possibility of any escape by sea, but he
found the waves still wild and dangerous. A sheet was spread on the
ground for him to lie down, and he repeatedly asked for cold water to
drink.

You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the
shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their
children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices.
People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there
were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying. Many besought
the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left,
and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore.

Then the flames and smell of sulphur which gave warning of the
approaching fire drove the others to take flight and roused him to
stand up. He stood leaning on two slaves and then suddenly collapsed,
I imagine because the dense, fumes choked his breathing by blocking
his windpipe which was constitutionally weak and narrow and often
inflamed. When daylight returned on the 26th - two days after the last
day he had been seen - his body was found intact and uninjured, still
fully clothed and looking more like sleep than death." - Pliny the
Younger in a letter to Cornelius Tacitus


The inhabitants of Pompeii had long been used to minor tremors
(indeed, the writer Pliny the Younger wrote that earth tremors "were
not particularly alarming because they are frequent in Campania"), but
on 5 February 62, there was a severe earthquake which did considerable
damage around the bay and particularly to Pompeii. The earthquake,
which took place in afternoon of the 5th, is believed to have
registered over 7.5 on the Richter scale. On 5 February in Pompeii
there were to be two sacrifices, as it was the anniversary of Augustus
being named "Father of the Nation" and also a feast day to honor the
guardian spirits of the city. Chaos followed the earthquake. Fires,
caused by oil lamps that had fallen during the quake, added to the
panic. Nearby cities of Herculaneum and Nuceria were also affected.
Temples, houses, bridges, and roads were destroyed. It is believed
that almost all buildings in the city of Pompeii were affected. In the
days after the earthquake, anarchy ruled the city, where theft and
starvation plagued the survivors. It is unknown how many people left
the city after the earthquake, but a considerable number did indeed
leave the devastation behind and move to other cities within the Roman
Empire. Those willing to rebuild and take their chances in their
beloved city moved back and began the long process of reviving the city.

On this day in AD 79, Mount Vesuvius exploded in cataclysmic rage,
burying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. That the eruption took
place during the Vulcanalia was regarded as particularly horrifying,
and neither city was rebuilt. Not until AD 1734, under the auspices
of the Bourbon King of Naples, Charles of Bourbon, were the ruined
cities uncovered.

Valete bene!

Cato



SOURCES

Homer, Pliny the Younger, Wikipedia, Hesiod

Cato N. Apollonio Quadrato sal.

I have a small bunch of the Declaratio sestercii; please write to me
privately about making arrangements to receive them.

Vale bene,

Cato

Milyardo <drpatrickjohnson@...> writes:

[about tax rates]

The tax rate for America Boreoccidentalis is $15.00 USD. You can mail
a check to the Wells Maine PO box listed at the bottom of the page I
linked to earlier.

> I'm sure the Legislative body is rather busy, but when
> do they review applicants for citizenship?

The senate (our legislative body) doesn't review citizenship
applications. The censors do. Our censors office shuts down during
August because it's vacation month for so many of the scribes who live
in Europe. Application processing will resume in September.

Vale,

CN-EQVIT-MARINVS

Salve Quadrate,

Numerius Apollonius Quadratus <drpatrickjohnson@...> writes:

> [...] wasn't the Censors part of the Senate?

Yes, but their membership in the Senate is largely independent of
their magisterial duties.

> There is the Magistrates, are these the main voting bodies?

The main voting bodies are the Comitia Centuriata, the Comitia Populi
Tributa, and the Comitia Plebis Tributa (sometimes called the
Concilium Plebis).

> Then what do the Governers do?

They're the point of contact between the NR citizens in a province and
the NR senate. They try to organize NR themed activities in the
provinces, and maintain interest in Nova Roma.

> So then I get the
> impression that the Censors are not an active part of Legislation but
> more the "book keeping guys?"

As censors, the censors have the job of taking the biennial census.
Additionally, they maintain the album civium. That includes
overseeing the citizenship application process.

As senators the censors are senior members of the senate, and very
much involved with legislative processes there.

> Then what are the scribes for the Magistrates?

Helpers. When I was censor we sometimes got as many as 200
citizenship applications in one week. Many of them from
non-english-speaking people. My hard working scribes dealt with
applications in Spanish, Italian, French, Romanian, Hungarian, and
probably a few other languages I've forgotten.

Vale,

CN-EQVIT-MARINVS

Grammatica Latina I LL-P-2 is still not enrollable as of this morning.

Michael M Martínez (N. Iulius Machinator)

To: Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com
From: fororom@...
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:44:14 -0400
Subject: Re: [Nova-Roma] Latin courses at Academia Thules!

>

> A. Tullia Scholastica C. Curio Saturnino quiritibus, sociis, peregrinisque

> bonae voluntatis S.P.D.

>

>

> Salvete omnes,

>

> Soon it's Autumn again and time to start thinking about more refined

> things and self-improvement, such as studying Latin. Academia Thules

> is right there to help you with that particular project by offering

> several interesting Latin courses for you!

>

> To see all our courses, please check the website Study Guide pages

> at: http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide

>

> Here's a short reminder of the highlights:

>

> 1) Master Latin grammar in Wheelock-based courses

> 2) Gain fluency also in spoken Latin to impress your fellow Romans in

> Assimil-courses

>

> 1) Master Latin grammar in Wheelock-based courses

>

> Wheelock-based courses LL-P-2 Grammatica Latina I and LL-B-2

> Grammatica Latina II are rather traditional, but well approved Latin

> courses where you'll learn to master the Latin language. Teacher is

> A. Tullia Scholastica. Courses start on September 17th and 10th, so

> we recommend you to acquire the needed textbooks as soon as possible.

> Please see for more information about the courses the Academia Thules

> Study Guide:

>

> http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/facultaslitterarum/

> mainll.html#ll-p-2

> http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/facultaslitterarum/

> mainll.html#ll-b-2

>

> Easy Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk link for the course textbook can be

> found from Academia Thules Bookstore (scroll down until you see the

> appropriate course code): http://www.academiathules.org/bookstore

>

> ATS: And this textbook is readily available in English-speaking

> countries, particularly at college bookstores as it is commonly used in

> college Latin instruction. It is a paperback and thus not terribly expensive.

> We do go beyond Latin grammar, however; we read a bit of Latin, and write

> some, especially in the intermediate class.

>

> If you have an access to the Academia Thules CMS already, you can

> enroll to the courses by yourself in near future when courses will be

> opened for enrolments.

>

> If you are not a current student in Academia Thules, please go to our

> website and register yourself as a student by following instructions at:

> http://www.academiathules.org/admissions

>

> Please read carefully the information provided about studying and

> courses in the Study Guide: http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/

> facultaslitterarum

>

> 2) Gain fluency also in spoken Latin and impress your fellow Romans

> in Assimil-courses

>

> Assimil-method courses LL-B-1A Sermo Latinus I and LL-B-1B Sermo

> Latinus II are aimed for spoken fluency in Latin. By exercise you'll

> learn to speak Latin within a few months time. Teacher is A. Gratius

> Avitus. Courses start on 15th of October, so we recommend you to

> acquire the needed textbook and audio material as soon as possible.

> Note that the mandatory textbook is available only in Italian and

> French, but English translation will be provided to those who have

> bought either version of the textbook.

>

> ATS: It is my understanding that a Spanish version of the course is also

> ready, or nearly so. The instructor is a native speaker of Spanish (though we

> like to joke that it really should be Latin), and can assist anyone requiring

> instruction conducted in Spanish (for that matter, he knows about 20

> languages...).

>

>

> There's also an option of

> doing the courses in faster pace in the combined LL-B-1AB Sermo

> Latinus I&II course. Please see more information about the courses in

> the Academia Thules Study Guide:

>

> http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/facultaslitterarum/

> mainll.html#ll-b-1a

> http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/facultaslitterarum/

> mainll.html#ll-b-1b

> http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/facultaslitterarum/

> mainll.html#ll-b-1ab

>

> Easy Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk link for the course textbook can be

> found at Academia Thules Bookstore (scroll down until you'll see the

> appropriate course code): http://www.academiathules.org/bookstore

>

> If you have access to the Academia Thules CMS already, you can enroll

> to the courses by yourself in near future when courses are opened for

> enrolments.

>

> If you are not current student in Academia Thules, please go to our

> website and register yourself as a student by following instructions at:

> http://www.academiathules.org/admissions

>

> Please read carefully the information provided about studying and

> courses from the Study Guide: http://www.academiathules.org/

> studyguide/facultaslitterarum

>

> ATS: I would like to emphasize this, as learning does not occur by

> osmosis in most people. Learning a highly-inflected foreign language takes

> time and effort; before one attempts this, one should make sure that several

> hours can be spared weekly, or even daily, for the learning process. Those

> who complete Assimil II are considered to be Latin speakers at an intermediate

> level, so one can expect some effort in moving from, so to speak, zero to

> sixty in a year or two. The Wheelock courses are more traditional, and stress

> grammar and vocabulary, but should produce some ability to read and write

> Latin even after the first year. The intermediate course covers connected

> passages in prose and poetry after the textbook lessons have been completed,

> so that should produce some reading and writing ability as well...the students

> were able to translate connected passages and compose simple sentences under

> examination conditions, so it seems that the desired effect has been obtained.

>

> As for prerequisites, Wheelock I, Assimil I, and combined Assimil I&II

> have none, other than the possession of the textbook BEFORE the class starts;

> Wheelock II requires the completion of Wheelock I or Assimil I or a similar

> course with permission of the instructor; Assimil II requires Assimil I.

> Remaining in any of these courses requires the timely completion of all

> homework and tests, so the books MUST be in hand before class starts.

>

> I took combined Assimil the first year it was offered, and was able to

> understand everything said during our recent nundinum of Latin immersion as

> well as speak reasonably well despite plenty of neologisms. Though I had

> already had over a dozen years of Latin, it did enhance my fluency, and I do

> recommend it...but the pace is rapid, and those who need grammatical

> grounding, or who prefer the traditional approach, might better consider

> Wheelock first. We do not recommend taking both courses concurrently.

>

> As the intermediate Wheelock class is still in session (belatedly, due to

> a host of problems), enrollment is not possible at this time, but soon should

> be; some of the students are writing the last bit of their final exam (which

> the rest have submitted), and soon the grades will be computed. Avitus is

> away, and has not turned in his grades, so his classes cannot be entered now

> either, but anyone wishing to enter Grammatica Latina (Wheelock) I should be

> able to register now.

>

> Valete,

>

> C. Curius Saturninus

>

> Senator - Aedilis Plebis - Propraetor Provinciae Thules

> Rector Academia Thules ad Studia Romana Antiqua et Nova

>

> e-mail: c.curius@... <mailto:c.curius%40academiathules.org>

> www.academiathules.org

>

Vale, et valete.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


















_________________________________________________________________
Discover the new Windows Vista
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=windows+vista&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "Milyardo" <drpatrickjohnson@...> wrote:

>
> Sale Equitius Marine Omnibusque,
> I'm looking at it and I'm from the America Boreoccidentalis
> province, .
>
> Valete

Salve

I am Marcus Cornelius Felix
also of America Boreoccidentalis ( portland oregon)
am also Sacerdos Templi Mercurius
Sacerdotus Provincia America Boreoccidentalis

so ifg you are in portland or ever are in portland feel free to give
me a e-mail we can meet for food talk etc.

vale Marcus Cornelius Felix

e-mail is
magewuffa ( at ) gmail ( dot ) com

put NR or novaroma in the subjrct line.

Cn. Cornelius Lentulus legatus pro praetore Pannoniae Quiritibus s. p. d.:


Avete, Quirites et peregrini!


The next provincial event in the Nova Roman Pannonia will be on the Szolnok Day. Pannonia Provincia in cooperation with the "Gladius" Reenactor Association organizes a Roman Festival and Market as part of the Szolnok city foundation day's public celebration.

There will be:
- a historical reenactor procession representing periods of the Hungarian history from the Roman times to the Communism and in this procession the first group will be the Legio XXI Rapax and and the civil members of the Gladius and Nova Roma in civil Roman clothes
- performances of the Legion XXI, drill and formations
- opening of the Roman Market and the Festival by a Latin speech of the Legatus Pro Praetore of Pannonia, Cn. Lentulus
- gladiatorial combats
- slave market
- ancient music and dance
- Roman wedding ceremony and Religio Romana rituals
- and party until late night!


NR citizens from neighbouring provinces are expected and will be warmly welcomed!!!

Further information at: cn_corn_lent@...


CN CORNELIVS LENTVLVS
LEGATVS PRO PRAETORE
PROVINCIA PANNONIA


---------------------------------

---------------------------------
L'email della prossima generazione? Puoi averla con la nuova Yahoo! Mail

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

SALVETE!

Today to the first page of the Romanian newspapers this important
announce for the international archaeological community is presented:

Source: Rompres.

" Bucharest, Aug 23 /Rompres/ - Archeologists of Transylvania
National History Museum (MNIT) found the Capitol of Sarmisegetusa
Ulpia Traiana (central Romania), one of the most important discovery
in the Dacian-Roman city.

-We were glad to confirm, this summer, the suppositions we have been
nourishing for 25 years, about the place where the Capitol lies, one
of the most important temples of Roman Dacia. This is the temple of
Jupiter and the Triad Capitoline, made of Jupiter, Junona and
Minerva, MNIT official Ioan Piso said.

Such a Temple used to be erected in every Roman city, after the
model of Rome, and that recently discovered in Romania is special to
the history of our country, Piso explained.

The Capitol of Sarmisegetusa is unique, because the dedication of
the edifice meant, we can say, that the cult of Jupiter was
officially brought to the Roman province of Dacia.

'This happened round 150 AD and the Temple's dedication day, May 23,
by the Julian calendar, became one of the biggest feast in Dacia,'
Piso added.

Archeologists revealed but one single section of the Capitol, but it
will be fully disclosed in the years to come, its yard included,
where many valuable items are expected to be delved out."

VALETE,
IVL SABINVS

M. Hortensia G. Iulio spd;
tibi congratulari & Italian auguri, what is the romanian
word Sabine. What marvellous news. Provicia Romana can have a
marvellous celebration on May 23 the dies natalis of your great
temple. Please post any pics that you can.
bene vale in pacem deorum
M. Hortensia Maior


This is the temple of

> Jupiter and the Triad Capitoline, made of Jupiter, Junona and
> Minerva, MNIT official Ioan Piso said.
>
> Such a Temple used to be erected in every Roman city, after the
> model of Rome, and that recently discovered in Romania is special

to

> the history of our country, Piso explained.
>
> The Capitol of Sarmisegetusa is unique, because the dedication of
> the edifice meant, we can say, that the cult of Jupiter was
> officially brought to the Roman province of Dacia.
>
> 'This happened round 150 AD and the Temple's dedication day, May

23,

> by the Julian calendar, became one of the biggest feast in Dacia,'
> Piso added.
>
> Archeologists revealed but one single section of the Capitol, but

it

> will be fully disclosed in the years to come, its yard included,
> where many valuable items are expected to be delved out."
>
> VALETE,
> IVL SABINVS
>

SALVE ET SALVETE!

--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "Maior" <rory12001@...> wrote:

>>tibi congratulari & Italian auguri, what is the romanian word
Sabine.>>>

the romanian word is: felicitari. Thank you.

>>What marvellous news. Provicia Romana can have a marvellous
celebration on May 23 the dies natalis of your great temple. Please
post any pics that you can.>>>

Indeed, good idea, amica.
I don't have pics, yet, because the news is too recent. The Capitol
was found a few days ago. I will check in the future. Anyway I have
some business near the area in middle of September and of course I
will visit the archaeological site and I will take pics if the area
is open to tourists.

VALETE,
IVL SABINVS

Salvete omnes!

Today, on the anniversary of its 79 CE eruption, I present Falco Silvana's essay on Vesuvius. May you enjoy it as much as I did, somber though the subject matter may be.

Optime valete,
Artoria Marcella



VESUVIUS: Millenia on Fire

by C. Aurelia Falco Silvana


"""""Even the gods wish they had not the power . . ." Martial (3)

Our world knows Vesuvius mostly for its impact on the Roman world. Like a diadem on the Bay of Naples, Vesuvius rises 1,281 metres above the sea. That we know anything at all about the cities it engulfed depends on Pliny the Younger. Only one other account survived the Dark Ages to tell what happened during those two days in 79 AD, when volcanic forces entombed the cities of Pompei and Herculaneum. The cities lay lost in time and buried in the earth until 1709, when a well-digger's bore-hole struck the stage in what had been the theatre of Herculaneum. Without Pliny's record of the events of August 24th and 25th, those 18th-century excavators would not have known they were digging into the heart of Roman Herculaneum . . . and later, in 1748, Pompei. (1, 2)

Pompei has become one of the best-known and most-studied archaeological sites in Italy, yet it is at Herculaneum that the most intimate record of daily life is preserved. The people of Pompei were buried in pumice and ash, where air could reach the organic tissue, and decay set in. In Herculaneum, years of excavation had turned up few skeletons, and archaeologists thought that most residents had escaped. However, in our own century, new discoveries near the beach and in the boat-sheds have revealed hundreds of complete remains. Herculaneum was the first city buried by Vesuvius; surges of mud and ash, then pyroclastic flows sealed the inhabitants fate. Persistent groundwater preserved bones, bits of fabric, a wooden boat, wooden furnishings, and other organic remains that are an archaeologist's dream. (1, 3)

But for the people of Herculaneum and Pompei, August 24th and 25th in the year 79 AD were a nightmare. What were they fleeing from? Pliny the Younger records the ominous pine-tree shaped cloud towering over Vesuvius:

"It rose into the sky on a very long "trunk" from which spread some 'branches.' I imagine it had been raised by a sudden blast, which then weakened, leaving the cloud unsupported so that its own weight caused it to spread sideways. Some of the cloud was white, in other parts there were dark patches of dirt and ash." (Letter 6.16)

Even before the cloud, earthquakes had rattled the area with increasing intensity and frequency. As ejected material began to descend on the volcano's slopes, fires were started.

"There had been tremors for many days previously, a common occurrence in Campania and no cause for panic. But that night the shaking grew much stronger; people thought it was an upheaval, not just a tremor. .Meanwhile, broad sheets of flame were lighting up many parts of Vesuvius; their light and brightness were the more vivid for the darkness of the night." (Pliny, Letter 6.16)

Volcanologist Haraldur Sigurdsson estimates that the pressure of escaping gases and other material drove the cloud 20 kilometers or more into the sky. The cloud was kick-started precisely by the "sudden blast" Pliny imagined -- a tremendous explosion of a type which modern volcanologists call a "Plinian blast". That blast had occurred at about 1 oclock on the afternoon of August 24.

The Plinian blast was so explosive that no magma flowed: steam and gases turned it into the stony froth called pumice. The rain of stones (pebbles of pumice) had begun. Stones would accumulate at a rate of 15 cm per hour, so that within four hours roofs began collapsing under their weight. (1) Pliny also notes the electrical activity caused by the whirling particles and gases:

"Behind us were frightening dark clouds, rent by lightning twisted and hurled, opening to reveal huge figures of flame. These were like lightning, but bigger." (Pliny, Letter 6.20)

He also describes a phenomenon that was generally believed to be a figment of his imagination, until new concepts emerged in volcanology in the 1970's. The explosion of Mount St. Helen's (1980) demonstrated what we now know as "surges" and "pyroclastic flows." (7)

"Now came the dust, though still thinly. I look back: a dense cloud looms behind us, following us like a flood poured across the land." (Pliny, Letter 6.20)

The surges and pyroclastic flows began when Vesuvius literally began to "run out of steam." As the eruption went on, there wasn't enough energy left to support that 20-km column of pumice, rock and ash. About midnight, the column collapsed into glowing, superheated avalanches that poured across the land. First came surges - high, billowing clouds loaded with ash, moving at 100 - 300 km per hour, at temperatures near boiling. Surges roil and billow from their own internal motion. The "flow" followed. It was much hotter, but slower: at 200 - 700 degrees Celsius, rock and pumice in a pyroclastic flow behave like fluids, hugging the contours of the land at 20 to 50 km per hour. (1, 7).


There was no time for gentle suffocation. The first surge to roll over Herculaneum probably took all life with it. Remember - the surge moved at 100 - 300 km per hour. The temperatures in the surge cloud might not be immediately lethal, but force of the dense ash cloud flattened people and sliced off the tops of walls. Our natural instinct in a blast of air is to hold our breath. And then, the desperate gasp for air fills the lungs with ash. Instantly.

A superhot pyroclastic flow then hit Herculaneum within minutes, flowing around many upper parts of the city, but sweeping the boat sheds and the beach. In all, Sigurdsson calculates that Vesuvius produced at least six of these glowing avalanches, in which the surge sheared free of the dense underlying pyroclastic flow. The last, with so much of the high-energy material already blown out of the volcano, likely produced the dense black cloud that reached even to Misenum, 32 km away (1):

"There were some so afraid of death that they prayed for death. Many raised their hands to the gods, and even more believed that there were no gods any longer and that this was one last unending night for the world. . . . It grew lighter, though that seemed not a return of day, but a sign that the fire was approaching. The fire itself actually stopped some distance away, but darkness and ashes came again, a great weight of them. We stood up and shook the ash off again and again, otherwise we would have been covered with it and crushed by the weight. " (Pliny, Letter 6.20)

The volcanic forces at work here underlie the entire region around the Bay of Naples. The area is no stranger to the massive, inconceivable powers that could liquefy the very rock, or even vaporize it. North of Naples, Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli) sits at the edge of the Phlegraean Fields caldera, where a massive parent volcano erupted some 36,000 years ago. 3,800 years ago, in this same caldera, the volcano Astroni was born in an eruption to rival Vesuvius's in 79 AD. (5) Herculaneum is situated on a promontory of land created by a prehistoric eruption of Vesuvius. In 890 BC, an eruption nearly as strong as the one Pliny recorded shook the mountain(8), with a smaller one about the middle of the Republican era. A severe earthquake that struck in 62 AD left damage that residents of the region were still repairing 17 years later, in 79 AD. (1) After that most famous eruption, Volcanus continued to hammer away at the forge beneath Vesuvius. The mountain has erupted again, and again: 80 times since 79 AD. The eruptions of 1631 and 1906 were particularly violent. (1)

In the region of the Bay of Naples, the African geological plate shoves into the Italian peninsula. The stresses create earthquakes that continue today, including the 1980 quake centered some 80 kilometres south of Naples, which struck with a force of 6.9 on the Richter scale. (6) Buildings in Pompei were damaged, and much of the city closed to tourists for safety reasons. Volcanus's forge liquefies rock into magma as the plates grind together, resulting in a string of volcanoes from Sicily to north of Rome - volcanoes with a constantly renewing supply of magma. Subterranean magma can raise or lower the land by as much as a metre or more in a single year, as it does in at Pozzuoli (Puteoli). (5)

Vesuvius has been quiet since 1944, its longest silence in 500 years.

Perhaps Volcanus is resting.




BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. "The dead do tell tales at Vesuvius," by Rick Gore. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, May 1984 (Vol. 165, no. 5). pp 557 - 613 Recommended. Three-page foldout artist's reconstruction of Herculaneum, maps, volcanic activity timeline, photos, etc.

2. "Pompei", in OXFORD COMPANION TO CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION, Oxford University Press, NY 1998. pp 555-558

3. "A buried town gives up its dead," by Joseph Judge. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, December 1982 (Vol. 162, no. 6). pp 686 - 693

4. Pliny the Younger, "Letters." Letter 6.16

http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/pompeii/PlinyLetters.htm

5. "A prayer for Pozzuoli," by Rick Gore. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, May 1984. (Vol. 165, no. 5). pp 614 - 625

6. "Italy's earthquake history." BBC NEWS, Thursday Oct 31, 2002.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2381585.stm

7. US Geological Survey: Volcano Hazards - Pyroclastic flows and their effects.

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Hazards/What/PF/pcflows.html

8. Global Volcanism Program

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/largeeruptions.cfm

9. Mount Vesuvius (Good text on the mountain's history; striking photos)

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Europeweb/factfile/Unique-facts-Europe36.htm



IMAGES

The oldest image of Vesuvius (Archaeological Museum, Naples)

http://www.vesuvius.tomgidwitz.com/html/the_oldest_image_of_vesuvius.html

Satellite photo of Vesuvius (with article on recent activity)

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17225

Virtual Tour of Herculaneum / Herculaneum Conservation Project (165 panoramas)

http://www.proxima-veritati.auckland.ac.nz/ProjectB/Pages/Intro.html

Pompei Project Virtual Tour and image gallery

http://www.proxima-veritati.auckland.ac.nz/insula9/Pages/Page_2_menu.html

"Fascination Volcano" Photos of recent eruptions of Stromboli, Etna and Santorini (among others)

http://www.decadevolcano.com/index.htm



WEB RESOURCES:

"The 79 AD Eruption of Vesuvius." This description is mostly based on the paper by Scandone, Giacomelli and Gasparini (1993) published in the Journal of

Volcanology and Geothermal Research. Numerous photos and some technical animations of the eruption and its precursors. Note that the Journal itself is by paid subscription only. This site is free.

http://vulcan.fis.uniroma3.it/vesuvio/79_eruptiontext.html

Channel 4 "Find Out More" about Vesuvius, Pompei and volcanology Meta site with bibliography (including Haraldur Sigurdsson) and links

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/P/pompeii/findout.htm

"Deadly Shadow of Vesuvius." PBS "NOVA" program transcript. Includes interview with Haraldur Sigurdsson.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2515vesuvius.html

Haraldur Sigurdsson.

Filmography of the renowned volcanologist on Internet Movie Database

http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm1475311/

Herculaneum Conservation Project / Pompei Project

Hosted by the British School at Rome.

http://www.bsr.ac.uk/BSR/sub_arch/BSR_Arch_03Herc.htm

Mount Vesuvius

Good text on the mountain's history; striking photos

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Europeweb/factfile/Unique-facts-Europe36.htm

Mount Vesuvius.

History of the mountain's volcanic activity before and after 79 AD

http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/volcanoes/vmtvesuvius.html

New Finds at Herculaneum, by Kristin M, Romney. 2 Feb. 2000

http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/herculaneum.html

The Pompei Forum Project

Begun in 1988, ongoing architectural analysis. Maps, photos, etc.

http://pompeii.virginia.edu/page-1.html








[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>
> A. Tullia Scholastica N. Iulio Machinatori quiritibus, sociis, peregrinisque
> bonae voluntatis S.P.D.
>
>
> Grammatica Latina I LL-P-2 is still not enrollable as of this morning.
>
> ATS: This is a matter for Saturninus, who may be on vacation. The course
> will not start until September 10th or 17th (we are trying to switch the
> original dates), but students MUST have the textbook in hand (Wheelock Sixth
> Edition, revised) no later than the end of that week. In addition, my
> technical assistant is in the process of uploading sound files to the site,
> and I have asked Saturninus to retain existing students there so that they can
> have the benefit of hearing these...if they were dropped, they would not be
> able to access the site to hear them. I cannot upload sound files due to my
> net connection, and must rely on someone else to perform this duty.
>
> Both Wheelock courses are now over, but the intermediate class just
> finished a few days ago...and they, too, would like one particular sound file,
> one on a poem I asked them to scan, which has not yet been prepared. My
> assistant has the paradigms for the first ten introductory lessons in hand,
> and will put them up as time permits; I have prepared some others, which I
> shall send, also as time and other conditions permit.
>
> Michael M Martínez (N. Iulius Machinator)
>
> Vale, et valete.
>
> To: Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com <mailto:Nova-Roma%40yahoogroups.com>
> From: fororom@... <mailto:fororom%40localnet.com>
> Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:44:14 -0400
> Subject: Re: [Nova-Roma] Latin courses at Academia Thules!
>
>> >
>
>> > A. Tullia Scholastica C. Curio Saturnino quiritibus, sociis, peregrinisque
>
>> > bonae voluntatis S.P.D.
>
>> >
>
>> >
>
>> > Salvete omnes,
>
>> >
>
>> > Soon it's Autumn again and time to start thinking about more refined
>
>> > things and self-improvement, such as studying Latin. Academia Thules
>
>> > is right there to help you with that particular project by offering
>
>> > several interesting Latin courses for you!
>
>> >
>
>> > To see all our courses, please check the website Study Guide pages
>
>> > at: http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide
>
>> >
>
>> > Here's a short reminder of the highlights:
>
>> >
>
>> > 1) Master Latin grammar in Wheelock-based courses
>
>> > 2) Gain fluency also in spoken Latin to impress your fellow Romans in
>
>> > Assimil-courses
>
>> >
>
>> > 1) Master Latin grammar in Wheelock-based courses
>
>> >
>
>> > Wheelock-based courses LL-P-2 Grammatica Latina I and LL-B-2
>
>> > Grammatica Latina II are rather traditional, but well approved Latin
>
>> > courses where you'll learn to master the Latin language. Teacher is
>
>> > A. Tullia Scholastica. Courses start on September 17th and 10th, so
>
>> > we recommend you to acquire the needed textbooks as soon as possible.
>
>> > Please see for more information about the courses the Academia Thules
>
>> > Study Guide:
>
>> >
>
>> > http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/facultaslitterarum/
>
>> > mainll.html#ll-p-2
>
>> > http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/facultaslitterarum/
>
>> > mainll.html#ll-b-2
>
>> >
>
>> > Easy Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk link for the course textbook can be
>
>> > found from Academia Thules Bookstore (scroll down until you see the
>
>> > appropriate course code): http://www.academiathules.org/bookstore
>
>> >
>
>> > ATS: And this textbook is readily available in English-speaking
>
>> > countries, particularly at college bookstores as it is commonly used in
>
>> > college Latin instruction. It is a paperback and thus not terribly
>> expensive.
>
>> > We do go beyond Latin grammar, however; we read a bit of Latin, and write
>
>> > some, especially in the intermediate class.
>
>> >
>
>> > If you have an access to the Academia Thules CMS already, you can
>
>> > enroll to the courses by yourself in near future when courses will be
>
>> > opened for enrolments.
>
>> >
>
>> > If you are not a current student in Academia Thules, please go to our
>
>> > website and register yourself as a student by following instructions at:
>
>> > http://www.academiathules.org/admissions
>
>> >
>
>> > Please read carefully the information provided about studying and
>
>> > courses in the Study Guide: http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/
>
>> > facultaslitterarum
>
>> >
>
>> > 2) Gain fluency also in spoken Latin and impress your fellow Romans
>
>> > in Assimil-courses
>
>> >
>
>> > Assimil-method courses LL-B-1A Sermo Latinus I and LL-B-1B Sermo
>
>> > Latinus II are aimed for spoken fluency in Latin. By exercise you'll
>
>> > learn to speak Latin within a few months time. Teacher is A. Gratius
>
>> > Avitus. Courses start on 15th of October, so we recommend you to
>
>> > acquire the needed textbook and audio material as soon as possible.
>
>> > Note that the mandatory textbook is available only in Italian and
>
>> > French, but English translation will be provided to those who have
>
>> > bought either version of the textbook.
>
>> >
>
>> > ATS: It is my understanding that a Spanish version of the course is
>> also
>
>> > ready, or nearly so. The instructor is a native speaker of Spanish (though
>> we
>
>> > like to joke that it really should be Latin), and can assist anyone
>> requiring
>
>> > instruction conducted in Spanish (for that matter, he knows about 20
>
>> > languages...).
>
>> >
>
>> >
>
>> > There's also an option of
>
>> > doing the courses in faster pace in the combined LL-B-1AB Sermo
>
>> > Latinus I&II course. Please see more information about the courses in
>
>> > the Academia Thules Study Guide:
>
>> >
>
>> > http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/facultaslitterarum/
>
>> > mainll.html#ll-b-1a
>
>> > http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/facultaslitterarum/
>
>> > mainll.html#ll-b-1b
>
>> > http://www.academiathules.org/studyguide/facultaslitterarum/
>
>> > mainll.html#ll-b-1ab
>
>> >
>
>> > Easy Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk link for the course textbook can be
>
>> > found at Academia Thules Bookstore (scroll down until you'll see the
>
>> > appropriate course code): http://www.academiathules.org/bookstore
>
>> >
>
>> > If you have access to the Academia Thules CMS already, you can enroll
>
>> > to the courses by yourself in near future when courses are opened for
>
>> > enrolments.
>
>> >
>
>> > If you are not current student in Academia Thules, please go to our
>
>> > website and register yourself as a student by following instructions at:
>
>> > http://www.academiathules.org/admissions
>
>> >
>
>> > Please read carefully the information provided about studying and
>
>> > courses from the Study Guide: http://www.academiathules.org/
>
>> > studyguide/facultaslitterarum
>
>> >
>
>> > ATS: I would like to emphasize this, as learning does not occur by
>
>> > osmosis in most people. Learning a highly-inflected foreign language takes
>
>> > time and effort; before one attempts this, one should make sure that
>> several
>
>> > hours can be spared weekly, or even daily, for the learning process. Those
>
>> > who complete Assimil II are considered to be Latin speakers at an
>> intermediate
>
>> > level, so one can expect some effort in moving from, so to speak, zero to
>
>> > sixty in a year or two. The Wheelock courses are more traditional, and
>> stress
>
>> > grammar and vocabulary, but should produce some ability to read and write
>
>> > Latin even after the first year. The intermediate course covers connected
>
>> > passages in prose and poetry after the textbook lessons have been
>> completed,
>
>> > so that should produce some reading and writing ability as well...the
>> students
>
>> > were able to translate connected passages and compose simple sentences
>> under
>
>> > examination conditions, so it seems that the desired effect has been
>> obtained.
>
>> >
>
>> > As for prerequisites, Wheelock I, Assimil I, and combined Assimil I&II
>
>> > have none, other than the possession of the textbook BEFORE the class
>> starts;
>
>> > Wheelock II requires the completion of Wheelock I or Assimil I or a similar
>
>> > course with permission of the instructor; Assimil II requires Assimil I.
>
>> > Remaining in any of these courses requires the timely completion of all
>
>> > homework and tests, so the books MUST be in hand before class starts.
>
>> >
>
>> > I took combined Assimil the first year it was offered, and was able to
>
>> > understand everything said during our recent nundinum of Latin immersion as
>
>> > well as speak reasonably well despite plenty of neologisms. Though I had
>
>> > already had over a dozen years of Latin, it did enhance my fluency, and I
>> do
>
>> > recommend it...but the pace is rapid, and those who need grammatical
>
>> > grounding, or who prefer the traditional approach, might better consider
>
>> > Wheelock first. We do not recommend taking both courses concurrently.
>
>> >
>
>> > As the intermediate Wheelock class is still in session (belatedly, due
>> to
>
>> > a host of problems), enrollment is not possible at this time, but soon
>> should
>
>> > be; some of the students are writing the last bit of their final exam
>> (which
>
>> > the rest have submitted), and soon the grades will be computed. Avitus is
>
>> > away, and has not turned in his grades, so his classes cannot be entered >>

now

>
>> > either, but anyone wishing to enter Grammatica Latina (Wheelock) I should
>> be
>
>> > able to register now.
>
>> >
>
>> > Valete,
>
>> >
>
>> > C. Curius Saturninus
>
>> >
>
>> > Senator - Aedilis Plebis - Propraetor Provinciae Thules
>
>> > Rector Academia Thules ad Studia Romana Antiqua et Nova
>
>> >
>
>> > e-mail: c.curius@... <mailto:c.curius%40academiathules.org>
>> <mailto:c.curius%40academiathules.org>
>
>> > www.academiathules.org
>
>> >
>
> Vale, et valete.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Reminder from:		Nova-Roma Yahoo! Group
Title:		Nova Roma Sestertii
Date:		Saturday August 25, 2007
Time:		12:00 am - 1:00 am
Repeats:		This event repeats every month.
Location:		http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Macellum
Notes:		Nova Roma Sestertii are available from HARPAX in the Macellum!
Get reminders on your mobile, Yahoo! Messenger, and email. Edit reminder options

Copyright © 2007  Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy

Salve Cornelius Felix,
Well, I'm in Idaho, not many trips to portland I'm afraid, though I
do often travel there during the winter times for my jewelry. Since I
am a jeweler I end up travelling a lot more than I would like. On a
side note, I've done some book-keeping and some thinking, and I've been
doing a great deal of jewelry geared towards the Victorian age with
wire sculpting and with cameos. I've looked into some ancient Roman
Jewelry and I've been able to reproduce the designs and modify them
with more accuracy than I thought. I hope to get my citizenship done
with soon. I plan on selling my Roman Jewelry to Nova Roma cives (I
think I said that right) at whole sale. I don't know, just a thought
though. Sorry about the shameless plug there. Also, Cornelius Felix,
does our province have normal meetings? I joined the yahoo group, but
it seems pretty dead. I would like to meet some fellow Nova Romans
someday, hopefully before the next vernal equinox.

Vale

Salvete Omnibus,
To everyone that replied and informed me of the workings of our
government, thank you. It helps a lot. Also, I would have replied to
this sooner, but I had to fill an order of bracelets today, sorry about
that.

Valete

Agricola Quadrato sal.

You should take a look at this:
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Macellum_%28Nova_Roma%29

Optime vale!


--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "Numerius Apollonius Quadratus"
<drpatrickjohnson@...> wrote:

>
> Salve Cornelius Felix,
> Well, I'm in Idaho, not many trips to portland I'm afraid, though I
> do often travel there during the winter times for my jewelry. Since I
> am a jeweler I end up travelling a lot more than I would like. On a
> side note, I've done some book-keeping and some thinking, and I've been
> doing a great deal of jewelry geared towards the Victorian age with
> wire sculpting and with cameos. I've looked into some ancient Roman
> Jewelry and I've been able to reproduce the designs and modify them
> with more accuracy than I thought. I hope to get my citizenship done
> with soon. I plan on selling my Roman Jewelry to Nova Roma cives (I
> think I said that right) at whole sale. I don't know, just a thought
> though. Sorry about the shameless plug there. Also, Cornelius Felix,
> does our province have normal meetings? I joined the yahoo group, but
> it seems pretty dead. I would like to meet some fellow Nova Romans
> someday, hopefully before the next vernal equinox.
>
> Vale
>

Salve M. Lucretius Agricola,
Hhmmm, looks like I would be a member of the affiliates sector
until my citizenship is cleared. I would probably still put 10 percent
of my earnings into the Nova Roma treasury and give discounts to Nova
Romans. Thanks for the heads up.

Vale

Agricola Quadrato sal.

Citizenship doesn't take long. You will deal with the censores to get
into the ordo equester (there is even an application form, IIRC) and
then the aediles will take care of adding you to the website, on or
linked to the macellum page.

Would you be able to make a plate-brooch type fibula using one of our
sestertii as the main part of the plate, maybe plated in silver (or
tin, actually that would be authentic)? I have always thought that
would be a nice thing to have. When I designed the second sestertius I
left places in the design for rivets, having just this thing in mind.
I also thought they would make nice belt plates (the center of the plate).

Optime vale!


--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "Numerius Apollonius Quadratus"
<drpatrickjohnson@...> wrote:

>
> Salve M. Lucretius Agricola,
> Hhmmm, looks like I would be a member of the affiliates sector
> until my citizenship is cleared. I would probably still put 10 percent
> of my earnings into the Nova Roma treasury and give discounts to Nova
> Romans. Thanks for the heads up.
>
> Vale
>

Salve M. Lucretius Agricola,
The Brooch fibula wouldn't be difficult at all, though it would be
a little deviated from the common Roman fibulae of the time since I
mostly work with wire sculpting. I've never really done a belt buckle
before, but it could be interesting. I'll have to get my hands on a
coin to see how well I do with the brooch. My only worry is making the
brooch too Victorian and straying from the Roman style. We'll just
have to wait and see, but then again this is mostly how I work. Most
of my work comes as custom orders, so I'm use to having to adapt to new
orders.

Vale

OSD C. Equitius Cato

Salvete omnes!

Hodie est ante diem VIII Kalendas Septembris; haec dies nefastus
publicus est.

"Hanc autem deam Opem Saturni coniugem crediderunt, et ideo hoc mense
Saturnalia itemque Opalia celebrari, quod Saturnus eiusque uxor tam
frugum quam fructuum repertores esse credantur: itaque omni iam fetu
agrorum coacto ab hominibus hos deos coli quasi vitae cultioris
auctores: quos etiam nonnullis caelum ac terram esse persuasum est,
Saturnumque a satu dictum, cuius causa de caelo est, et terram Opem,
cuius ope humanae vitae alimenta quaeruntur, vel ab opere per quod
fructus frugesque nascuntur. Huic deae sedentes vota concipiunt,
terramque de industria tangunt, demonstrantes ipsam matrem terram esse
mortalibus adpetendam." - Macrobius, Saturnalia I.X.19-21

"Opeconsiva dies ab dea Ope Consiva, cuius in Regia sacrarium quod
adeo artum, eo praeter virgines Vestales et sacerdotem publicum
introeat nemo. 'Is cum eat, suffibulum ut habeat,' scriptum: id
dicitur ab suffigendo subfigabulum." - Varro, de Lingua Latina 6.22

Today is the celebration of the Opiconsivia, in honor of the goddess
Ops. Ops, the Earth Mother, also is considered the Great Mother of
the Gods, and the Great Goddess. As such, Ops is a manifestation of
Rhea, Cybele, Demeter, and so on, personifying the earth as the giver
of all riches.

Her consort, the god Consus, is the protector of grains and
subterranean storage bins (silos), and as such was represented by a
corn seed. He became confused with the god of counsel because of the
linguistic similarity, but is entirely distinct from that god. The
festival of Consus, the Consualia, was celebrated twice a year: once
on August 21, after the harvest, and once on December 15, after the
sowing of crops was finished. The Consualia was instituted by Romulus,
and commemorated the rape (and insemination) of the Sabine women by
the Romans. Consus was eventually identified with Neptunus Equester,
the alternative name and counterpart of Poseidon Hippios. Poseidon
(Neptune) had been associated with the animal since archaic times.

The Opiconsivia festival was superintended the Vestals and the
Flamines of Quirinus, an early, Sabine god said to be the deified
Romulus, absorbed and being included in the first and earliest
Capitoline Triad, along with Mars—then an agriculture god—and Jupiter.
The main priestess at the regia wore a white veil, characteristic of
the vestal virgins. A chariot race was performed in the Circus
Maximus. Horses and mules, their heads crowned with chaplets made of
flowers, also partook in the celebration.

Opis was deemed a chthonic (underworld, inside the earth) goddess who
made the vegetation grow. Since her abode was inside the earth, Ops
was invoked by her worshipers while sitting, with their hands touching
the ground, according to Macrobius. Consus seems to be an alternate
name of Saturn in the chthonic aspect as consort, since he is also
held to be the husband of Ops. Festus identifies her husband as
Saturn: "Ops is said to be the wife of Saturn. By her they designated
the earth, because the earth distributes all goods to the human
gender" (203.19).

Valete bene!

Cato



SOURCES

Macrobius, Varro, Festus, Wikipedia

A. Apollonius N. Apollonio sal.

Welcome to our res publica, N. Apolloni. It is always a pleasure to see another member of our gens in this forum. I see that most of your questions have already been answered, but if there is anything else I can help you with, do get in touch with me privately.



___________________________________________________________
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A. Apollonius Cn. Equitio sal.

> > 2. The lex is no longer in force because its effect has been
> > completely nullified by the subsequent amendment of the lex
> > constitutiva made by means of the lex Equitia de constitutione
> > corrigenda. The latter lex Equitia enacted a complete text of the
> > lex constitutiva. This lex did not contain the additional text
> > which had been inserted by the lex Equitia Galeria.
>
> How are you reaching this conclusion Corde? It is true that in the
> reference text that was posted to Fuscus' website, the amendment was
> left out. But in the actual text that M. Octavius placed in the
> Cista, the amendment was included. I think it was you who pointed out
> the missing text to me, and I made sure that Octavius had the correct
> text in the Cista at the time of the vote. Perhaps Octavius saves
> those pages, and could confirm this.

I reached that conclusion based on the evidence available to me. The text which was posted at the cista is not available to me. I'm grateful to you for bringing this further evidence to my notice, and based on your recollections, which I don't doubt, I revise my opinion. The text in the tabularium therefore also stands to be revised.

It would, however, be very useful to have some documentary evidence, as you suggest, in order to remove doubt in future.





___________________________________________________________
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A. Apollonius omnibus sal.

My friend P. Memmius has reminded me of an incident a while ago concerning the lex Junia de jure jurando, in which it appeared that the text of the lex in the tabularium had been tampered with. (It was in fact, mi amice, me who pointed out the apparent tampering, so yes, I do remember the occasion well!)

It now seems that this 'tampering', as I called it at the time, was actually done by the praetores (or their staff) in order to clarify the meaning of the lex. They purported to do this under the authority of the lex Equitia de corrigendis legum erratis.

I'd like to say a bit about this lex, but first let me reply directly to P. Memmius. Amice, I cannot find any e-mail from you on the 26th of July this year. I have an e-mail from your magistrate, but she did not say that the 'tampering' had been done by her in order to clarify the lex. She said, among many other things, that "It may be that someone has been tampering with the text on the wiki", but she essentially said that she had no idea what it was about and she asked the wikimagistri to look into the matter. If you had indeed explained to her what had happened, then evidently she had not understood. But thank you for now explaining to me what happened.

Now, to my general comments about the lex Equitia de corrigendis. I am very worried by the way this lex is being used. In fact I believe it is being disobeyed in two respects. First, the people who are claiming to act under its authority have no authority under it. Secondly, the changes they are making go far beyond what it authorizes.

The first point. The current praetrix A. Tullia has on several occasions expressed the belief that it gives her (originally in her capacity as a scriba to the praetor M. Julius, and now as praetrix) the power to make alterations to other leges. It does not. The text is quite clear and can be found here:

http://www.novaroma.org/tabularium/leges/2004-06-02-i.html

It says that the *magister aranearius*, not the praetores or their assistants, who may make corrections to leges and other legal documents. The role of the praetores is to "be informed of any and all changes made under the authority of the
webmaster, and [to] verify that none alters the spirit or the intent
of the law". The praetores and their assistants have *no legal power* to make retrospective changes to the texts of any legal documents. And yet they have been doing so. I do not know how often or how extensively, but it has happened at least once, and we should now therefore be a little cautious about the reliability of any and all the texts in the tabularium.

The second point. The changes made, even if made by the proper magistrate, are restricted to "correcting typographical, orthographic, grammatical, and similar errors
existing in past, present, and future legislation, insofar as these
alter neither the spirit nor the intent of the law". This, to my mind, does *not* go so far as to allow the magister aranearius to insert additional phrases into the texts of existing leges in order to clarify the meaning of those texts. This is, in fact, a very dangerous idea. Clarifying the meaning of a text implies two things: first, there is uncertainty about the meaning of the text in the first place; secondly, the person who makes the clarification has taken a view about the 'true' meaning of the text. If there is uncertainty about the meaning of a lex, then there may be several legitimate interpretations, and if so then this is a matter to be solved by debate, by juristic techniques, by the decisions of the higher magistrates, and by cases heard in courts of law. It is definitely not a matter for mere 'tidying up'. And if the text is being clarified, this means that the person making the clarification is curtailing all possible debate about
the correct interpretation in order to impose his own interpretation on the text and, moreover, actually change the text in order to support his interpretation. This may be done in all good faith, but it nonetheless should not be done at all. It is a very dangerous road to travel, even a little way.

Having seen it in action, I now have grave doubts about the merits of the lex Equitia de corrigendis as a whole. It is certainly contrary to all Roman precedent to allow the texts of the leges to be altered retrospectively, even by magistrates. But whether it is a good lex or not, it is clear to me that it is being abused and disobeyed by at least one (doubtless well-meaning) magistrate, and that as a result the reliability of the texts of our leges in the tabularium is in some doubt. That is not a happy state of affairs.



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A. Apollonius Cordus P. Memmio Albucio sal.

I am sorry that my one-word alteration to one of the texts in the tabularium has caused you distress and annoyance. I know you have done a lot of work on the tabularium and that you have an idea of how it ought ultimately to work. I hope you appreciate that, before your boss unilaterally gave herself (and her assistants including you) a monopoly over such work, I too did a lot of work on the tabularium, much of which has been undone since then. I don't object to my work being undone - that is part of what the wiki is all about - but it seems to me that, to date, it has been undone pointlessly and either not replaced at all or replaced with material which, in its current unfinished state, is very confusing.

In short, watching your well-intentioned work grind on so slowly and causing so much disruption, while being forbidden to help you with it as I would wish to, has been very frustrating. My restraint reached its limit, and I therefore made the one-word alteration which has irritated you.

You point out an apparent contradiction between two things I said. I said that making alterations to the tabularium is difficult because one must seek authorization from A. Tullia before doing anything. I also said that I had made this particular alteration in about 30 seconds. There is no contradiction. The reason the alteration took me 30 seconds is that I did it without gaining authorization.

That, in fact, is precisely my point. Without this unnecessary apparatus of seeking and receiving approval, making constructive changes to the tabularium is extremely quick and easy. And if an alteration turns out to be a bad one, it can be reversed just as quickly and easily.

You say that you and your colleagues have had that particular mistake - the one I corrected - under consideration for some time, and that you were working on fixing it. This, again, proves my point. It was something which everyone agreed was a mistake. There was no doubt that it was a mistake. The evidence of the archives and the laws of arithmetic were absolutely clear. Why on earth, then, was it not corrected immediately? Because your magistrate has created an unnecessary bureaucratic structure which slows down such simple actions.

My point is that your magistrate has entirely failed to grasp how the new website works. She, and consequently you and your colleagues, proceed as if no change must be made without extensive consultation and preparation. I don't know exactly what has been going on in your office; but I trust and believe that you and your colleagues have been doing a lot of work for many months, and yet there has been virtually no improvement in the actual state of the tabularium and in fact, as far as I can see, a deterioration. Thus I can only conclude that the work you have been doing has been preparatory and discursive. This is the sort of the work which was needed with the old website. It is the sort of work which took up so much time and made things so inefficient with the old website. It is the sort of work which is unnecessary nowadays. Now, improvements can be delivered to the users of the website almost immediately after they are conceived. That is how
things are happening in all other parts of the website, which are improving by leaps and bounds. It is only the tabularium which is languishing and going backwards, because it is only the tabularium which is being monopolized by a magistrate.

And finally I must return, on a more personal and friendly note, to your own feelings and mine. I say again that I'm sorry you feel I've shown a lack of respect to you and your work. But I must say that you have misunderstood the way in which respect for others is expressed in wiki websites like ours. Every culture has ways of expressing respect and consideration: a Japanese person, a Zambian, and a German may feel equal respect for someone but demonstrate this is different ways according to their cultures. Well, in wiki-based websites respect is not expressed by refraining from altering other people's work. When a person make a contribution to a wiki, he must understand that his work will almost certainly be altered and added to by others. In fact when two people edit the same page they often come to feel a sort of comradeship, even though their work may involve undoing parts of what each other has done. But one must not be proprietorial about
such work. A contribution to a wiki, like 'winged words' in Homer, ceases to be the property of the author as soon as it goes forth from him. And, as I've said, editing can be done instantaneously and there is no real need for preparatory work. There is, therefore, no danger that one person may edit an article while another person is in the middle of extensive preparatory work for that article; there is no danger that, in this way, a large amount of 'unseen' work will be rendered pointless before it has reached fruition. That is simply not the way things work in a wiki. Your frustration and distress comes from your misunderstanding of how things are done in this environment. What I have done is, I assure you, perfectly normal in such websites, and indeed contributors to other wiki sites would be quite astounded that you have been so upset by a simple one-word correction which you yourself agree to be entirely correct. I do apologize, but I also
urge you to try to understand the culture of the website.

Think, if you like, of the process which occurred when Cicero was in exile and about the be recalled. There were several different people busy drafting different proposals for his recall. There were many different drafts being circulated among interested people. One person might write a draft, another might change it. Cicero himself was receiving copies of some proposals and was making changes of his own. It was a common project. That is how the website should work, and does work with the exception of the tabularium. This connotes no lack of respect at all, and I assure you that I continue to have great respect and affection for you and your work. I only wish your magistrate would allow us to collaborate on that work in a manner which suits the virtues and the culture of this new and flexible website.




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Salvete omnes!

Here is the third of the essays honoring Volcanus, who was the protector of the port city Ostia. As always, any formatting errors are mine, but the excellent research is all Falco Silvana's.

Optime valete,
Artoria Marcella


Ostia and Volcanus
by C. Aurelia Falco Silvana

Ostia: port city to Rome, commercial way-station for shipping up the Tiber River, gateway to that larger city that was the beating heart of Republic and Empire.Ostia. The Romans established a "castrum" as their colony at the mouth of the Tiber, on the left bank just as Rome was situated on the left bank further upstream.

The Castrum must have been built between 396 and 267 BC. Most modern historians have suggested that it was erected in either 349/8 or 338 BC, a period when Rome had to battle pirates and was at war with its neighbours. The oldest pottery from the Castrum has been dated to the period 380-340 BC. . . . The older pottery (380-340 BC) could be the remains of votive offerings from an older temple (curiously isolated, however). (1)

Scholars argue, as scholars will, about the dates of the Castrum's founding. But it is certain that the Romans were not the first to understand the importance of what they named "Ostia." For here, at the mouth of the Tiber, were salt pans - places where salt could be naturally extracted from sea water. Salt is as essential to human life as food and water, and was probably being extracted here well before 1000 BCE.

"Romans probably did not have control of the salt fields on the coastline at the beginning of their history, as they had control of the route that seekers of salt coming down toward the sea were obliged to take. The oversight, maintenance and control of the sites . . . was too important to entrust it exclusively to one entity. Simple plausibility suggests that this control was first shared and "international." That could explain the traces of a federal organization, preserved at the level of religious ritual in particular, of which tradition has kept a vague memory . . . . (2) Grandazzi, p. 78

Tradition holds that the Roman town was founded by the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius, well before the Republican family of the Marcii came into prominence.

"The tradition that makes Ancus Marcius, fourth king of Rome, the founder of Ostia can be considered credible. . . . It retains the memory of an episode, essential in the assertion of early Roman power, that saw the sons of Romulus seize for themselves the most sought-out natural resource of the entire region. In other words, it was precisely because Ostia did not exist that it had to be founded, in such a way as to guarantee the city on the banks of the Tiber control over the course of the river to its mouth. " (2) Grandazzi, p. 78 - 79)


By the third century BCE, it is certain that Ostia had become important fordefence-against pirates, against Hannibal. One of the quaestores classici (officials in charge of the fleet) was stationed here, and residents were freed from military duty so that they could work in the harbor.

"The sea was infested by fleets of Greek pirates who made descents on the coast round Antium and Laurentum and entered the mouth of the Tiber. On one occasion the sea-robbers and the land-robbers encountered one another in a hard-fought battle ... The consul [Lucius Furius Camillus] ... ordered the praetor [Lucius Pinarius] to protect the coast-line and prevent the Greeks from effecting a landing." (3)

By the second century BCE, with the growth of the Republic and of the city of Rome itself, Ostia became more of a commercial centre and was the seat of numerous commercial guilds. The city kept that "international" character that Grandazzi cites. At Ostia goods of all sorts were transferred from larger vessels to smaller ones for the trip up the Tiber. Dionysus of Halicarnassus wrote,

"Ships with oars, however large, and merchantmen with sails of up to 3,000 [amphorae] capacity enter the mouth itself and row or are towed up to Rome; but larger ships ride at anchor outside the mouth and unload and reload with the help of river vessels. " (4)

As the population of Rome grew, grain shipments from overseas became critical, and the grain storehouses of Ostia became political and social gamepieces. The quaestor stationed in Ostia now had the challenging task of overseeing the grain supply. That task was the undoing of more than one quaestor. It is in connection with this precious grain supply that we again meet the God of destructive fire, Volcanus. He was honored especially as protector of the grain storehouses of Ostia.

To modern people, the connection may not be obvious. Many have never been on a farm, most have never threshed grain. Grain handling is a risky business. The dust that rises from the grain is a major hazard, even moreso than the grain itself catching fire:

"The first documented dust explosion occurred in a Turin, Italy, bakery in 1785. The explosion was caused by the ignition of flour dust by a lamp in a bakery storeroom. Fortunately, the explosion did not cause any fatalities. It did lead to the realization that grain dust is a highly explosive substance that must be handled carefully." (5)

Ancient peoples were much closer to agriculture and understood the danger. Even if human beings used maximum care, the lightning bolts which Volcanus forged for Jupiter were beyond their control, and could strike too close:

XXIII [208 BC] - ... at Ostia a gate and part of the wall had been struck by lightning. (6)

I [199 BC] - ... others from Ostia reported that the temple of Jupiter there also had been struck [by lightning] (6) Livius, Book XXII

And so, at Ostia, a special cult developed around the fire-God Volcanus. who was worshipped as the chief God and protector of the city. This God of destructive, consuming fire also had the power to quench those same fires - and this was his chief aspect honored here. In this guise, he was also called Volcanus Mulciber or Vulcanus Quietus, and was associated with Stata Mater

"At Ostia the cult became celebrated; there was an 'aedes' and a 'pontifex volcani' and a 'praetor sacris Volcani faciundis.' In August the storehouses at Ostia would be full of new grain arrived from Sicily, Africa, and Egypt, and in that hot month would be especially in danger from fire; an elaborate cult of Volcanus the fire-god was therefore at this place particularly desireable." (7)

The priestly offices were part of the cursus honorum - the upward ladder of a public career. Holding the office of pontifex Volcani marked the summit of a career. The pontifex had general control over all the temples in the city, and was comparable to the pontifex maximus in Rome. (1)

Ostia was caught up in the civil war when Marius plundered it in 87 BCE. Then pirates repeated the plunder and destroyed a fleet in 69/68 BCE. Cicero started the construction of new town walls in 63 BCE, to be finished by P. Clodius Pulcher in 58 BCE. Through it all, Ostia had been administered by Rome. However, surviving records show that sometime before 49 BCE, Ostia became self-governing.

Here at the close of the Republic I will leave Ostia, which was to reach its zenith in the second century AD during the Empire. The single best resource you will find on the city is at http://www.ostia-antica.org/ This is a non-profit website that offers everything (and I do mean everything!) to do with Ostia. You will find computer reconstructions including a "walkthrough" of the city, along with ancient texts, modern photos, bibliographies, maps, a topographical "dictionary" with building-by-building analyses . . . and plenty of highly readable text on the history of Ostia and its people. I have only scratched the surface here. The scholarship, dedication and technical expertise of the people behind the Ostia Antica website leave me in awe.




BIBLIOGRAPHY


1. Ostia: Harbour City to Ancient Rome: Introduction

http://www.ostia-antica.org/intro.htm#21

2. The Foundation of Rome, by Alexandre Grandazzi (Jane Marie Todd, trans.). Cornell University Press, 1997 (on Google Books, with a 5-line URL)

3. Ab urbe condita, by Titus Livius. Book VII, xxv.

http://www.ostia-antica.org/anctexts.htm

4. Antiquitates Romanae 3, 44, by Dionysus of Halicarnassus

http://www.ostia-antica.org/anctexts.htm

5. Industrial Fire World Magazine: for firefighters, on whom Volcanus must look with favor.

http://www.fireworld.com/ifw_articles/elevator_blast.php

6. Ab urbe condita, by Titus Livius, Book XXVII, xxiii

http://www.ostia-antica.org/anctexts.htm

7. The Roman festivals of the period of the Republic, by William Warde Fowler. Adamant Media Corp., 2004. p. 210. (on Google Books with a 6-line URL)





ALSO OF INTEREST:

Ostia Antica Topographical Dictionary. Accessible by clickable maps or text index.

Goal of the site is to provide a summary of each building in Ostia, accompanied by photographs and plans.

http://www.ostia-antica.org/dict.htm

You can join a yahoo mailing list for the Ostia Antica website!

http://www.ostia-antica.org/maillist.htm



AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:

Ostia: Trading game set in ancient Ostia

http://www.thedicetower.com/thedicetower/index.php?page=ostia

Private latrines in Ostia: A Case Study, by Johannes Boersma.

Bulletin Antieka Beschaving, Vol. 71, 1996. pages 151 - 160
http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=2002278&journal_code=BAB


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

P. Memmius Albucius A. Apollonio Cordo s.d.


Thanks first for your letter. Then my immediate reactions :

>(..)I know you have done a lot of work on the tabularium and that
>you have an idea of how it ought ultimately to work. I hope you
>appreciate that, before your boss unilaterally gave herself (and her
>assistants including you) a monopoly over such work, I too did a lot
>of work on the tabularium, much of which has been undone since then.

I had not understood til recently that *you* had done this work,
largely because the wikimagisters team building appeared to me a bit
unclear. I can now appreciate the whole work that you have done at
its true value.

I do not understand exactly, now, what you mean by 'undone' (I've
just had a look in my dictionary to see if I did really understand).
As I do not know sincerely at this time what *you* have done
*exactly*, I cannot really appreciate if something has been un-done.
I will ask my collega Sabinus to have a thought on this.

Let us suppose that some of your contributions had been undone. Four
immediate thoughts : first this is the way a wiki site type works ;
second I do not think that the most part of your - important in my
partial view - contribution has been upset ; third, this is what may
be interesting in the tabularium work, is be collectively able to
better up our first "emergency" entries ; fourth, I think that you
wiki magisters, and specially you, dear Cordus who involved in the
Tab., should have contacted Tullia's cohort six months ago to
say :"I've done this or that, what do you think of it ? Could I help
on that ? etc.".

> You say that you and your colleagues have had that particular
>mistake - the one I corrected - under consideration for some time,
>and that you were working on fixing it. This, again, proves my
>point.

No. ;-)

>(..)It was something which everyone agreed was a mistake. There was

no doubt that it was a mistake. The evidence of the archives and the

>laws of arithmetic were absolutely clear. Why on earth, then, was
>it not corrected immediately? Because your magistrate has created
>an unnecessary bureaucratic structure which slows down such simple
>actions.

No, simply because a few corrections have been scheduled after July-
August holidays and, second, it appears that it was more respectful
to ask confirmation to the 2757 magistrates. Did not you have a doubt
on why, though the discuss was open in the ML, *I* had not made the
correction ?

>(..)My point is that your magistrate has entirely failed to grasp
>how the new website works.

I do not know Tullia'a mind and will let her express herself if she
wishes.
Our point of view is different : our goal is to go forward on the
tabularium, because it has not been transferred before having the
global wiki site works, which would have been wiser.
So, our focus is to try, at the same time, to manage the transfer of
the whole tabularium, and to offer a more open access to every one.
Our focus is thus not to cope with how the new website works, but to
do with it. And contrary to you, I am firmly convinces that a
tabularium is one of (few ?) fields which must not be open to a free
modification access (cf. my previous ML messages to you, Tullia,
Maior).
If things may work well, you, wikimagisters, are the key resource-
citizens who will help us in smoothing all possible points linked to
the relation to the global site or to the wiki approach.

>(..)yet there has been virtually no improvement in the actual state
>of the tabularium and in fact, as far as I can see, a deterioration.

Things do not go as far as personally I, not to speak for anyone,
would like. Mainly because of the lack of time, the limited number of
hard-working people, the difficulties faced with the wiki.
But I think that you cannot frankly and sincerely speak of
deterioration. And you know, furthermore, that this kind of work can
be criticized every time until it is over, and the "veni-vidi-vici'
that I evoked recently is very comfortable. If you had been more with
us, and active these last months in this field, we sure would have
both a different point of view.

>(..) Thus I can only conclude that the work you have been doing has
>been preparatory and discursive.

No, you cannot.
Go read the example (ML 51272) that I have given on the checking of
the texts (several versions, unknown texts, etc.) : around a global
70 hours. Do you think that it is normal ? No. Did you react on
this ? No. So, 70 hours abnormally lost. Because a correct work has
not been done before.
Is this a discursive work, or should not we try to draw experiment
from this very discursive way that our res publica had to manage
things in the previous years.

>(..)It is only the tabularium which is languishing and going
>backwards, because it is only the tabularium which is being
>monopolized by a magistrate.

In my pragmatical view, things are such, and I have to deal with. The
praetors both defined their relations, and no other magistrate
opposed this fact. If you have well read me, you have understood that
I thought that the "wiki + tab" question was for me complex enough
that it should have committed *all* of our major magistrates. Maybe
next year...
On the matter itself, I am still convinced that the tabularium, as
any state codex, must be controlled by one regulating 'power'.

The question is mostly now the question of the human taskforce that
we manage all to put on this task. For Sabinus's and my days and
nights are just 24 hours long... We sincerely hope that you will have
time, you Cordus and Agricola, to boost the Tabularium work, if you
have - but may I have any doubt about this ? - the wish to have
things done, indepently of any considerations ('political', cursus's
ones, 'I do not like X', etc. ones..).

>(..)But I must say that you have misunderstood the way in which
>respect for others is expressed in wiki websites like ours.

I hope Wiki values obey Roman values, for there is no competition in
my mind between them : the first ones must obey to the second ones.
The wiki is just a tool for us, not the essential.

>(..)Well, in wiki-based websites respect is not expressed by
>refraining from altering other people's work. (..)That is simply not
>the way things work in a wiki. Your frustration and distress comes
>from your misunderstanding of how things are done in this

environment.

I am just recovering, thanks....

>(..)What I have done is, I assure you, perfectly normal (..)I do
>apologize,

Clementia : you are forgiven.

>but I also urge you to try to understand the culture of the website.

A little bit more, and you will teach me French... ;-)
You know (see my ML answer to Maior), I am fully aware of that.
But to say it too quickly and with legal words : the special must
have the primacy on the general and some of wiki culture rules must
not be applied in a tabularium work, whoever is in charge of it. Just
because a tabularium is uncompatible with free-modification.

But you know, this whole problem disappear itself as soon as *every
good wills* gather to work around the table, and is invited to be a
part of the Tab. team. Which, finally, drives us to... the same
result.

>(..)Think, if you like, of the process which occurred when Cicero
>was in exile and about the be recalled.

These are two different things, Corde! Cicero's recall is an example
of working on a law proposal, as when we may, here in NR, consult on
texts that a magistrate proposed to the comitia.
The Tab. work is to handle existing *official* texts, watching that
no one disappears and be modified. You need no security on the first
field, for the proposal is nothing before having the seal of the vote
and of the tabularium publication. On the second work, you need to
securize the process.

>I only wish your magistrate would allow us to collaborate on that
>work in a manner which suits the virtues and the culture of this new
>and flexible website.

Tullia will deny if I am wrong, but the door is already wide open
since a few months. I personally think (cf. supra) that we do need
working-good will-skilled citizens for this huge work. And Romans
should be able to speak a common language, no ? ;-)

Vale Corde,


P. Memmius Albucius








________________________

--- In Nova-Roma@yahoogroups.com, "A. Apollonius Cordus"
<a_apollonius_cordus@...> wrote:

>
> A. Apollonius Cordus P. Memmio Albucio sal.
>
> I am sorry that my one-word alteration to one of the texts in the

tabularium has caused you distress and annoyance. I know you have
done a lot of work on the tabularium and that you have an idea of how
it ought ultimately to work. I hope you appreciate that, before your
boss unilaterally gave herself (and her assistants including you) a
monopoly over such work, I too did a lot of work on the tabularium,
much of which has been undone since then. I don't object to my work
being undone - that is part of what the wiki is all about - but it
seems to me that, to date, it has been undone pointlessly and either
not replaced at all or replaced with material which, in its current
unfinished state, is very confusing.

> In short, watching your well-intentioned work grind on so slowly

and causing so much disruption, while being forbidden to help you
with it as I would wish to, has been very frustrating. My restraint
reached its limit, and I therefore made the one-word alteration which
has irritated you.

>
> You point out an apparent contradiction between two things I said.

I said that making alterations to the tabularium is difficult because
one must seek authorization from A. Tullia before doing anything. I
also said that I had made this particular alteration in about 30
seconds. There is no contradiction. The reason the alteration took
me 30 seconds is that I did it without gaining authorization.

>
> That, in fact, is precisely my point. Without this unnecessary

apparatus of seeking and receiving approval, making constructive
changes to the tabularium is extremely quick and easy. And if an
alteration turns out to be a bad one, it can be reversed just as
quickly and easily.

>
> You say that you and your colleagues have had that particular

mistake - the one I corrected - under consideration for some time,
and that you were working on fixing it. This, again, proves my
point. It was something which everyone agreed was a mistake. There
was no doubt that it was a mistake. The evidence of the archives and
the laws of arithmetic were absolutely clear. Why on earth, then,
was it not corrected immediately? Because your magistrate has
created an unnecessary bureaucratic structure which slows down such
simple actions.

>
> My point is that your magistrate has entirely failed to grasp how

the new website works. She, and consequently you and your
colleagues, proceed as if no change must be made without extensive
consultation and preparation. I don't know exactly what has been
going on in your office; but I trust and believe that you and your
colleagues have been doing a lot of work for many months, and yet
there has been virtually no improvement in the actual state of the
tabularium and in fact, as far as I can see, a deterioration. Thus I
can only conclude that the work you have been doing has been
preparatory and discursive. This is the sort of the work which was
needed with the old website. It is the sort of work which took up so
much time and made things so inefficient with the old website. It is
the sort of work which is unnecessary nowadays. Now, improvements
can be delivered to the users of the website almost immediately after
they are conceived. That is how

> things are happening in all other parts of the website, which are

improving by leaps and bounds. It is only the tabularium which is
languishing and going backwards, because it is only the tabularium
which is being monopolized by a magistrate.

>
> And finally I must return, on a more personal and friendly note, to

your own feelings and mine. I say again that I'm sorry you feel I've
shown a lack of respect to you and your work. But I must say that
you have misunderstood the way in which respect for others is
expressed in wiki websites like ours. Every culture has ways of
expressing respect and consideration: a Japanese person, a Zambian,
and a German may feel equal respect for someone but demonstrate this
is different ways according to their cultures. Well, in wiki-based
websites respect is not expressed by refraining from altering other
people's work. When a person make a contribution to a wiki, he must
understand that his work will almost certainly be altered and added
to by others. In fact when two people edit the same page they often
come to feel a sort of comradeship, even though their work may
involve undoing parts of what each other has done. But one must not
be proprietorial about

> such work. A contribution to a wiki, like 'winged words' in

Homer, ceases to be the property of the author as soon as it goes
forth from him. And, as I've said, editing can be done
instantaneously and there is no real need for preparatory work.
There is, therefore, no danger that one person may edit an article
while another person is in the middle of extensive preparatory work
for that article; there is no danger that, in this way, a large
amount of 'unseen' work will be rendered pointless before it has
reached fruition. That is simply not the way things work in a wiki.
Your frustration and distress comes from your misunderstanding of how
things are done in this environment. What I have done is, I assure
you, perfectly normal in such websites, and indeed contributors to
other wiki sites would be quite astounded that you have been so upset
by a simple one-word correction which you yourself agree to be
entirely correct. I do apologize, but I also

> urge you to try to understand the culture of the website.
>
> Think, if you like, of the process which occurred when Cicero was

in exile and about the be recalled. There were several different
people busy drafting different proposals for his recall. There were
many different drafts being circulated among interested people. One
person might write a draft, another might change it. Cicero himself
was receiving copies of some proposals and was making changes of his
own. It was a common project. That is how the website should work,
and does work with the exception of the tabularium. This connotes no
lack of respect at all, and I assure you that I continue to have
great respect and affection for you and your work. I only wish your
magistrate would allow us to collaborate on that work in a manner
which suits the virtues and the culture of this new and flexible
website.

>
>
>
>
> ___________________________________________________________
> Want ideas for reducing your carbon footprint? Visit Yahoo! For

Good http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/environment.html

>