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I am officially at war. Never wanted it to come to this but my Claims Advisor has gone too far. After inspiring me to apoplexy the week before, she made sure there were no independent witnesses in the office and attempted to provoke an incident, one which presumably would have me escorted off the premises and quite probably to a waiting police car outside. Sorry, I'm not falling for that one. As I look for work, I record each step I make, and I mean fairly exhaustively. That list has satisfied claims advisors since I started it in 2010. For some time now I've been copying that information onto a government website to record my jobsearching activity for all to see. Last week I mentioned this to my Claims Advisor, telling her that the records were available. She dismissed it. No use to her at all. Okay. I won't bother posting it then. Less work for me, although I still keep the list up to date. The next week she asked why the government website hadn't been updated. I reminded her we'd discussed that point previously., but she insisted she needed the information to know what I had been up to. Okay. Would she like a printed copy of the latest information? No, she tells me, it might just be typed up, an argument I found odd because I was only going to copy and paste the same information anyway. So she was demanded information she had already dismissed and then dismissed it again. And so on. Finally I gave up after a barrage of demands to account for some discrepancy in her investigation of my activity. I told her I'd had enough of this circus, threw my signing book on the desk, and told her to close my Jobseekers Benefit claim. Which she obviously hasn't, in order to portray me as reneging on my Jobseekers Agreement, which I haven't. So a little advice to all those unfortunate souls who have by chance found themselves in the dustbin of the employment marketplace. It makes no difference how diligent you are. It makes no difference how honest you are. It makes no difference how much jobsearching you do. When a Claims Advisor wants her bonus for christmas, she is going to find a reason to justify it, at your expense of course. Kiss your reputation goodbye, because as of now you're a dole cheat. Gulty until proven innocent. Of course if you're sitting on your backside because you don't want to work, that's your problem. I really don't care what happens to you. Pouring Cold Water On It The weather lately has been fairly wet. Hey, this is Britain you know. Yesterday I had to walk across town to attend a course at the local college (intended to improve my marketability in employment). With all the rain, there was a lot of standing water by the roadside. So I got splashed by a passing car. Then a line of three or four cars splashed me one after the other. Needless to say I vented my frustration loudly. Wasn't much else I could do. But you know, it has changed my mind. All those police video programs you see on television are blatant propaganda, however well intentioned. When do you actually come across a police officer so gentlemanly and fair minded? I'm no longer botjhered by this. Car dribers - or drivers of any other vehicle on the road - if you get caught, it's your own fault. I couldn't care less what hapens to you. Pilot Of The Week There I was this morning, diligently searching for work and making job applications at the Support Centre, when I heard one of their administrators mention to his boss "Hey, you've got a pilot on your case load". You've got one in the room too, I added. I mean me, if anyone hasn't come across my flying escapades on this blog. Not that it actually mattered as such, but I got to chat up a pretty young lady as a result. Oh yes. Those magnificent men...

What? WHAT?! I can't even type properly.

Two walls had been built in North Africa during the reign of Trajan to impede the movements of nomadic tribesmen. Although I'm unaware of any specific incidents, clearly the Romans thought they were either troublesome or a potential source of 'customs' taxation.

I've seen both series. It is quite funny. Not exactly true to history - that's part of the joke - and not quite ROFL, but it does get very amusing at times. As I said, I've watched both series. Certainly filled my monday night.

Hadrians Wall was a security zone, not a defensive work. It also kept troops busy with building and maintenance tasks besides patrols and garrisons on the milecastles (or gatehouses if you prefer).

Aha! My suspicions confirmed Ghost! This is the work of but one man.... That evil genius known as Moriarity... Or maybe somebody lost the paperwork. Either/or (Cheers though ) More details have come to light thanks to my netting ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legio_IX_Hispana http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12752497 http://www.erminestreetguard.co.uk/Ninth%20Legion.htm1

I did read somewhere that the 9th were dishonoured. Apparently they re-appear later in the Roman record somewhere but I don't have any details.

The Romans were as usual ambivalent about such things. Sometimes they enforced prices for political reasons whilst at other times it was down to market forces. Since many slaves were brought into the market during the period of conquest, typically the profit found its way into the hands of the Roman elite - so they that had a vested interest in accentutating market forces when it suited them. Later in the imperial emoire attempts to control the economy imposed price levels, but this was as far as I'm aware unsuccessful.

If I'm not mistaken, the weather is turning seasonal and things generally get a bit chilly. Yep, the trees are turning brown, and that's not because they've spotted the tree surgeons butchering the local vegetation on the annual crusade to defoliate Swindon. I was amused the other week when I encountered a couple of guys sweeping leaves out of the main corridor of the College. How very autumnal. Unfortunately, there's little for me to be amused about now and yes, things are definitely getting chilly. Showdown At The Job Centre Boy oh boy was I naive. I walked right into this confrontation without any idea what was coming. I'd been told I was seeing a different advisor this week. As you might expect, I just assumed that my usual advisor was taking a holiday or some other reason to to save her sanity by avoiding my weekly progress report. Oh no. Nothing so innocent. This lady was from Compliance. They're the equivalent of the Gestapo. I have to say she was a fine actress. her rendition of "I'm in a really really bad mood and what on Earth is this rubbish you're presenting me with?" was fabulous. I know she was faking it - I spotted her amused expression from the corner of my eye when she sent me on a pointless errand to get evidence of my jobsearch. I provide that every week as part of my normal activity, but after she had more or less accused me of being a liar, I no longer provide it. She is after all merely looking for an excuse to stop my payments. Anything will do. So I could not answer her questions without fingers pointed at me, accusations of bad behaviour, accusations of unrealistic expectations or activity, accusations of this, that or the other.... it's inexcusable. I lost my temper. Somehow I don't think that was part of her game plan. But what a ridiculous situation. I've just spent a week at Swindon College going through an Employability course, taking a Health & Safety examination, and all of a sudden I'm unemployable. The woman is an idiot. Health Diet Of The Week You can't go far these days without an expert telling you that whatever you've been eating is going to kill you unless you change to this new diet, available from all good bookstores at low low prices. It was refreshing then to have been present at the Support Centre when one of the young ladies was accused of not eating properly or healthily. Healthy or not, there is nothing more scornful than a woman denied chocolate. Now there's an idea....

Strictly speaking. Some people have argued that the imperial period was a period of competitive politics between two governments, the old Republican Senate and Caesar with his Imperial Household. I have in fact stated many times that the Principate was a tog of war between Senate and Caesar. Eventually the Roman court won out and things strayed into the realm of monarchial forms in the later peiod we call the 'Dominate', which was still nonetheless referred to as SPQR, but then, the Romans never did set out exactly how a Caesar should be chosen.

Suetonius was very much a tabloid journalist and if an anecdote made interesting reading, he wasn't usually too discriminating, sometimes adding that "it was said that" or something similar to distance himself. Some of his anecdotes are there to illustrate the influence of divine favour, such as Julius Caesars horse, said to have stranhe hooves. Whether such a horse actually existed is irrelevant - what matters is that such a creature was unusual, perhaps an omen, something that marked out the owner for special events to come. Sometimes the reader is so bound up in shocking revelations that occaisional sentences that carry interesting information (at least to us - the Romans might not have seen it so revealing) can get overlooked. I would never dismiss Suetonius as some do, but then, other sources are not necessarily entirely truthful either, with the Historia Augusta as an exampke of something far more suspicious and potentially full of fiction or propaganda than Suetonius was.

If there's one thing human beings are good at it's spotting similarities. That's why we have such successful witch hunts occaisionally, why conspiracy theory attracts new adherents every year in spite of all logic and reason, the reason why 'Where's Wally' books sell to the general puiblic. It isn't about similarity - it's about the criteria you use for finding them. I'm sure that the works that you suggest both contain the latin word for 'and' quite a few times.

I've already outlined my objections to your premis. Creating such an assertion merely by linking observed 'similarities' is not a very good basis for building a revision of established history, because events are rarely unique by themselves - they're almost always interconnected with other events, coloured by cultural bias and expectations, and are often described in terms that exclude a hidden complexity, by which I mean if something happens, then observers attempt to find a single cause or offender - you have only to watch a news broadcast on television to see that at work. Journalists love on-screen investigation and derived conclusions. Not really. Josephus was a Judaean. His opinions are coloured by his culural background. Today I popped into my local Subway. So did another customer, at the same time. We both bought a breakfast sub. How odd. Obviously there's a conspiracy, especially since over the last years hundreds of people have been doing exactly the same thing. Similarities and parallels are not necessarily proof. Sometimes it marks only an observation of human or societal behaviour that has no significance to each other. Personally I think you're on a colossal wild goose chase en par with searching for aliens at Area 51. Until you start to find something more damning than a passing similarity, this quest of yours cannot achieve anything credible.

Lucky guy. At least he didn't end up dead like the Romanian who found a silver hoard in a quarry (the hoard is currently in a London vault awaiting the results of protracted legal action - the current owner cannot legally sell it)

Marius was made consul seven times (the last one somewhat controversial). Augustus would later boast of thirteen consulships in his reign. Mommsen might have been right but Roman law had a slightly temporary feel to it - the Romans were always prone to ignoring rulings or conventions when it suited them.

It's the bad old days all over again. Back when I was a youngster the world was biting its nails as Russia and America stared nose to nose with a nuclear arsenal to smack each other with the moment one or the other said something about their mother. Back then it was common practice for the Russians to send reconnaisance aircraft into our airspce here in Britain to see if we were still paying attention, which of course we did, sending jets to intercept the intruders and wave them off while they gave us cheery waves back. It looks as if the same sort of thing is starting again. Putin wants his military back from the brink, reversing the decay caused by the decline of communism and the new economic market. So far they've been flying in international airspace which is allowed, and I see one report that a nuclear warefare exercise has 'probably' taken place in the Atlantic. Oh good. More From The Old College Site Recently I popped into my local chinese takeaway. The lady there is a nonsense 'can't stop talking' type, which would be irritating if it wasn't for her hilarious accent. Worth the visit just to have a conversation, but trust me on this, you'd better be quick with replies. Oh hi "You wan food?" Umm... Let's see... "You wan food? Look at menu." Oh right. Well... "You wan meal for two?" Erm, yeah... "Rice or noodles?" Noodles. "Wait I answer phone... You wan food?... You wan food? Look at menu.... You wan meal for two?.... What you wan with noodles?.... Thirty minutes.... Bye. Okay, now what you wan with noodles?" And so on, until you've finished ordering, she's finished bossing customers about over the telephone, and the cook has retreated back into the kitchen again bruised and beaten. Then she gets quite chatty. "You wan conversation?" Erm... As it happens we did have an interesting chat because that was the same day the supermarket opened at the Old College site. Neither of us had ever shopped in a Morrisons before so we were both curious. It was one of those conversdations where you agree completely with the other non-stop for fifteen minutes. "Here is meal. You go home now." Erm... So what is our new supermarket like? Funnily enough, it felt and looked exactly like every other supermarket in town. There was a strange sense of deja vu as I wandered past the fresh fruit shelves near the entrance, watching all the future cancer patients busy choosing which government warning pack to buy at the cigarette stall, and spied the rows of neatly ordered shelves stuffed full of low low prices and guarantees of money back if you can get it cheaper anywhere else. Actually the prices aren't bad. I've found stuff I can buy cheaper than the usual haunts I'm used to, so I'm happy, only now I have to visit four supermarkets an week instead of three. A bit like complying with my Jobseekers Agreement, only you spend money instead of begging for it. Jobsearch of the Week For some reason the Job Centre have put me on the Families Support Programme. Why, I cannot say, seeing as I don't have a family, but at least the Support Centre is full of attractive young lady assistants so my jobsearching efforts have mysteriously gotten more enthusiastic. Must dash. I have a review session with my advisor and don't want to be late. I am so shallow.

Your reasoning is markedly naive. The mechanics of Roman government hadn't chaged. All that happened was that Rome adopted a practice of sponsoring, allowing, or tolerating a senior administrator instead of the consular positions. The position of Caesar was not absolute ruler in any way, however much some of them seem to behave like one. After all, when Caligula got killed, who was there to replace him? The conspiracy was out to murder the entire family, and the Senate only grudgingly accepted Claudius as Caesar because the Praetorians told them it was going to happen. In any event it doesn't matter. Imperial succession was never formally instituted and would always remain a populist or opportunist career choice for the less restrained. The Romans, as I said, declared that Commodus was the first Caesar to get the job merely because he happened to be the previous Caesar's son. All the rest had to earn the position in some way, be it faction building, assassination, coup, or simply writing out a large promise note. There is very little evidence of any real imperial succession.

I'm not rewriting history at all. That's why ultimately you've had to resort to insults. Augustus became the state advbisor - the Romans say so. Power was officially handed back to the Senate. The Romans say so. Augustus was jeered for not letting senators make decisions. The Romans say so. The Senate continued to ratify and honour Caesars as well as consuls. The Romans say so. SPQR was still part of their commemorative art and literature in the late empire. The Romans inscibed it. In fact, the only difference is that from Augustus onward the Romans had interesting characters to write about, so they concentrated on that. Look at it like this. How many senators can you name? There were hundreds of them at any stage in Roman history and they continued to convene senate meetings after the accepted end of the western empire in 476 when Rome was a barbarian kingdom. The trouble is of course the average senator wasn't trying to get into the spotlight whereas Caesars did. So the record is biased to a considerable degree, and you ought to be able to recognise that. Or can you pinpoinmt the actual ruling or event when the Republic officially ceased to be and the Empire began? The Romans never saw any such change. It's merely a convenience for historians emphasised by the colourful antics of powerful individuals in the Principate.

If the Republic 'fell' as you put it, where is the evidence? Why don't the Romans say so? They had no reason to deny it or invent a different history. Why was there no legal ruling confirming the end of SPQR, which was maintained until the 5th century? Why is there no evidence of the Senate being in dissolution? Why is there mno stories of Senators being arrested en masse for public e3xecution and exile? Why was Augustus so frightened of making himself the sole ruler in Rome? Why did the legions not intervene? Why is there no supporting evisdence for your contention whatsoever? You say that in a republic the public know they're in charge. That;'s a fallacy. They might have a periodic say in who rules them, but in charge? Participating democracies were a greek idea and as far as I know, the only time that such communal rule has ever worked on a larger scale than a village. In fact, the Roman republic was nothing like your modern conception of the republic. The upper classes ruled Rome as a plutocracy, with enough democracy included to prevent a rebellion such as that mentioned by Livy, the one that spawned the Twelve Tablets. In fact, there was no such thing as 'one man, one vote' in ancient Rome. Voting was done on a block principle, so the say of the individual citizen was very limited. All you're doing is perpetuating a popular misconception. The Roman Republic was not dismantled when Augustus came to power, and officially, he gave power back to the Senate (though he did retain his influence by design). It was the Senate that officially decided who was the senior Roman administrator, be it Consul or Caesar, and please note that the lack of constituional reform to establish succession meant that Caesars came to power by all means. Why do you think Nero was declared an enemy of the state by the Senate? Surely if Nero was a monarch, all he had to do was abolish a powerless Senate and be done with it? He couldn't. They were too powerful, part of the Roman social order, and he deliberately (and nastily) sponged them for cash when his regime could not afford the damage caused partially by a great fire, his own efforts to rebuild Rome as Neropolis, not to mention supporting his own grandeur, and look what happened. A Senate that according to you should have no constitutional reason to exist declared him an Enemy of the State. The Romans had done that before to a guy called tarquin Superbus. That was when the Republic was originally founded. Think about it. Are you serious? There is centuries worth of academic study to fall upon as well as histories written by the Romans themselves. I've seen this tactic before - but asserting something is mysterious merely confirms you don't know enough about it.

The Republic did not fall in any way whatsoever - the idea that it did is a popular misconception caused by historical categorisation and emphasis on the antics of certain Caesars. The fallacy that it fell is easily overturned when one takes the trouble to realise that nothing about the Republic actually stopped or was dismantled - all it was was a significant political change, with powerful individuals acting as sponsored advisors, or in some cases, self important tyrants. There was no job description for the role of Caesar, no constitutional means of providing for a succession, and the Caesars themselves were not absolute rulers - even Caligula is known to have asked the Senate for permission to stage games. The poers of a particular Caesar were provided by the Senate, not the job, although whether popularity or lots of soldiers were the cause of this provision is another matter. Remember that not until the reign of Commodus diod the Romans accept that a Caesar had been "born to the purple", or in other words, succeded his father in monarchial succession.

That's it for this week as my college course closes because of half term. This is the first time in thrity years that I've been to College. I have to go back next week to finish off my course and again shortly after to finish it off even more. What course am I studying? Well, it isn't Roman History. It isn't a degree in Dynamic Temporal Physics either., sadly, so I still can't argue with Professor Brian Cox without being put in my place. No, it's Employability Level One, so I'm finally being trained to do all the stuff I've been doing for the last decade. Again. I got that certificate three years ago and no-one noticed so please excuse me if I seem a little underwhelmed by my own scholastic achievement. Great bunch of people to study with too, some I knew before, some I've gotten to know ion the course. All great fun. Especially now it's practically finished, although the fun bit about breathing life into life size plastic dummies has yet to be held. Ladies, I'm sorrow, but playing dead will no longer work. Out On The Streets Swindon's main shopping street is as busy as might be expected this time before the turbo nutter "Oh my God I forgot Aunty Hilda" shopping session as Christmas arrives. However, I have to be honest. part of my Employability course was a team exercise, clearly ripped off from The Apprentice on BBC in an outrageous example of educational plagiarism, to go shopping for interview wear and investigate the best bargains available to us, though thankfully we weren't required to actually purchase anything or the ladies in the team would be still out there, tutting and fussing over small fashion details whilst us blokes lose the will to live. I've got a few more white hairsbut I survived the experience without being fired by Lord Alan Sugar. Meanwhile the Phantom Pavement Scribbler was at work. Don't know who he is, other than he happens to be unemployed like me but not yet sent on an Employability course, who's been writing poetic dissertations on the reality of Life, The Universe, and the Dole Queue on the pavement in coloured chalk. Well it keeps him off the street, doesn't it? Apprentices Of The Week Now that our favourite BBC soap opera is back in its tenth anniversary series with extra contestants for yet more tantrums, petty disasters, and dramatic dismissals, I have to say this is without doubt the worst and least impressive collection of ego's and talentless wannabee's yet collected. So far, on the third week of twelve, each exercise has been won by accident by the least capable team and so the news headlines are now focusing on something more interesting like which Apprentice is bonking another. More tantrums and petty disasters then. Told you it was a soap opera.

I cannot stress this enough - the Republic did not fall. SPQR was still technically a republic as late as Constantines reign (an inscription declares it so). What happened was a change of political balance caused by the rise of those powerful warlords as ambitious individuals. Remember that Rome before Augustus had an empire, and that Rome after Augustus was still a Republic. You might find this useful... http://www.unrv.com/forum/topic/17782-republic-and-empire/

There was no actual border in those days, or at least, not a defined line on a map. The frontier between the two areas was indistinct as it was a desert with few geographical features to refer to. In terms of safety, in depended on a great many things. Enviromentally there were risks - deserts are not the easiest place to live in - and the fact there were bandits in those areas suggest there were only bandits in places that supported their lifestyles, so much of the region was in fact free of them, although we can't discount the possibility of travel to or fro from routes and hideouts. This means logicaly that getting unwanted attention from a bandit gang was something of a lottery, depending on where they had decided to focus their activity, and where the caravan was in relation to them. bandits weren't always violent - they might just as easily extort bribes for safe passage, or be in a state of idleness - the whole point of stealing wealth was that they had wealth to spend, which requires that on occaision they went off and spent it. Trade in that area was in fact quite busy, especially since it represented one end of the Silk Road, with wealthy city states in sheltered places that depended on traders for survival. banditry was certainly prevailent, but intermittent, and quite often tolls had been paid and the caravan passed without incident.

I'm niot suprised to hear that Jesus and his followers were more like trouble makers than saintly devotees, but why was jesus crucified and not his men, if violence against the state was an issue? This argument is an old one. The execution of Jesus alone has interesting implications (and tragic ones in later times), not least those connected with Judas.

The Romans often categorised things - sometimes they explained or justified it, sometimes they didn't. The same attitude covered just about every realm of knowledge. Why? To be honest I haven't seen an adequate explanation in print, but I would say that it was a simlification for ease of learning, the Roman obsession with order, and the desire to sound learned and clever.