Gaius Octavius

That is assuming that you beat me to the hill. If I saw you beating me, I would bait you to get there, but never engage you. Once you were at the top, I would re-group and surround you at a short distance off from the bottom. I would set up my forces in three groups with pickets between and scouts at your door step. You have three days worth of supplies at most and cannot be re-supplied as my cavalry will make short work on any attempts. I can be re supplied. I can 'see' you. I have no intention of attacking you. You must do something. Time is on my side now. The longer you stay, the weaker you become. You are concentrated but cannot exit your position in a mass from a 'lightly' wooded hill and keep your organization. You would be subject to frontal feint and flank attack. Your turn.

Sounds very much like my battle plan except for the center. I did consider the cavalry. Maybe Hannibal got and used your related idea at Cannae.

Excellent! I wish that the rivers and roads were named.

I agree very much with you, Furius. But then the question was 'What would I do?". Dividing ones forces is not always a blunder. When one attacks a fortified position, the number of attackers might have to be 10:1 or so. In any case, they would have to outnumber the defenders, who have not climbed a hill. If a smaller force were left in the plain, the Romans, from the opposite hill could deal with it. If the entire Samnite force attacked one hill, they would have their backs to the Romans from the other hill. My object is not to attack the enemy, but to get him to attack me. Remember the Alamo and Monte Casino. Caesar actually did divide his forces at Alesia by constructing the double vallum surrounding the hill. Keep your objections up and we will get at the Sabine women soon.

Why do you think Roman agriculture techniques advanced so little in so many hundred years of Empire ? Got another theory ? The Aurthor mentions that the Gauls invented a corn harvester - the Romans didn't even know the wheelbarrow. (Although he doesn't footnote his source on this, which is annoying) Agricultural means and productivity remained basically the same from Roman times until the 19th century and in many parts of the world is still the same today. The world remained basically the same until the 20th century. Didn't the Romans do enough? How much had to be re-discovered? The Romans didn't invent air conditioning or go to the moon, but with all their 'stealing', they laid the groundwork for the future. Their 'static' bridges laid the groundwork for today's 'dynamic' bridges. Today's surgeons could easily use their instruments as in WWI. I haven't read the book, but I wonder if he doesn't have a chip on his shoulder as Gibbon did.

It depends on what you mean by support. Do you mean more troopers instantly? I'll assume not. Furius is probably right. But the Samnites were a testy lot. So, assuming that the legion consisted of 3,000 men and the hills were north and south and about a mile apart, I would divide the legion equally and occupy the opposing hills. The Samnites could: 1. Do nothing. 2. divide their forces, and attack each hill. Or. 3. attack one hill. In either event they would be at a disadvantage. In: 1. they are potentially flanked. 2. they are going up hill and attacking fortifications. 3. They expose their rear. I would not wait until the sun was high but only until the dew was dried off and then attack from two directions, holding my cavalry in reserve unless my flanks were attacked by the enemy's. But first I would check the Sacred Chickens and pay attention.

The labor wasn't exactly 'free'. One had to buy, feed, clothe and house slaves. Any device that might eliminate slave work would be welcomed if it negated the cost of slaves.

You can't be a "I" until there is a "II", sorry. One of the very best from the BBC. Someone should ask Black Adder to do a Roman series. After all, the Augustus of 'I Claudius' was a king in one of the series. I'll go with: Obnoxious Rex

The decendants of the Commeni Emperors of the eastern Roman Empire may still be around.

Spot on Rameses. Italians, Spaniards and Greeks have been stereotyped in the U.S. and Canada. My mother had blue eyes and very white skin. My father looked like any other caucasian. Yet, I don't think that these features are necessarily a result of admixtures, rather a result of genes (recessive?) within the ethnicity. Many Romans had red beards and blond hair.

Armenian, Hebrew, Syriac, Phonecian, Etruscan, Samnite, the Italic tongues, Hunnic, Parthian. Later: Bulgarian, Italian, Georgian, whatever the Vikings spoke, Turkish(?), Arabic. You will have to look at a language 'tree' to find out where these came from.

The U.S. government was loosely founded on Roman principles. President and vice-president - two consuls. Senate and comitia(?) - senate and house. All equally corrupt.

I am an American of pure Italian heritage. My mother's aunt had beautiful olive skin. My father's brother and sister had red hair. All of my grand parents emigrated from Campagna. I'm as white as a sheet. These same considered 'people' from other towns with a wary eye. Never mind those from other provinces. The Vikings, in their Norman mode, ran things in Sicily for a while. The 'northerners' have a good dose of Germanic blood. The Guelfs and Ghibillenes were Germans. When I visited, I was told that I spoke the Neapolitan their people spoke in the late 1800's. It came in handy in Rome. Some Neapolitans were working at the site of the Milia Aurelia(?). A British professor wasn't allowed to see the site. Once I opened my mouth, they couldn't do enough for me and my Bride. The language itself, is most euphonius. 'O Sole Mio' (in Neapolitan).

Whatever makes people think that life must have oxygen, sunlight, 'our' kind of food? Why not nitrogen, life not dependent on sunlight, and soil for food? :bag:

I love the rubber stopper and vacuum pump system that I have. Very easy to use, the hand pump is compact, and the rubber stoppers can be put in the dishwasher. But, yes, the screw-tops are becoming more popular in Europe than in the States...but it's growing. Doesn't a nitrogen(?) gas have to be pumped into the bottle?

The 'Marshall Plan' was really the 'Truman Plan'. Truman would never have gotten it through the Republican controlled congress in his name. Also, Americans were encouraged to send their relatives in Europe 'packages' of food and clothing.

If it is 'corked', one shouldn't drink it!

Of course aliens exist! I have personally seen and communicated with them. They have had their 'way' with many people I know. Some have taken trips to Uranus with them. We have shared many a bottle of whiskey. However, they mostly land out in the boondocks and have their 'way' with pumpkin kickers and apple knockers. They don't go for NYC or Washington; too much crime.

To the list of diversions, you can add gambling, horse racing, sports, hunting, the baths, reading, writing and discussion groups. Then there is that bit about the elite youngsters running around at night mugging the unwary citizenry for 'fun'. I don't think that they smoked anything, since they didn't have matches or lighters handy. The baths might have been a good place to have a cluster inhalation session of sundry herbs.

If my memory serves, all of the provinces west of Persia and north of Arabia Felix, were Roman and Christian. Maybe the apology should be for not reconquering all of them and offering the same terms to the populations. An apology for the desecration of Sancta Sophia might be in order.

You all are going to love this bit. In "Manual of Foeign Languages"; G.F. von Ostermann, Ph.D. (1952), (Foreign Language Editor, U.S. Government Printing Office), he shows the Basque language as an offshoot of the 'polysynthetic' or 'incorporating' branch of the language tree. This is at the same point where 'Aboriginal Tongues of America' branches off! One, therefore, may easily conclude that the Indians 'discovered' Europe, before Europe, America! No wonder why the Basques had cod fishing outposts in the northwestern Atlantic so early.

But I don't see why a Roman couldn't convert $10 to 1000 pennies to do the calculation. As long as the monetary system is decimal, their counting board should work fine. Am I missing something? ___________________________ PERHAPS, interest on a loan was calculated in this fashion: "I'll lend you $10.00 for one year and after a year is up, you owe me $11.00." Or 10%. You may have met this method in the army or at your local loan shark. $5 now for $7 in a week. Something tells me that hidden somewhere in the Roman system, the CONCEPT of 'nothing' existed. If they subtracted II from II they got 'nothing'. Did the Romans have a need for the very large numbers used at some points here? Fifty years ago, when the dollar price of a municipal or corporate bond was figured from a yield, it went to three decimal places. This was good for a hundred or a million bonds or so. Now tens of millions of bonds are a 'normal' trade so six decimal places are used.

Tobacco came to Europe from America. I bellieve that the Roman physicians used a poppy derivative for medicinal and surgical purposes. They didn't have 'weed' or coffee.

Heard an interesting snippet on the BBC the other day: Half of today's Irish have Basque DNA. I can't remember where I read this bit: Basques have a language similar to one found in ancient Iberia (near or in the Caucaus). Georgia? And maybe they came from that region.

In Philadelphia (USA), they even pay for the surrendered weapons. I think that every old blunderbus is turned in. Don't know if it effects the crime rate. A hoist from the Tarpian Rocks might have a more salutary effect.