Nephele

Okay, everyone -- oldbies and newbies -- let's get started! Reveal your hidden personality traits to meeeeee (and also to our hostess, the Magistra), by playing the "Choose Your Preference" game! You arrive at the Magistra's villa for the banquet, and are offered some entertainment. You choose... A private gladiatorial fight? or A poetry reading with musical accompaniment? If your preference was for a private gladiatorial fight, do you choose... Two beefy barbarians having at it with gladius and dagger? or Two Amazonian, scantily clad female gladiators having at it with gladius and dagger? If your preference was for a poetry reading, do you choose... The erotic poems of Catullus? or The witty epigrams of Martial? You notice that the person sharing your dining couch is someone you recognize. Is he... A senator, with whom you find yourself discussing the merits of Caesar's assassination? or A general who has recently returned from abroad and celebrated a triumph, with whom you find yourself discussing military strategy? or A famous courtesan from the East, who has much to tell about the strange customs of her homeland, as well as the famous men she has intimately known? The serving slave comes around with some wine. You choose... Hot wine? or Cold wine? Your hostess offers you some appetizers. Do you choose from the platter... Mushrooms? or Olives? Midway through the meal, a net up in the ceiling of the triclinium is pulled back, releasing... Thousands of perfumed flower petals, falling over you and the other guests? or Lots of brightly-colored, anachronistic balloons? In-between dinner courses, your hostess offers you the diversion of... Taking a dip in her heated, salt-water, indoor pool? or Visiting her private library and perusing her collection of scrolls? Back to the meal. More platters are passed around by the serving slaves. You select... Slices of succulent roast boar? or Thrushes stuffed with grapes and almonds? The meal is over, and your hostess insists that you take home with you a small memento of the evening. You choose... The silver tankard from which you had been drinking all evening? or The finely crafted gladius that the losing gladiator (in that private bout) no longer has any need of? or A cheetah kitten from the litter that your hostess' tame cheetah has given birth to? -- Nephele

Thanks for the recommendation! I'm buying a copy of this as a gift for someone I know who'll really enjoy reading this. I think I'll read it, too! -- Nephele

Nephele dances lightly into the party at the Magistra's villa, gowned in a saffron-colored, sleeveless silk stola and wearing a wreath of violets in her perfumed hair. She warmly greets her hostess, and presents her with a basket of honey-cakes. "Where are the rest of your guests, Magistra? Am I the first to arrive? I know we have some new citizens here in the United Nations of Roma Victrix -- I do hope they're not too timid to join the party!" -- Nephele

I would say the first line of the II Law of the VIII table (your question)... "VIII.2. If one has maimed a limb and does not compromise with the injured person, let there be retaliation. ...was an introduction for the retaliation detailed by the subsequent lines regarding each specific maimed limb category: "If one has broken a bone of a freeman with his hand or with a cudgel, let him pay a penalty of three hundred coins. If he has broken the bone of a slave, let him have one hundred and fifty coins. If one is guilty of insult, the penalty shall be twenty-five coins". Pardon, but I think those lines dealing with compensatory payment in coin constitute restitution, as opposed to retaliation. Perhaps the retaliation (returning like for like) might have encompassed legally permitted, physical response for injuries, on a par with "an eye for an eye"? Do you (or anyone else here) know whether Roman law ever defined such retaliation? -- Nephele

Hi, Ant. I'm not sure which documentary you're referring to, but you should be able to cite it for your paper. Do you know which style manual your college prefers? If it's the Chicago Manual of Style, here's a link for citing media and online sources: http://library.williams.edu/citing/styles/chicago1.php#Media As for book recommendations. I'm sure you should get a few here. Since you're pressed for time and probably don't have enough time for your college university to interloan the books you need, you'll want to check WorldCat to find out the availability of books either in your college library or in public libraries within driving distance. For my own book recommendation, I suggest you check out Martial's Spectacles, "written to celebrate the 80 CE opening of the Roman Colosseum." Regarding your theme of Roman entertainment reflecting society, politics, etc., Martial writes of some interesting methods of state execution incorporated into public entertainment for the inaugural games. Good luck! (And looking forward to reading your essay, if you're inclined to post it here sometime.) -- Nephele

Eventually, everything comes to the 'net. "Next month, the Jewish Museum of New York will begin an exhibition of six of the scrolls." I'm a frequent visitor to NYC's Jewish Museum -- I may just drop by next month to see the scrolls. Thanks for the heads-up, Viggen! -- Nephele

Yah, I figured. But I just like talking about Xena fans. Someday I'll tell you in PM the story about when I went to The Meow Mix, a lesbian bar in NYC's East Village that had weekly "Xena nights" for the fans. -- Nephele

I'd say, from what I saw of the old Universal Studios-sponsored Xena forum back in the '90s, that the Xena fans were already into paganism of all types. There was also a huge lesbian following of the show, due to the subtext between the main characters of Xena and "Gabrielle" (that name always cracked me up, for its incongruity). I suppose, unlike some Buffy fans, the female Xena fans weren't watching the show to gain any sense of self-empowerment -- they already were pretty self-empowered to begin with, as anyone could see from their postings on the forum. Rather, they watched the show because they found Lucy Lawless (who played Xena) to be hot. There was an equally huge male following of the show, for the same reason. I watched Xena because I thought it was funny. I also watched Buffy because I thought it was funny. -- Nephele

You're well on your way! Now you just have to take care to pay off the credit card in total, at the end of each month. Cheers! -- Nephele

There's nothing like this time of year for a feeling of exciting beginnings, I agree with you! But then, I've always thought of September as the start of the new year. As a kid, I remember getting new clothes and shoes right before school would begin in September. Also, when I was a kid and used to watch television, I remember all the new teevee shows would begin in September. And, of course, there's Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) in September. The change in the season (here in New York) from hot August nights to cool September evenings always seemed to lend a feeling of excitement and newness to the air, too. Hmm... Yep, I have to say that September is my start to the new year, for many reasons! -- Nephele

Last year we had a thread going on cannabis and opium use in ancient Rome, as depicted in the television series Rome. It included the medicinal use of narcotics, as well. You might find this interesting (if you missed it before): Opium Smoking in Ancient Rome/Egypt??? Also, if you're researching ancient Roman medicine, perhaps you might want to look into the purported use of electric fish as defibrillators: Electric Fish Used as Ancient Defibrillators?? -- Nephele

Hahahah! I'll say! This statement of Biden's from this article positively cracked me up:

Ah, nicely found. I was aware that Niebuhr was among those who support the belief that Lucius Junius Brutus may have been plebeian, but I don't have access to his works in my library. Did you find an online version of Niebuhr? -- Nephele

Indeed, you can't. -- Nephele

You won't find any well done scenery, architecture, etc. at Caesar's Palace in Vegas. I've been there, and it's just a glorified shopping mall -- with a big tacky fountain full of animatronic statues that come "alive" every hour, like a cuckoo clock. Ugh. When it comes to fantastical ancient Roman theme parks, I think I would much prefer to visit RomanWorld as depicted in the 1973 sci-fi/horror movie Westworld. Roman dinner parties, orgiastic romps around the peristyle, robots disguised as Roman slaves to cater to your every wish and fantasy... It looked like fun. Until the robots went all Spartacus on the paying customers. -- Nephele

The quote I supplied which contained the sly thrust at Brutus was taken from Cicero's Brutus, not his Philippica, and there is no reason to think that Brutus didn't "get" it. Why would Cicero have done something like that? As I stated previously, Cicero was noted for his sharp tongue and sly jabs -- at both friend and foe. Cicero was also a novus homo, having obtained the office of the consulate through merit and without benefit of descent from noble or patrician family. As evidenced by that quote, Cicero took a dim view of others' pretensions of nobility, regardless of who they were. Yes. Cicero was notorious for this. I refer you to an excellent article written by Francis W. Kelsey for The Classical Journal (November 1907), titled "Cicero as a Wit", in which Kelsey gives numerous examples of Cicero's little zingers -- more barbed for the truth in them. -- Nephele

I think it should be noted that Cicero was a sharp-tongued orator who often took sly jabs at even his friends. Despite Cicero's nod to his friend Marcus Junius Brutus' claim of descent from the consul of 509, within that same work which he dedicated to his friend Brutus he wrote of those who falsified their genealogies in order to connect themselves with nobler ancestors. It has been acknowledged (by M

So as son of the king's sister, Brutus' status as plebeian would have depended on his own father's status, no? And that just brings us back to the original problem: were the Junii plebs or not? Which is why I'm interested in what various classicists have to say on the matter. Asclepiades, despite your preference for thrashing this out yourself, you did mention A. Bernardi, K. Von Fritz and A. Alf

And M

I got a return e-mail from Tim Spalding tonight, and he said that he's looking into it. I don't know if that means that he wasn't previously aware that the site was down, but at least it looks like he's giving the matter his attention. -- Nephele

No, it doesn't necessarily mean that you are wrong, either. Although the "evidence" you speak of relates to your interpretation of what has been recorded. And of course, one might say the same thing about the classicists cited. Although I rather believe these classicists have the edge. I think it should be noted, though, that translator C.H. Oldfather included a footnote stating that Diodorus was the only authority for this law. Also to be noted is the fact that Diodorus Siculus has been accused of making "strange mistakes in the chronology of ancient Rome", in addition to other errors. Although historian and author Jona Lendering, in his article on Diodorus, also credits him with having accomplished what he set out to do, which was not anything more than to produce an easily understandable collection of historical summaries. But nice find, nonetheless! -- Nephele

How interesting. However, I'm sure you must be aware that William Smith didn't write his famous dictionary entirely by himself, there having been a number of scholarly contributors to the dictionary. The article on the Genucia gens (for just one example), is signed by Dr. Leonhard Schmitz, Rector of the High School of Edinburgh. It seems that it was not William Smith alone who presented explanations for apparent plebeian names in the consular Fasti prior to 367 BCE. Dr. Schmitz offered the neither inconceivable nor implausible explanation that the Genucii probably became plebeians "in the usual manner, either by mixed marriages or by transition to the plebs." Other classicists, such as T.R.S. Broughton and F. M

As far as I'm aware, it's Marcus J Brutus and his fellow tyrannicides who were regularly called the Liberators (Liberatores), not Lucius J. Brutus the Republic's founder. I think if you delve a bit deeper, Asclepiades, you'll find that Lucius Junius Brutus (the consul of 509) was indeed known as the original "Brutus the Liberator", and that Marcus Junius Brutus was thus inspired, and similarly styled as a "liberator". The Cassia gens started out patrician, but then became plebeian. Smith's Dictionary offers the explanation that patrician Sp. Cassius Viscellinus (three times consul in 502, 493, and 486 BCE), left three sons, "but as all the subsequent Cassii are plebeians, his sons were perhaps expelled from the patrician order, or may have voluntarily passed over to the plebeians, on account of the murder of their father." I think I prefer Friedrich M