Primus Pilus

My wife would say that Schnorerus should be my cognomen... might explain all that hideous noise I make when I sleep.

Caesar's commentaries have alot of colorful stories about individual story heroics, but off the top of my head I believe that Vorenus and Pullo are the only less rank individuals mentioned by name. Like this description of the invasion of Britain for example...

Hey if they can build one in Bosnia 45 billion years ago, anyone can build one.

Hmm... just an aside... Maybe if we can get another "book giveaway" sponsor a more expensive grand prize along the lines of Scullard's book may be appropriate. (Nevermind me, just thinking out loud)

I think several of us just feel that their continued existence just spoils a bit of the imaginative process. Oddly enough, their durability actually detracts from their appeal to me somehow.

In Detroit I just payed about $2.16 not 15 minutes ago. Though, nobody here has a job anymore so its sort of irrelevant. That's nice. Detroit seems to be about 70 to 90 cents below NYC. Which grade? From Charlie's or Shell? N.B. I made mention of your sensibilities (in your prior post), a little earlier. Shell, 87 octane. Clark... across the street... was $2.15 I believe. For some reason we are traditionally fairly low in Michigan compared to the national mean here. I presume its an oil company/auto maker conspiracy to keep those of us in the former motor city (without any form of a mass transit system) driving our SUV's "up north" without a care in the world for gas prices so we can shoot deer and other pesky moving foods. Hey, gas is so low, I just put in my credit card, point the nozzle up in the air and let it rip whilst singing cheery Irish drinking songs. The kids love it! (and the fire department too)

In Detroit I just payed about $2.16 not 15 minutes ago. Though, nobody here has a job anymore so its sort of irrelevant.

This kind of thing you guys really ought to do in private.

Cato helped others escape Utica via the sea, but he stayed within the city. From Plutarch Life of Cato, 65... From Life of Cato, 67... From Life of Cato, 72...

Hah, I beat you by mere nanoseconds!!!

Agreed, I raise the issue simply because Plutarch is so clear regarding the threat against Metellus... Plutarch: Caesar:35 At any rate, I'm not denying the inference of the threat against Bibulus. Clearly there were machinations at work, I am only curious because I can't recollect nor find the same directly stated threat against Bibulus. Either way, I just don't personally support this one particular point among the myriad of others raised, as a leading reason for the prosecution of Caesar. I am also searching and becoming quite frustrated. Alas. Ahh, it was Appian, Civil Wars book 2.11: (Interestingly it occurred immediately prior to the Vettius incident, but I don't mean to divert the subject).

Help me out here guys... I am perusing Plutarch diligently but cannot find the actual passage where Caesar is accused of threatening to kill Bibulus. There are clear references that he (Bibulus) and Cato feared for their lives because of the mobs in the forum, but this is only an indirect issue (meaning Caesar may have been the catalyst, but that he did not actually make a personal threat) and probably not the key item in a case for prosecution. Clearly he did threaten the tribune Metellus in front of the treasury, but this was after he had already crossed the Rubicon and the charges for prosecution were no longer relevant (in the context of the previous conversation).

Most estimates suggest that there were approximately 3 to 6 million people in all of Gaul at the time (its an understandably vague estimate) Perhaps 1 million were killed in the war, probably with a comparable number taken as slaves. Still alot mind you, but 5 million dead is a bit too much.

Very interesting news. Though I would suggest that the Perseus project as a whole upgrade their servers and potentially even the database software. Its a shame that that such an invaluable project is so abyssmal for surfing, page loading and searching. I rarely even try using it anymore (though the mirrors are a bit better).

Just my own theory here on a few concepts at work regarding married legionaries (in the professional standing armies of the later Republic and early principate).... The children of these unmarried legionaries were illegitimate and non citizens (which therefore would make them ineligible for various state sponsored doles, though the mother still could be a citizen). I'm not sure if there was any financial incentive based simply upon this, but since marriage to Romans was often a political and/or financial arrangement, perhaps disallowing marriage kept any children as non citizens preventing any future state responsibility or issues with legitimate wills in case of a father's death. Perhaps the lawmakers simply did not wish to increase the plebiean ranks by allowing lower born common soldiers to reproduce too readily (clearly we know throughout history that men going off to war tend to produce baby-booms). There is great evidence of difficulty in Roman reproduction of the upper classes, but I don't know if the same is true of the common people. At any rate, many of these children were likely raised in a semi military environment (in the frontiers near or on the bases in many cases). Perhaps this helped create a ready made pool of new recruits. Of course, these children would be legitimized upon their father's retirement and therefore made citizens. This would open up other potential opportunities to them, but perhaps the path of a military career was already in motion. Just some quick thoughts really.

Where in Nebraska did you live? I am a current resident of the Land of Corn (and not much else). I have distant (very distant) relatives in the tiny farm town of Abie. According to my mother, who visited recently for some sort of family reunion, the nearby town of Bruno had the area's only bar (which I would probably have spent a great deal of time in.)

I too was confused by this but I was under the impression that he was indeed supposed to be Sextus (or maybe he was a conglameration of both Gnaeus Minor and Sextus). I am just as baffled as you as to why they played with the praenomen and nomen though . It has been some time since I've watched the show though, so my memory of his portrayal is fuzzy at best. Maybe a reason for "Valerius" will be revealed in a way to connect him with Pullo and Vorenus (or perhaps some other characters) later. He's conveniently ignored/forgotten. I suppose another Caesar supporter wouldn't necessarily add anything to the show and would probably actually distract from it since Atia would not be as much fun with a guy like Phillipus around. Of course Atia's demeanor of political aggression is also a bit of a push considering her and Phillipus' historical attempts to dissuade Octavian from accepting Caesar's will. But I suppose we can never know if she was or was not a political viper based on that evidence and perhaps she simply weighed the risk of the will as being too large after Caesar's death.

Some of his hero worship style praise of Scipio can be a bit over the top and some of the focus on trying to prove him the greatest commander ever distracts from an otherwise excellent biography... but oddly enough, there are very few accessable choices when it comes to Scipio. Scipio Africanus: Greater than Napolean by B. H. Liddell Hart. Of course, you might also be interested in the contemporary account of Polybius starting in his Histories: Book X. Appian is also another excellent 'primary' source beginning around Book VI.

Just want to be sure you guys are aware that the original post is from June 2004, is the only post by that member and is probably long since gone.

I haven't seen any of them, but I understand that there are several. I believe its called Time Team and I vaguely recall a version of it that originated with the BBC.

I'd recommend Chronicle of the Roman Emperors by Chris Scarre and the harder to find but preferable (in my opinion) The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome 31 BC - AD 476 by Michael Grant.

The problem with the Cicero theory is that he was personally quite close to Pompey. It makes more sense that the plot was devised somewhere else perhaps in order to separate Pompey from Cicero.

Just Theodosius. Constantine was born in Naissus, Moesia Superior. (modern Nish, Serbia)

Scipio did oppose taking action against Hannibal when he was leading a Carthaginian political resurgence several years after the end of the second punic war. However, I can't recall any of the sources suggesting that Scipio actually played a role in helping him escape from his enemies in Carthage and Rome. Perhaps this stems from Cato the Elder's accusations that Scipio was at fault for allowing Hannibal to escape by not taking action against him.

Aren't they just proving the pope right when they attack churches?