ASCLEPIADES

A quite interesting issue, indeed. As a preliminary guess, I think that among the contributing factors were: - The development of a strong Romanophile ruling class in the Italian cities after several decades of Roman hegemony. - Economic ties established between Rome and other Italian cities. - Ancestral fear and distrust to both the Carthaginians and their Gaulish allies. - The obvious fear to the Roman retaliation. - The previous experience of the Pyrrhic War. - The reinforcement of such convictions after the demise of Syracuse and Capua.

Salve, F! On both counts, I think the odds largely favours (exponentially, in fact) the

It seems like T. Livius agreed with you (Ab Urbe Condita, Liber IX, Ch. XVIII): "quod leuissimi ex Graecis qui Parthorum quoque contra nomen Romanum gloriae fauent dictitare solent, But then, as is frequently repeated by the silliest of the Greeks, who are fond of exalting the reputation, even of the Parthians, at the expense of the Roman name,"

With all due respect to this forum, it doesn't. UNRV is really small, though I prefer it that way. Salve iterum, Amici. I think there's no contradiction. The fact that we are merely a tiny fraction of the romanophiles even strengthens my original point.

I found another two convicted vestals mentioned by Livius, apparently quoted from Q. Fabius Pictor. Do you remember DXXXVIII AUC (216 BC)? That bad year of Cannae plus a couple of added disasters? Yes, you're right... the vestals were to blame for! Right again! The convicted were plebs. But that wasn't enough... (Ab Urbe Condita, Liber XXII, Ch. LVII: "For, over and above these serious disasters, considerable alarm was created by portents which occurred. Two Vestal virgins, Opimia ("2") and Floronia, were found guilty of unchastity. One was buried alive, as is the custom, at the Colline Gate, the other committed suicide. L. Cantilius, one of the pontifical secretaries, now called "minor pontiffs," who had been guilty with Floronia, was scourged in the Comitium by the Pontifex Maximus so severely that he died under it. This act of wickedness, coming as it did amongst so many calamities, was, as often happens, regarded as a portent, and the decemvirs were ordered to consult the Sacred Books. Q. Fabius Pictor was sent to consult the oracle of Delphi as to what forms of prayer and supplication they were to use to propitiate the gods, and what was to be the end of all these terrible disasters. Meanwhile, in obedience to the Books of Destiny, some strange and unusual sacrifices were made, human sacrifices amongst them. A Gaulish man and a Gaulish woman and a Greek man and a Greek woman were buried alive under the Forum Boarium. They were lowered into a stone vault, which had on a previous occasion also been polluted by human victims, a practice most repulsive to Roman feelings. When the gods were believed to be duly propitiated, M. Claudius Marcellus sent from Ostia 1500 men..." Compare it with M. Plutarchus, Vitae Marcellus, Ch. III, sec. III-IV: "Their alarm was also shown by ... the extraordinary sacrifices which they made to the gods. For though they have no barbarous or unnatural practices, but cherish towards their deities those mild and reverent sentiments which especially characterize Greek thought, at the time when this war burst upon them they were constrained to obey certain oracular commands from the Sibylline books, and to bury alive two Greeks, a man and a woman, and likewise two Gauls, in the place called the "forum boarium", or cattle-market; and in memory of these victims, they still to this day(late I Century AD), in the month of November, perform mysterious and secret ceremonies."

Salve iterum! Yes, Indeed. Congratulations ! Your turn, I.

Salve, Lady A. Nope, sorry. But your insight is on the right way, as usual.

Salve, LS! The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) by Joseph Campbell is a must. And there's also a bunch of literature and commentaries both pro and against that seminal text. (I think Campbell's Monomyth model would be mainly against your thesis, as it considers the heroic archetype basically universal and ubiquitous).

Salve, RI! (At this very moment):Board Statistics Our members have made a total of 71753 posts We have 2361 registered members Most users ever online was 1988 on Jun 26 2007, 03:07 PM I think that speaks by itself. Anyway, I can say nothing about your teacher's nor your book's statements without knowing exactly what they say and on what context. (Teaching History has never been easy; every professional is entitled to try his/her own skills and methods).

No, they weren't. They were a warrior people who settled whenever they chose, who fought without regard for regular pay or fixed terms of service. Then, a couple of questions? - A fixed location is required to be considered a professional soldier? - What is exactly a regular pay? - Irregular pay disqualifies soldiers as professionals? - What is exactly a fixed term? - Unfixed terms disqualify soldiers as professionals? Thanks in advance.

Apparently the Broughton's list lacks the name of another vestal indicted during the Republican period, Sextilia at CDLXXXI AUC (273 BC): (T. Livius, Periochae, Ex Liber XIV, Ch. VII): "Sextilia, virgo Vestalis, damnata incesti viva defossa est. The Vestal virgin Sextilia was condemned for adultery and buried alive." This is also mentioned by Paulus Orossius (Liber IV, Ch. II, Sec. VIII): "Tunc quoque apud Romanos Sextilia uirgo Vestalis conuicta damnataque incesti ad portam Collinam uiua defossa est."

No. Hint: a big colony of former auxilia was established here. Salve iterum. Another clue ... it's Iudea.

That

No, but I can Google it. -- Nephele Cleaver as always, Lady N. Can you make an anagram of his name, please? Thanks in advance.

Salve iterum. I think the original recruitment of the Legio I Italica by Nero was totally exceptional. C. Suetonius probably recorded it as an eccentricity to support Nero's purported madness.

Nope. The clue is in the periodicity.

Congratulations, Lady N.

Salve, Amici. The following paragraph was an epitaph over the tombstone of an Alexandrian responsible for outstanding contributions to classical mathematics. For a long time, it was almost all of what was known about this genius. In its original language (Greek), it is a poem. In fact, it's also an equation: "God vouchsafed that he should be a boy for the sixth part of his life; when a twelfth was added, his cheeks acquired a beard; He kindled for him the light of marriage after a seventh, and in the fifth year after his marriage He granted him a son. Alas! late-begotten and miserable child, when he had reached the measure of half his father's life, the chill grave took him. After consoling his grief by this science of numbers for four years, he reached the end of his life." Can you solve it?

αννωνος Περίπλους Hannonis periplus αννων Καρχηδονίος Κώδικες Palatinus Graecus 398 (9ου ή 10ου αι.) και Vatopedinus 655 (14ου αι.) Α' Κριτική Eκδοσις: C. M

Salve iterum! Here, the prudent ACC quoted again my Bithynian namesake: "It is safer, however, so that we may use the exact order laid down, to try the three remedies, vomiting, clystering, and wine-drinking, on three several days, that is, on the third, fifth and seventh days". Which disease was this treatment intended for?

Salve, K! Me too. Here comes Sextus Julius Frontinus De Aquis at Bill Thayer's website (With plenty of handy links, as usual). I hope this stuff may be useful.

(Truthfully, I don't see it helping much) If anyone suffers from his stomach. (Truthfully, neither do me).

I dunno quite a coincidence No. Parallel evolution, I would say. Like the wings of the birds and of the bats. Isolated populations develop analogous structures to face similar problems.