Faustus

It's doubtful that Georgia will ever successfully cause a state line to be moved, in view of long standing Rights of "Adverse Possession", "Usucapio", and your mention "Eror comunis facit jus". In doing this about one hundred forty two square miles (91,000 acres) of land would be affected. This is probably only a threat to get a simpler result: an easement to get water rights separated from Georgia's access by only a mile distance. If they were to get an easement all the rest of their challenges would likely "go away". Indiana won access to the Ohio river for commercial traffic opposed by Kentucky, but with conditions. The Romans had that covered also when they incorporated rights of easement into their law: This from "ANCIENT ROMAN IDEAS OF LAW" (click) "The Roman law affirmed". . . . "The acquisition of property by purchase, gift, and inheritance, and by prescriptive right, was of course the subject of many laws. The law also recog- nized servitudes or easements, rights such as passage by path or road through lands of others, or the drawing of water. Naturally, contracts (pacta) relating to prop- erty rights were well protected, except that no contract was valid that was contrary to the public law and welfare."

An interesting descendant of Roman Law? The state of Georgia claims an error in an 1818 survey marking the Tennessee border line was incorrectly positioned because surveyors used inadequate equipment for their work. The calculations were done by a "challenged" university math professor. We can hear it all now: "What If I

A Medal for Horatius A Medal for Horatius The True Story (By Colonel W C Hall, printed in the British Army Journal January 1953.) Rome, II Calends, April CCCLX SUBJECT: Recommendation for Senate Medal of Honor TO: Department of War, Republic of Rome I. Recommend Caius Horatius, Captain of Foot, CMCMXIV, for the Senate Medal of Honor. II. Captain Horatius has served XVI years, all honorable. III. On the II day of March, during the attack on the city by Lars Porsena of Clausium and his Tuscan Army of CMX men, Captain Horatius, with Sergeant Sporius Laritus and Corporal Julius Herminius, held the entire Tuscan army at the far end of the bridge, until the structure could be destroyed, thereby saving the city. IV. Captain Horatius did valiantly fight and kill one Major Picus of Clausium in individual combat. V. The exemplary courage and the outstanding leadership of Captain Horatius are in the highest tradition of the Roman Army. ________________________________________ JULIUS ANTINOUS, Commander, II Foot Legion Ist, Ind, AG IV Calends, April CCCLX TO: G-III For comment. ________________________________________ G.C. IInd Ind, G-III IX Calends, May CCC TO: G-II I. For comment and forwarding. II. Change end of paragraph III from "saving the city" to "lessened the effectiveness of the enemy attack." The Roman Army was well dispersed tactically; the reserve has not been committed. The phrase as written might be construed to cast aspersions on our fine army. III. Change paragraph V from "outstanding leadership" to read "commendable initiative." Captain Horatius's command was II men, only I/IV of a squad. ________________________________________ J.D. IIId Ind, G-II II Ides, June CCCLX TO: G-I I. Omit strength of Tuscan forces in paragraph III. This information is classified. II. A report evaluated as B-II states that the officer was a Captain Picus of Tifernum. Recommend change to "an officer of the enemy forces." ________________________________________ J.H. IVth Ind, G-I IX Ides, January CCCLXI TO: JAG I. Full name is Caius Claudius Horatius. II. Change service from XVI to XV years. One year in Romulus Chapter BPOE, has been given credit for military service in error. ________________________________________ E.J. Vth Ind, JAG II, February CCCLXI TO: AG I. The Porsena raid was not during wartime; the temple of Janus was closed. II. The action against the Porsena raid, ipso facto, was a police action. III. The Senate Medal of Honor cannot be awarded in peacetime (AB/CVIII-XXV, paragraph XII, C). IV. Suggest consideration for Soldier's Medal. ________________________________________ P.B. VIth Ind, AF IV Calends, April CCCLXI TO: G-I Concur in paragraph IV, Vth Ind. ________________________________________ L.J. VIIth Ind, G-I I May CCCLXI TO: AG Soldier's medal is given for saving lives; suggest star of bronze as appropriate. ________________________________________ E.J. VIIIth Ind, JAG II Calends, June CCCLXI TO: JAG >For opinion. ________________________________________ G.C. IXth Ind, JAG II Calends, September CCCLXI I. XVIII months have elapsed since event described in basic letter. Star of bronze cannot be awarded after XV months have elapsed. II. Officer is eligible for Papyrus Scroll with Metal Pendant. ________________________________________ P.B. X Ind, AG I Calends, October CCCLXI TO: G-I For draft of citation for Papyrus Scroll with Metal Pendant. ________________________________________ P.B. XI Ind, G-I III Calends, October CCCLXI TO: G-II I. Do not concur. II. Our currently fine relations with Tuscany would suffer and current delicate negotiations might be jeopardized if publicity were given to Captain Horatius' actions at this time. ________________________________________ T.J. XII Ind, G-II VI November CCCLXI TO: G-I A report rated D-IV, partially verified, states that Lars Porsena is very sensitive about the Horatius affair. ________________________________________ E.T. XIIIth Ind, G-I X November CCCLXI TO: AG I. In view of information contained in preceding XI and XIII the endorsements, you will prepare immediate orders of Captain C. C. Horatius to one of our overseas stations (remote). II. His attention will be directed to paragraph XII, POM, which prohibits interviews or conversations with newsmen prior to arrival at final destination. L.T. ________________________________________ Rome II Calends, I April CCCLXII SUBJECT: Survey, Report of, Department of War TO: Captain Caius Caius Horatius, III Legion, V Phalanx, APO XIX, C/O Postmaster, Rome. I. Your statements concerning the loss of your shield and sword in the Tiber River of III March CCCLX have been carefully considered. II. It is admitted that you were briefly in action against certain unfriendly elements on that day. However, Sergeant Lartius and Corporal Herminius were in the same action and did not lose any government property. III. The Finance Officer has been directed to reduce your next pay by II-I/IV talents (I-III/IV talents cost on each sword, officers; III/IV talent cost of one each shield, M-II). IV. You are enjoined and admonished to pay strict attention to conservation of government funds and property. The budget must be balanced next year. H. MARCUS AURELIUS Lieutenant of Horse Survey Officer

Will Durant gives numerous references to Roman law during the Republic, and Empire in his great The Story of Civilization ~ Caesar and Christ (CaC) He is both elegant and eloquent in his description of the meaning of Roman law for its times and its future role in history to come, as we might expect from a philosopher and a historian. Caesar and Christ at Amazon.Com: click HERE Click here for a REVIEW of CaC From his remarks it appears the reviewer of CaC would prefer a more narrative historical accounting. But Durant

These seem to be "auxiliary" heat sources for both areas, possibly because they needed some help to be more comfortable? I notice your floor plan is clearer in that particular area than the one in the Nappo book mentioned. With your help I have located the two fireplaces; The

Imagine that! Looking at most baths, for instance the Stabian baths in Pompeii seem to be poorly lighted, at least from outside openings. I suppose very little took place there after daylight hours, but in a villa that situation would be open for personal choice. A skylight might provide enough light on a night with a full moon. The Stabian bath did have a skylight in the vault of the Caldarum, and from the mention ("sky-light") I took that to mean a glazed opening. Its use included the ability to open it and it would have acted as a "temperature regulation valve" when the room became too hot. Klingan, thanks for mentioning the Stabian Baths. I found a copy of POMPEII ~ A Guide to the Ancient City by Salvatore Nappo on my bookshelf. It has some beautiful artistic reconstructions of the baths. Do you have that? Either way I have a question to ask about the location of the secondary fireplaces you mentioned. I have a floor plan and a legend of the baths I can send, to ask some questions off forum. Faustus

From F&Wagnall: (Italy; Climate) "Italy has both continental and coastal climates. The southern parts of the peninsula closely resemble that of coastal Spain. Heaviest precipitation occurs in Italy during the fall and winter months, when westerly winds prevail. The lowest mean annual rainfall, 18 in., occurs in the Apulian province of Foggia in the south; the highest, 60 in., occurs in the Venetian province of Udine in the N.E." On the west coast of Italy the closest U.S. comparison would be the west coast around San Diego: dry warm moderated summers with sunny wetter winters. In contrast the climate of the Lombardy plain is continental; warm summers and severe winters, with temperatures as low as 5 deg.F. prevail in this region. . In Climate Through the Ages C.E.P.BROOKS outlined the climate in the general European climate as follows for the periods given: B.C. ~ 700-500 - dry and warm; 500 B.C. - sudden increase of rainfall, much cooler, beginning of Sub-Atlantic A.D. ~ 0

Outlining a map of the Roman Empire of 117 AD under Trajan, including all the smaller seas where a Roman boundary would fall in a straight line across or include them, and connecting the furthest extent of the Empire at those locations as if they would be under direct control of Rome, I came up with 3,347,435 square miles. Adding in 50,000 for England and Wales (which had some confusing variations), we have 3,397,435. Of course neither the accuracy of my measurements nor my map merit the precision my figures would seem to suggest. This was all done with tracing paper by calculating the number of quarter inch squares falling inside the outline with a known area in square miles for each 1/4" square. I'll be interested in learning the actual figure. I used a the distance from Lisbon to Rome (1164 miles) and Rome to Istanbul (850 miles) to set up a scale because that line traversed the central parts of the Empire and gave me a fairly long base line of about 2014 miles. On my map the distance fell within about 1 mile out of 2000 east to west. Maybe my calculations will inspire someone else to come up with a better figure. Good luck. Faustus Edit: FYI without Alaska the US land area is 5 pct smaller And with Alaska the us land area is 11 pct larger

Thanks GPM for that information. I didn

What I'd like to know (in connection with Faustus' premise here) is: Why would we assume that these sacrificial animals came from the wild? Wasn't domesticated livestock mostly used for the purpose? -- Nephele Yes. Oxen, rams, chicken, pigs. Even occasionally dogs. Ursus - I notice you did not mention pheasants and rabbits MPC - Quite right

An interesting exercise, sometimes valuable for the revealing of candidates "grassroots" popularity, is to take a look at the donations they

This is interesting. It seems these gutters and leaders are what make the opening (compluvium), and the efficient flow of the storm-water into the impluvium a practical matter. And for the rainwater not picked up by the roof, there are floor drains for the un-captured excess rainwater. It always ends up that the Romans didn't accept a lot of compromise in their practical physical world. Faustus

Thanks Nephele, I don't think one rules out the other. And the difference between what my post described and what you describe may be found in the word

We tend to think of the ancients as backward, superstitious peoples accepting whatever their priests told them. We also tend to be cynical about the more educated folk who seemed to take advantage of the "ignorant" lesser folk. A Roman priest examined the guts of a bird and gave some sort of opinion about the future. But in some cases this method had real merit. When founding a new city, a priest would go the site were the new city was to he located and in a ceremony, examine the livers of a rabbit and a pheasant from the area where the city would be built. This was done to find out if it would be a healthy place in which to live. When the animals were found to be without fault and an investigation of the land turned up no stagnant pools, the

Salve NN This from: CITY (A story of Roman Planning and Construction - David Macaulay) The below situation was described in his book for an imaginary new town named "Verbonia". (I summarize - ) All buildings in the city were required to have covered arcades or roof features of some kind (awning types for instance) which dropped storm-water onto the street. Pedestrians were for the most part covered against rain and sunlight, except when they crossed streets. The sidewalks under the "awnings" or arcades were raised above the street level about one and a half foot, and once the storm water was in the street it flowed into the cloaca at various horizontal inlets. The streets were the gutters. There were raised stepping stones on which to cross the streets, which were spaced so as to allow carts to pass through at a cautious speed. There were no doubt "unimproved sections", or places where there were some commercial buildings that weren't so well protected, but in all new construction this was mandated. Faustus

Good answers P. P. Having read all your links, I think what they didn

If that doesn't work try: THIS

Or barring some failure of procreation or accident of immigration some of the people who visited the

A surprise, but not a shock. Thanks for bringing it up. Do you have a link? Faustus

I think you might find a reference by Seneca to being "parboiled" in a bath, in Letter 86 of Seneca's letters to Lucilius. But I can't locate an online translation. And perhaps Seneca might have been exaggerating, as he took a dim view of the luxury of baths, being a stoic as he was. -- Nephele To depart from the sources you asked for Klingan, here's further input: An experienced "furnace operator" would develop the necessary skills to meet the comfort needs of the users of the bath. The variables to be taken into account regarding controlling the heat of the floor in the cauldarium and that of the water in the plunge bath would be the operator

The Decimation How often did it occur? Wouldn

The use of cropland to produce sources of energy also has some unforeseen consequences in "economies" as well as the "environment"; consequences which shouldn

It would logically seem the answer is no. But it can help get to mythology

Sorry I can't be more brief, but here goes: After walking out on

I did see them mentioned here, but I'll just re-affirm the likelihood of the old reliable "feather-bed mattress". If they could find enough birds to actually treat bird