cornelius_sulla

Cool, mate. I reckon the halo might be pushing it, though....

I think that this Catonian may give the Kryptonian cause to look to his laurels......MPC, this would make a great personal profile photo! Did you do the photoshop work, P.Clodius?

One of the things that has always intrigued me about Sulla is that he had Rome by the short and curlies, but walked away. I've always thought that this was due to his innate sense of self interest. Look what happened to Caesar, Emperor in all but name. Perhaps it is closer to the mark to think of Sulla as incredibly sane and very canny. Another thing that intrigues me about the man is that even by writers who were writing closer to his time, (and ever since) he has been profiled as a Villain, capital V. In a era with markedly different ideas on the nature of good and bad men, this is a notably infamous achievement. He has been cast as one of 'The Bad Men' of history. You aren't many (any?) of those in any era who didn't have with a few mental issues.

*bows deeply but solemnly given recent life changing decision to give up footy!*

The Old Dude I've decided to give up football (Rugby). This is a sad, sad day for any self respecting traditionally Kiwi male. I'm the 'Old Dude' on my team, and now even outright spite and denial cannot keep me going. I stopped playing Rugby League (Rugbys more brutal cousin) three years ago because I was getting too many injuries. Now I'm hanging up the boots for good and I feel like less of a man because of it. Since I can remember, Saturdays have e'er been the same. Get up early, go and play footy, then share a couple of well earned ales with the lads, partners and opponents afterwards. But, I went to training the other night and wondered what the hell it was I was trying to do there. It was raining and cold. I dropped the ball and missed tackles uncharacteristically. I kept wishing that training would be over so I could go home and have a nice warm cocoa and read a book. That's when it hit me. You're getting to old for this shit. Time to give it up and stop kidding yourself. Footy is a religion here, perhaps on a par with cricket in India and Australia. It's part of the fabric of this country, although that status is becoming fraid now that kids have so many other options. Like Romans used to reckon the years by the consuls, we here in NZ often reckon by way of All Black victrories. If the team loses a match during the season, the whole country goes into apoplexy. The game of Rugby helped us define ourselves as New Zealand (as opposed to An English Colony) early in our development as a country and has continued to do so. So it is with a very heavy heart that I write this. Now I think I'll pass the torch on to my kids, who will be infinitely better at the game than their old man ever was. My middle girl is quick and tall like her old man with an instinct for the outside break; she loves footy and gives me a little warm feeling when she fearlessly crashes into boys twice her size. Hopefully I can live vicariously through her! New Friends. In the blog previous to this one, 'Good Deed', I wrote of helping out some English tourists who were being set upon by some unscrupulous scumbag bastards in my city. Karen and Seamus, the tourists, have become friends. They hunted us down somehow (my friend and I mentioned where we worked) and shouted the boys lunch and a box of beers. We got talking, they mentioned that they were interested in Maori culture, so I offered to show them some and did so yesterday, taking them to see a cultural group that my cousins are in and then to my marae, which is a traditional carved Maori 'meeting house'. I was proud; they were awestruck and had never seen anything like it. Today, my mate Semisi is taking them to a traditional Samoan feast. Seamus told Semisi that he's played a bit of rugby. He'll regret that. They are lovely people and I'm glad I met them, circumstances notwithstanding. They hail from Birmingham (although Karen was bought up in Wales) and we all share a love of Black Sabbath and naff seventies Heavy Metal. They told me that even with what happened, they want to come to New Zealand and live. Seamus said he'd been mugged in London in broad daylight with people walking past, and no one did a thing. I'm glad that they do not think ill of my country and hope that they do come here to live. We've made a very strong connection, but I guess that's to be expected. They loved my children! That's a pass mark as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks all. I was pretty shaken up about the whole thing after the fact. There have been alot of stabbings in Aucks recently, and I have children. I didn't think of them. I considered taking a couple of nights off, but Semisi said 'don't be a f***ing pussy!' and that was that. I don't normally intervene into stuff. At that time in the morning in Auckland you see a lot of fights, but their mostly between males, and you think 'go ahead, knock yourselves out'. But the sound of a screaming woman had both me and my friend running before thinking. It's the third time I've heard that and if I never hear it again, I'll be happy. But if I do, I'll be running towards it on reflex. We've seen them again since (the scumbags) and they ran. The lovely Karen and her husband Seamus also hunted us down to our place of work and shouted us all lunch and a box of beers. They are both lovely people from Birmingham (yeah! Black Sabbath!) who delighted in our approximations of the Birmingham accent.

I'm right behind you on that, Warrior. I don't let anybody touch my lappy. His name is Brainbiter, and he's MINE. I figure I paid for it, I make the rules, if you don't like it, f**k off. Laptops are expensive, delicate pieces of machinery and most people don't get that because it's not theirs. I recently had a really bad argument with my lady about it. I make no exceptions. Not even my children are allowed to touch it! My whole family think I'm a computer scrooge, but I could give a damn. We've got a perfectly good desktop, use that, I tell them. Just don't touch my lappy, we'll get along fine, is my motto. Still jealous of you, though.

Me and a mate did something that I was very proud of last night. Let me regale you. Working through the wee hours as I have been lately, I have lunch with a friend at about 4am. We work in Auckland City, so wander down to the town square, which is called Aotea Square, to watch all of the early morning freaks out and about as we munch and swill coffee. I've seen some funny stuff sitting in the square. Last night was not so funny. We went to take our usual seats and we heard a woman screaming. It was shrill and full of horror. Instinct took over; we both ran towards the commotion. It was coming from an alleyway near the square. I got there first. My mate Semisi is a huge Samoan, 18 stone of Polynesian muscle, but he wasn't far behind me. The scene that greeted us was of a hysterical woman screaming at three guys as they were beating the shit out of a man whom we later learned was the woman's husband. It amazes me now that we didn't even think of consequences, Semisi and I just whaled in and started banging. We Kiwis have a very finely honed sense of supporting the underdog, and the guy receiving the bash fit well and truly into that category. Semisi picked up one of the assailants as if he was a ragdoll and threw him against the wall of the alley. I heard a satisfying crack of a rib or some bone breaking as he hit. I was busy pummelling the other guy, and the third piece of shit did a runner before we could dispense violence on his ass too. The guy against the wall was bleeding, my opponent, also bleeding from the nose, gave up too and they both decided to leg it - I'm glad my bro was with me or things could've been the worse for me. The only bummer was that we couldn't hold them to hand them over to the cops. The woman, whose name was Karen, explained that one of the scumbags had asked her husband for a cigarette, and when he was told that neither of them smoked, all three set upon her poor man. He was much the worse for wear. They were tourists from England. I cringed at that. What a great advertisement for my country that makes. Karen tried to give us both money which we turned down. Semisi and I offered to accompany them to the police station, but they said no, they just wanted a taxi and to get home. I'm proud that my friend and I helped, but I can't wait to get back onto the day shift and back to sanity. But I'll be keeping an eye out for those scumbags, and it'll be round two if Semisi and I see them again.

Hah! There is one! Rutilius Rufus definitely qualifies. Off topic, I love your books, Maty.

OK, she's a politician, and they lie. But normally they do it with a bit more art than that. This kind of lie reeks of desperation and HRC's situation did not seem that dire as far as the candidacy goes. I'm bothered by it because before hearing of the lie I thought she was doing a pretty good job convincing US voters that she was genuine (as far as a politician can be).

How much is known these days about how you worked your way up the ranks to become a Centurion?

I would make a movie about Phillip.K.Dick, the author of 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' which was made into a movie called Blade Runner. Both the book and the movie are classics of science fiction. His life was a hard slog but he never lost his will to write. They say that writers burn to write inside, will write on napkins with a piece of charcoal if that is all that's available, and Mr. Dick was certainly one of these kinds of writers. Not to mention that his books are very entertaining and thought provoking. As a nod to Blade Runner, I'd get Harrison Ford to star in it, although he'd probably exhaust the budget.

Ha! That sounds like my Rugby team! The more beer we drink, the better/younger/handsomer we think we are. I love volleyball, but I'm abolutely no good at it. It is a nice way to meet scantily clad woman. Although I'm not complaining, I always thought that the women would be just as effective at the game if they were wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Maybe not. I had a game of tennis with my brother yesterday and got pasted. I really, really, suck. By the way, Ateria, love the new photos on your sig!

For every person that does, there must be 10 that do not. Most people are too lazy to crack open a book. There are still a lot of people that take "The Da Vinci Code" as gospel. Congrats, dianamt; I for one am profoundly happy that you're that one in ten! It's saddening to me that reading seems to be losing popularity with children. The majority of the kids I know fit right into that category of 'too lazy to crack open a book'. It's not Playstation's fault either; it's the parents fault! Even worse than reading "The Da Vinci Code" and taking it as gospel is watching the movie and thinking it is. I wasn't a fan of Dan Brown's book, but at least it got people reading! Damn all crap movies to Hades, I say!

Faustus, I read 'GETTING MRS CLINTON'. Wow. That's a pretty big lie to be telling, getting shot at in Bosnia, especially when there are thousands of your troops getting shot at in the Middle East, and many of them not making it home alive. Shocking, Mrs. Clinton.

I'm keen on a UNRV t-shirt. Keep us updated, Moon?

While I agree with your choice in Augustus, I have to ask: since when was being nice a criteria of measurement for the Romans? If the benchmark of Roman virtue was the original Brutus executing his sons for a conspiracy against the Republic, where does the state have room for being nice? True that, Ursus. It's hard to think of a nice one. They were all to some extent ruthless bastards, without exception all of our favourites have been, in any case. That might make for an interesting thread; 'Who do you think was the nicest Roman?'.

Wow! But we would be fighting for the love of Julius Caesar. And if Marc Antony looked like Jame Purefoy, Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, I would let you have Caesar. Nah, I wouldn't be fighting for the love of Caesar. I just want his filthy lucre -- he can keep his Roman hands to himself. -- Nephele ....'with my right leg demurely hooked behind the back of my neck'... I can picture it vividly . Come down to the Subura and let's see who we can grift!

Would you pray on innccent young patrician women too? Of course, since I would be living on the Palatine, I would not be in your part of town. My family would be of ancient decent, generals and consuls, very rich and of course handsome. And yes, I would be married off at a young age, to another rich and succesful family, but my husband would be a defus and I would rule the household. Then I would fall in love with someone else. He would want me to run away from all of Rome. I would decline, because of a woman of Rome, I would do what is best for the Republic. Then my husband die in battle or did he????? And then the some one else and I would get married and our son would be the greatest Roman of all time! Wow, you've got it all planned out, haven't you! I wouldn't pray on you. Your son might have me flogged.

That looked horrible on the telly. Here in NZ it was reported as being lucky that the plane did not hit any more houses, but still, what a tragic loss of life.

Congrats on the raise and the extra hours. I'm jealous, though; I want a new laptop too!

GPM! Sorry it took so long, I forgot that I said I would translate. The first part of the haka is consists of orders from the kaea (leader) to his kapa (group) preparing them for in their stance and attitude for the haka. The second part, (Ka Mate) is the actual haka itself. This is the famous haka called 'Ka Mate' used by The All Blacks for the last century or so.

Yeah! I'll go with that!

At the risk of losing hard earned friends, I am an Arsenal supporter. Correct me if I'm wrong, but are they not the team everybody loves to hate? Moving right along. The New Zealand Sevens Rugby team took out the Hong Kong sevens tournament on the weekend, whipping Fiji in the semi and our traditional foes South Africa in the final. Needless to say, my country hit the bottles! This is the first time we've won Hong Kong since 2001. There is a World Cup but Hong Kong still remains the big one. For those of you who have watched the 15 man game and been confused (I've been a fan all my life and I'm still confused some of the time) check out the abbreviated form, sevens. It's a hard fast game with lots of big hits and sharp breaks and a lot less rules to interrupt the flow. Check it out!