Virgil61

I've been a Spiderman fan since childhood, which was a while ago.

Dominate has been used to describe the imperial system as it developed under Diocletion which differed substantially from the system that occured prior to the civil wars of the mid-3d century. The more modern historical term is "late antiquity" with Dominate being used often prior to the '80s. Whatever the differences between the emperors of the Principate there was more commonality between them than with those of the Dominate or Late Antiquity, or so the theory behind the terms suppose.

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot written about enlistment procedures that I've found. Polybius gives a good overview of how legions were mustered under the Republic when enlistment wasn't an option but a requirement of the average able-bodied male citizen. In that instance recruits would present themselves to the all the tribunes of the legions in lines with each tribune taking turns picking their men to spread quality around. I suspect that when the army became more professional there were a variety of different methods to recruit, the best draw being that it was steady work with pay and a retirement benefit of land not to mention the prospect of loot that soldiers could keep. In the principate the legions seemed to be well paid it might have been quite a prospect for a poorer citizen to join. It does beg the question of how legions replenished their numbers. If evidence of the auxiliary unit retired as a whole found in Britain under the Principate is anything to go on and assuming the legions retired on the same schedule then whole units centuries/cohorts/legions may have been recruited at a time. Interestingly the U.S. Army still used the term cohort to apply to company level combat-arms units recruited, trained and deployed as a whole for their first three-year enlistment in the 1980s.

I speak passable Italian and Russian. I've heard Romanian on a few occassions and because of my knowledge of those two languages it throws me to no end. I'm not convinced it sounds more similar to Latin than other romance languages but I've also heard that it has a stronger grammatical connection. Sardinian and Sicilian are two very distinct dialects from each other. Sardinian is thought to have surprisingly similar aspects to latin primarily because it has changed at a slower rate than other romance languages due to it's isolation. The Sicilian dialect seems much closer to standard Italian, but it's tough for an Italian from another province to understand sometimes. This highlights another issue with Italian. Most comparisions between latin and Italian are studied using the Tuscan dialect of Italy and generally ignore the several dozen rather distinct dialects that exist. I think each of the romance language kept some aspectsof the original language while discarding others. Although the argument has often been made that Italian is closest to latin, even it contains a respectable amount of loan words from other languages.

From a post I made this July based on a doc I found: I did find this data that indicates the evidence points to Germans and East Europeans being, on average, 4 centimeters taller than Roman soldiers stationed in their region. Assuming the soldiers being taller and healthier than the average Roman and still being 4 cm shorter than an average German it points to a height diffential. The Biological Standard of Living in Europe During the Last Two Millennia. You'll have to dig into the doc to find the relevant data.

Historically the money was on the side of the patricians who engaged an almost systematic attack on the plebian political structure. JC and Clodius played them at their own game and beat them. They did not like that, hell it drove them crazy. The patrician/plebe struggle set the overall parameters of internal Roman politics. Re the outcome of the Social War, I don

The Sarah Silverman and Mime versions were hilarious. GG's rendition at the friar's club almost had me on the floor, too bad the editing kept cutting back to analytical descriptions of the joke, in the middle of it being told. I went with a Russian friend who's been here about seven years. Sometimes comedy doesn't travel well but he thinks it was pure genius. Highly recommended.

Training and discipline, spoken like a soldier. Nothing gives confidence more than to be able to conduct your tactical-skill at the small unit or individual level so it's almost second nature and to have the confidence that peers on the left and right can do the same. I do remember a scene somewhere against the Germans--was it Bello Gallico?--where some of the Roman troops were visibly taken aback by their size at first sight but settled down when reminded of their own deeds and training.

C'mon, you're doubtful that patsies or bribes were used by the patricians? Running tribunes for office who were in cahoots with the Senate was something done to T. Gracchus as well as others. By 50 BC events had degenerated so far they barely looked like the decade prior, but make no mistake they were built on the fault lines of the previous eras and the line-ups, JC vs Cato and Co., seem to reflect that. The historical evidence convinces me otherwise. You might want to reread my posts. I never claimed there was no middle-class, only skepticism that it constituted all that much of the population. Using subsistence as a baseline, I'd like to see a study of income distribution of an ancient economy like the late Roman Republic and it's slave-based agrarian foundation show a distribution that'll look anything like what we'd like today . There's one out there on the Byzantine Empire circa 1000...it's not pretty.

Active bribery, putting up patsies and other successful attempts by the patrician class to involve themselves in undermining populares affairs for their benefit can make it look complicated. Patricians/plebian scheme isn

WotWorlds was much better than expected and Batman begins was good enough for a once through. I haven't seen the Star Wars cartoons, but I'll look for them. Has anyone seen "The Aristocrats"?

Reading a lot of Cicero recently I see.

Old thread, new thought. An interesting point I'd add here based on my experience as an NCO in the Army. Some people are 'natural' leaders, only a few really, but the vast majority of those without 'natural' talent labeled as followers can be trained to acquire leadership attributes and function very competently as leaders. It says a lot about the unfullfilled potential human beings walk around with.

See my past posts on the subject, I

The grain dole was a terrible waste of economic and human capital, but it never constituted a major drag on the Roman budget anywhere equal to the upkeep of the armies, either under the Empire or Republic. If I remember correctly, Egypt, the breadbasket of the Republic and Empire, paid its tax in grain which was used for the dole. It was a nasty legacy of the optimate class. The dole was an unfortunate aspect of the appropriation of lands, especially in the 2d century AD, when land-owning soldiers were away on several years of campaigning. They'd return essentially landless--those lovers of the Constitutional Republic, the optimates, being the primary extortionists of much of these small farms and adding them to their own large land holdings. Even worse off were the Italian allied soldiers with farms who had even less recourse to any tribunes or justice. Tiberius Gracchi in a famous speech, gives a vivid portrayal of returning legionnaires pathetically wandering the countryside with their families, homeless because neighboring large-land owners seized their small farms. Add to this the influx of slave labor in place of paid free labor driving wages down and you've got a recipe for disaster for many formerly land-owning citizens who ended up as urban dwellers. I think the dole averaged around 200,000 to 500,000 dwellers or thereabouts depending on the era. Not enough to make much of a dent in Gaul I'll guess and perhaps more than Britain could handle agriculturally. The Roman answer was a rash of laws to limit slave labor and several plans, under Republic and Empire, to reestablish those on the dole to farms. The laws seemed to never get full implementation. What probably should have happened was to put a stop to the land expropriations immediately or to force reforms, but the optimate class, the beneficiaries, being as powerful as they were, famously fought against these. Barring that a forceful limitation on slave labor, which optimates wouldn't have put up with either or finally pushing these landless out into colonies within the first generation when agricultural know-how was still intact. Sadly none of these was ever efficiently pushed through, so it was Bread and Circuses for all. You may not have meant it this starkly. I've worked a lot with USAID, State and non-governmental agencies in the past on international development issues [except for Somalia, non-African]. No one has heartburn about alleviating starvation in immediately effected areas to keep people from dying in, say the next few weeks. It's the follow-on aid that deals with ag and economic infastructure in the longer term that is where the big bucks go and disappear. And where you mysteriously have a wealthier class of indigenous have's and little to show for the money. The new method isn't to deny food for starvation, even the most right-wing Bushite wouldn't tote that flag. It's to have USAID or World Bank (or whomever supplies the aid) reps on the ground when the long term aid is being administered and auditing the work as it's being done. Sorry, off topic I know.

I finally got around to reading this. Interesting read especially relative to its links to and competition with Christianity, thanks.

I'm usually a bit dismissive of a lot of historical fiction, but this guy looks like the real thing. Manfredi's an archaelogist teaching at a university in Milan (according to Wikipedia).

I think the language is thought to have died out by the late 2d century which is an incredibly quick assimilation. Even the Greek language spoken in southern Italy at the time has survived till this day in a couple of small towns. I don't know about Perugia but I lived in Livorno,Tuscany for three years and I'd say they associate themselves with the Etruscans to some extent. They're considered genetically the closest? contemporary peoples related to the original Etruscans.

That's terrible. I hope she makes a speedy recovery and you have a better Christmas day.

They can't and they can't compete with fractional overseas wages and nonexistent benefits, hence the problems. Here in Michigan, an enormous union state where the auto industry is king (though the king is dying), GM and Ford in particular are being hammered by the longevity of its former employees (and the fact that most American's don't give a hoot about supporting American companies). The current membership of the UAW just voted down an extension of benefits to retirees in order to preserve their own prime benefits and avoid additional out of pocket costs for health premiums. The anger among the old timers, many of whom formed the union and worked to give the current crop the benefits they have only to feel as if they've been stabbed in the back, is understandably at a peak. A few months back I spent four weeks escorting a 18 doctor delegation of chief physicians and department heads from Siberia to the U.S. The Russian healthcare system is in terrible shape in spite of some excellent doctors. The purpose of this and other groups was to learn the U.S. style of medicine and insurance (which the Russian think might be the answer to low spending on medicine). It was an eye-opener for me, we met with Fed, State, Insurance and professional organizations. The bottom line I walked away with: 1. The health system is a quasi-government hospital system already; the VA and Medicaid/Medicare (for those over 65) systems are huge and will not go away. 2. Expanding technology has caused a rise in the price of medicine as those who might have died in the last generation are given very expensive treatment to prolong their lives. You'll live an extra ten or twenty or more years now from something you'd have died from a generation or two ago, but the cure is expensive. 3. Something like 30% of all medical costs are because of treatment given in the last two years of a person's life. The bottom line is that immense savings could start with making decisions at the end of a person's life on whether the treatment is worth the cost, emotionally and financially. 4. Medical Malpractice is responsible for a small minutae of health costs.

Thanks for correcting me, I was wrong and forgot my own American history--Squanto and all that. You're right, I've been reading Brit translations, Penguin variety and somewhere along the way I'd let that one slip mentally. The polenta the Italians made until the intro to maize was different of course using wheat or oats or probably any cereal. The basic production and consistancy is similar. Edit: I am pleading hunger. After thinking of polenta I bought a three-cheese polenta packet, made some marinara sauce and Italian sausage.

You think so? The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area and Charlotte are full of opportunities. Raleigh is very good for education, sciences and medical fields, not bad in construction,legal and insurance. A very good high-tech base. It is my favorite place in the U.S. hands down, unfortunately because of family ties I'll be moving back to Portland/Seattle. Charlotte's big on services, especially banking,insurance and legal. It's the largest banking center in the U.S. after NYC, believe it or not. Wilmington was booming in the 90's so I'm surprised it's not easy to find work, depends on your field of course, it's not a quite a city but a growing big town.

Ok, got it. I thought you were doubting DNA research. You're correct that politically in Northern Italy the racial issue is charged with the Legia Norda and all claiming celtic or germanic origin. The Lombards did exert a small influence on the language but I looked in vain for a study in English on this. Mezza does mean half, mezzagiorno (half-day) is noon, mezzanote (half-night) is midnight, etc., but I don't know the ending for Mezzanzana. It looks like half something on first glance but my Italian isn't up to the level it was years ago.

You misunderstood, not having the DNA strain that proves Germanic connections, as I explained, doesn't mean that there isn't Lombard strains it may indicate marriage patterns not that there were not marriages. Northern Italians have some Lombard genetics I'm sure, but it's more likely than not that Lombards were certainly outnumbered heavily by the indigenous people. And, to another of your points, the Lombard language that exists in Milano isn't a product of German dialect, it is a romance language that lies in the same sub-group as French. It has Germanic aspects to it perhaps, but my own (non-northern) Italian last name is based on a German root word for town. I doubt the "clear documents" produced by ancient writers are very accurate as numbers given were notoriously exaggerated and a substantial portion of the indigenous Gaelic population remained intact. Roman colonies were founded and eventually expanded but Caesar was criticised for recruiting non-citizens in Cisapline Gaul to join his new legions. The fact that Lombard is related to French, a language with strong Gaelic influences, helps to prove my point. Luigi Cavalli-Sforza is a geneticist who's worked closely with linguists on the study of populations. Conquerors who are outnumbered by the conquered populace tend to lose the genetic supremacy game and it's suprisingly closely correlated to the surviving language of the regions. Lombard is closely related to French not German and while both have Germanic aspects due to the Franks and Lombards the Gaelic influences are stronger. One of the few exceptions are when conquerors take up agriculture on the conquered lands maintaining a stable cultural foothold for language to develop. This helps explain Dacia's short term tenure under Rome and the influx of Roman veteran settlers, resulting in Romanian as a romance language. Present day Northern Italians are no more German than the English are French due to Norman rule. They both carry the genetic remnants but those remnants aren't dominant. The Lombard League would love the theory that they're all Germans.