Pertinax

Good Luck and please send some photos!

I didn't take Newspeak as a serious philosophical contribution so much as the propaganda of Big Brother, and I didn't quite understand your gloss of it either. If you mean that emperors are virtually slaves to the many and thus share with actual slaves an understanding of duty and self-denial, OK. That was exactly my suggestion, an Emperor possessed of a strict moral conscience is totally unfree, he is morally obliged to take care of the peoples of the Empire, Marcus Aurelius's charachter particularly fitted him for this burden. I was also thinking of those people in modern society who prefer "institutionalised" or ritualised living in preference to active citizenship as an example of "willing" slavery. I dont suggest Orwell as a philosopher , but his work resonates profoundly to British Libertines.

May I request this thread be moved to the humanities folder please? [Done--PP ] thank you. This sits in a better spot now and I can tie in this as the "front end" for books and general remarks, the blog for detailed exposition and thence the gallery for illustration.

I hope you are able to do this , as the "plumbing" fits well with the medicines , I have tried to start debates about sanitation and water supply previously.

On a side note, I just happen to be reading Mark Twain's Letter's from the Earth right now and it deals a heavy hand on the absurdity of organized religion. Basically, the title section is so named because he writes as the Archangel Satan sending letter's back to Michael & Gabriel about what is happening on Earth; God's "morality experiment". The premise is very Deist in that the God in this story created the Earth but has no hand whatsoever in it's daily operations; as he designed Natural Law to take care of that. During one of his short exiles Satan drops by Earth out of curiosity and is astonished at what man does & says to explain the world... He tells the other Archangels that man has an exceptional faculty for reason except in regards to religious matters... have you read CS Lewis's 'Screwtape Letters?" on a similar theme.

I crye you mercye ! I am flatterede Good Ladye, you are moffte gentil and propre. (as we say in middle English ) and on a more modern note-I suggest my gallery postings tie in from this angle as well

to quote Orwell-"freedom (meaning absolute freewill) is slavery , slavery ( meaning no decision making at all) is freedom" . A totally free man in a position of responsiblity carries a burden of responsiblity for the many, the unfree have no choices save to stay alive.Which , I believe, is Favonius Cornelius's point.

do we have a secondary rallying point if our aquilifer is lost in the mist? or do we perish where we stand?

thank you for that , I was rather apprehensive something major had gone wrong.

This is an ongoing project which im sure members are aware of , here is an excellent link:- http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/ this is praiseworthy work, I am preparing for my photo-recce to Vindolanda by reading all I can on the recovered items. and..I will give a brief review of the published work which I am presently reading.

a sensible policy for a happy country

as I was saying...my medical /herbal posts would fit in this area I think

Im signed in to Amazon Jersey , this side of the herring pond. I await the issue with bated breath.

The Austrians of course hunt the kangaroo by leaving heaps of wurst, beer and mixed vegetables at the end of each piste. I remember that post as well.

Ok , I give in. you want a serious reply? Well Ursus is God-Emperor. secondly-if you are a confident world power that has decided on a course of action , either you carry through that action without apology, as you have decided to act and you are stronger and more virtuous than anyone else,-or you are not confident, in which case you stay home and do nothing.

Well....as a pragmatic Roman er.....yes, hail God-King -Emperor - Patron ! Can I come over for dinner at your house? I prefer my dormice well done and very expensive wines, also my daughter is unmarried. And your portrait makes you look very young.

I thought Niobe looked great oh ! not that sort of figure? We are all prisoners of our age. no man can avoid the accident of his birth or the ill of his times. Marcus Aurelius was a great scholar and no bad Emperor,-and no-one can avoid having idiotic relatives. As a philsopher he is my favoured candidate . I suggest Hadrian as the greatest because he realised that expansion could go no further and sought to consolidate and rationalise.Pragmatism I like.