Pertinax

and Incontinentia Buttocks?

May I add The Wild Bunch as well-I am not a North American so sometimes the pre/revisionist/post western thing eludes me but this is a mighty powerful film about honour and the passing of an era ,these people kill and steal , some are butt ugly (as I understand our American cousins say) but somehow thay are vindicated by righteous deaths . and Yojimbo- who would not want to be a warrior without peers? and nonchalant as well.

Pliny tells us that the womb is better if there has been a miscarrige rather than a normal birth. The first of these wombs is called ejectitia the second porcaria. It is best after the second pregnancy and least tasty when weakened by several normal births,After the sow is slaughtered the womb becomes pale and thin quickly-one must act with dispatch.The wombs of older animals are better especially if not completely cleaned . After a misscarriage one day from that date is tastiest. The udder is also tastiest when piglets have not yet drunk from it. recipe: remove ovaries and soak in salt water. Wash and stuff ( with leeks ,pepper,cumin, rue and garum.Add fine pork mince ,pine kernels ).Make sure you sew the womb up tightly ,cook with plenty of dill and olive oil over a low heat. When cooked reduce the cooking liquid and use as a sauce. Delicious! Later we will peruse the recipe for fat puppies.

Gangs of New York ,because it opened up a piece of history totally unknown to me ( I recommend Luc Santes book Low Life: if anyone imagines drink and drugs are a recent problem then take a look at a copy,the morphine addiction of returned soldiers was something I was unaware of but is totally logical ) .Many years ago I wrote a paper on Ether drinking in 19th Century rural Ireland as a window into a forgotten and consciously supressed part of "popular " history and the widespread nature of narcotic/alcohol use. Sante's book takes this stance and delves into a breathtaking array of social deviance.The film tries its best to get an avalanche of material into context -I suggest it would have been better as an "epic" series.The waistcoats were good. Gladiator-because at certain points it breathed real life, ok the history was distorted and compacted but it was a work of love( long version is excellent for more intrigue). The Vikings-because it has every cliche in the book and some more besides( wenching,feasting, roaring ,puking,gouging,VERY EVIL english monarch etcetera etcetera).Ernest Borgnine as Ragnor, even more over the top than Kirk Douglas . Das Boot-the full tv series, I met a British sub vet the first time it was screened, he was sat near me in a hotel near the British sub yard of Barrow-I was gripped by the film but even more so when he told me that that was exactly his experience apart from being too tired to celebrate surviving a depth charge attack.What guts.

Its called " The Fury of the Goths" by Paul Ivanovitz

I must explain to those who have not seen Blackadder the Second series , Bob is a young serving man for whom the normally rampantly hetro and generally dastardly Edmund Blackadder begins to " develop certain feelings". However it transpires that Bob is in fact a young woman of good birth fallen upon hard times so Edmunds confusion is resolved. Until Bob decides she prefers being a man and elopes with Edmunds cross dressing best mate (who is a man). Hence the Black Serpent/snake.

I would be Serpentius Nigrensis to Tiberius's Bob

Narcissus was the assasin of Commodus-for some reason Russell Crowe doesnt seem to suit that name. Apparently it was originally considered for the film.

I have to comment on this programme as in Britain its touted as another major historical work alongside "Rome" -did anyone manage to watch it all? What rubbish,badly acted and uninformative. I had hoped the curse might extend to the production team. Dire, dont waste video or disc space on it.

My Birthday approaches, the revels will be protracted because of my great age-for those of you who wish to know if I eat as a write then behold the contents of the Repositorium that was prepared for me last night:- young octopii sliced and marinaded in a chilli oil smoked ostrich meat (amongst the rarest of Roman delicacies) stuffed vine leaves assorted olives smoked guinea fowl chorizo sausage aioli ( actually the breakfast of the poor and slaves) sheeps cheese pecan nuts in honey to drink : a claret , champagne cocktails (mixed with polish bison grass vodka). Nero would I hope have enjoyed this selection.

Caesar started to wear red -particularly red boots as a sign of "being kingly" .When he started turning up in his flamboyant footwear people started to get the hint about his ambitions, obviously an orchestrated move as Caeaser was best dressed loose belted dandy about town in his heyday.

There is a major work called "on Killing" I will search for the references-the gist of which is that video games are ideal desensitising tools for producing unthinking reflex killing. Its by Colonel Dave Grossman and you can get it on Amazon. It has some very pertinent remarks about neurological reinforcment of reflex behaviour in combat.

Marcus Aurelius just ahead of Tiberius

I have a conflict of interest -Trajan to scrutinize his military achievments: Nero to see how serious partying is done by a mad rich person.

No the recipe book is not guilty its an aside I noticed in "Rubicon".

In line with my great love of the Roman table (and the modern one also) I found a terrible vow (rather than a punishment) namely not to lie down and eat until revenged upon an enemy.Id try and slay my enemy before dinner.

yes sorry about that-but I searched high and low and that was the only thing I found! :bag: Favonius Cornelius was right-woman with helmet and spear.

I see from the Sunday Times that the first two episodes of HBO shown here in Britain are apparently a severe edit of the first three American episodes and that the director of these is very unhappy with the nature of the cuts-the "lost " material is mainly political wrangling. The cutting has been described as a shambles and compared to the mess that "Caligula" became-this sounds a bit strong to put it mildly ,Caligula was lousy anyway . Is there n uncut DVD set of the original American series available in the states?

The more of "Rubicon" ive read and the more I look at HBO the more I see British class attitudes as a mirror of Roman society,or perhaps I should say attitudes from Victorian Britain echoing through till today ( and I dont presume to say they are "antiquated"). I dont suppose this should be any great surprise given the massive Imperial drive of the 19th Century but the Triumvirate seem more "modern" in many ways than contemporary actors on the political stage.Its not that this is a new revalation to me -standing at Vindolanda with short trousers on I felt the ghosts of the Legion and its followers to be immanent. just musing, I think I will return and re-examine Gibbon

Another important tip for all you Barbarians on the make in Rome. Please do not refer to the lack of heads decorating your host's dining room that sort of thing is just not on, tasteful pictures are the appropriate thing.If you drop foodon the floor do not pick it up as you would do at home ,it belongs to the underworld and you will offend the spirits by eating things off the floor.Most importantly do not ask for a drink of milk this will reveal what a socially inept gallic twerp you are eating such gross peasant junk.

Do any members have knowledge of a decent source of information on the now mostly submerged pleasure resort of the late Republic, my dalliance with decadent dining and fish keeping habits has drawn me towards a desire to know more about this town? It was of course originally a greek colony being very close to Neapolis and Paestum. yours with studied decadence , Pertinax. -_-

Medical Herbalist and weirdly also a Chartered Surveyor.I started off as a geologist got distracted and became interested in poulation studies/health then forgot that and studied Surveying ,then decided I was allergic to being behind a desk. I prefer history though.What was I thinking of? and I forgot to say to Claudia-remeber a little blood goes a long way especially from a head wound!

look no futher than Pydna 168 BC Third Macedonian War . Legion versus phalanx, gaps in phalanx penetrated massive casualties as Macedonian line disintergrates Roma victor!

My Webpagebellona try this link for an "imagined" modern image of Bellona on a roman deity page.

My gastronomic researches move forward again-I must share another excellent snippet , firstly it appears that the keeping of fish in the later republic had become the apex of decadent self indulgenge-Lucullus sulking mightily at Pompeys grandstanding retired to the countr and achieved prodigies in the ostentatiously expensive provision of saltwater fish pens. Secondly you will recall the sad death of the greatly mourned eel and the famous eel with decorative jewellery but did you know that Hortensius the retired orator in his introspective dejection could not contemplate eating one of his own bearded mullet? " You would sooner get him to let you take his carriage mules from his stable and keep them than remove a mullet from his pond' (McEwan -Rubicon). Gastronomic indulgence was the rich boys coke habit crossed with the cult of celebrity tv chefs.Fish= Ennui, the curse of dissapointed intellect.