M. Porcius Cato

Hold on--they weren't "split up" amongst the elites. Leases were auctioned off so as to provide the best possible returns for the treasury. In consequence, the revenues of the state grew so rich that those legionaries soon found that they were no longer required to pay taxes. Moreover, in the late republic, these fairly purchased lands were confiscated by the triumvirs so as to settle those legionaries who had already been paid for their service and who had grown rich through plunder and slaving. Let's not weep for the wolves, shall we?

The coin commemorating the assassination of Caesar must be a HOLY RELIC! Isn't it obvious why I'm sick??

There is a much simpler explanation for the increase in gasoline prices--surging demand in a nation of a billion people (China). As Chinese demand for gas increases, prices will increase until the supply satisfies the demand. More generally, you can't assume that the only reason that prices rise is due to the supplier's whim: you have to look at the whole equation. No doubt suppressed by the same people who are hiding the truth about UFOs, Bigfoot, and Ethanol (shucks, where is Fox Mulder when you need him?). Seriously, though, electric cars would pose no threat to the oil industry. Most domestic electricity is produced by burning oil, so the oil companies would have very little motivation to engineer a vast conspiracy to suppress the production of another product that finds use for their product. Moreover, if the electric car were really such a great product, why would the ailing car companies not jump at the chance to revive their flagging sales by means of such a product?

Why it was returned? It's complicated--read the story.

I think you're confusing Carthage (or Renaissance Spain) for Rome. The Romans were fairly lax when it came to the Treasury. Most quaestors had no idea what was going on, and the money gained from conquest fairly often ended up in the pockets of troops rather than in the Temple to Saturn.

It's clear that you hate the republic, but what is it you find interesting about the Dominate? Why not study any of the other monarchies that lasted from the first Caesar to the last Czar and Kaisar? What was remarkable about the Roman monarchical system? I really am just curious.

It pains me to even respond to such patent rubbish, but oil companies obviously do not own and control the United States (they don't even own a single railroad in the US, let alone the whole country). If they really did own the US, however, they wouldn't have such a hard time getting the rights to drill in ANWR, off California and Florida, and to build new oil refineries. Obviously they do lobby for these policies, just as many lobby against them, and sometimes they convince legislators and sometimes they don't. BTW, I don't own a piece of the oil industry, but I'm all for their freedom to aggressively seek new sources of oil, and I know I'm not alone in this opinion. You might not like the fact that the oil companies have their supporters, but let's not pretend that their only support comes from their employees.

What's wrong with the use of Representatives to represent the people? You know, it's cheap and easy to SAY that the tribunes/Representatives don't represent the people, but "the people" don't speak with one voice--people disagree on any manner of issues and they prioritize the issues that matter most to them. This business of denigrating the electoral system just because you don't like the outcome is simply sour grapes.

Gee, I wonder how much was spent plastering the Res Gestae all over the Mediterranean. Was that late-career move a case of putting the welfare of the nation first or a case of self-aggrandizement? In the Res Gestae, he even has the gall to spin his propaganda architecture as "finding Rome a city of brick, but leaving it one of marble". What chutzpah!

If you don't have a right to compel women what to do with their reproductive organs, on what basis do you have a right to compel men what to do with their reproductive organs? Really, Clodius, your namesake would be horrified! I really wish the Libertarians would quit being so kooky so I could vote for them too. There's clearly a large number of Democrats who value civil liberties and fairness in government over the redistribution of wealth and a large number of true Goldwater Republicans who think the religious right is as scary as they are nuts (Goldwater himself was warning about these kooks back in 1980). The opportunity exists for a viable and valuable third party: it's just a matter of finding the district in the country that could feasibly field a candidate that could reach out to these voters.

Leaving aside the issue of state-sponsored flouridation, have there been replicated findings of fluoridated water causing Alzeheimer's?

BTW, shouldn't this thread get moved to the Republic subforum? [edit=PP... yes and done!]

Not really. Permits for building new oil refineries are nearly impossible to obtain. The fault lies with voters who simultaneously wish for cheap energy and for so many environmental laws that that energy is impossible to produce cheaply. Don't blame Exxon; blame voters.

For consistency, wouldn't it make sense to change the rank of "senator" to "pedarius"? The pedarii (who as freshmen senators mostly only voted with their feet) were also to be found in the principate, I presume.

To add to Phil's reply: The minimum qualification was election to an officer at the level of quaestor. The pedarii (who never rose above the level of quaestor) were mostly new men (i.e., no one from their family had ever served in the senate previously), though a great many "new men" attained higher office (about 25% of the aediles and praetors from 78-49 BC were novi homines). Also, by the late republic, most senators were plebes not patricii. (Contrary to popular belief, politics in the late republic were not drawn along the pleb/patrician faultlines.) It's hard to know exactly who attended on any given day. Given that there was a quorum rule, it's reasonable to suppose that the senate house wasn't always packed. However, we do have the names of a very large proportion of the senators. For the period 78-49 BC, we know the names of all 61 consuls, 178 of the 240 elected praetors, 48 of the 120 elected aediles, 113 of the 300 elected tribunes, and 200 pedarii. On the assumption that the names of the unknown were mostly those of new men, our estimates of the proportion of new men in the senate are probably fairly conservative. Thus, I think it's fair to say that the post-Sullan senate, while biased slightly for families who had served in the past (whether due to the electoral advantages attaining to name recognition or due to outright nepotism), was nevertheless quite open to newcomers and certainly much more democratic than the senate had been in the early days of the republic. Collectively senators had control over the finances of the state (via quaestors) and determined foreign policy (via provincial governors). As the only long-term government body (all "executive branch" magistracies lasted but two years), the senate was in a unique position to deliberate on how Rome might achieve her long-term objectives (like defeating Hannibal). In addition, the senate could pass a special decree for the protection of the republic against domestic threats (e.g., the one passed to empower Cicero to defend the republic against Catiline). This decree came to substitute for the office of dictator, which was largely passe by the late republic. In additiion to the power of the senator to contribute to senatorial decisions, senators (at various points during the republic) also served on special-purpose standing juries that were devoted to the prosecution of (inter alia) illegal electioneering, mishandling finances, abusing provincial powers, etc. This power should not be overlooked. At least since Cato's lex Porcia, juries such as these were often the only recourse citizens had to abuses by magistrates. One important point to keep in mind is a role the senate did not play: it did not pass legislation. Legislation was passed in the lower assemblies.

PP--you do know that the US gets most of its oil from Canada and Mexico, right? Last I checked, the US gets the majority (if not the vast majority) of its petroleum from North and South America. In fact, I think we even get about as much oil from the Virgin Islands, Norway and Britain as we do from Iraq and Kuwait (which supply us with only a relatively small proportion of oil). If we were just after oil, we'd be better off toppling Chavez than Saddam Hussein. (Come to think of it...)

You sure about this one Pertinax? Seems like the risk of Alzheimer's (if there really is any) has to be weighed against the benefits...

Mrs. Cato and I both bought the FSM t-shirts (not matching, though, thank god--we're nerdy, but not THAT nerdy).

Over the course of Roman history, the Senate changed enormously. Do you want to know about the Senate when Rome was ruled (1) by kings (i.e., the regal period), (2) by the senate and people of Rome (i.e., the republic), or (3) by the emperors (i.e., the principate and dominate)?

Thanks, Phil. You made my day.

LOL--read the story linked above. Britain didn't lose its Marbles.

The most wonderful artifact of the ancient world has been returned to Greece! Story here. I'm sick, just sick.

Thanks QVS; the Holmes article, "Was Caesar born in 102 or in 100 BC?", was a real treasure. Holmes' conclusion is that "it is in the highest degree probable that Caesar was born in 102." All of the arguments we considered are rehashed in the article (yay us!), but Holmes additionally considers numismatic evidence that we neglected, copying errors regarding dates in Plutarch's life of Pompey, and the existence of an ancient source (Eutropius) that definitively puts Caesar's birth in 102. If we accept Holmes' conclusion, Caesar did not hold every single office of his life illegally, thus we needn't impute a vast populare conspiracy to explain how he came to hold the consulship when he did. At the same time, though, we also needn't assume that patricians and plebs had different age requirements for office.

How does the new ranking system work? Looks to me like the civilian cursus honorum has been interspersed with military offices. It's sort of strange.

Thanks, Phil. I really do hate to have to praise Caesar in every other post, but it's important to give the guy his due--nobody else around here seems to appreciate him.