M. Porcius Cato

What is this a summary of? Firsts? Changes in policy? Plebs were not continuously serving in the consulship since 509. This is a good topic, but something is amiss.

But this just isn't true. Labor-intensive products (e.g., health services) are rising in prices, whereas capital-intensive products (e.g., laptops) are falling. It's true that CEOs may be in danger of pricing their labor out of the market in the same way that (say) textile labor priced itself out of the market, but only time will tell. Now you're engaging in hyperbole. Let's look at what's happening from the customer perspective, since that's where the money comes from. Realistically, products from Delphi have been less valuable to customers for some time. Personally, I've ripped out the stereo from every American car I've owned because it was so substandard (never had to for a Japanese car, btw). Recently, when the iPod swept the market, Delphi missed an opportunity to add an auxiliary jack (and their mp3 stereo still doesn't have one), whereas auto manufacturers who use other component suppliers do. (As I recall, BMW was first to market on this, quickly followed by Volkswagen et al). Again, Delphi workers can't get guarantees from their customer (Delphi) because Delphi itself can't get guarantees from their customers (what's left of them). Living near Detroit (and Mrs Cato growing up in Sterling Heights), and with several family members employed by GM, Delphi, and Ford, I'm plenty familiar with the sob story of American auto manufacturing, and frankly my sympathy only goes so far. Union greed, lousy corporate leadership, and government meddling destroyed a great American industry. No--they might raise wages to get more talent so they can stay competitive. It's probably true. A poll of French youth was recently taken, where French teenagers were asked what job they wanted most. Something like 78% wanted a job in the civil service, as professional parasites in cushy jobs with little work and less productivity. To me, creative work is a joy, and I proudly live for that kind of work. If that's part of the American ethos, God bless the USA.

How many times did his men mutiny? At least twice.

What determines the monetary value of labor? Supply and demand. Just as American workers are happy to buy Asian products for less, American businesses are happy to buy Asian labor for less. Nothing justifies a double standard here--one for consumers and one for producers. On the contrary, by restricting the ability of American businesses to employ cheap foreign labor, one increases prices of the goods available in the American marketplace, thereby reducing the value of American wages. There's no more sense in raging against the law of supply and demand than in raging against the law of gravity.

Whose jobs? Nobody owns his job; jobs are provided by customer demand. If Starbucks starts to make crappy coffee or if a new coffee shop opens up with better coffee, customers "outsource" their business to a new coffee shop, and Starbucks' employees lose their source of income. Ditto for GM, Ford, and--though I'm sorry for your sister--Delphi too. (FWIW, my father-in-law was in a similar situation at Delphi, and I know the situation is infuriating.) The fact is that many American businesses--like the Starbucks situation in my example--aren't doing as good of a job meeting worldwide consumer demand as foreign businesses are. The same is true of American workers, too--they cost too much and provide too little. No set of "perks" can change this set of fundamentals, only increasing worker productivity can do it, which takes technology, which takes math and science knowledge, which is sorely lacking among American students, teachers, the whole American education establishment, and the wider culture that sees an American idol in William Hung but not William Gates. The question is whether it will take the loss of 1, 10, or 100 million jobs to have another Sputnik-type, "Oh S**t!" You're right about that--and I'd be all for ending welfare to failing businesses (big, small, industrial, agricultural, educational, whatever). There's no welfare queen on earth as fat and lazy as ADM.

I don't recall any Orcs or grenades. Have you seen it? I've not read the graphic novel, but I heard the movie was rather slavish to it.

Have you ever noticed how often Caesar was running out of food? One historian observed that if you counted up all the days that Caesar was on campaign, that fully half of them involved him attempting to extricate himself from situations that he put himself into needlessly. Now, there's much to be said for Caesar's talents at command--logistics, however, were not his strong suit. (Now Alexander, on the other hand....)

Master of strategic retreat--definitely. He ran from his creditors to Spain and then from the irate senate to Gaul. No one was better than getting out of Dodge than Gaius Julius Caesar.

Good point. Exotic sexual dimorphism is ubiquitous in polyandrous and polygynous species, and what we may be sampling here is merely one tail of a curvy continuum. Or something like that.

I walked it fairly quickly, or at least I would have if I hadn't insisted on walking the full course of the Circus Maximus as well. BTW, when the tourists invaded the House of Livia, you should have offered them a fig.

MPC: And this, Nero, is Hollywood. Nero: Finally, now I can live like a human being.

I'm thrilled for you! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Also, visit the Baths of Caracalla. They're not far from the Circus Maximus (just a short walk down the street as I recall), and for some reason, they were vastly less inundated with tourists than the Pantheon. Walking to the Pantheon from your hotel, I think you can also stop by the largo di Torre Argentina, featuring some of the best republican structures to be found in Rome and--of course--the Theatre of Pompey (no longer visible). Just reminiscing about Rome makes me want to book a ticket!

I would cancel, and go to the Forty-Seven. For me at least, it was that good.

For accommodations, I very strongly recommend the Forty-Seven. Across the street from the Round Temple and Temple to Hercules, you're also about as close to the Circus Maximus and Forum as you can get. The staff were amazing (fluent in English, German, and French); the room was chic and modern; the dining was exceptional. I only hesitate to recommend this hotel because I'm afraid the word will get out about how fabulous it is--and I want to keep it just the way it is. (If you're using a digital camera, I'd also suggest you bring an extra battery.) EDIT: For the PNS itinerary, the Forty-Seven is ideally situated. EDIT 2: When you visit the Forum, try approaching from different entrances. Each one affords a different impression of the total space. My favorite is from the Tabilarium.

If the old war on drugs weren't bad enough, the new one is even worse: prosecuting doctors for prescribing pain medication. Again, from the Grey Lady.

Octavian was a 19-year-old boy at the time with no apparent monarchical ambitions. Keeping Caesar's heir from uniting with Antony was Cicero's chief object.

Right, but if you look at a list of significant legislation, you're almost bound to find the successful tribunes. What of the tribunes--like Livius Drusus--who proposed legislation that was designed to help everyone yet failed? Or the tribunes who played a beneficial but non-legislative role (e.g., Cato in the Catilinarian conspiracy)? A good long list of exemplary tribunes would be nice to have on hand.

Indeed - and if we bring in Ovid, we have political ramifications too. (I feel a thread coming on...) Is this confined to poetry, by the way? It would be interesting if it turned out that historians were more taken in by Augustus' propaganda than the propagandists themselves. So much for the idea that Virgil was the Leni Riefenstahl of his age.

Four new podcasts from the creators of "Rome" Slavery in Rome Worship in Rome Women in Rome Rome 360 Tour (Must have iTunes; may not be available outside US.)

Don't pick Franco. It's been said that choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. Indeed. You should see "Pan's Labyrinth," FVC. It's biased on the other side, but it's clear that the fascists were rotten bastards.

Sounds interesting. Propertius comes to mind as well.

To add two 'good tribunates' (whether the men were good or not): Gaius Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius. They opened the consulship to plebeians.

That's a damned good point!

If you were to list 'good' tribunates and 'bad' tribunates, how would your list look, and what would make each tribune's tenure good or bad? Seems to me that focusing only on seditious tribunes has a rather distorting effect on how we view the office.

I guess that after 50 years of more or less constant threat of civil war or civil war, people wanted stability. But people were also exhausted after the civil wars of Marius/Sulla and the Social Wars, which is when Cicero made his premature declaration. From Cicero's standpoint, why should he have been less optimistic about changing the political culture than Augustus?