Subject:	[novaroma] Re: Caligae Romanae
From:	"corvus_cassius_taurusis" <corvus_cassius_taurusis@yahoo.com>
Date:	Tue, 30 Apr 2002 03:34:05 -0000

>> Albion does carry Deepeeka as well as Del Tin swords. I have held
and
>> used swords from more manufactures than I can count any more. In
my
>> not so humble opinion the ones the Albion makes themselves are by
far
>> the best there is. They are extreamly light weight and durable.
Well
>> ballanced and hold a shavable edge if you want it sharpened. I have
>> watched them bulding the swords from rough steel to the finest
sword
>> original or reproduction that I have ever held. If you havn't held
>> one of the Albion Mark swords you can have little idea what it is
>> really like to have a sword become a true part of you arm. I'm
more
>> than impressed and I have become hard to impress over the years.
>>
>> I'm not impuning other sword makers. Deepeeka's ok and Del Tin's
>> great but The Albion Mark is incredable.
>
> Salve!
>
> Actually you are not right. In original roman swords were made of
several
> layers of different steel, in damascene-technique. None of the
Albion swords
> show this. If you do not use the original materials and techniques,
you can
> use plastic anyway, because its cheapest. For real reconstructions
go to
>
>
> Vale, Caius Tarquitius Saturninus
>
> Bonis nocet, qui malis parcit.
>

I never said that they were of damask steel. I simply said that in
the thousands of swords original and reproduction I have held they are
the finest in balance and quality that have graced my hand.
I would never to go so far as to ruin an impression by useing plastic.
That would be an insult to reenacting and reconstruction.
I'm sorry you feel that if one uses a sword made by anyone other than
HR-Replikate that it is not worthwhile to even try to make a good
impression.

Corvus Cassius Taurusis

Just curious? Do you have anything but negitive comments when you
reply to other peoples postings? I havn't seen anything realy postive
in your replys to people on this board or others. I'm sorry if I
missed any positive comments.

To others reading this. You have seen my last comment on this
subject. Why beat a dead horse?

Subject:	[novaroma] Great Works?
From:	=?iso-8859-1?q?Craig=20Stevenson?= <gaiussentius@yahoo.com.au>
Date:	Tue, 30 Apr 2002 17:27:41 +1000 (EST)

Salvete omnes,

I was looking through a mailing list, and saw a
question that I thought was utterly brilliant, and I
thought I would repost it here to get your opinions,
though adjust it slightly.

If you were able to save any three lost works, what
would they be?

My responses were:

a) The Gothic histories and accounts of Priscus, as
they were the things that both Cassiodorus and
Jordanes relied upon, and probably wouldn't be as
biased.

b) The commentaries of Trajan, referred to as the
Dacica, as this is an area that is not well enough
covered by the historians.

c) The lost books of Ammianus Marcellinus, from the
years 96 AD - 354 AD. I think that, given what we have
of him at the moment, it would be a brilliant source
for these years of the Empire.

A denarii for your thoughts?;-)

Valete bene,

Gaius Sentius Bruttius Sura

http://messenger.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Messenger
- A great way to communicate long-distance for FREE!

Subject:	[novaroma] Pictures
From:	"legixhisp" <legioix@pacbell.net>
Date:	Tue, 30 Apr 2002 14:48:20 -0000

Lots of new pictures are up.....

http://www.legio-ix-hispana.org ....click on "Gear"

Gaius Valerius Tacitus Hibernicus
Centurio
LEG IX HSPA

Subject:	[novaroma] Proposal -- Sodalitas Architectura
From:	jmath669642reng@webtv.net
Date:	Tue, 30 Apr 2002 13:18:46 -0400 (EDT)

Mr. E. Clarke;

I regard to your above proposal, I would take this opportunity to
appraise you of the fact that a part of the Sodalitas Militarium is in
fact devoted to Arcitecture. Originally the Sodalitas was devoted
entirely to Architecture, but since there were not many citizens
(actually none at the time) who were interested in the subject besides
myself, upon the advice of one of the ProConsuls (M.C. Julianus), I
endeavored to expand the the Sodalitas, with the support of the NR
Senate to the Sodalitas Militarium. I have since that time printed a
few articles regarding architecture as the interest of the subject and
the NR ctizens have seemed to desire.

You are welcome to join the Militarium and the discussion area provided
for Architechture as you may wish to do so. In order to join the
Militarium, all that is required is a note stating your desire to do so
to Beneficaris Starbo:

trog99@hotmail.com

if you are a member of Nova Roma. If you are not a member of Nova Roma,
you may apply to he "Socci" (Militarium Brotherhood) of the Sodalitas,
to the same individual. Let me kow when you are accepted, and we will
then discuss your specific interests and find a place for you in the
Militarium Staff, if you are so interested.

As you probably already well know, architecture, not only encompasses
the magnificent buildings of ancient Rome, but also encompasses,
bridges, aqueducts, dams, drainage works, canals, port facilities, as
well as military fortifications. So there is certainly plenty of room
for you to begin your efforts if you are so inclined.

Respectfully;

Marcus Minucius Audens -- Praefectus Castorum -- Sodalitas Militarium



Fair Winds and Following Seas!!!


http://community.webtv.net/jmath669642reng/NovaRomaMilitary

Subject:	[novaroma] Florales Oracle
From:	Caius Curius Saturninus <c.curius@welho.com>
Date:	Tue, 30 Apr 2002 22:16:27 +0300

Salvete omnes,

It is my pleasure to announce the opening of the Florales Oracle, the
famous Sibyllinus Oraculum! Whatever may be your question to the
famous oracle, you are sure to get a surprising answer. She answers
every question with her own personal style, try and see for yourself
why she is so famous!

(Remember that this is time of Florales, so it may well be that her
answers are very satirical and said with smile. In the Florales we
all are supposed to enjoy, so she might give you an ironic answer if
you ask too serious questions.)

Just go to the following URL and click on the image and you can write
your question:

http://italia.novaroma.org/cohorsaedilis/ludi/floreales/oracle.htm

Please note that you need a Macromedia Shockwave player plug-in at
your web browser to view the page.

Sibyllinus Oraculum was made by:
Idea & Graphics: Franciscus Apulus Caesar
Programming: Caius Curius Saturninus
Answers: by divine inspiration, Cohors Aedilis CFQ

Valete,
--
Caius Curius Saturninus

Legatus Regionis Finnicae
Procurator Academia Thules ad Studia Romana Antiqua et Nova
Praeses et Triumvir Academia Thules ad Studia Romana Antiqua et Nova
Scriba Aedilis (Caeso Fabius Q.) Concursus

e-mail: c.curius@welho.com
www.insulaumbra.com/regiofinnica
www.insulaumbra.com/academiathules
gsm: +358-50-3315279
fax: +358-9-8754751

Subject:	[novaroma] Re: Trina Comita
From:	"otto_von_sitter" <otto_von_sitter@yahoo.com>
Date:	Tue, 30 Apr 2002 19:58:29 -0000

Thanks for the feedback! It appears my source may be a bit
inaccurate on his history.

Marcus Cornelius Tiberius

--- In novaroma@y..., Matt Haase <haase@c...> wrote:
>
> Forwarded from Senator Titus Labienus:
> _______________________
>
> Salvete omnes
>
> This post is a bit tardy because I'm still having a great deal of
trouble
> getting messages to Yahoo groups. Some lists work just fine;
others seem not
> to like me. Since my original attempt to send this has yet to
appear, it looks
> like this remains one of the difficult lists.
>
> "I freely admit that all I know about this topic is of what I read in
this
> post, so please don't be offended if I get a few things wrong."
>
> And I hope that you won't mind my correcting you in some
places.
>
> "In the system that ancients used, or at least in the later
Republic,
> there were two Comitas: the Centuriata (sp) and the Tribuna
> (sp)."
>
> Actually, there were three comitia. These were the Comitia
Centuriata, the
> Comitia Populi Tributa, and the Concilium Plebis (which we
call the Comitia
> Plebis Tributa).
>
> "The Centuriata was only for those in the Legions and the
officers' votes
> counted for more than the common footsoldier's."
>
> Not really. Originally, a citizen's century was determined by the
century in
> which that citizen would serve in times of war. This fell by the
wayside
> slowly over time, and was not particularly true by the end of the
Republic.
> Also, while it is true that only male citizens--who were required
to serve in
> the legions in time of need--could vote, the elderly and infirm
were also
> allowed to vote even though they could not serve in the legions.
And, even
> prior to Marius' reforms which removed the property
requirement for
> legionaries, the head count were allowed to vote (though they
were consigned to
> the bottom century).
>
> Throughout the Republic, the citizenry were divided among five
classes by
> wealth. The wealthiest were in the first class and the poorest
were in the
> fifth class. These classes were made of successively fewer
centuries, with the
> fifth class having the fewest. In this way, the poorest citizens
had the least
> effective vote, since only the aggregate vote of each century
mattered. Also,
> votes cast by centuries were counted from richest to least
wealthy, which meant
> that the last centuries often never had their votes counted
because the matter
> would already be decided by the time the rogators reached
them.
>
> The usual rationale provided for giving more power to the
wealthy was that
> those with more money gave more to the defense of the city,
and should
> therefore have a greater say in its affairs. The debate over this
argument's
> validity continues today.
>
> "The Tribuna was all the other free men and it had all of them
divided into
> tribes, Urban tribes for those that lived within the walls of
Rome, and Rural
> tribes for all the rest of Latium. The problem with this was that
certain
> corrupt Senators only had to convince a few rural citizens in
order to outvote
> all the urban tribes. Even if all however many in the urban
tribes got
> together, they still only had one vote per tribe. So the rural
tribes were more
> powerful in that they didn't have to have as many per tribe and
they still got
> their one vote. There were also many more rural tribes than
urban, so it was
> easy for the rural tribes to outvote the urban tribes."
>
> This is essentially true. Since only the wealthy could easily
afford to travel
> to Rome to attend a vote, only the wealthy and their clients
tended to show up
> to vote in the rural tribes.
>
> Both the Comitia Populi Tributa (often just called the Comitia
Tributa) and the
> Concilium Plebis were divided by tribe. The primary difference
between the two
> was that patricians were forbidden from voting in the Concilium
Plebis.
>
> "From what I understand of NR's Comitia system, they are kind
of mixed, keeping
> the idea of tribes and centuries."
>
> NR's comitia are actually quite similar in both form and
function to the
> ancient comitia. The substantial differences all make the
system less
> oligarchic than the ancient system. First, a citizen's class is
dependent upon
> service to the Republic, not wealth. Second, all voting citizens
are spread
> relatively evenly among the rural tribes. Only those who fail to
vote in the
> main elections in December are placed in the urban tribes,
and then only for so
> long as they continue to fail to vote in the main elections. And,
it is the
> tribal comitia that have enacted the majority of Nova Roma's
laws.
>
> "Even if a Plebian became more rich than some Patricians, he
could never become
> a Patricians and thus could never sit on the Senate or really
aver get a
> position of substantial power."
>
> This is just plain wrong. Fairly early in the Republic, the plebs
won the
> right to become consul--a position that carried automatic
inclusion in the
> Senate. Eventually, they could hold any seat in the
government, and could
> serve in most of the priesthoods. C Marius, who was consul
seven times and
> arguably the most important man in Rome for many years, was
a plebeian from
> Arpinium. (To be absolutely correct, I should note that his
family had just
> received equestrian status when he was born.)
>
> Indeed, throughout the Republic the plebeians steadily gained
power. By the
> time of Caesar and Pompeius, it was the Concilium Plebis that
initiated and
> enacted the vast majority of leges, and wealth was arguably
more important than
> family in gaining and maintaining political power. When Divus
Augustus assumed
> the mantle of Princeps, he was especially careful to arrogate
the power of the
> tribuni plebis to himself.
>
> "From what I understand, though I don't know the specifics,
can't a Plebian
> become a Patrician in NR through some process?"
>
> There are two methods for a plebeian to join the ordo patricius
in NR. First,
> he or she may leave his or her current gens and be adopted by
a patrician
> paterfamilias. Second, his or her gens may be elevated to
patrician status en
> masse when there is a vacancy in the ordo patricius (i.e. when
there are fewer
> than 30 patrician gentes). Both of these methods were
available to the
> ancients, though the mechanism and consequences were
different for the
> elevation of an ancient familia versus the elevation of a Nova
Roman gens.
>
> "Another way that we are much more far than the ancient
system is that women
> would have never been able to hold the positions that they do
in NR. Women were
> treated almost as badly as the slaves as far as their rights
went."
>
> Absolutely true, though women did enjoy substantially greater
protection under
> the law than slaves did. Essentially, free women were treated
as though they
> were free children.
>
> Valete
> T Labienus Fortunatus

Subject:	[novaroma] Re: Great Works?
From:	"quintuscassiuscalvus" <richmal@attbi.com>
Date:	Tue, 30 Apr 2002 20:45:40 -0000

--- In novaroma@y..., Craig Stevenson <gaiussentius@y...> wrote:
> Salvete omnes,
>
> I was looking through a mailing list, and saw a
> question that I thought was utterly brilliant, and I
> thought I would repost it here to get your opinions,
> though adjust it slightly.
>
> If you were able to save any three lost works, what
> would they be?
>

Salve,

Good question. Mine would be:

1) The Library of Alexandria
2) All nine of the Sibylline Books
3) The Ark of the Covenant

Pax,

Quintus Cassius Calvus

Subject:	[novaroma] Communications Problems
From:	"jmath669642reng" <jmath669642reng@webtv.net>
Date:	Tue, 30 Apr 2002 21:26:19 -0000

Citizens of Nova Roma;

Some time ago my colleague Senator Fabius Maximus gave some excellent advice to a citizen inquiring as to why citizens and magistrates sometimes do not get a satisfactory reply. His words were well chosen, as I would have expected, but I would like to add a few more items, as well:

In addition to Senator Maximus' comments, I would remind our citizens that involvement with Nova Roma is a voluntary activity. Each of us has jst so much time each day to devote to it. I know that sometimes a thoughtful post in response to a question can take up to an hour to put together in a reasonable and clear format. Magistrates will have many such answers to deliver, and it is easy to get behind.

The Censors and usually the Consuls are pretty busy, and unless they have access to a computer at work, and some time to devote to a response, they are as limited in time as any citizen who has just a few hours each week to spend.

Then there are those citizens who outside activities increase during a certain period of the year. In my case, I am deeply involved in reenacting during the months of May through October. Those people who are live in Northern climes, look forward to skiing and snowmobiling during the winter months. In such cases these people will have more time in one part of the year than in another.

I have just returned from a three week vacation, the first such long vacation in over ten years. In spite of the fact that I had announced my intentions some two months ahead of time, as well as my departure date. I had two questions waiting for me when returned. I have answered both, but each questioner waited at least two weeks for my response.

Upon my arrival I also found three e-Mails from Nova Roma Citizens (supposedly), the messages of which were very curt and referred to something, that I have no knowledge of, and they were not signed. Generally those kinds of messages could be virus messages, and I generally delete those unanswered. If you wish to have a reply, please make sure that your message / request is clear about what you require, makes sense to both yourself and to the addressee, and it should have your name at the end.

Be sure that when you request information, or services that you have the right person. It may well be that the person whom you have contacted has no idea as to the answer to your question. Generally, it is easier for the requestor to identify the proper contact, from the NR website than it is for someone else to guess at what you want. If you address Nova Roma, at large, then the responsibility to answer your request devolves on no particular person(s).

It is my understanding that some servers automatically erase unanswered messages after two weeks, and certainly there have been any number of both citizens and magistrates who have had computer problems over the last 3+ years which have put them out of the communications loop for anywhere from a few days up to several weeks or even months. One of my friends in NR regularly works overtime, and many times my messages are deleted by his server.

Several of our citizens were brought back into military service as a result of Sept. !! and / or the Afghan War. Some of these people have acess to the internet,, some only have limited access, and some have no access. We have many students who are citizens and some of these are laboring long and hard on thier doctorates. I remember when I was working in that area, I had time for little else.

Then there is always the attitude problem. If you have taken something that I, or someone else, has said in the wrong way, and stew about it for a while and then write me (or them) an angry (sarcastic, mean, abusive, etc.) message about it, you may well be glad that I do NOT answer you!!!!! A gentleman misunderstood a message from me just before I left on vacation, and I could not make him understand my response, from my point of view. That sometimes happens, particularly when one or both communicators are stubborn. Since I have always admitted to being stubborn and opiniated, as well as obnoxious. short-tempered, militant, and overbearing, there is the definite possibility, however remote, of a misunderstanding!!!!!!!!!!! (Grin!!!).

There is also the distinct liklihood that your question has been answered (cussed, and discussed) at least once and the answer is in the archives, or perhaps on the QR Website. If such is so, people may just be tired of talking about it!!!!

I have offered many times in the past, throughout my time in Nova Roma, to assist in these areas, as I am needed. However, I have only been asked for assiance not over ten times in three years. Others in Nova Roma, both Citizens and Magistrates, have made similar offers over the years, as well.

So, if you or someone you know is having problems getting an answer from another individual, give some thought to the obvious possibilities, and try to work out an alternate plan to get the information that you need, when and how you need it.

Respectfully;

Marcus Minucius Audens

Subject:	[novaroma] Klez Virus
From:	Marcus Octavius Germanicus <haase@konoko.net>
Date:	Tue, 30 Apr 2002 16:45:15 -0500 (CDT)

Salvete Quirites,

Many of us have lately been bombarded with mail that appears to be from
other citizens, that contains a strange subject line, no body text,
and a large attachment that appears to be a JPG or WAV file but is
actually a Windows executable.

These messages may have appeared to come from such addresses as
pontifices @ novaroma.org, consuls @ novaroma.org, and other list
addresses that are never used for legitimate outgoing mail. Or, they
may have appeared to come from the addresses of FreeBSD, Linux, Mac,
or WebTV users that are not susceptible to Microsoft security holes.

This is the Klez worm, which plucks a random address from the victim's
address book and forges the mail so that it appears to be from that
person. WIRED has an excellent article on the subject here:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,52174,00.html

Valete, Octavius.


--
Marcus Octavius Germanicus
Consul of Nova Roma, MMDCCLV a.u.c.
Curator Araneum et Senator