Re-entry of Marius (Nova Roma)
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Conditions for the readmission of L Marius Fimbria
[Received from his paterfamilias, censor Gaius Marius Merullus, in late August Q. Maximo M. Minucio cos. ‡ MMDCCLIII a.u.c.. A private letter containing guidelines for Lucius Marius' probation was sent earlier, on 24 August of that year, and is also quoted below.]
You must apologize publicly to L Equitius Cincinnatus. Your apology should be posted on the very first day that you resume posting to the main list, otherwise you will be considered to be rejecting this condition.
You have complied with the requirement to turn over the Cincinnatus handle, this is done.
In the event that you violate the terms of your probation, or are expelled from gens Maria, or pose clear danger to Nova Roma by reckless action, a punitive senatus consultum may be introduced to the Senate to punish you or even recommend your prosecution and exile by the Comitia Centuriata.
The Senate has issued a reprimand [1]
of your actions. The reprimand may be re-posted in NR fora in 9 days.
In 9 days, the censores will consider the petition of another citizen to issue a nota against you. You will be advised of the date of a hearing and how to prepare your defense at the hearing.
You are not to use multiple handles, or names derived from the Roman names of fellow citizens, in any Nova Roman forum. This means that you should use one and only one handle in the chatroom linked to the Forum Romanum page of the website, one e-mail name on the main NR e-mail list, and no more than one name on each list associated with a NR provincia, sodalitas, et cetera, in the event that you subscribe to such lists, and none of these names or handles should be constructed so as to hide your identity or assume another's.
My message to you dated August 24 contains guidelines for you to follow to avoid expulsion from gens Maria. If you do not understand or accept any of those guidelines, you are instructed to inform me of this as soon as possible. At the end of this year, I shall review your cooperation with these guidelines and determine the extent of continuation of the probation.
Your rejection of any one or more of these conditions will have the effect of resignation of citizenship, and the terms of the Edictum Censoriale de Civitate Eiuranda will apply.
Vale,
C Marius Merullus, Censor
From the guidelines of 24 August
- "Your apology has to be sincere, and it has to address your remorse for mocking him and for diminishing the public and religious offices that he occupies. It should also list any handles that you ever used to mock him and state that you are abandoning all of them -- any registered handle should be given up and its password information turned over in the apology. You will have to post a copy of the apology on the NovaRoma list as well.
- "As Paterfamilias I shall oversee your probation. The terms of the probation are that you are to refrain from:
- attacking any citizen of Nova Roma in any way, shape or form, anywhere at any time. It does not mean that you cannot disagree with anyone. If you are ever in doubt as to the distinction, you should consult me before going any further.
- impersonating any citizen of Nova Roma in any way, shape or form, anywhere at any time.
- maligning Nova Roma to new applicants or other parties, which may take the form of extensive negative comments in chatrooms, or unsubstantiated or unreasonably repetitive remarks against Nova Roma, or Her magistrates or senators, in any medium
- maneuvering around any one magistrate by going to another without cause.
- "I am willing to consider your suggestion for a time period for the probation. The penalty for committing any of the acts of attacking, impersonating, maligning or maneuvering listed above will be immediate expulsion from gens Maria, with no process or recourse. I regret to advise you further that it is my belief that such expulsion would likely soon be followed by the aforementioned senatus consultum de exsilio."
Apology to L Equitius Cincinnatus
L. Marius Fimbria Quiritibus S.P.D.
I have been asked by the Nova Roman Senate to make public and private apology to Senator and Pontifex Lucius Equitius Cincinnatus. It has become apparent that he was aggrieved and deeply offended by an April Fool's joke of mine which he felt diminished his dignitas and that of the Senatorial and Religious offices he then held. I feel that this is a reasonable request and I am quite willing to accede to the desire of the Senate and grant him the public apology, as it evidently is very important to him. (My private apology he has already received.)
I regret having offended him, and even more that either Senatorial or Pontifical dignity might have seemed impugned by my words or actions. My intent at the time was satirical and not malicious, for I am not a malicious person except under extreme provocation, but I am quite fun-loving by nature. I expected that my parody of Cincinnatus would be judged by its intent, not by its effect. Had I known that it would prove so upsetting, I would assuredly have refrained from what at the time I considered to be merely a playful prank. It has never been any part of my desire to torment or harm anyone in Nova Roma, and that my attempt at humor was interpreted this way is a thing for which I am deeply sorry.
If Senator Cincinnatus or any others happen to feel that anything I said or did went beyond the bounds of good taste, then I apologise for that as well.
In the course of my jest I utilized the chat-room handle 'Cincinnatus', it not having been previously claimed. Its use was not intended to defraud anyone, and it was used only in the sense that an actor might take on a different name to play a different part. I have since turned the handle over to Lucius Equitius; and I do not intend to engage in any further instances of this type of humor in Nova Roma inasmuch as it was so seriously misunderstood the first time, and caused offense to a man who was once my friend in a way and to a degree that I could not have anticipated. For that too I am truly sorry.
Though I, like several other chatroom regulars, have been known to use more than one chat handle, I have not used any other handles that would have led anyone to believe that I was any other Citizen of Nova Roma. Handles I *have* used include 'MariusFimbria' (my Nova Roman name); 'MariusAurelianus' (my civilian Roman name); and 'LegionSix' (the ancient Legion, Legio VI Victrix, to which I owe fealty). In all cases I have cross-referenced these to 'MariusFimbria', so that my Taverna companions might know that it was still me. Let this message serve as public notice that all three of these handles are mine, lest anyone was not already aware of it.
In amicitia et fides
Lucius Marius FimbriaThe senator replied that he had not sought an apology and would not accept one.
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