🟡 THE RISE OF A SLAVE

“Lucius Voltacilius Plotius is said to have been a slave and even to have served as a doorkeeper in chains, according to the ancient custom, until he was set free because of his talent and interest in letters, and helped his patron prepare his accusations. Then becoming a teacher of rhetoric, he had Gnaeus Pompeius the Great for a pupil, and wrote a history of the exploits of Pompey's father, as well as those of the son, in several volumes. In the opinion of Cornelius Nepos, he was the first of all freedmen to take up the writing of history, which up to that time had been confined to men of the highest position.”

Suetonius

🔶 PARTHIAN CULTURE

“Each man has several wives, for the sake of gratifying desire with different objects. They punish no crime more severely than adultery, and accordingly they not only exclude their women from entertainments, but forbid them the very sight of men. They eat no flesh but that which they take in hunting. They ride on horseback on all occasions; on horses they go to war, and to feasts; on horses they discharge public and private duties; on horses they go abroad, meet together, traffic, and converse. Indeed the difference between slaves and freemen is, that slaves go on foot, but freemen only on horseback. They dispose of bodies by leaving them to be torn apart by birds or dogs; the bare bones they at last bury in the ground.”

“In their superstitions and worship of the gods, the principal veneration is paid to rivers. The disposition of the people is proud, quarrelsome, faithless, and insolent; for a certain roughness of behaviour they think becoming to men, and gentleness only to women. They are always restless, and ready for any commotion, at home or abroad; taciturn by nature; more ready to act than speak, and consequently shrouding both their successes and failures in silence. They obey their princes, not from humility, but from fear. They are libidinous, but frugal in diet. To their word or promise they have no regard, except as far as suits their interest.”

Justinus

🔴 HISTORICAL EXAMPLE OF DECIMATION

“On learning of this, the Senate angrily ordered the consuls to keep quiet, and chose Crassus to conduct the war, and many of the nobles were induced by his reputation and their friendship for him to serve under him. Crassus himself, accordingly, took position on the borders of Picenum, expecting to receive the attack of Spartacus, who was hastening thither; and he sent Mummius, his legate, with two legions, by a circuitous route, with orders to follow the enemy, but not to join battle nor even to skirmish with them. Mummius, however, at the first promising opportunity, gave battle and was defeated; many of his men were slain, and many of them threw away their arms and fled for their lives. Crassus gave Mummius himself a rough reception, and when he armed his soldiers anew, made them give pledges that they would keep their arms. Five hundred of them, moreover, who had shown the greatest cowardice and been first to fly, he divided into fifty decades, and put to death one from each decade, on whom the lot fell, thus reviving, after the lapse of many years, an ancient mode of punishing the soldiers. For disgrace also attaches to this manner of death, and many horrible and repulsive features attend the punishment, which the whole army witnesses.”

(Crassus 115-53 BC was a wealthy Roman politician and general. Defeated Spartacus, part of the First Triumvirate, died in a disastrous Parthian campaign).

Plutarch

🔘 THE CONSTANTINOPLE PROJECT

“In commemoration of his splendid victory Constantine called Byzantium Constantinople after his own name; and as if it were his native city, he adorned it with great magnificence and wished to make it equal to Rome. Then he sought out new citizens for it from every quarter, and lavished such wealth on the city, that thereon he all but exhausted the imperial fortunes. There he also established a senate of the second rank, the members of which had the title of clari. Then he began war against the Goths, rendering aid also to the Sarmatians, who had appealed to him for help.”

The Anonymus Valesianus

🔵 KINGDOM TO REPUBLIC

“My first book contains the deeds of Rome's seven kings, viz.: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius (a descendant of Numa), Tarquinius, Servius Tullius, and Lucius Tarquinius, a son of the other Tarquinius. The first of these was the founder and builder of Rome, and although he governed it rather as a father than as an absolute monarch, he was nevertheless slain, or, as some think, translated. The second, not less kingly, but even more so than the first, died at the age of . . . The third was struck by lightning. The fourth died of a disease. The fifth was murdered by some shepherds. The sixth lost his life in a similar manner. The seventh was expelled from the city and kingdom for violating the laws. From that time kingly rule came to an end, and the administration of government was transferred to consuls.”

He attacked me 😂

🟣 TRAJAN’S REPLY

The Emperor's Reply

"You have acted quite properly, Pliny, in examining the cases of those Christians brought before you. Nothing definite can be laid down as a general rule. They should not be hunted out. If accusations are made and they are found guilty, they must be punished. But remember that a man may expect pardon from repentance if he denies that he is a Christian, and proves this to your satisfaction, that is by worshiping our gods, however much you may have suspected him in the past. Anonymous lists should have no part in any charge made. That is thoroughly bad practice and not in accordance with the spirit of the age."

Pliny the younger

⚪️ THE POWER OF THE DRUIDS

“Nor is it only in the exigencies of peace, but in their wars as well, that they (the Gauls) obey, before all others, these men and their chanting poets, and such obedience is observed not only by their friends but also by their enemies; many times, for instance, when two armies approach each other in battle with swords drawn and spears thrust forward, these men step forth between them and cause them to cease, as though having cast a spell over certain kinds of wild beasts.”

Diodorus Siculus

🟢 THE AQUA APPIA AND HUMAN NATURE

“For 441 years from the founding of the City, the Romans were satisfied with the use of whatever water they drew from the Tiber, from wells, or from springs. To this day springs are revered for their sanctity, and their water is thought to bring health to sick bodies. One thinks of the ancient springs of the Camenae, of the . . ., and of Juturna. There are now, however, nine aqueducts from which water converges into Rome. These are named Appia, Anio Vetus, Marcia, Tepula, Julia, Virgo, Alsietina (which is also called Augusta), Claudia, and Anio Novus.

In the consul­ship of Marcus Valerius Maximus and Publius Decius Mus [312 B.C.E.], thirty years after the beginning of the Samnite War, the Aqua Appia was brought into the City by the censor Appius Claudius (later called "the Blind"). In that year the same man also had charge of constructing the Appian Road from Porta Capena as far as the city of Capua. Appius' colleague in the censor­ship was Gaius Plautius, called Venox for having discovered the veins of this water.

But Plautius resigned from the censor­ship before the eighteen months' term had elapsed, deceived by Appius who pretended he would do likewise, and so the name of the aqueduct fell to the credit of Appius alone. Indeed, Appius is reported to have extended his censor­ship by many subterfuges, until he could complete both the road and the aqueduct.”

Sextus Julius Frontinus, De Aquis