Posted on 01/10/2018 6:52:04 AM PST by harpygoddess
Well, sort of. We didn’t elect someone to destroy the republic, but to save it.
Guess which language Spanish derived from…Sure, but Caesar still spoke Latin, not Spanish (so he must have said “est,” not “esto” ;-).
My brother, who teaches Spanish, tells me that Spanish evolved from Vulgar Latin, which the common folk spoke in the street.
Thanks for the history lesson.
In the 19th century and earlier they had kind of lost track of where it was located.
It does appear surprisingly insignificant in size but it was the southern border of Cisalpine Gaul which was merged into Roman provinces shortly after the time of Caesar so it was no longer a meaningful boundary for administrative purposes and was lost track of a assumed a local name.
When reading some old history of Rome, I said to myself, what do they mean, they don’t know where the Rubicon is located? It seemed senseless.
He was supposedly sensitive about his hairline and tended to wear the ceremonial laurel crown at public events besides during triumphs. His downfall was in forgiving his Roman opponents in the civil war which followed his crossing of the Rubicon. Several of them, including Brutus (whose mother was one of Caesar’s mistresses), were in group of assassins who murdered him in the Senate.
Brings to mind his infamous, “Et tu, Brute?”
Alex, I’ll take Romance Language for $400.
I know all that. Why are you telling me this? All I did was complain about a misquote. Yes, I did have Latin and history in school. Many years.
Caesar crosses the Rubicon with the Legio XIII Gemina.
Mmm, I’m nabbin’ that quote.
Thanks harpygoddess.
Caesar created the Roman Republic by crossing the Rubicon -- the so-called Roman Republic prior to that time was a fascist oligarchy run by three dozen families who owned most of Italy, and owned about 40 percent of the people who lived in the city of Rome. There were no elections that meant anything. That's a system that may still have appeal to some, but it isn't a system any conservative can gladly embrace.
The closest modern analogue might be a system like Iran's, where the Guardian Council plays the role of the Roman Senate, and the presidency is split between two consuls who are limited to one year terms, and can veto the other consul's decrees, but regardless can't enact any laws without the say-so of the unelected GC/Senate.
The liberating influence of Julius Caesar was understood in his time, and continues to be in Italy. As far as I've ever read anywhere, none of his assassins was honored in death -- yet today, one can go to Rome and find fresh flowers and other dedications left on the site where Caesar was honorably cremated.
It boggles me that the location of the Rubicon has been lost to the mists of time.
How do you lose a river? Were there no maps made?
It boggles me that the location of the Rubicon has been lost to the mists of time.
How do you lose a river? Were there no maps made?
The river, even in Caeser’s time was insignificant. It was entering Roman provinces with an army that was the issue. When Cisalpine Gaul was merged in the the Roman provinces to the south, the details of its old borders were lost from certainty.
In the 20th century, a scholar or two put their heads into figuring it out and found references that allowed them to locate it.
While I had a modest understanding of Roman history in outline form, shall we say, I didn’t really start to read much on it until about 20 years ago.
Prior to that I was a British and American history buff.
The Roman (and Greek era) world has so much history written about it and it is so instructive and informative to read it in light of changes in our world. I recommend it. I found the books of Anthony Everett to be good entry points to various characters and ages. Start with Cicero.
For first sources, try Polybius.
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