Dining with Friends

Recently the Emperor was invited to dine with a friend.

I was reminded of a letter from that most famous of statesman, Cicero, written  to his fiend Papirius Paetus in 44 BC:

"I am sorry to hear that you have given up dining out. You have deprived yourself of a great deal of amusement and pleasure. Furthermore (you will not mind me being so candid), I am afraid that you will unlearn what little you used to know, and forget how to give little dinner-parties. ..."

"And really my dear Paetus, all joking apart I advise you, as something which I regard as relevant to happiness, to spend time in honest, pleasant, and friendly company. Nothing becomes life better, or is more in harmony with its happy living. I am not thinking of physical pleasure, but of community of life and habit and of mental recreation, of which familiar conversation is the most effective agent; and conversation is at its most agreeable at dinner-parties. In this respect our countrymen are wiser than the Greeks. They use words literally meaning 'co-drinkings' or 'co-dinings', but we say 'co-livings', because at dinner-parties more than anywhere else life is lived in company. You see how I try to bring you back to dinners by philosophising!"

"Take care of your health - which you will most easily compass by constantly dining abroad." 

[Cicero, Letter to Papirius Paetus]

Shelf Life - Portobello, November 2010

[Iron cast profile of the Cerne Abbas Giant]

Granted that my 'wee man' is not so excited as the ancient original; carved into chalk and measuring 180 feet on a Dorset hillside. However, he is certainly contented looking out over the ever changing light and water that is the Firth of Forth.   

For the Cerne Abbas Giant,

see:  http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chl/w-countryside_environment/w-archaeology/w-archaeology-places_to_visit/w-archaeology-cerne_abbas_giant.htm

Pliny on Man

1. " The nature of living creatures in the world is as important as the study of almost any other, even though the human mind is not able to pursue all aspects of the subject. Pride of place will rightly be given to one for whose benefit Nature apears to have created everything else. Her very many gifts, however, are bestowed as a cruel price, so that we cannot confidently say whether she is a good parent to mankind or a harsh stepmother." 

2. "Man is the only living creature whome nature covers with materials derived from others. To the remainder she gives different kinds of coverings - shell, bark, spines, hides, fur, bristles, hair, down, feathers, scales and fleeces. Even tree-trunks she protects from cold and heat by bark, sometimes in a double layer. But only man is cast forth on the day of his birth naked on the bare earth, to the accompanyment of crying and whimpering. No other creature is more given to tears - and that right at the begining of life. The well-known first smile occurs, at the earliest, only after forty days in any child."

4. "The early promise of strength and the first gift of time make him like a four-footed animal. When does man walk? When does he speak? When is his mouth firm enough for solid food? How long does his fontanelle pulsate - a sign that man is weakest amongst all living creatures? Then there are the diseases to which he is subject,  and the cures devised against these ills that are overcome by new maladies. All other animals know their own natures: some use speed, others swift flight, and yet others swimming. Man, however, knows nothing unless by learning - neither how to speak nor how to walk nor how to eat; in a word, the only thing he knows instinctivley is how to weep. ..."

5."Man alone of living creatures has been given grief, on him alone has luxury been bestowed in countless forms and through every single limb - and likewise ambition, greed and a boundless desire for living, superstitions, anxiety about burial ands even about what there will be after his life ends. No creature's life is more fragile; none has a greater lust for everything; none a more confused sense of fear or a fiercer anger. To sum up, other creatures gather and take thier stand against other species; ... But man, I swear, experiences most ills at the hands of his fellow men."

[Pliny The Elder, Natural History, VII.1-5]

Loch Leven Castle, Kinross-shire

Ok, so this emperor has an obsession for visiting castles .... and I've never denied it.



Our most recent foray, took the imperial court to my home of Kinross-shire on the beautiful banks of Loch Leven. The small ferry boat carried us to the historical Castle Island; site of the famous stronghold that once served as a prison to the unhappy figure, Mary Queen of Scots .

Queen Mary's imprisonment (for a period of 288 days) was only broken by a dramatic night-time escape on 2nd May 1568. She was spirited away by boat, with the surreptitious help of the youth William Douglas, who stole the castle keys and locked her captors inside before discarding them into the loch.*

Its fair to say that Mary's stay at Lochleven Castle was an unhappy one and her later web posting on Trip-Advisor was less than complementary of its amenieties; a fact that must surley have led to the castle's current decline as a recreational retreat.

This Emperor's visit was lucky to catch a sunny day - one of those 'Last Days of Summer' gems that only September in Scotland can offer.

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*On the issue of the stolen castle keys: the 'Annals of Kinross-shire' make an interesting note that a rusted set of ancient and mighty keys were discovered by a local boy - William Honeyman - in the Autumn of 1805, during a period of particularly low water level for the Loch.

Seneca on Stoicism & Restraint

"... indulge the body just so far as suffices for good health. It needs to be treated somewhat strictly to prevent it from being disobedient to the spirit. Your food should appease your hunger, your drink quench your thirst, your clothing keep out the cold, your house be a protection against inclement weather. It makes no difference whether it is built of turf or variegated marble imported from another country: what you have to understand is that thatch makes a person just as good a roof as gold does. Spurn everything that is added on by way of decoration and display by unnecessary labour. Reflect that nothing merits admiration except the spirit, the impressiveness of which prevents it from being impressed by anything."

[Seneca, Letters VIII.2]

Image of An Emperor: Domitian

"He was tall in stature, his countenance modest, and inclined to rudeness, with large eyes, though his sight was dim. His presence was graceful and comely, especially in his youth, excepting only that his toes were bent slightly inward. In course of time, he became disfigured by baldness, corpulence and the slenderness of his legs which were reduced by a long illness."

[Suetonius, Domitian, 18]

Dunraven Beach

The strange rock formations and heavily stratified cliffs of Dunraven beach - South Glamorgan, formed the backdrop to the Emperor's latest adventure.

Something about the bizare rock formations lend this place a sense of another world.

Honouring the Dead

Last month saw a prince of the British realm re-visit a battlefield to honour fallen soldiers of the Empire; men who had given their lives a full 94 years ago in the Great War.

At a newly dedicated cemetery near the French town of Fromelles, The Prince of Wales and other dignitaries, laid to rest the remains of scores of WWI servicemen, only recently discovered in an unmarked grave.

See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10679715

This very current event reminded me of a similar homage undertaken by a prince of Rome to a foreign battlefield. A Roman prince that also sought to honour the fallen soldiers of his great empire.

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That prince was Germanicus, grandnephew to the imperial progenitor Augustus and a celebrated soldier of his age. The year was A.D 15, and his expedition into the wild Germanic forests was of huge significance to the Roman national and military psyche.

[Germanicus Julius Caesar, 16 BC - 19 AD]

Only 6 years prior to that journey, Roman arms had suffered total annihilation (A.D. 9) at the hands of a pan-Germanic coalition in the enemy lands of the Tutonberg Forrest.

The utter destruction of three Roman legions, represented nothing short of a national trauma for the Roman state and left a lasting scar on an otherwise flourishing period of Augustan imperial consolidation. Some measure of that defeats significance can be perceived from the dramatic attention that the historian Tacitus devoted to Germanicus' re-visit of the battlefield:

"[He] conceived a desire to pay his last respects to these men and their general. Every soldier with him was struck with pity when he thought of his relations and friends and when he reflected on the hazards of war and of human life. ... a half-ruined breastwork and shallow ditch showed where the last pathetic remnant had gathered. On the open ground were whitening bones, scattered where men had fled, heaped up where they had stood and fought back. So, six years after the slaughter, a living Roman army had come to bury the dead men's bones of three whole legions. No one knew if the remains he was burying belonged to a stranger or a comrade. But in their bitter distress, and rising fury against the enemy, they looked on them all as friends and blood brothers. Germanicus shared in the general grief, and laid the first turf of the funeral-mound as a heart felt tribute to the dead."

Empires have always honoured their war-dead and their princes are perhaps destined to always re-visit past battlefields in their efforts to pay homage to the fallen.

House Prices Crash in Edinburgh

Dunnottar Castle

The spectacular Dunnottar Castle, perched on its own cliff-top promontory on the North East, Angus coast: a favourite site of this Emperor.

In sunshine or rain, the dramatic location of Dunnottar, makes for an invocotacive and atmosoheric experience.

For Dunnottar Castle and its history, See: http://www.dunnottarcastle.co.uk/

Augustus on Risk

"He [Augustus] was wont to say that:"

'a battle or a war ought never to be undertaken unless the hope of gain was greater than the fear of damage; for men who pursue small commodities with no small risk resemble those who fish with a golden hook, for the loss of which, if the line should break, no draught of fish whatsoever could make amends.'

 

[Suetonius, Augustus, 25]

World Cup Mutinies & The Restoration of Order

THE GREAT FOOTBALLING GAMES

This month the Imperial court has followed the great footballing games with interest!

Many nations - great and small - have gathered from around the world to do battle in the magnificent arenas of the exotic African Cape.

Having chosen not to field an imperial team from our own modest domains, the Emperor has found it strangely liberating to observe the games from a truly non-partisan perspective.




UPSETS & SURPRISES

Despite our neutral stance, it has been observed that these games are already producing some surprises to the perceived natural order of the soccer world.

Great footballing empires have seemed to teeter on the brink of sporting, if not even moral, collapse. While so-called weaker nations have emerged successful and have even flourished in the heat and altitude of South Africa.



MUTINY AND THE COLLAPSE OF DISCIPLINE
One clear feature of such upsets - perhaps their cause or their effect - has manifested itself in the ill-discipline and motivational disintegration of supposedly mighty teams such as France and England.

Squads that are rumoured to have turned on themselves: have been reported as arguing with one another; rejecting the authority of their commanders; and approaching something akin to professional mutiny.

THE ROMAN STYLE OF TEAM MANAGEMENT
With this in mind, I have recently addressed myself to the question as to just how my Roman ancestors would react to such ill-discipline and the rejection of authority:

"If it ever happens that a large body of men break and run in this way and whole maniples desert their posts under extreme pressure, the officers reject the idea of beating to death or executing all who are guilty, but the solution that they adopt is as effective as it is terrifying. The tribune calls the legion on parade and brings to the front those who are guilty of having left the ranks. He then reprimands them sharply, and finally chooses by lot some five or eight or twenty of the offenders, the number being calculated so that it represents about a tenth of those that have shown themselves guilty of cowardice. Those on whom the lot has fallen are mercilessly clubbed to death ... [by their comrades in arms]. The danger and the fear of drawing the fatal lot threatens every man equally, and since there is no certainty on whom it may fall ... the Romans have adopted the best possible practice both to inspire terror and to repair the harm done by the weakening of their warlike spirit." *

[Polybius, The Rise of the Roman Empire, VI.38]


Now all men know that I am a liberal Emperor and I am certainly no national team manager.

However, I do run an empire and I cannot help but wonder if - by utilising the wisdom of the ancients - I might not be able to assist such blighted teams with the restoration of discipline and the imposed promotion of stability within their troubled ranks?
--------

* This well known account of the Greek historian Polybius relates the infamous Roman practice of decimation. A punishment reserved for the most extreme cases of collective military cowardice, desertion and ill-discipline.

For the rumoured squad troubles that have blighted the French and English national sides, See:
http://af.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idAFJOE65K0QL20100621

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iuuC8Grn649B6IMY2xLyFxNGxbKA
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/21/world-cup-2010-england-john-terry-revolt

The Exuberance of Imperial Youth

The Emperor's younger brother recently went for a constitutional walk on the Lomond hills.

Something in the air encouraged the young prince into a state of reckless abandon.

Its no way to run an empire ..... let me tell you.

Luckily my own subjects can count on a higher degree of imperial dignity and gravitas. :-)

[Just for the record: I had nothing to do with this picture, it was taken by my brother's consort!]

Pliny on the Nature of Exotic Birds

My old acquaintance Pliny the Elder (Uncle of my past Australian travelling companion, The Younger), had much to say on the nature of interesting and exotic bird life.

In book 10 of his encyclopaedic Natural Historia, Pliny notes:

"It followeth that we should speak of the nature of birds, of which the greatest are the Ostriches.* .. They are higher than a man sitting on horseback; and they are also swifter than a horse; their wings being only given them to help them in running; for otherwise they do not fly, nor do they even rise from the ground. It is a wonder in their nature, ... for, high as the rest of their body is, if they hide their head and neck in a bush, they think themselves altogether concealed. The advantages obtained from them are their eggs, that are so big that some use them for vessels; and their feathers adorn the crests and helmets of soldiers."

[Pliny, Natural Historia, X.1]

*Ostriches are part of the Ratite genus of which the Emu is also a close relative.

Shelf Life - The Vase

Funny how it seems that some objects have been in the family for ever.

The vase below has long been special to me and appears always to have belonged at my Mum's.

It fills me strongly with a sense of my own childhood. I was never allowed near it as a child! But now as a mature Emperor - she can't stop me.

I am told by the Imperial Mother that this simply designed slab vase was a present bought for her by her brother in 1966 as a special present for her 21st birthday. An original piece by the Swedish post-war designer, Stig Lindburg, it appealed to my Uncle's love of simple Scandinavian design, at a time when my Uncle himself was still a young student at Glasgow School of Art.

The depicted scenes with their honest, vibrant colours, are not fully known to my family. However, my august Mother has a notion, or perhaps part-memory, that it signifies the progression of the sainted Mary Magdalene. In some Christian traditions she was said to have landed on the South coast of France, near Marseilles, after the death of Christ.

There May be Trouble Ahead ...

I thought it was said that 'talk was cheap' ... , if not even free?

We should perhaps not take anything for granted as recession in Britain intensifies.

[A social observation; Edinburgh, South Bridge]

Unstable Gables - An Imperial Perspective

It seems that 2010 has not been kind to imperial roofs!

In late March, the emperor's court was shocked to hear of a ceiling collapse at old uncle Nero's famed Golden Palace - Domus Aurea. Situated between the Esquiline and Palatine hills in the centre of ancient Rome, the palace has stood for more than 2000 years. It was perhaps to have been expected that time would take its toll eventually.

'Rome was not built in a day' and it has certainly not decayed in one day either.

As if news from the old empire was not enough, consultation with my own august mother has recently confirmed that roofing work is also now required on my family's own imperial residence in Scotland.

The work required is not inconsiderable, and although I know the improvements will be sound, I find myself wondering for how long that roof will endure?

Will it be that my dynasty's own modest palace will endure into the futures of men as yet not even born?

[Master Roofer at work on the Imperial palace; applying wet harling]

For the recent collapse of the Domus Aurea see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8595660.stm

For the palace itself see also:
http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/domusaurea.htm

Cramond Island, Edinburgh

A striking summer sunset; off Cramond Island in the Forth Estuary, just outside Edinburgh.

For Cramond and its Island See: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/cramond/index.html

One of my esteemed antecedents, Antoninus Pius (86 - 161 AD) built a fort at Cramond in the 140's AD. Its nice to pop back on a Summer's evening to view the old place. Its funny to muse that the northern most limmits of Antonius's old empire are now at the very centre of mine.

Caesar on Friends

"His friends he treated at all times with so great courtesy and tender respect, that when Caius Oppius, who accompanied him in his journey through a wild forest, fell suddenly ill, he gave him the only place there was to shelter them at night, and lay upon the ground in the open air. Moreover, when he became sovereign lord of all, he advanced some of his faithful followers, though of humble origin, to the highest place of honour. And when he was reproached for this partiality, he professed openly, that if he had used the help of robbers, of cutters and pirates in maintaining his own dignity, he would not fail to requite them for their services."

[Suetonius, Caesar, 72]

Image of an Emperor: Vespasian

"He was of middle stature, well set, and with limbs compact and strongly made. His countenance was like that of a man in the act of straining himself. Whereupon, one of those witty fellows, upon the emperor's request that he make a jest respecting himself, retorted, 'That I will - when you have finished your business at the stool.' His health was excellent, though he did nothing more to preserve it than vigorously rub his neck and other parts of his body at regular times, in the tennis court attached to the baths, besides fasting one day in every month".

[Suetonius, Vespasian, 20]

South Queensferry

[The Jubilee Clocktower. South Queesferry, Midlothian. Scotland]

For more info see:
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/queensferry/southqueensferry/index.html

Image of an Emperor: Nero

"In stature he was little under the average height. His body full of spots and freckles and foul skin besides. His hair was yellowish; his countenance fairly agreeable but not handsome; his eyes grey and dull, his neck thick, his belly prominent, his legs very slender, and his health excellent. For, intemperate as he was, and given to riotous living, he suffered, in the space of fourteen years, only three attacks of illness; and these so slight, that he neither forbore the use of wine, nor modified his usual diet. In his dress and grooming, he was so indifferent that he had his hair cut in rings, one above another; and when in Achaia, he let it grow long behind. He generally appeared in public in the loose and effeminate garment he wore at table, with a fine lawn handkerchief around his neck, and wearing neither a girdle or shoes."

[Suetonius, Nero, 51]

Rugby on the Beach

This year the Emperor has been down the beach quite allot with his mate Gilbert. Just ladish hi-jinks. Practicing his spin-passses and drop-kicks. Its been fun and other friends of the imperial court have always been welcome to join in and be tested under the high ball.

As Old As the Hills

The flight of years cannot affect the natural beauty of Kinross-shire, nor efface the memories inspired by its historical and romantic associations. In the dim and distant pre-historic ages, when Lochleven was dotted with lake-dwellings, the Lomond, Benarty, Cleish, and Ochil Hills, looked down upon our County in the same friendly spirit with which they do to-day, and their messengers, the streams flowing into the loch, gurgle the same old song:-

"Men may come and men may go,
But we go on forever."

[Extract from the Kinorss-shire Advertiser - 12th July 1912]

Image of an Emperor: Claudius

"He was most personable, with a graceful and majestic aspect whether he sat or stood, but especially when he lay in repose; for he was tall, but not thin. His countenance was lively, his grey hair becoming, and he had a round full neck. But his knees were feeble and failed him in walking, so that his gait was unsteady, both when he assumed state and when he was taking diversion. He was indecent and unseemly in his mirth, and especially so in his anger, under the influence of which he foamed at the mouth and discharged from his nostrils. He also stammered in his speech, and had a tremulous motion of the head at all times, but particularly when he engaged in any business, however trifling."

[Suetonius, Claudius, 29]