Christmas Tree

Christmas decorating came early to the imperial household this year.

A considerable effort was expended in the seasonal adornment of the palace - both inside and out.

In the darkest and most inclement season of the year, there is no doubt that the lights and their warmth console us through the gloom and offer respite form the barren cold.

A tree-mendous effort! 

Pliny on the Guiding Force of Nature

[A frosty winter windscreen: taking on a cosmic effect -  Nov 2017]

"The world is sacred, eternal, boundless, self-contained, or, one should say, complete in itself, finite yet resembling the infinite, of all things certain yet resembling the uncertain, embracing in its grasp all things without and within. The world is the work of Nature and, at the same time, the embodiment of Nature herself." 

Pliny The Elder, Natural History, II.2

Imperial Sabbatical

It can happen that even the most diligent of rulers might occasionally seek to escape the burden of office ... or birth.

A sojourn, a partial retirement or just a sabbatical, everyone needs a holiday as they say.

Famously, my great ancestor the Emperor Tiberius took himself away from Rome to his favoured isle of Capri for some considerable time: only to resume his rule after several licentious years, when he was all but obliged to do so.

[Mediterranean flowers in the Balearic's - October 2017]

In the Yeats that followed, other great Emperors absconded from the pressures of the capital, spending protracted periods abroad, on travels, on campaign and in private living. To rule is to suffer and every ruler needs to recharge now and again. 

Conflict on the Streets of York

[Amazonian fighting in the streets: All over some bloke called Morris ...?!?]

Violent scenes of conflict on the streets of York left the Emperor reminiscing about troubled histories from his own ancient past:


''And now civil discord broke out again worse than ever and increased enormously. Massacres, banishments, and proscriptions of both senators and knights took place straightway, including great numbers of both classes, the chiefs of factions surrendering their enemies to each other, and for this purpose not sparing even their friends and brothers; so much did animosity toward rivals overpower the love of kindred.''

[Appian, Civil Wars, I.5]

That'll Do Pig

"Animals of this kind delight in rolling in the mud. The tail is curled. and it has also been remarked, that those are a more acceptable offering to the gods, whose tail is turned to the right than those which have it turned to the left."

[Pliny the Elder, Natural History, VIII.77]

[Some nervous looking piggies that tempted the Emperor in the city of York, Sept 2017] 

Getting in a Flap with Nosey Neighbours

[A pair of diligent Orkney geese took up guard outside the Emperor's window - July 2017]

Staying in a cottage on my favoured isle of Orkney in July, the imperial household was subjected each day to some rather flagrant rubber-necking.

No one welcomes a nosey neighbour and on a recent campaign the Emperor was subjected to a couple of right busy bodies! The type who just cant help sticking their beaks in.

However, it can't be said that everyone objects to the diligent and inquisitive nature of the humble goose.  Reminded as I am by the lore of my great forefathers,  I recollect that it was indeed the geese of the Roman Capitol that were hailed as saviours of their nation when they alerted the exhausted defenders of the fortress when in mortal peril from a night Gallic night attack, back in their early history.

The historian Livy tells us it was the clamour of the sacred geese who stirred the defenders and alerted them to the deadly attackers scaling their walls.

"... they [the Gauls] accomplished the climb so quietly that the Romans on guard never heard a sound, and even the dogs - who are normally aroused by the least noise in the night - noticed nothing. It was the geese that saved them - Juno's sacred geese ..."

[Livy, Early History of Rome, V.46]

This was a legendary and revered act of service that saved the nation and secured a special place in Roman folklore for the humble goose.

So it is with reflection on past fidelity, that this Emperor feels privileged indeed to have had such a guard of honour outside his window.

----

Postscript: No Gauls breached the walls of my guest cottage that week, though we did meet some random Greeks and Germans in the holiday that followed (but they were friendly). 

Mull-ing Things Over in Tobermory

In May this year the Emperor undertook a short non-punitive campaign to the Scottish Isle of Mull.

[Tobermory Bay - during a brief respite from the heavy summer rains]  

Travels in good company were enjoyed by the Imperial retinue and sat well with the Emperor. 

Tiberius on Personal Criticism

['Taking the stoical view', under the foot of public opinion - Uffizi Museum, April 2017]

On Tiberius it was said: 

"... he was self-contained and patient in the face of abuse and slander, and of lampoons on himself and his family, often asserting that in a free country there should be free speech and free thought. When the senate on one occasion demanded that cognisance be taken of such offences and those guilty of them, he said: "We have not enough spare time to warrant involving ourselves in more affairs; if you open this loophole you will find no time for any other business; it will be an excuse for laying everybody's quarrels before you." A most unassuming remark of his in the senate is also a matter of record":

"If so-and-so criticises me I shall take care to render an account of my acts and words; if he persists, our enmity will be mutual."

[Suetonius, Life of Tiberius, 28]




N.B Its worth mentioning that not all agree on the emperor Tiberius's good nature.  In some reports, he is not anything like as unassuming and liberal as described here. Other references - especially later in his reign - point towards a darker and more brooding ego, more than capable of petty spite, revenge and malevolence. It's not at all like Suetonius to miss sticking the knife in, so we need to look at a evolving personality: egalitarian and carefree in his early reign - likely before the Sejanus coup - moving to spiteful, paranoid and mean in his later years. 

How Much for an Ice cream?

Shocked by the tourist prices around the centre of Florence, the Emperor was nevertheless greatly impressed to see Caravaggio's iconic Medusa. 

A fearsome and terrible image of visceral rage.  

(The good lady herself had obviously just paid for an ice cream) 

Lucca

The massive and exquisitely complete renaissance walls of Lucca (Italy) provide a beautifully impressive backdrop to any walk around this Tuscan jewel. (Only Ferrara in the east can rival an ancient defensive circuit of this period - larger but not as complete in its surviving heritage)

 
A long-term favourite with the emperor (my 5th visit and counting), Lucca will always be the dream place for an idyllic and imagined retirement.

Guarded by emblematic lions, this ancient, sleepy old Republic, offers a true haven of great charm. Both in and out of season it has so much history and beauty to offer.

The Luchesse skyline: ancient, rustic, grand and chaotic.