New Campaigns

Few Emperors are given the luxury to settle peacefully in their capital and live the uninterrupted home life ... [it's just not that kind of gig]. 

Many are the princes of old who have taken to the road to attend to some far-flung corner of their dominion, either willingly or reluctantly. Like the great Marcus Aurelius or Constantine, it is the lot of some, to ever rule from the saddle ... 

[Packing up for the new campaign]

An Emperor's life cannot be one of slumber. To maintain the glory of one's rule,  a degree of imperial will and vigour must be applied. 

And so it is that this ruler finds himself heading on campaign again ... albeit unforeseen, but with a degree of excitement and with memories of past glories, to enthuse the imperial progress. 

The journey promises to be long and the campaigning hard - for one slightly set in his ways. 

But the rewards are there to be had and fresh chapters of the imperial annals, beckon to be written.  

Emperors in the Aegean

[Leaving the shelter of Skopelos Town]

[Hilltop towns on Alonnisos]

Much like a Roman Emperor of old, this ruler has spent some enchanting time floating about the Aegean on a imperial pleasure cruise.

The opportunity to sail around the Sporades islands, off the coasts of Skopelos and Alonnisos has revealed to the Emperor this amazing region of the Western Aegean.

Its a stunning place, where richly shaded pine-tree islands float upon a blue and shimmering sea. The trees come right down to caress the waters edge and it presents a timeless land and sea-scape of elemental simplicity and great natural beauty.

Its more than a tonic and a true antidote to the inevitable stresses that accumulate from running an empire - albeit a modest one.

[Tracing the coast of Alonnisos]

One is reminded that I am not the first of the imperial progeny to have enjoyed the charms of Greece and her islands. Even a casual view of Imperial Trip Advisor yields some impressive 5* reviews.

[Up at the prow]

The surly Tiberius - before he adorned the purple - was no stranger to Hellas and chose to spend much of his time as a retired-citizen on the isle of Rhodes.

While, great, great ...[+] uncle Nero, was positively smitten by Greece and its ancient culture.

Nero also spent a major holiday in the region back in 66/67AD.  By all accounts it was one hell of a tour, taking in city visits, building works, sporting games and even musical and theatrical recitals.  Of course, Nero was the star performer at such recitals and you can guarantee that the audience loved it. "It would be dangerous not to, darling!"

I digress ... but it remains the truth that my tour of these ancient lands has been a revelation and greatly enjoyed by this Emperor.

"Oh Italia, you never mentioned you had such a beautiful sister, Hellas! You kept that quiet"

[Dreamy views from below deck: "Row you dogs!'

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. 

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.

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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). 

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. 

Nero and Horse Racing

 

[Imperial Horse Racing at the Christmas Market - Edinburgh 2012]
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"From his earliest years he had a special passion for horses and talked constantly about the games in the Circus, though he was forbidden to do so. Once when he was lamenting with his fellow pupils the fate of a charioteer of the "Greens," who was dragged by his horses, and his preceptor scolded him, he told a lie and pretended that he was talking of Hector. At the beginning of his reign he used to play every day with ivory chariots on a board, and he came from the country to all the games, even the most insignificant, at first secretly, and then so openly that no one doubted that he would be in Rome on that particular day. He made no secret of his wish to have the number of prizes increased, and in consequence more races were added and the performance was continued to a late hour, while the managers of the troupes no longer thought it worth while to produce their drivers at all except for a full day's racing. He soon longed to drive a chariot himself and even to show himself frequently to the public; so after a trial exhibition in his gardens before his slaves and the dregs of the populace, he gave all an opportunity of seeing him in the Circus Maximus, one of his freedmen dropping the napkin from the place usually occupied by the magistrates."

 

Suetonius, Life of Nero, 22

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To Be An Emperor: Advice of Machiavelli

[Head of Augustus, Louvre Museum, Paris]

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"A prince therefore need not necessarily have all the good qualities I have mentioned, but he should certainly appear to have them. I would even go so far as to say that if he has these qualities and always behaves accordingly he will find them harmful; if he only appears to have them they will render him service. He should appear to be compassionate, faithful to his word, kind, guileless, and devout. And indeed he should be so. But his disposition should be such that, if he needs to be the opposite, he knows how. You must realise this; that a prince, and especially a new prince, cannot observe all those things which give men a reputation for virtue, because in order to maintain his state he is often forced to act in defiance of good faith, of charity, of kindness, of religion. And so he should have a flexible disposition, varying as fortune and circumstance dictate. ... he should not deviate from what is good, if that is possible, but he should know how to do evil if that is necessary."

[Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, XVIII.5 ]

War Games & The Politics Of Seating

[British Soldiers filling politically embarrassing gaps in Olympic Seating - London 2012]

See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/29/olympics-empty-seats-locog-army

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Yet not every regime in history has wanted its soldiers to enjoy the games:

"For at an exhibition of games, when he [Augustus] had given orders that a common soldier who was sitting in the fourteen rows be put out by an attendant, the report was spread by his detractors that he had had the man killed later and tortured as well; whereupon he all but lost his life in a furious mob of soldiers, owing his escape to the sudden appearance of the missing man safe and sound."*

[Suetonius, Life of Augustus, 14]

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*In the settlement following the Civil Wars, the Emperor Augustus sought to re-establish and regulate the traditional and rigid hierarchy of state.  The first 14 rows of all theatres, amphitheatres and circuses were thus reserved under law for Senators and Knights only.  Of course, we might also speculate that the new ruler might seek to quash all bonds of clientship between the army and the wider social elite. Better empty spaces, than soldiers mixing or being given 'corporate entertainment' from Senators and Knights!  

Tiberius on Flattery

"He so loathed flattery that he would not allow any senator to approach his litter, either to pay his respects or on business, and when an ex-consul in apologising to him attempted to embrace his knees, he drew back in such haste that he fell over backward. In fact, if anyone in conversation or in a set speech spoke of him in too flattering terms, he did not hesitate to interrupt him, to take him to task, and to correct his language on the spot. Being once called "Lord," he warned the speaker not to address him again in an insulting fashion. When another spoke of his "sacred duties," and still another said that he appeared before the senate "by the emperor's authority," he forced them to change their language, substituting "advice" for "authority" and "laborious" for "sacred."

[Suetonius, Life of Tiberius, 27]

Highland Campaigning

Like great Roman generals before him,* the Emperor recently undertook a campaign into the remote Northern Highlands.

It has to be said that the Emperor's recent expedition was of a more recreational than military bent, but the terrain was certainly challenging and the Imperial forces camped under canvas like the armies of old.

Well, perhaps with a modicum of modern comfort, but it was camping none the less.

The troops were well provisioned; lacked for nothing in fact and the camp was in high spirits.

  

The beautiful beaches and strange characters found on them, were a wonder to the Emperor who had led his armies to the farthest and uncharted shores of the North.

A long and arduous progression through the most mountainous of terrain, saw the Emperor safely marshal his forces back to civilisation.

  

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*One is reminded of of the Roman general Agricola , who in c.82AD made a concerted attempt to subdue the Northern lands of the Caledonian Tribes. Its fair to say the locals were not cooperative:

"We, the choicest flower of Britain's manhood, were hidden away in her most secret places. Out of sight of subject shores, we kept even our eyes free from the defilement of tyranny. We, the most distant dwellers upon earth, the last of the free, have been shielded till today by our very remoteness and by the obscurity in which it has shrouded our name. Now, the farthest bounds of Britain lie open to our enemies; and what men know nothing about they always assume to be a valuable prize. But there are no more nations beyond us; nothing is there but waves and rocks ... "

 

[Tacitus, Agricola, 30. Dramatic words of the Caledonian War Chief Calgacus, as imagined by the Historian Tacitus]

 

Foreign Warships

[Foreign Warships in the Port of Leith, Edinburgh - May 2012]

"When they [the Romans] saw that the war was dragging on, they undertook for the first time to build ships, a hundred quinqueremes and twenty triremes. As their shipwrights were absolutely inexperienced in building quinqueremes, such ships never having been in use in Italy, the matter caused them much difficulty, and this fact shows us better than anything else how spirited and daring the Romans are when they are determined to do a thing."

"It was not that they had fairly good resources for it, but they had none whatever, nor had they ever given a thought to the sea; yet when they once had conceived the project, they took it in hand so boldly, that before gaining any experience in the matter they at once engaged the Carthaginians who had held for generations undisputed command of the sea. Evidence of the truth of what I am saying and of their incredible pluck is this."

 

"When they first undertook to send their forces across to Messene not only had they not any decked ships, but no long warships at all, not even a single boat, and borrowing fifty-oared boats and triremes from the Tarentines and Locrians, and also from the people of Elea and Naples they took their troops across in these at great hazard."

"On this occasion the Carthaginians put to sea to attack them as they were crossing the straits, and one of their decked ships advanced too far in its eagerness to overtake them and running aground fell into the hands of the Romans."

'This ship they now used as a model, and built their whole fleet on its pattern; so that it is evident that if this had not occurred they would have been entirely prevented from carrying out their design by lack of practical knowledge."

[Polybius, Histories, Book I.20.9-20]

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To Be An Emperor: Galba

[Galba:  one of the short-lived 'pretenders' of AD 69 that ultimately failed to succeed Nero]



"Rome is not like primitive countries with their kings. Here we have no ruling caste dominating a nation of slaves. You are called to be the leader of men who can tolerate neither total slavery nor total liberty."

[Tacitus, Histories, I.16]

The imperial usurper Galba's advice to his prospective heir, Piso - as put into words, by the cynical historian Tacitus.

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The sentiment reminds us that the position of a Roman Emperor was far from simple, or indeed, comfortable. Imperial stability required a powerful and largely autocratic ruler. And yet Roman sensibility, as moulded by many centuries of Republican and distinctly xenophobic prejudice, would not tolerate even the semblance of a tyrant. Or even worse, a derided foreign King!  

It was a bitterly ironic paradox; the lack of understanding of which proved the undoing of Caesar, Caligula and Nero.

"I am Caesar, and no King"

[Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar, 79]

To little, too late, proved the unconvincing protestations of the great dictator ... and he paid for his mistake on the floor of the Senate House.

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Despite commanding (or at least seeming to command) the semblance of absolute power and spectacular wealth, the stability and security of an Emperor's rule, was always a complex and delicate affair. In the broadest of human terms, the Stoic wisdom of Seneca recognised that we should not automatically envy those in lofty positions. Not when we consider that:

"... what look like towering heights are indeed precipices.  ... there are many who are forced to cling to their pinnacle because they cannot descend without falling ... they are not so much elevated as impaled." 

[Seneca, Dialogues: On Tranquillity of Mind, 10 ]

To wear the Imperial purple was without doubt the most lofty of such pinnacles; and a descent from its heights, even for those few who it might be argued genuinely sought it, was riven with dangers that were all but insurmountable.

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For State, a relinquishment of imperial rule risked a return to the bitter murder and incessant civil war that had so blighted the last ages of the Republic. For the ruler who would so relinquish that power, the risk was total oblivion. As Octavian himself considered before the establishment of the very Principate:

"The question we are considering is not a matter of seizing hold of something, but of resolving not to lose it and thus expose [ourselves] to further danger. For you will not be forgiven if you thrust the control of affairs into the hands of the populace, or even if you entrust it to some other man. Remember that many have suffered at your hands, that virtually all of them will lay claim to sovereign power and that none of them will be willing to let you go unpunished for your actions or survive as a rival."     

[Cassius Dio, Roman Histories, LII.17]

Thus was it a somewhat reluctant Emperor [Tiberius] who had deftly perceived that to rule Rome was indeed like:

"... holding a wolf by the ears."

[Suetonius, Life of Tiberius, 25]

An Emperor was only safely in control, in so long as he held the power and guile not to release the unpredictable and savage animal that he so sought to dominate. Fail to dominate that savage animal and he was as good as dead. 

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To the casual observer a Roman Emperor seemed all powerful, but ever was his position actually vulnerable and fraught with threat.  To rule was inherently dangerous and yet to relinquish rule could be more dangerous still. What looked like towering heights, were indeed, precipices for some ....

Moving the Imperial Capital

Sometimes an Emperor is compelled to move his capital city.

Such an eventuality was undertaken in the reign of my great ancestor Constantine the Great.  In 330 A.D. Constantine undertook the decision to transfer the seat of Roman imperial power from ancestral Rome to the Eastern Greek city of Byzantium (Constantinople) in Asia Minor.

[The Emperor Constantine the Great: 274 - 337A.D.]

It was a momentous historical decision that saw the Eastern Empire ultimately flourish; preserving effective 'Roman' civilisation for centuries beyond the subsequent slow death and eventual collapse of the Western Roman Empire. *

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It was with such a glorious precedent in mind that the Emperor recently moved his own capital (in a Ford Transit van), also from West to the East.

[The Emperor moves home: March 2012]

From 18 miles West of Edinburgh back into the North of the city it was not an easy move, but the Emperor believes it was a prudent one.

No it was not pressure from barbarian incursion or civil strife that led to my moving of the imperial capital, but more modern pressures such as employment, commuting, and the elusive work-life balance ....   

The Emperor will consolidate his new seat of his power. The 'Athens of the North' (Edinburgh), shall once again become my new Rome ...

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*Its an interesting footnote in this context to note that Rome - the remaining capital of Western Roman Empire -  was itself subsumed by the Northern Italian city of Ravenna, when in 402 A.D, Western power was transferred there by the Emperor Honorius. By this period in its fast fading glory the city of the Romans was no longer a viable or defensible capital.

To Be An Emperor: Marcus Aurelius

"When you act, let it be neither unwillingly, nor selfishly, not unthinkingly, not half-heartedly; do not attempt to embellish your thoughts by dressing them up in fine language; avoid excessive talk and superfluous action. Furthermore, let the deity within you be the overseer of one who is manly and mature, a statesman, a Roman and a ruler, who has taken his post as one who is awaiting the signal of his recall from life and is ready to obey without need of an oath or another man as his witness. And show a cheerful face to the world, and have no need of help from outside or the peace that others confer. In brief, you must stand upright, not be held upright"

[Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, III.5]

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Extract from the 'Meditations', by the Emperor, Marcus Aurelius [ruled 161-180 AD]. Self written notes written in the Stoic philosophy as a means of providing self-guidance and grounding to his own rule and conduct.

When Dolphins Become Men: Dolphin 'Human Rights'

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Its reported in the press that a respected group of scientists and philosophers are arguing for dolphins to be granted something akin to a bill of 'human' rights.

Of course its on account of their undoubted sensitivity, social complexity and intelligence.  

The recent news reminded the Emperor of a strange tale told by the Roman writer Pliny the Younger; concerning a dolphin that sought human interaction in the province of North Africa - 1st Century AD. In what is perhaps a typically Roman world-view, its a story that is at once both sentimental and brutal, uplifting and tragic:

"It happened [off the coast of Hippo, North Africa]  that a certain boy, bolder than the rest, launched out towards the opposite shore. He was met by a dolphin, who sometimes swam before him, and sometimes behind him, then played round him, and at last took him upon his back, and set him down, and afterwards took him again; and thus he carried the poor frightened fellow out into the deepest part; when immediately he turns back again to the shore, and lands him among his companions. The fame of this remarkable accident spread through the town, and crowds of people flocked round the boy (whom they viewed as a kind of prodigy) to ask him questions and hear him relate the story. The next day the shore was thronged with spectators, all attentively watching the ocean, and (what indeed is almost itself an ocean) the lake. Meanwhile the boys swam as usual, and among the rest, the boy I am speaking of went into the lake, but with more caution than before. The dolphin appeared again and came to the boy, who, together with his companions, swam away with the utmost precipitation. The dolphin, as though to invite and call them back, leaped and dived up and down, in a series of circular movements. This he practised the next day, the day after, and for several days together, till the people (accustomed from their infancy to the sea) began to be ashamed of their timidity. They ventured, therefore, to advance nearer, playing with him and calling him to them, while he, in return, suffered himself to be touched and stroked. Use rendered them courageous. The boy, in particular, who first made the experiment, swam by the side of him, and leaping upon his back, was carried backwards and forwards in that manner, and thought the dolphin knew him and was fond of him, while he too had grown fond of the dolphin. There seemed now, indeed, to be no fear on either side, the confidence of the one and tameness of the other mutually increasing; the rest of the boys, in the meanwhile surrounding and encouraging their companion. It is very remarkable that this dolphin was followed by a second, which seemed only as a spectator and attendant on the former; for he did not at all submit to the same familiarities as the first, but only escorted him backwards and forwards, as the boys did their comrade. But what is further surprising, and no less true than what I have already related, is that this dolphin, who thus played with the boys and carried them upon his back, would come upon the shore, dry himself in the sand, and, as soon as he grew warm, roll back into the sea. It is a fact that Octavius Avitus, deputy governor of the province, actuated by an absurd piece of superstition, poured some ointment over him as he lay on the shore: the novelty and smell of which made him retire into the ocean, and it was not till several days after that he was seen again, when he appeared dull and languid; however, he recovered his strength and continued his usual playful tricks. All the magistrates round flocked hither to view this sight, whose arrival and prolonged stay, was an additional expense, which the slender finances of this little community would ill afford; besides, the quiet and retirement of the place was utterly destroyed. It was thought proper, therefore, to remove the occasion of this concourse, by privately killing the poor dolphin. And now, with what a flow of tenderness will you describe this affecting catastrophe and how will your genius adorn and heighten this moving story! Though, indeed the subject does not require any fictitious embellishments; it will be sufficient to describe the actual facts of the case without suppression or diminution."

[Pliny The Younger, Letters IX.33]

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This Emperor himself was lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins himself while travelling near the town of Eden in NSW, Australia in 2009:

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Long live dolphin rights!!!!

 

For examples of news stories on the call for dolphin 'human' rights, see:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17116882

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/21/whales-dolphins-legal-rights?newsfeed=true

Up At The Front: The Antonine Wall

This Emperor recently went up to the front to make inspection of the Northern defences.

(Well,  .... its the kind of thing that's expected of an Emperor ... )

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I must say I found the defences of the Antonine Wall to be somewhat degraded since their original construction in the 140's A.D. I suppose its not surprising really, but that's certainly not to say that they don't remain impressive.

[Looking North over the Antonine valum, in the outskirts of modern Falkirk]

Indeed, you can still clearly discern the impressive valum and ditch carved into the landscape at many points of the site and which, on the Southern flank, would have supported a major stone, timber and turf wall; reckoned to be palisaded on top and perhaps up to four meters high from ground level.

The Antonine Wall can lay claim to being Rome's most Northerly static frontier; although in almost every other respect, the Antonine is the historically lesser known, less materially intact and altogether, less sexy little sister to the more celebrated Hadrian's Wall (located in Northumbria, England).

[A well preserved stretch of the defences just West of the modern town of Falkirk. The foundation rise - of the now degraded wall - can still be seen on the reverse defencive side]

The Antonine's relative obscurity was dictated by virtue of its limited operational life cycle: c. 140's to 160's AD. Commissioned on the orders of the Emperor Antoninus Pius, the wall runs 37 miles from East to West, right through central Scotland - linking and making good use of the natural obstacles of the major Clyde and Forth estuaries.

[Excavated 'lilia' pits on the advance slope to the Antonine wall. Anti-personnel defences in modern parlance]

Sited only 70 miles to the North of Hadrian's Wall, the Antonine may have represented an attempt to extend Roman rule, or at least military control, into a difficult and rebellious region (Caledonia Major - not Falkirk).

Or it may represent an expression of imperial ego: Antonine seeking as it were, to 'go one better', from his immediate predecessor Hadrian. And of course, one can never rule out an overt imperial attempt to fashion a martial persona; from an Emperor who by all accounts was not an overtly military man.

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Within the imperial context, it was indeed the duty of any Roman Emperor to protect the boundaries of his Empire.


Less obviously - though of critical import -  Emperors of Rome were obliged to  define themselves as ostensibly 'military' men. Commanders in Chief of the large professionalised and peace-time forces that held down their Empires; preventing unrest and guarding against sovereign incursion.


Form a political perspective, those armies could, paradoxically, be dangerous to imperial rule and it was essential for any Emperor to maintain meaningful connections with the garrison troops of their frontier provinces; if for nothing else, to minimise the risk of rebellion, mutiny and of course militarily backed usurpation. After all, it had not been lost on the historian Tacitus that even by the 1st century AD:

"A well hidden secret of the Principate had been revealed: it was possible, it seemed, for an emperor to be chosen outside Rome."

[Tacitus, Histories, I.5]

The defied Augustus, had dictated a policy of restricted empire expansion and thus static defence. It became therefore not at all uncommon for Emperors - if not actively to campaign - then to at least to make military reviews and expeditions to the provincial and military outreaches of their territories.

Thus by the early Principate had Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero all established precedents for imperial expeditions of varying scale to the frontiers; visiting the major garrisons and launching regionalised campaigns; providing military, economic or reputational gain.

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For the Antonine Wall, World Heritage Site, see: http://www.antoninewall.org/

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Wall

and
http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/antoninewall

Building The Imperial Legacy

"Rome was not built in a day"

 And neither, let me tell you, was my Mum's garage!

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It is incumbent on every emperor  to bestow a physical legacy for the betterment and benefit of mankind; as well of course as to ensure the mark and glorification of their own magnificent reign.

Great baths, theatres, fora and aqueducts dominate the ancient world and still endure to perpetuate the memory of our imperial ancestors.

Indeed, it can be one of the pressures of being an emperor, to know that one must build .... and it is a pressure that I have not been immune from.  The last two summers have seen the emperor building his own modest legacy.

[Video of Great Garage Build, Kinross 2011. Click to Play]

So in my own modest way, I can now somewhat relax.  At least until next Summer, when ramping and landscaping will follow.  

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]

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]