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The transformation of Rome and Italy during the Middle Republic
The Greek historian Polybius admired Rome's balanced constitution, discipline, and strict religious observance as the bases of the republic's success and stability. Yet Rome's very successes in the 2nd century undermined these features, leading to profound changes in the republic's politics, culture, economy, and society.
Citizenship and politics in the middle republic
The Romans organized their citizenry in a way that permitted expansion. This was regarded as a source of strength by contemporaries such as Philip V, who noted that Rome replenished its citizen ranks with freed slaves. The extension of citizenship continued in the early 2nd century, as in the grant of full citizen rights to Arpinum, Formiae, and Fundi in 188. Yet Rome's glittering successes made such openness ever more problematic. For one, the city attracted increasing numbers of Latins and allies, who wished to use their ancient right to migrate and take up Roman citizenship. The depletion of Latin and Italian towns prompted protests, until in 177 Rome took away the right of migration and forced Latin and Italian migrants to return to their hometowns to register for military service. Such measures were sporadically repeated in the following years. In addition, the flood of slaves into Rome from the great conquests increased the flow of foreign-born freedmen into the citizen body. Sempronius Gracchus (father of the famous tribunes) won senatorial approbation as censor in 168 by registering the freedmen in a single urban tribe and thus limiting their electoral influence. Despite these efforts, the nature and meaning of Roman citizenship were bound to change, as the citizen body became ever more diffuse and lived dispersed from Rome, the only place where the right of suffrage could be exercised.
Polybius greatly admired Rome's balanced constitution, with its elements of monarchy (magistrates), aristocracy (Senate), and democracy (popular assemblies). According to Greek political theory, each form of constitution was believed to be unstable and susceptible to decline until replaced by another. Yet Rome's system of balance, Polybius thought, was a check on the cycle of decline. By forcing the Roman constitution into the mold of Greek political theory, however, he exaggerated the symmetry of checks and balances. In reality, the Senate enjoyed a period of steady domination through the first two-thirds of the 2nd century, having emerged from the Second Punic War with high prestige. Only occasionally did the developing tensions and contradictions surface during these decades.
Politics during the period was largely a matter of senatorial families competing for high office and the ensuing lucrative commands. Because offices were won in the centuriate and tribal assemblies, senators had to cultivate support among the populus. Yet the system was not as democratic as it might appear. Senators with illustrious names and consular ancestors dominated the election to the highest offices, increasing their share of the consulates from about one-half to two-thirds during the 2nd century. These proportions can be interpreted in two ways: the Senate was not a closed, hereditary aristocracy but was open to new families, who usually rose through the senatorial ranks in the course of generations with the patronal support of established families; yet a small circle of prominent families (e.g., the Aemilii, Claudii, and Cornelii) were disproportionately successful, surprisingly so in view of the popular electoral process. Since the campaigning was not oriented toward issues, the great families were able to maintain their superiority over the centuries by their inherited resources: their famous names, their wealth, and their clienteles of voters.
While aristocratic electoral competition was tradition during the republic, this period began to exhibit the escalation in competitiveness that was later fatal to the republic. For example, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus emerged from the Second Punic War as the Roman whose dignitas (prestige) far surpassed that of his peers. Nonetheless, a number of senators attacked him and his brother Lucius Cornelius with legal charges until he finally retired from Rome to end his life at his Campanian villa at Liternum. For younger senators, however, Scipio's spectacular achievement was something to emulate. The ambitious young Flamininus moved swiftly through the senatorial cursus honorum ("course of honors") to win the consulship and command against Philip V at the age of 30. Such cases prompted laws to regulate the senatorial cursus: iteration in the same magistracy was prohibited, the praetorship was made a prerequisite for the consulship, and in 180 the lex Villia annalis (Villian law on minimum ages) set minimum ages for senatorial magistrates and required a two-year interval between offices. The consulship (two elected to it per year) could be held from age 42, the praetorship (six per year) from age 39, and the curule aedileship from 36. Patricians, still privileged in this area, were probably allowed to stand for these offices two years earlier. The senatorial career was preceded by 10 years of military service, from age 17, and formally began with a quaestorship, the most junior senatorial magistracy (eight per year), at age 30 or just under. The offices between the quaestorship and praetorship, the aedileship (four per year) and the plebeian tribunate (10 per year), were not compulsory but provided opportunities to win popularity among the voters by staging aedilician games and supporting popular causes, respectively. Here again, excess elicited restraint, and legal limits were placed on the lavishness of the games. More broadly, from 181 legislation designed to curb electoral bribery was intermittently introduced.
The problems of electoral competition did not disappear. In the late 150s second consulships were prohibited altogether, but within decades the rules were broken. Scipio Aemilianus, grandson by adoption of Scipio Africanus, challenged the system. Returning from the Carthaginian campaign to Rome to stand for the aedileship, he was elected instead to the consulship, even though he was underage and had not held the prerequisite praetorship. He was then elected to a second consulship for 134. Scipio had no subversive intent, but his career set the precedent for circumventing the cursus regulations by appeal to the popular assemblies.
While the 2nd century was a time of heated competition among senators, it was generally a period of quiescence of the plebs and their magistrates, the tribunes. Nevertheless, signs of the upheaval ahead are visible. For one, the long plebeian struggle against arbitrary abuse of magisterial power continued. A series of Porcian laws were passed to protect citizens from summary execution or scourging, asserting the citizen's right of appeal to the assembly (ius provocationis). A descendant of the Porcian clan later advertised these laws on coins as a victory for freedom. Moreover, the massive annual war effort provoked occasional resistance to military service. In 193 the tribunes started to investigate complaints about overly long military service. Interpreting this as a challenge to magisterial authority, the Senate responded with a declaration of an emergency levy, and the tribunes stopped their activity. In 151 the tribunes tried to protect some citizens from the levy for the unpopular war in Spain. A confrontation between the tribunes and the recruiting consuls ensued, in which the tribunes briefly imprisoned the consuls until a compromise relieved the crisis. The scene of tribunes taking consuls to jail was repeated in 138 during a period of renewed difficulties over recruiting.
Since the Hortensian law of 287, the plebs had the constitutional power to pass laws binding on the entire state without senatorial approval. During the next century and a half few attempts were made to use the power for purposes of major reform against the Senate's will, in part because the plebeian tribunes, as members of the senatorial order, generally shared the Senate's interests and in part because the plebeians benefited from Rome's great successes abroad under senatorial leadership. Yet senatorial fear of unbridled popular legislative power is perceptible in the Aelian and Fufian law of about 150. This law, imperfectly known from later passing references, provided that a magistrate holding a legislative assembly could be prevented from passing a bill on religious grounds by another magistrate claiming to have witnessed unfavourable omens in a procedure called obnuntiatio. In addition, the days of the year on which legislative assemblies could be held were reduced. As conservative senators worked to restrain the democratic element in the political processes, the plebeians sought to expand their freedom. Voting in electoral and judicial assemblies had been public, allowing powerful senators more easily to manage the votes of their clients. The Gabinian law (139) and Cassian law (137) introduced secret written ballots into the assemblies, thus loosening the control of patrons over their clients. Significantly, the reform was supported by Scipio Aemilianus, the sort of senator who stood to benefit by attracting the clients of other patrons through his personal popularity. These reforms, together with the changing composition of the electorate in the city, carried the potential, soon to be realized, for more volatile assemblies.
Culture and religion
Expansion brought Rome into contact with many diverse cultures. The most important of these was the Greek culture in the eastern Mediterranean with its highly refined literature and learning. Rome responded to it with ambivalence: although Greek doctrina was attractive, it was also the culture of the defeated and enslaved. Indeed, much Greek culture was brought to Rome in the aftermath of military victories, as Roman soldiers returned home not only with works of art but also with learned Greeks who had been enslaved. Despite the ambivalence, nearly every facet of Roman culture was influenced by the Greeks, and it was a Greco-Roman culture that the Roman empire bequeathed to later European civilization.
As Roman aristocrats encountered Greeks in southern Italy and in the East in the 3rd century, they learned to speak and write in Greek. Scipio Africanus and Flamininus, for example, are known to have corresponded in Greek. By the late republic it became standard for senators to be bilingual. Many were reared from infancy by Greek-speaking slaves and later tutored by Greek slaves or freedmen. Nonetheless, despite their increasing fluency in Greek, senators continued to insist on Latin as the official language of government; visiting dignitaries from the East addressing the Senate in Greek had their speeches translated—as a mark of their subordination.
Because Greek was the lingua franca of the East, Romans had to use Greek if they wished to reach a wider audience. Thus the first histories by Romans were written in Greek. The patrician Fabius Pictor, who, as noted above, founded the Roman tradition of historiography during the Second Punic War, wrote his annalistic history of Rome in Greek partly in order to influence Greek views in favour of Rome, and he emphasized Rome's ancient ties to the Greek world by incorporating in his history the legend that the Trojan hero Aeneas had settled in Latium. Because Roman history was about politics and war, the writing of history was always judged by Romans to be a suitable pastime for men of politics—i.e., for senators such as Fabius.
Rome had had a folk tradition of poetry in the native Saturnian verse with a metre based on stress, but not a formal literature. Lucius Livius Andronicus was regarded as the father of Latin literature, a fact that illustrates to what extent the development of Roman literature was bound up with conquest and enslavement. Livius, a native Greek speaker from Tarentum, was brought as a slave to Rome, where he remained until his death (c. 204). Becoming fluent in Latin, he translated the Homeric Odyssey into Latin in Saturnian verse. Thus Latin literature began with a translation from Greek into the native metre. Livius reached wider audiences through his translations of Greek plays for public performance. Gnaeus Naevius, the next major figure (c. 270–c. 201), was again not a native Roman but an Oscan speaker from Campania. In addition to translating Greek drama, he wrote the first major original work in Latin, an epic poem about the First Punic War. Naevius' successors, Quintus Ennius from Calabria (239–169) and Titus Maccius Plautus from Umbria (c. 254–184), transformed the Latin poetic genres by importing Greek metrical forms based on the length of syllables rather than on stress. Ennius was best known for his epic history of Rome in verse, the Annales, but he also wrote tragedies and satires. Plautus produced comedies adapted from Greek New Comedy. He is the only early author whose work is well represented in the corpus of surviving literature (21 plays judged authentic by Marcus Terentius Varro, Rome's greatest scholar). None of the plays of his younger contemporaries, Caecilius Statius (c. 210–168) and Marcus Pacuvius (c. 220–130), survive, nor do the once highly esteemed tragedies of Lucius Accius (170–c. 86). The six extant comedies of Terence (Publius Terentius Afer; c. 190–159) provide a sense of the variation in the comic tradition of the 2nd century. These authors also were outsiders, coming from the Celtic Po valley, Brundisium, Umbria, and North Africa, respectively. Thus, while assorted foreigners, some of servile origin, established a Latin literature by adapting Greek genres, metrical forms, and content, native Roman senators began to write history in Greek.
Other forms of Greek learning were slower to take root in Rome. Later Romans remembered that a Greek doctor established a practice in Rome for the first time just before the Second Punic War, but his reputation did little to stimulate Roman interest in the subject. Like doctors, Greek philosophers of the 2nd century were regarded with interest and suspicion. In the early 3rd century Romans had erected in public a statue of Pythagoras, a 6th-century Greek philosopher who had founded communities of philosophers in southern Italy. In the mid-2nd century some senators displayed an interest in philosophy. Scipio Aemilianus, Gaius Laelius (consul 140), and Lucius Furius Philus (consul 136) were among those who listened to the lectures of the three leaders of the Athenian philosophical schools visiting Rome on a diplomatic mission in 155—the academic Carneades, the peripatetic Critolaus, and the stoic Diogenes. On an official visit to the East in 140, Scipio included in his entourage the leading stoic Panaetius. In the same period, another stoic, Blossius of Cumae, was said to have influenced the reforming tribune Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. Yet the philosophical influence should not be exaggerated; none of these senators was a philosopher or even a formal student of philosophy.
Moreover, the sophisticated rhetoric of the philosophers—in 155 Carneades lectured in favour of natural justice one day and against it the next—was perceived by leading Romans such as Cato the Censor as subversive to good morals. At his urging the Senate quickly concluded the diplomatic business of Carneades, Critolaus, and Diogenes in 155 and hurried them out of Rome. This was part of a broader pattern of hostility to philosophy: in 181 the (spurious) Books of Numa, falsely believed to have been influenced by Pythagoras, were burned, and the following decades witnessed several expulsions of philosophers from the city. In comedies of the period, the discipline was held up for ridicule.
The hostility toward philosophy was one aspect of a wider Roman sense of unease about changing mores. Cato, a "new man" (without senatorial ancestors) elected consul (195) and censor (184), represented himself as an austere champion of the old ways and exemplifies the hardening Roman reaction against change under foreign influence. Although Cato knew Greek and could deploy allusions to Greek literature, he advised his son against too deep a knowledge of the literature of that "most worthless and unteachable race." Cato despised those senatorial colleagues who ineptly imitated Greek manners. He asserted the value of Latin culture in the role of father of Latin prose literature. His treatise on estate management, the De agricultura (c. 160), has survived with its rambling discourse about how to run a 200-iugera (124-acre) farm, including advice on everything from buying and selling slaves to folk medicine. Cato's greater, historical work, the Origines, survives only in fragments: it challenged the earlier Roman histories insofar as it was written in Latin and emphasized the achievements of the Italian peoples rather than those of the few great senatorial families of Rome (whose names were conspicuously omitted).
Elected censor in 184 to protect Roman mores, Cato vowed "to cut into pieces and burn like a hydra all luxury and voluptuousness." He expelled seven men from the Senate on various charges of immorality and penalized through taxation the acquisition of such luxuries as expensive clothing, jewelry, carriages, and fancy slaves. The worry about luxury was widespread, as evidenced by the passage of a series of sumptuary laws supported by Cato. During the depths of the Second Punic War the Oppian law (215) was passed to meet the financial crisis by restricting the jewelry and clothing women were allowed to wear; in 195, after the crisis, the law was repealed despite Cato's protests. Later sumptuary laws were motivated not by military crisis but by a sense of the dangers of luxury: the Orchian law (182) limited the lavishness of banquets; the Fannian law (161) strengthened the Orchian provisions, and the Didian law (143) extended the limits to all Italy. A similar sense of the dangers of wealth may also have prompted the lex Voconia (169), which prohibited Romans of the wealthiest class from naming women as heirs in their wills.
The laws and censorial actions ultimately could not restrain changes in Roman mores. Economic conditions had been irreversibly altered by conquest; the magnitude of conspicuous consumption is suggested by a senatorial decree of 161 that restricted the weight of silver tableware in a banquet to 100 pounds—10 times the weight for which Publius Cornelius Rufinus was punished in 275. Moreover, the very competitiveness that had traditionally marked the senatorial aristocracy ensured the spread of cultural innovations and new forms of conspicuous consumption among the elite. In contrast to the austere Cato, other senators laid claim to prestige by collecting Greek art and books brought back by conquering armies, by staging plays modeled on Greek drama, and by commissioning literary works, public buildings, and private sculptural monuments in a Greek style.
Whereas the influence of Greek high culture was felt principally in a small circle of elite Romans who had the wealth to acquire Greek art and slaves and the leisure and education to read Greek authors, the influence of religions from the eastern Mediterranean was perceived as potentially subversive to a far wider audience. Polybius praised the Romans for their conscientious behaviour toward the gods. Romans were famous for their extreme precision in recitation of vows and performance of sacrifices to the gods, meticulously repeating archaic words and actions centuries after their original meanings had been forgotten. Guiding these state cults were priestly colleges; and priestly offices such as of pontifex and augur were filled by senators, whose dominance in politics was thus replicated in civic religion.
In earlier centuries Rome's innate religious conservatism was, however, counterbalanced by an openness to foreign gods and cults. As Rome incorporated new peoples of Italy into its citizen body, it accepted their gods and religious practices. Indeed, among the most authoritative religious texts, consulted in times of crisis or doubt, were the prophetic Sibylline Books, written in Greek and imported from Cumae. The receptivity appears most pronounced in the 3rd century: during its final decades temples were built in the city for Venus Erycina from Sicily and for the Magna Mater, or Great Mother, from Pessinus in Anatolia; games were instituted in honour of the Greek god Apollo (212) and the Magna Mater after the war. The new cults were integrated into the traditional structure of the state religion, and the "foreignness" was controlled (i.e., limits were placed on the orgiastic elements in the cult of the Great Mother performed by her eunuch priests).
The openness, never complete or a matter of principle, tilted toward resistance in the early 2nd century. In 186 Roman magistrates, on orders from the Senate, brutally suppressed Bacchic worship in Italy. Associations of worshipers of the Greek god Bacchus (Dionysus) had spread across Italy to Rome. Their members, numbering in the thousands, were initiated into secret mysteries, knowledge of which promised life after death; they also engaged in orgiastic worship. The secrecy soon gave rise to reports of the basest activities, such as uncontrolled drinking, sexual promiscuity, forgery of wills, and poisoning of kin. According to Livy, more than 7,000 were implicated in the wrongdoing; many of them were tried and executed, and the consuls destroyed the places of Bacchic worship throughout Italy. For the future, the (extant) senatorial decree prohibited men from acting as priests in the cult, banned secret meetings, and required the praetor's and Senate's authorization of ceremonies to be performed by gatherings of more than five people. The terms of the decree provide a sense of what provoked the harsh senatorial reaction. It was not that the Bacchic cult spread heretical beliefs about the gods—Roman civic religion was never based on theological doctrine with pretensions to exclusive truth; rather, the growing secret cult led by male priests threatened the traditionally dominant position of senators in state religion. The decree did not aim to eliminate Bacchic worship but to bring it under the supervision of senatorial authorities. The following centuries witnessed sporadic official actions against foreign cults; it happens to be recorded that a praetor of 139 removed private altars built in public areas and expelled astrologers and Jews from the city. Thus the reaction to eastern religions paralleled that to Greek philosophy; both were perceived as new ways of thinking that threatened to undermine traditional mores and the relations of authority implicit in them.
Demographic and economic developments
It seems certain that the economy and society of Italy were transformed in the wake of Rome's conquest of the Mediterranean world, even though the changes can be described only incompletely and imprecisely, owing to the dearth of reliable information for the preceding centuries. Romans of the 1st century bc believed that their ancestors had been a people of small farmers in an age uncorrupted by wealth. Even senators who performed heroic feats were said to have been of modest means—men such as Lucius Quinctius Cinncinatus, who was said to have laid down his plow on his tiny farm to serve as dictator in 458 bc. Although such legends present an idealized vision of early Rome, it is probably true that Latium of the 5th and 4th centuries was densely populated by farmers of small plots. Rome's military strength derived from its superior resources of manpower levied from a pool of small landowning citizens (assidui). A dense population is also suggested by the emigration from Latium of scores of thousands as colonists during the 4th and 3rd centuries. The legends of senators working their own fields seem implausible, but the disparity in wealth was probably much less noticeable than in the late republic. The 4th-century artifacts uncovered by archaeologists display an overall high quality that makes it difficult to distinguish a category of luxury goods from the pottery and terra-cottas made for common use.
War and conquest altered this picture; yet certain fundamental features of the economy remained constant. Until its fall, the Roman Empire retained agriculture as the basis of its economy, with probably four-fifths of the population tilling the soil. This great majority continued to be needed in food production because there were no labour-saving technological breakthroughs. The power driving agricultural and other production was almost entirely supplied by humans and animals, which set modest limits to economic growth. In some areas of Italy, such as the territory of Capena in southern Etruria, archaeologists have found traditional patterns of settlement and land division continuing from the 4th to the end of the 1st century—evidence that the Second Punic War and the following decades did not bring a complete break with the past.
Economic change came as a result of massive population shifts and the social reorganization of labour rather than technological improvement. The Second Punic War, and especially Hannibal's persistent presence in Italy, inflicted a considerable toll, including loss of life on a staggering scale, movement of rural populations into towns, and destruction of agriculture in some regions. Although the devastation has been overestimated by some historians, partial depopulation of the Italian countryside is evident from the literary and archaeological records: immediately after the war enough land stood vacant in Apulia and Samnium to settle between 30,000 and 40,000 of Scipio's veterans, while areas of Apulia, Bruttium, southern Campania, and south-central Etruria have yielded no artifacts indicating settlement in the postwar period.
Populations have been known to show great resilience in recovering from wars, but the Italian population was given no peace after 201. In subsequent decades Rome's annual war effort required a military mobilization unmatched in history for its duration and the proportion of the population involved. During the 150 years after Hannibal's surrender, the Romans regularly fielded armies of more than 100,000 men, requiring on average about 13 percent of the adult male citizens each year. The attested casualties from 200 to 150 add up to nearly 100,000. The levy took Roman peasants away from their land. Many never returned. Others, perhaps 25,000, were moved in the years before 173 from peninsular Italy to the colonies of the Po valley. Still others, in unknown but considerable numbers, migrated to the cities. By the later 2nd century some Roman leaders perceived the countryside to be depopulated.
To replace the peasants on the land of central and southern Italy, slaves were imported in vast numbers. Slavery was well established as a form of agricultural labour before the Punic Wars (slaves must have produced much of the food during the peak mobilization of citizens from 218 to 201). The scale of slavery, however, increased in the 2nd and 1st centuries as a result of conquests. Enslavement was a common fate for the defeated in ancient warfare: the Romans enslaved 5,000 Macedonians in 197; 5,000 Histri in 177; 150,000 Epirotes in 167; 50,000 Carthaginians in 146; and in 174 an unspecified number of Sardinians, but so many that "Sardinian" became a byword for "cheap" slave. These are only a few examples for which the sources happen to give numbers. More slaves flooded into Italy after Rome destabilized the eastern Mediterranean in 167 and gave pirates and bandits the opportunity to carry off local peoples of Anatolia and sell them on the block at Delos by the thousands. By the end of the republic Italy was a thoroughgoing slave society with well over one million slaves, according to the best estimates. No census figures give numbers of slaves, but slaveholding was more widespread and on a larger scale than in the antebellum American South, where slaves made up about one-third of the population. In effect, Roman soldiers fought in order to capture their own replacements on the land in Italy, although the shift from free to servile labour was only a partial one.
The influx of slaves was accompanied by changes in patterns of landownership, as more Italian land came to be concentrated in fewer hands. One of the punishments meted out to disloyal allies after the Second Punic War was confiscation of all or part of their territories. Most of the ager Campanus and part of the Tarentines' lands—perhaps two million acres in total—became Roman ager publicus (public land), subject to rent. Some of this property remained in the hands of local peoples, but large tracts in excess of the 500-iugera limit were occupied by wealthy Romans, who were legally possessores (i.e., in possession of the land, although not its owners) and as such paid a nominal rent to the Roman state. The trend toward concentration continued during the 2nd century, propelled by conquests abroad. On the one side, subsistence farmers were always vulnerable in years of poor harvests that could lead to debt and ultimately to the loss of their plots. The vulnerability was exacerbated by army service, which took peasants away from their farms for years at a time. On the other side, the elite orders were enriched by the booty from the eastern kingdoms on a scale previously unimaginable. Some of the vast new wealth was spent on public works and on new forms of luxury and part was invested to secure future income. Land was the preferred form of investment for senators and other honourable men: farming was regarded as safer and more prestigious than manufacture or trade. For senators, the opportunities for trade were limited by the Claudian law of 218 prohibiting them from owning large ships. Wealthy Romans thus used the proceeds of war to buy out their smaller neighbours. As a result of this process of acquisition, most senatorial estates consisted of scattered small farms. The notorious latifundia, the extensive consolidated estates, were not widespread. Given the dispersion of the property, the new landlord was typically absentee. He could leave the working of the farms in the hands of the previous peasant owners as tenants, or he could import slaves.
The best insights into the mentality of the estate-owning class of this period come from Cato's De agricultura. Although based on Greek handbooks discussing estate management, it reflects the assumptions and thinking of a 2nd-century senator. Cato envisaged a medium-sized, 200-iugera farm with a permanent staff of 11 slaves. As with other Roman enterprises, management of the farm was left to a slave bailiff, who was helped by his slave wife. While Cato, like the later agricultural writers Varro and Lucius Junius Columella, assumed the economic advantage of a slave work force, historians today debate whether estates worked by slaves were indeed more profitable than smaller peasant farms. Cato had his slaves use much the same technology as the peasants, although a larger estate could afford large processing implements, such as grape and olive crushers, which peasants might have to share or do without. Nor did Cato bring to bear any innovative management advice; his suggestions aimed to maximize profits by such commonsense means as keeping the slave work force occupied all year round and buying cheap and selling dear. Nevertheless, larger estates had one significant advantage in that the slave labour could be bought and sold and thus more easily matched to labour needs than was possible on small plots worked by peasant families.
Cato's farm was a model representing one aspect of the reality of the Italian countryside. Archaeologists have discovered the villas characteristic of the Catonian estate beginning to appear in Campania in the 2nd century and later in other areas. The emergence of slave agriculture did not exclude the continuing existence in the area of peasants as owners of marginal land or as casual day labourers or both. The larger estates and the remaining peasants formed a symbiotic relationship, mentioned by Cato: the estate required extra hands to help during peak seasons, while the peasants needed the extra wages from day labour to supplement the meagre production of their plots. Yet in many areas of Italy the villa system made no inroads during the republic, and traditional peasant farming continued. Other areas, however, underwent a drastic change: the desolation left by the Second Punic War in the central and southern regions opened the way for wealthy Romans to acquire vast tracts of depopulated land to convert to grazing. This form of extensive agriculture produced cattle, sheep, and goats, herded by slaves. These were the true latifundia, decried as wastelands by Roman imperial authors such as the elder Pliny.
The marketplace took on a new importance as both the Catonian estate and the latifundium aimed primarily to produce goods to sell for a profit. In this sense, they represented a change from peasant agriculture, which aimed above all to feed the peasant's family. The buyers of the new commodities were the growing cities—another facet of the complex economic transformation. Rome was swelled by migrants from the countryside and became the largest city of preindustrial Europe, with a population of about one million in the imperial era; other Italian cities grew to a lesser extent.
The mass of consumers created new, more diverse demands for foodstuffs from the countryside and also for manufactured goods. The market was bipolar, with the poor of the cities able to buy only basic foodstuffs and a few plain manufactured items and the rich demanding increasingly extravagant luxury goods. The limitations of the poor are reflected in the declining quality of humble temple offerings. The craftsmen and traders produced mainly for the rich minority. The trading and artisanal enterprises in Rome were largely worked by slaves and freedmen imported to Rome by the wealthy. Although honourable, freeborn Romans considered it beneath their dignity to participate directly in these businesses, they willingly shared in the profits through ownership of these slaves and through collection of rents on the shops of humbler men. Thus, manufacturing and trading were generally small-scale operations, organized on the basis of household or family. Roman law did not recognize business corporations with the exception of publican companies holding state contracts; nor were there guilds of the medieval type to organize or control production. Unlike some later medieval cities, Rome did not produce for export to support itself; its revenues came from booty, provincial taxes, and the surplus brought from the countryside to the city by aristocratic Roman landlords. Indeed, after 167 provincial revenues were sufficient to allow for the abolition of direct taxes on Roman citizens.
Building projects were the largest enterprises in Rome and offered freeborn immigrants jobs as day labourers. In addition to the private building needed to house the growing population, the early and middle 2nd century witnessed public building on a new scale and in new shapes. The leading senatorial families gained publicity by sponsoring major new buildings named after themselves in the Forum and elsewhere. The Basilica Porcia (built during Marcus Porcius Cato's censorship of 184), the Basilica Aemilia et Fulvia (179), and the Basilica Sempronia (170–169) were constructed out of the traditional tufa blocks but in a Hellenized style.
New infrastructures were required to bring the necessities of life to the growing population. The Porticus Aemilia (193), a warehouse of 300,000 square feet on the banks of the Tiber, illustrates how the new needs were met with a major new building technology, concrete construction. Around 200 bc in central Italy it was discovered that a wet mixture of crushed stone, lime, and sand (especially a volcanic sand called pozzolana) would set into a material of great strength. This construction technique had great advantages of economy and flexibility over the traditional cut-stone technique: the materials were more readily available, the concrete could be molded into desired shapes, and the molds could be reused for repetitive production. The Porticus Aemilia, for example, consisted of a series of roughly identical arches and vaults—the shapes so characteristic of later Roman architecture. The new technology also permitted improvements in the construction of the aqueducts needed to increase the city's water supply.
The economic development outside of Rome encompassed some fairly large-scale manufacturing enterprises and export trade. At Puteoli on the Bay of Naples the ironworks industry was organized on a scale well beyond that of the household, and its goods were shipped beyond the area. Puteoli flourished during the republic as a port city, handling imports destined for Rome as well as exports of manufactured goods and processed agricultural products. In their search for markets, the large Italian landowners exported wine and olive oil to Cisalpine Gaul and more distant locations. Dressel I amphoras, the three-foot pottery jars carrying these products, have been found in substantial quantities in Africa and Gaul. Yet the magnitude of the economic development should not be exaggerated: the ironworks industry was exceptional, and most pottery production continued to be for local use.
Social changes
Major social changes and dislocations accompanied the demographic shifts and economic development. Relations between rich and poor in Rome had traditionally been structured by the bond existing between patron and client. In the daily morning ritual of the salutatio, humble Romans went to pay their respects in the houses of senators, who were obligated to protect them. These personal relationships lent stability to the social hierarchy. In the 2nd century, however, the disparity between rich and poor citizens grew. While this trend increased the personal power of individual senators, it weakened the social control of the elite as a whole; the poor had become too numerous to be controlled by the traditional bond of patron and client.
Until the end of the 170s the impoverishment of humble citizens had been counterbalanced to some extent by the founding of colonies, because dispossessed peasants were given new lands in outlying regions. During the middle decades of the 2nd century, however, colonization ceased, and the number of dispossessed increased, to judge from the declining number of small landowners in the census. The problem created by a growing proletariat was recognized by a few senators. Gaius Laelius, probably during his consulship of 140, proposed a scheme of land redistribution to renew the class of smallholders, but it was rejected by the Senate.
Some of the dispossessed went to Rome, where, together with the increasing numbers of slaves and freedmen, they contributed to the steadily growing population. This density led to the miseries associated with big cities, which were exacerbated by the absence of regulation. By 200 bc the pressure of numbers necessitated apartment buildings of three stories. Constructed without a building code, these structures were often unsound and prone to collapse. Moreover, closely placed and partly made of wood, they were tinderboxes, ever ready to burst into flame. The population density also increased the vulnerability to food shortages and plagues. In 188 fines were levied against dealers for withholding grain, attesting to problems of supply. The 180s and 170s witnessed repeated outbreaks of plague. The state, which could use its power to increase the grain supply, was helpless against diseases. In general, the republican state developed few new institutions to manage the growing urban problems: until the reign of Augustus matters were left to the traditional authority of urban magistrates, who were unaided by a standing fire brigade or police force. Consequently, Rome held an increasing potential for social discontent and conflicts without a corresponding increase in means of control.
The family, regarded by Romans as a mainstay of the social order, also was affected by the wider economic and social transformations of the 2nd century bc. In the early republic the family had formed a social, economic, and legal unity. The woman generally married into her husband's family and came under his legal authority (or that of his father if he was still alive), and her dowry merged with the rest of the estate under the ownership of the husband. The husband managed the family's affairs outside the house, while the wife was custodian within. Marriage was an arrangement for life; divorces were rare and granted only in cases of serious moral infractions, such as adultery or wine-tippling on the part of the wife. The children of the couple were subject to the father's nearly absolute legal powers (patria potestas), including the power of life and death, corporal punishment, and a monopoly of ownership of all property in the family. The father's power lasted until his death or, in the case of a daughter, until her marriage. When the father died, his sons, his wife, and his unmarried daughters became legally independent, and all inherited equal shares of the family's property unless otherwise specified in a will. The imperial authors idealized the early republic as a time of family harmony and stability, which was lost through the corruption of the later republic.
When family life emerged into the full light of history in the 2nd century bc, it had changed in significant ways. A form of marriage, commonly called "free marriage," was becoming prevalent. Under this form, the wife no longer came into her husband's power or property regime but remained in that of her father; upon her father's death she became independent with rights to own and dispose of property. But she was not a member of the family of her husband and children and had no claim to inheritance from them, even though she lived with them in the same house. Because many women inherited part of their fathers' estates, they could use their independent fortunes to exert influence on husbands, children, and people outside the house. In the same period divorce became far more common; moral infractions were no longer needed to justify divorce, which could be initiated by either side. Frequent divorce and remarriage went hand in hand with the separation of marital property. There is plausibility in the suggestion that these changes were brought on by a desire of the women's fathers to avoid having their daughters' portions of the larger family estates slip irrevocably into the hands of their husbands. Although the changes in law and practice were not motivated by any movement to emancipate women, the result was that propertied women of the late republic, always excluded from the public sphere of male citizens, came to enjoy a degree of freedom and social power unusual before the 20th century.
Slaves came to permeate the fabric of family life and altered relationships within the household. They were regularly assigned the tasks of child-rearing, traditionally the domain of the mother, and of education, until then the responsibility of both the father and the mother. Whereas children had acquired the skills needed for their future roles by observing their parents in a kind of apprenticeship, in wealthy houses sons and, to a lesser extent, daughters were now given a specialized education by slaves or freedmen. The management of aristocratic households was entrusted to slaves and freedmen, who served as secretaries, accountants, and managers. The wife was no longer needed as custodian of the household, though domestic guardianship remained an element in the idealization of her role. Later moralists attributed a decline in Roman virtue and discipline to the intrusion of slaves into familial relationships and duties.
Rome and Italy
During the middle republic the peoples of Italy began to coalesce into a fairly homogeneous and cohesive society. Polybius, however, does not give insight into this process, because, living in Rome, he too little appreciated the variety of Italian cultures under Roman sway, from the Gallic peoples in the mountains of the north to the urbane Greeks on the southern coasts. Other evidence, though meagre, nonetheless suggests several processes that contributed to the increasing cohesion.
First, the Romans built a network of roads that facilitated communication across Italy. As stated above, the first great road was the Via Appia, which was laid out by Appius Claudius Caecus in 312 to connect Rome to Capua. Between the First and Second Punic Wars roads were built to the north: the Via Aurelia (241?) along the Tyrrhenian coast, the Via Flaminia (220) through Umbria, and the Via Clodia through Etruria. Then, in the 2nd century, Roman presence in the Po valley was consolidated by the Via Aemilia (187) from Ariminum on the Adriatic coast to the Latin colony of Placentia and by the Via Postumia (148) running through Transpadane Gaul to Aquileia in the east and Genua in the west.
Second, internal migration—Italians moving to Rome and Romans being sent to Latin colonies throughout Italy—promoted social and cultural homogeneity. Some of these colonies were set alongside existing settlements; others were founded on new sites. The colonies re-created the physical and social shape of Rome; the town plans and architecture, with forums including temples to Jupiter, were modeled on those of Rome. The imposition of a Latin colony on the Greek city of Paestum in Lucania (273) entailed the implantation of a Roman-style forum in the centre of the existing city in a way that rudely intruded on the old sanctuary of Hera. The initial system governing the distribution of land to Latin colonists aimed to replicate the Roman social hierarchy differentiated by wealth: it is recorded of the colonists sent to Aquileia in 181 that the 3,000 infantrymen each received 50 iugera (31 acres), the centurions 100 iugera (62 acres), and the cavalrymen 140 iugera (86 acres). The unifying effect of the colonies is evident in Paestum's notable loyalty to Rome during the Second Punic War.
Third, although Rome did not seek to govern Italy through a regular administration, it influenced local affairs through formal bonds of personal friendship (amicitia) and hospitality (hospitium) between the Roman elite and their local counterparts. Through these ties the leading men of Italy were gradually drawn into the ruling class in Rome. The most prominent example of the 2nd century is that of Gaius Marius of Arpinum, who, only two generations after his town had received full citizen rights, began his meteoric senatorial career under the patronage of the great Roman nobles, the Metelli.
Fourth, the regular military campaigns brought together Romans and Italians of all classes under the command of Roman magistrates. The Italian troops appear to have been levied in a fashion similar to the one used for the Romans, which would have required a Roman-style census as a means of organizing the local citizenries. In the absence of direct administration, military service was the context in which Italians most regularly experienced Roman authority.
Fifth, Rome occasionally deployed its troops in Italy to maintain social order. Rome suppressed an uprising of serfs in Etruscan Volsinii in 265 and a sedition in Patavium in 175. When the massive influx of slaves raised the spectre of rebellions across Italy, Roman troops were deployed to put down uprisings: in 195, 5,000 slaves were executed in Latin Setia; in 196 the praetor was sent with his urban legion to Etruria to fight a pitched battle in which many slaves were killed; and the praetor of 185 dealt with rebellious slaves in Apulia, condemning 7,000 to death. The later slave revolt in Sicily (c. 135–132) was not contained so effectively and grew to include perhaps 70,000. The slaves defeated the first consular army sent in 134; the efforts of two more consuls were required to restore order. The revolts, unusual for their frequency and size, are not to be explained by abolitionist programs (nonexistent in antiquity) nor by maltreatment. The causes lay in the enslavement and importation of entire communities with their native leadership and in the free reign given to slave shepherds who roamed armed around the countryside serving as communication lines between slave plantations. These uprisings made it clear that the social fabric of Italy, put under stress by the transformations brought about by conquest, had to be protected by Roman force.
While the exercise of Roman authority and force was sometimes resented by Italians, Rome's power made its mores and culture worthy of imitation. The Latin language and Roman political institutions slowly spread. A request from the old Campanian city of Cumae in 180 that it be allowed to change its official language from Oscan to Latin was a sign of things to come.Richard P. Saller


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subset: commoncrawl


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Monday, September 23, 2013
Final Edition
Thanks to John Raleigh of Newburyport (firstname.lastname@example.com), I now have a photo of the doorway painting.
On John's fancy computer the image is much better than I've just included, above. This is a bit blotchy and a bit yellow. We can ascribe that to my monitor (I hope). In any event, if you're local to Newburyport, I can recommend John to you for photographing your work.
The painting is being picked up by the art movers soon, and will be trundled off to the New York location. Here's some information about the show which takes place from 9-13 October at the Seventh Regiment (Park Avenue) Armory, 643 Park Avenue, New York.
Thanks to all of you who came by the studio to see the painting. It was great to see so many old* and new faces.
*Kim tells me I should have said "familiar faces" not
"old faces". Apologies.
4 comments:
It looks wonderful - a real trompe l'oeil effect! A good photo of a painting sure is a nice thing to have - and here we can see beyond the frame which is nice too. Hi to Kim from a familiar place.ReplyDeleteReplies
Aye, laddie, it's been a long road, replete with converging lines. Thanks!Delete
Now I have looked everywhere, but cannot find a discreet DBJ anywhere. Is it hidden in the tilework? Nice tile reflections on the door by the way. It is always the attention to detail that makes your work so memorable.ReplyDeleteReplies
You cannae find it because it's not yet there. I think I'll hide it, on a diagonal, in the shadow under the door. I usually try to make it as inconspicuous as possible on the assumption, stated by a friend, that for anyone who knows my work "it's signed all over." As for the reflections of the tile on the door, it's anybody's guess what the angle should be!Delete


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Things are happening fast in the supposed war against terrorism. Our emphasis on the word supposed derives from the fact that it is a very selective process whereby terrorism itself is defined. Recent developments in the ongoing spectacle being played out on the international stage have featured such events as a summit being held between George Bush and the Russian dictator Putin. During this media-hyped event at the American presidents rural Texas ranch, the two heads of state discussed ideas and strategies as to how terrorism might be resisted and eradicated. As we have been repeatedly informed, the Muslim terrorists are the "evil bad guys" out to destroy peaceful civilization. All who align together to resist them are automatically cast in the favorable light of being the "good guys." No consideration is granted concerning the background, history, or past performance of those who are now "standing against terror." Even the leaders of Communist China, or Mr. Putin of Russia, are now portrayed as constructive contributors to the gallant crusade against the terrorists. As is always the case, however, reality is a far cry from the steady stream of propaganda that is issued forth throughout the world.
Osama bin Laden and his ilk are certainly an undesirable lot. The vision that Muslim extremism has for the future of the planet is clearly at variance with the truth and the way of Jesus Christ as is set forth in the Bible. What needs to be remembered at an hour such as this, however, is the old axiom that states "my enemys enemies are not necessarily my friends." Yes, fanatical Islamic aggression is a very real threat to Western Christian civilization. We must be prepared to stand in opposition to the brutal tactics which many within that movement are ready to employ at a moments notice. What is even more crucial, however, is that we understand the true nature of those who are prosecuting this ostensible war on terror. As we have already begun explaining in detailed fashion in the first installment of this commentary, an illicit alien force has long exercised evil influence and control over the affairs of America and other nations throughout the world. This pervasive, corrupt power structure has only been able to amass its strength in direct proportion to the degree to which Christians have rejected Biblical truth and the responsibility that automatically flows from it. Unfortunately, the past few generations have witnessed an almost comprehensive retreat by the organized Christian world. As a result of this backward regression into a state of virtual impotence, Christians have become powerless and incapable of resisting the wickedly Satanic system that has grown up around them. Puppet politicians and regimes have been established in nations throughout the world. While going through the mock motions of making supposedly autonomous policies and decisions, the reality of the matter is that a sophisticated mechanism of control and coordination is ceaselessly being outworked from the highest echelons of dark, Satanic power. As we explained in our last installment of this commentary, it is only by virtue of the existence and operational effectiveness of a Satanic conspiratorial apparatus of this nature, that such an incredibly long term blueprint for diabolical conquest can be efficiently and successfully outworked. Yes, sincere truth seeking persons must have the courage to recognize and properly deal with the grim reality of which we are speaking. As difficult as it might be to believe or comprehend, what amounts to total power has been ignorantly conferred upon Satan and his earthly minions. God has allowed for such an evolution of circumstances as a means of bringing well deserved chastisement and punishment upon his people. He has historically allowed for the strengthening of the hand of the ungodly for precisely such purposes. If at any time his people are willing to turn from their own error and wicked ways, and to subsequently cry out to him for forgiveness and deliverance, God is ever desirous of hearing such cries of true contrition, and bringing about the means through which they can be rescued from the jaws of adversity.
Deuteronomy 4:24 and other related Biblical passages make it clear that God is jealous of the people he has chosen unto himself. He despises it when they commit harlotry with the false gods and vain philosophies of this world system. Because the sin debt in our nation has become so monumental, it is unlikely that great calamity and crisis can be averted as we move into the future.
As we have already noted and acknowledged, the forces that comprise the militant, extremist Islamic realm are certainly a notable manifestation of evil in our world today. They are a people who have built their lives upon specific and damnable lies. Their god Allah is not the true God of scripture and their holy book, the Koran, is not divine revelation. Islam, like true Christianity, is an exclusivist religion. There is no legitimate provision in either of the two for long term peaceful co-existence. Militant Islam has inherent within its parameters, the ultimate imperative to vanquish its enemies. Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and others of their type are, without question, a force to be feared and taken very seriously. They are zealots who consider it an honor to be given the opportunity to die for what they believe in. In this regard, one is compelled to admire the level of sincerity and devotion with which they apply themselves to the outworking of their cause. None of this, however, remotely alters the fact of just how wrong the Muslim religion is. It is evil by virtue of the lies it is based upon, and those who are found among its adherents are evil as well, regardless of how sincere they might be.
The gullible American public is led to believe that the global Islamic terrorist network embodies the utter epitome of evil. After all, these are the thugs that crashed airplanes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in order to kill thousands of innocent people. Of course, our belief is that the 9/11 tragedy was actually staged and executed by the shadow element that contrives and manipulates events throughout the world on a regular basis. As was explained in our last installment, an assortment of Arab fall guys were handled and positioned prior to the event so that they would appear to be the unmistakable perpetrators of the terrorist assault. If, however, we wanted to assume for arguments sake, that the 9/11 operation transpired in precisely the manner we have been told, would this translate into the inevitable conclusion that the guilty parties were the most vivid human illustration of evil in the modern world?
In certain respects, the reaction of the American public to the terror events of 9/11 are quite understandable. Our nation was attacked in a manner heretofore unimaginable! Even the Pentagon...symbolic of the massive military prowess of the world's greatest superpower...was targeted and struck by this audacious enemy! That the acute ire and dander of the American public would become energized by the 9/11 assault is quite logical. In their immensely heightened emotional state, however, Americans have not been prone to adopting a rational standard or approach in their evaluation of and reaction to this dramatic instance of terror. Instead, they have followed a purely emotional and an utterly superficial manner of response. Demonstrating complete indifference to the well established premise that truth is always the first casualty of war, the American public has willingly and enthusiastically embraced the official version of the events marking, as well as leading up to, the terror of 9/11.
Inquiring minds should ask themselves why America is so cozy with, and finds so much in common with Communist China? Another point to ponder is why our nation's leaders have for so long, been on such cordial terms with the Russian bear? Did the formal dissolution of the USSR really signify the demise of a major portion of the international communist menace, or was that all just the window dressing of a well planned bogus reform movement? (Those who want to know the amazing truth regarding this matter are advised to secure and read the book New Lies For Old by Soviet KGB defector Anatoliy Golitsyn, a man who for 16 years worked as a disinformation specialist for the infamous secret police/spy agency. In this book Golitsyn sets forth the insiders revelation of how the supposed reform phenomena within the USSR and the Eastern Bloc were actually the result of precision calculation, and part of a grand deception that was decades in the making.) It is an unfortunate reality that Russia remains very much a totalitarian state, ruled by an all powerful and oppressive central government. Of course, America can also be described in the same terminology at this juncture in time. Our national government routinely runs roughshod over the rights of the various states of the union, as well as the sacred liberties of her individual citizens. If one takes the time to read the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, he will quickly realize that the vital liberties enunciated therein are nothing more than a fading memory! Instead, we now have all ten planks of Karl Marxs odious Communist Manifesto fully operational within the borders of our once free nation. Amazingly...without a shot being fired, and beyond the realization of the vast percentage of the populace, our hallowed form of Christian Constitutional government has been effectively subverted and overthrown! The opinion molders continue to drone on about "democracy" and the purported "rights of the people," but it is nothing more than a cruel illusion at this stage of the game. If you are a left wing agitator, a smut peddler, a foul mouthed shock jock, or a sodomite pervert, then you may continue to experience first amendment or other rights in contemporary America. If, on the other hand, you dare to advocate and champion the principles and institutions upon which the Republic was founded, you will promptly discover that you have no rights. The revolution has long since taken place...and "We the People" lost, hands down, what our forefathers gave everything for. We may still be called a Democracy, but the sobering fact is that we operate under the brutal tenets of communism. (It is also important to note that our founding fathers never gave us a "democracy," but instead, a Constitutional Republic. These wise and learned men understood the lessons of history which clearly revealed that "majority rule" always degenerates into a system whereby the principled minority is tyrannized by the abusive rule of an ugly, uneducated, unprincipled "majority." Such a mob is also ripe for exploitation and manipulation at the hands of the demagogue who promises them the most bounty from the public treasury.) We are a "free" people only inasmuch as we do precisely what the all powerful state tells us to do! If we should dare to question illicit authority too stridently, we will quickly find ourselves on the losing end of a forceful confrontation with what has grown to be veritable legions of law enforcement officers who now seek to monitor every aspect of our lives under the guise and pretense of "maintaining law and order."
Is it not inconsistent that the same government that spends millions of dollars to track down octogenarian nazis to make them pay for their alleged crimes committed sixty years ago, turns right around and embraces regimes and rulers that have slaughtered untold numbers of innocents during the course of the past few decades? Are communist dictators and secret police operatives somehow expunged of their guilt simply because they adopt a bogus title of reformer? Why is Mr. Putin not treated like the communist butcher that he really is? Are we going to let him off the hook because he supposedly no longer does such awful things to his fellow countrymen? Are we going to selectively circumvent the Nuremberg principle and let the likes of Mr. Putin slide because he was just obeying orders? You see...as bad as the Islamic terrorists might be, their performance pales into insignificance when compared to past and present dictators in Russia, China, and their various satellite states. Where the Muslim militants have managed to rack up a body count in the thousands...the aforementioned heads of state have visited their orgy of genocidal murder upon untold millions! And yet...we endear ourselves to these serial slaughterers as though they were the finest of gentlemen. How utterly preposterous! It should be more than obvious that, like the Serbian "war criminals" currently being prosecuted before the world court in the Netherlands, the radical Islamic faction serves as yet another straw man entity upon whom precedent-setting policies and actions can be implemented and meted out. As we have already pointed out, the mouthpieces of officialdom don't really care about justice, liberty, and human rights. These are simply buzz words that are utilized to mobilize the masses and to craftily mold so called public opinion. If they really cared about such lofty principles, they wouldnt be found in the regular embrace of those who possess such well documented, blood stained track records!
What becomes even more alarming to contemplate is the fact that the genocidal crimes of the aforementioned tyrants have only been made possible due to the aid, comfort, assistance, and complicity of leaders of the Western nations! In this regard, by the principles of extension and being an accessory to the fact, these same presidents, prime ministers, Senators, etc...all of them happen to have the blood of millions dripping from their own corrupt hands! Amazingly, a man thought to be one of the greatest presidents in American history was, in reality, no better than a savage murderer! Franklin Delano Roosevelt stated that some of his best friends were communists! It was via the policies enacted under the reign of FDR that the Bolsheviks were showered with massive funding, courtesy of the American taxpayer. The production of the Soviet war machine was facilitated through this gargantuan transference of wealth. The very "enemy" that America proceeded to wage a protracted "cold war" against in the aftermath of WWII, was a complete and total creation of the same shadow powers that operate behind the scenes to control the western nations. Indeed...FDR and all his successors since WWII have been traitors to the republic! They have consciously subverted the U.S. Constitution and have given aid and comfort to our avowed and historic enemies! But dont hold your breath waiting for these unscrupulous intellectual prostitutes to ever be held accountable for the crimes against humanity they have committed. They are virtually immune from ever being genuinely exposed for the arch criminals that they are!
Big government has long been in the business of covering up its dastardly criminal deeds. We have already alluded to the criminal complicity of FDR in the matter of the financing of the establishment of the Soviet Communist war machine. In addition, as we have also already made note of, FDR delivered a lethal blow to our Constitution via the enactment of the New Deal, and he sat idle and aware of the pending attack, while the American Naval fleet played the role of sitting duck at Pearl Harbor. You see...an incident of this magnitude was required to draw the United States into what would then become the Second World War, which in turn, was crucial for the creation of a justified pretense for the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Japan. The horrifying spectre of the mushroom cloud subsequently rendered acceptable the notion of a United Nations...an entity that has since served as a forerunner to full blown global government. Through all of this and more, literally millions of lives have been brutally expended! It has all been by specific design, for you see, human life means nothing to these arch criminals of the ages!
When FDR departed this terrestrial plane for his one way trip to the lake of fire, Harry S. Truman became President. Under Truman's administration occurred the infamous dropping of the Atomic Bomb. In addition, while this man was Commander In Chief, a General named Eisenhower oversaw the systematic killing through starvation and elemental exposure of one million German prisoners that were in his custody in Europe. (This sordid and gruesome account is recorded and documented in the book Other Losses by James Bacque.) Also to Truman's track record of infamy we must add the notorious incident whereby he refused to allow General McArthur to pursue victory in the Korean conflict. Still unknown to most Americans is the fact that the military engagement in Korea was an action carried out under the auspices of the United Nations. By agreed upon design, a position within the UN through which all military directives must pass, is to always be occupied by a Soviet General. What this means, of course, is that in both Korea and Vietnam, the enemy always had advance knowledge of all major moves or actions being prepared for or carried out by the American military! Gee...can anyone guess why we were incapable of winning these phony wars?
In a forthcoming installment of this commentary we will purpose to continue reviewing the specific atrocities carried out under the direction of the various Presidents that have served in the post WWII era...but suffice it to say that they all have profuse quantities of the blood of innocents dripping from their hands! Hundreds of thousands of young American men have answered the call to serve their country...thinking that they were going to fight for the principles of freedom and justice. Little did they know that the real purpose for which they were being summonsed was to serve as cannon fodder and pawns on the global chess board. To think of the manner in which American soldiers have been cruelly and callously exploited is enough to make any decent persons blood boil! Vast numbers of American soldiers have been sacrificed on the altar of would be utopian world government. They have been betrayed by their own government who, by denying their very existence, left so many of them behind in the communist prison camp hell holes in Vietnam. How short the memory is which allows this manner of homicidal criminality to go on in perpetuity under color of law and pretense of legitimacy.
The present military engagement taking place in Afghanistan is the ultimate exercise in the wielding of vastly superior armaments technology over a pathetic, backward opponent. For weeks on end our nation has engaged in the sport of target practice against the hapless Taliban forces. Our super sophisticated armaments have been poured out on opposing forces that are only able to respond with the epitome of outdated, antiquated, sub standard weaponry. What a total and absolute joke this entire affair has been. Like the pummeling of Kosovo, the Gulf War, and the invasion of Panama, these dramatically orchestrated and choreographed exercises are mere excuses to test high tech weapons on an indigent population or fighting force that nobody cares about. How anyone with room temperature IQ can derive any kind of national pride from such shocking spectacles of blood lust and inhumanity is beyond this writers comprehension. And yet, with straight faces and somber countenances, our political and military leaders act like this is a real war that we are fighting...and the duped American public simply cant get enough. Yes, the Taliban are merely the latest installment of the straw man syndrome. Like animals that are bred and raised for the sole purpose of eventual slaughter, so have these arcane medieval warriors been created and groomed for the very moment we are observing and role they are playing. Their lives mean nothing to the bloodsuckers that have engineered this conflict. They are being toyed and played with in the same fashion that a cat sadistically torments a tiny mouse. And when the smoke clears and the dust settles, in will march the UN to further establish its credentials as ultimate arbiter and global authority. All the while, of course, the international bankers are experiencing the ongoing bonanza of being the financier of all these escapades in military adventurism. As it has been said by those who know all too well, war is a racket! It is also the ultimate tool for priming the pump of a debt based global economy. What we are witnessing at present is the most extraordinary exercise ever in Satanic deception, duplicity, and manipulation of the people and nations of the world...and it is probably safe to say that we aint seen nothing yet!
In our next installment of this running commentary we will examine the historical record of terrorism carried out by the Zionists who now rule the middle eastern mini-state of Israel. Remember...a terrorist by any other name is still a terrorist!


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Q: I read your article about gardening and I have a question: Is it necessary to kill the grass first when installing a Square Foot garden?
A: It is a good idea to kill the grass or existing vegetation in some way or another. It can be dug up and removed, sprayed with a plant or grass killer or smothered with newspapers or plastic and the soil mix. The first way is good, but may be too much work. The second uses poisons I try not to use, but in this case am not strictly against. I used the newspaper and mix method. It may not be as perfect as the other methods, but it usually does a pretty good job.
Cover the area under the SFG with a half-dozen sheets and make sure there are no gaps. I also extend the papers out past the boards to make sure grass doesn't creep in from the sides. The papers prevent the grass from growing up to the light long enough that the grass dies before the paper decays.


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Outdoor Venting Hoods
Keep That Smoke From Clouding Your Patio Area
One of the quickest ways to spoil a nice weekend afternoon in the backyard is to have a bunch of smoke accumulate in your lanai or on your patio. You're trying to cook a delicious lunch for the entire family, but the smoke from your grill keeps clouding the area. With the right outdoor venting hood, you can avoid this issue easily.
Choosing a hood for your outdoor kitchen can be difficult, especially if you don't know what you're looking for. The professionals at The Outdoor Appliance Store can help you make not only a cost-efficient selection, but also the right one based on the grill and features you have in your outdoor kitchen.
There are outdoor range hoods that are made specifically to go above your outdoor grill of choice. Keep the following recommendations in mind when making a selection:
• Does your hood need additional modifications? Such as enclosing a nearby opening or creating a buffer to the outside elements?
• Having a powerful fan is very important. We usually recommend nothing lower than 1200 cubic feet per minute (CFM).
• The hood should be larger than the grill you've chosen so that it can "catch" the smoke a little easier.
• Always follow the manufacturer's recommendations on proper venting size.
At The Outdoor Appliance Store, we want to make sure every customer finds the perfect options for his or her new outdoor kitchen. If you need a new vent hood so that your backyard cookouts don't get too smoky, shop with us today!
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welcome your enquiry anytime
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Chenhua Waterproof has bee focused on long fiber geotextiles since 1994 and owned good reputation. As a leading such manufacturer in China, welcome to get the quality long fiber geotextiles made in China with reasonable price from our factory.


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My alarm was set for 8:45 because I was attending a funeral. I felt nervous & anguish as I heard my radio sound telling me it was time to get up. Today would be a long, difficult day since we were to say our goodbyes to Stephany Raywood.
It's true, I didn't know Steph as well others, but I spent time with her. I worked with her at the Early Learning Center at BCCC. She was a pleasant, sweet, & nice girl who was always willing to help anyone and everyone. She was so kind and good with the children. Who didn't like Steph?! We had several conversations surrounding boys, school & the daycare. She was always willing to lend an ear with advice attached. She would assist me with washing the dishes as we had our girl talks.
Since I couldn't go to Steph's service alone because I am no good with funerals, I asked to go with Chelsea, one of Steph's friends since elementary school.
As we drove to the church, I became even more apprehensive. There were a whole flock of cars that were parked in front of Hope Lutheran Church in Levittown. It was clear– she was loved.
Then, the hardest part came–walking into the church to say our final goodbyes. First, we said hello to Steph's family. Watching her son walk around the church while Steph's aunt followed after him really got me–he won't be able to see his mother anymore. One of the worst things about this is knowing her son won't have his mother while he grows up into a man. Along with that, her husband lost the love of his life, the rock in his world, the mother of his child.
Everyone seemed so lost, empty and misplaced. No one knew what to do or say. What can you say other than, "I'm sorry for your loss?" I was at a loss for words. All I could do was hug the family. I wish there was something I could have said or done to make the situation better. How could I replace their sadness with happiness?
I felt defeated. All I could do was just be there for them. Even though I've never met her mom, sister or husband, I still hugged them all because I wanted them to know that I care. I tried to make the situation better by comforting them.
Tears formed in my eyes as the service began. Stephany Raywood was such a good soul, had a good heart, was brilliant, beautiful, successful and funny. She was a splendid writer. She was a busy, busy gal, but she still set aside time for family and friends. She was going places and it's a tragedy that it all had to end.
All day in work my thoughts were solely on Steph. She was there right beside me as I finished my day. She was telling me that she's okay and to move on without her. She was telling me to continue on with my day instead of being sad.
I swear that tears formed in my eyes at work and I didn't feel up to conversing. I faked it. I pretended like I was okay, like I was my happy go-lucky self, but really was devastated on the inside. I thought of her as I worked out at the gym, asking myself how she's doing.
Then, I thought of her family– how much pain their going through with this loss. I wish I could help. I wish I could tell them things will be alright. I swear if I could fix this, I would do it in one second without hesitations.
I regret not staying in touch, I regret not speaking with her about how she was doing, I regret not getting together with her, I regret it all. I wish I could take it all back, but it's done.
I loved Stephany. Even though I haven't seen her and I only spoke with her a few times after our daycare days, I know she saw me today and knew that I care about her.
Stephany Raywood– This one is for you, love.


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In Summary
- Kenya's wickets were shared between Hiren Varaiya (1/27) and Nehemiah Odhiambo (1/33).
- Kenya, who are yet to register a win in the competition, face Oman on Wednesday in their last game at the same venue.
Dhiren Gondaria's first half-a-century was not enough as Kenya lost to hosts Namibia by eight wickets in the ongoing ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament at the United Cricket Ground, Windhoek on Tuesday.
Gondaria's 60 runs came off 46 balls with four boundaries and five sixes. He top scored for Kenya, who won the toss and elected to bat first, scoring 110 by the time all their batsmen were sent back to the pavilion in just 30 of their allotted 50 overs.
Alex Obanda (28 off 37 balls with a boundary and a six) was the only other batsman who posted double figures on the scoreboard.
Kenya started their innings on a sour note when opening batsman, Irfan Karim was dismissed for naught with zero scores showing on the board.
Four other batsmen Collins Obuya (0), Hiren Varaiya (0), Emmanuel Bundi (0) and Lucas Oluoch (0) were returned to the pavilion before they could score any runs.


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The Toadstool Table was designed by Masquespacio. It is inspired by the visual culture of graphic design, enhanced by Missana's outstanding upholstery work. The collection allows for an infinite number of combinations per the user's unique tastes.
The Toadstool series also includes a sofa bench and pouf.
Available in a variety of upholsteries. Legs in customizable combinations of wood, marble, and gold plated metal.
For more details, please refer to the spec sheet.


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A new Progressive Policy Institute report reveals that Silicon Valley's domination of telecom, tech, and content industries is increasingly at risk from other tech/info clusters in America–especially Texas tech hubs.
PPI just released its 2015 Tech/Info Job Index of the top 25 counties based on job growth of wired and wireless telecom, Internet search and publishing, and movie production.
The index rankings are important, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals that growth of tech/info jobs in America averaged 13.1 percent, versus a 6.8 percent rise in the rest of private sector employment in the U.S. But more importantly to workers across the nation, average pay for tech/info jobs in 2014 was $84,800 (including bonuses), versus a $46,300 average for the rest of the private sector.
The top three counties on the "PPI 25" were still clustered around Silicon Valley–including San Francisco Country, followed by Santa Clara County and San Mateo County. But Texas came on strong, with Austin taking the number 4 spot and Plano at number 6. A county adjacent to Austin clocked in at number 15, and Dallas at number 19.
Although San Francisco had the fastest growth of tech/info Jobs at 54.7 percent, Austin's Travis County was number two at 41.4 percent and Williamson County at 36.5 was third.
Texas blew away the theory that a "halo effect" from the strongest tech/info growth will drive the fastest non-tech/info private sector jobs. Although the three Bay Area counties did have low double digit growth in non-tech/info, the top three Texas counties averaged about 50 percent faster growth in non-tech/info than Silicon Valley.
The PPI 25 do have a national halo effect for average non-tech/info jobs, with 9.5 percent growth between 2011 and 2014, compared to just 7.0 percent average for the rest of the non-ranking counties. Wages were also better, with the PPI 25 counties experiencing an average private sector wage gain of 9.0 percent, versus a national average of only 7.3 percent.
Michael Porter, the well-known Harvard Business School professor, defined tech/info type of business clusters as "geographic concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular field." In his view, "a vibrant cluster can help any company in any industry compete in the most sophisticated ways, using the most advanced, relevant skills and technologies.
Porter added that the most common denominators for innovative clusters like the PPI 25 are: 1) at least one well-endowed high quality research university, 2) network of influencers or executive champions and support groups, 3) supportive state and local government, 4) federal government agencies and laboratories, 6) start-up companies, and 7) large corporations.
It may not be that Silicon Valley innovation is slowing down. However, it seems that many other communities around the United States are using the cluster playbook to speed up.


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We are looking to supply HDPE Bottle Grade Pellets, first generation, mixed colour, clean material ex-factory scrap. Scrap price will be decided after confirmation of destination. Our ex works rate is USD $ 825 / MT. We expect rate to change due to rand/dollar movement.
We are looking for genuine buyers from all over the world. Interested HDPE Bottle Grade Pellets buyers, please contact us with your required quantity, port, payment terms, etc.


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MANILA- Inclusion of casinos as among the institutions covered by the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) strengthens Philippines ability to prevent entry of illicit funds.
This is a very welcome development, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. Wednesday after news reports said President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed into law last July 14 Republic Act (RA) 10927, which amended Republic Act No. 9160, otherwise known as the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001.
Under the new law, covered transaction from casinos are single cash transactions in excess of PHP5 million or its equivalent in foreign currencies.
The law's amendment came after the country became part of a controversy in 2016 when USD81 million, which was part of Bangladesh central bank's funds that was stolen from its account with the Federal Reserve of New York, was transferred to four accounts with the local Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).
Part of the funds were eventually traced to casino operator Kim Wong, who later on returned a total of USD 4.63 million and PHP 488 million worth of cash to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
Wong said the funds were what his company, Eastern Hawaii Leisure, Ltd., received from the laundered money that passed through the RCBC Jupiter Branch in Makati City in February 2016.
Espenilla said the amended law plugs a critical gap in our legal framework.
It will significantly strengthen our ability to prevent the entry of illicit money into our economy, he said.
The central bank chief, who also sits as AMLC chair, said the AMLC Secretariat is already in the process of building up its manpower complement in line with the expanded scope.
The IRR (implementing rules and regulations) for the new Casino Law will be fast-tracked and should be in place by year-end at the latest. The IRR will be developed in coordination with casino regulators notably PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation), he added.
Source: Philippine News Agency


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Building Demolisher 2 is the amazing game for kids to play online. Your mission is to help the worker destroy all of the illegal buildings and constructions. Before launching the heavy spheres, you should control the machine to the best position. Aim and choose the correct angle. then, you can release to remove the target of Building Demolisher 2. Don't forget that you will have not many tools to waste! Try to save and use what you have wisely! Are you ready to start? Have fun!
Use the mouse to destroy constructions.


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Get your planning off to a great start with the amazing new issue of Wedding Ideas magazine! Inside this issue…
- The Wedding Ideas Awards 2014 Your wedding industry winners revealed!
- Beautiful bridesmaid dresses Over 86 to choose from!
- Dreamy details Starting at just 50p!
- The best money-saving tips Over 50 clever ways to save your bridal budget!
- Fabulous competitions Win a honeymoon to Dubai, a designer wedding dress and much more!
- Hottest wedding day themes Decor ideas for 2014!
- Amazing real-life weddings Be inspired by over 60 gorgeous real brides!
- Subscribe from only £6.75 It's the perfect gift for a bride-to-be!
Pick up your copy for just £3.20 at WH Smith, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Boots, Superdrug, Asda and Morrisons as well as independent newsagents nationwide.
Also in your February issue…
Competitions and Reader Offers
- Win a couture bridal gown from Forget-me-not Designs worth £2,000
- Win bridesmaid dresses from Romantica of Devon worth £1,000
- Your chance to win an activity stag weekend
- Win a La Tasca hen party worth £2,000
- Win a minimoon to Dubai worth £3,000
- Bridal body shapes – Find the perfect gown to flatter your figure
- Statement gowns – Head-turning designs
- Splashes of colour – Colourful bridesmaid dresses to suit every wedding scheme
Exclusive Collections
- Benjamin Roberts
- Forget-me-not Designs
- Kitty & Dulcie
- Enzoani
- Colour clinic – Top accessory designers reveal how to dress your hair colour
- Real-life slimming – Discover how this real bride lost five stone thanks to Slimming World
Real Weddings
- Stephanie & Tom – Vintage tea party
- Kate & Ian – Sage and white details
- Anna & Matt – Cool cricket theme
- Charlotte & Rob – Quirky vintage charm
- Lianne & Daniel – Yellow and blue
- Amy & Philip – Inspired by the movies
- Hannah & Gareth – Country green
- Libby & Andrew – Shades of pink
- Laura & Steve – Pretty pastel hues
- Natalie & Matthew – A sweet summer wedding
- Claire & Rob – Bright and beautiful
- 50 ways to save – Stretch your wedding funds with a little help from the experts and real brides
- What to ask your wedding venue – Get the best deal possible with these 10 all-important questions
- Wedding Ideas Award winners revealed – Find out which of your suppliers have been voted the UK's best for 2014
- 20 fab finds – We reveal our favourite things this month
- Finishing touches – Beautiful bridal jewellery from earrings to hair combs
- Stationery to match your theme – Designs to suit every style
- Embellished ideas – Chic stationery designs
- Real-life flowers – Bloomin' lovely ideas
- Be my Valentine – Romantic details
- Vintage tea party – Sweet ideas for a fun high tea inspired day
- Peach and coral – A summery burst of colour
- White wedding – Classic scheme
- Woodland wonderland – Enchanting autumnal ideas
- Spring celebration – Floral prints and pastel hues
- Hidden gems – Sumptuous jewel tones
- Blush and black – A twist on girly glamour
- Summer sunflowers – Bold blooms to brighten up your day
- Destination news – The latest news and ideas
- Win a honeymoon! – Don't miss your chance to win a luxurious trip to Dubai worth £3,000
- Marry abroad – If you're planning a wedding overseas check out marryabroad.co.uk
- Romantic getaway – We review the stunning Summer Lodge in Dorset


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Bene o male tutti conosciamo i vantaggi e la storia dell'Open Source, soprattutto per chi lavora nel nostro settore; quindi, proprio perché non voglio scrivere di cose banali, mi evito tutta la manfrina del "è successo questo è successo quello". Lavoro, in un modo o in un altro, sull'Open Source ormai da diversi anni, questo ha fatto si che mi facessi un'idea su cosa sia e su come è cambiato il contesto che ruota intorno a questo mondo.
After very good news I have reported before, this morning I have received a very pleasant e-mail saying that since today I have been accepted as member of the Apache Cocoon PMC. Wow, I am still astonished by all this new stuff :-)
Yesterday evening I had to print out a photo of my son: since the only ready PC in the neighbourhood was my brand new Linux powered laptop, I just plug in the USB cable of my HP Deskjet F300 all-in-one.
Yes, it's true - I am still realizing, but it's definitely true:since last February 21st 2011 I have been granted committer rights at Apache Software Foundation, on the Cocoon3 project.
I come from four-in-a-row (very good) laptops made by mummy Apple: an iBook G3, a Powerbook G4, a MacBook Pro Core2Duo and another shining MacBook Pro, powered by dual-core i7 and SSD. Because of some relevant changes in my work life (I'll write something about it in the near future), I had to return to my former company the latest laptop - with some regrets, however, it's a damn powerful machine.


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Events » Waikino's Village Market and Garage Sale
<< BACK to All Events and Notices
Tag: Market Day
From 9 am there'll be fresh produce and plants for sale, and loads to check out. Bric a brac and china alongside clothes and shoes, furniture and old tools will fill Victoria Hall, along SH2 in Waikino. Funds raised go to the upkeep of the hall. There's a good start to your day.
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