On When in Rome

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

– St Ambrose

26/vi mmxiii

A bullet fired horizontally from a gun, and a second bullet dropped by hand from the same height as the gun, will both hit the ground at the same time. The forward motion of an object has no effect on the pull of gravity.

Sitting Bull

At ancient Roman dinner parties, a live mullet would be brought in a jar from the kitchen, and the water removed. When dying, mullet change colour like a traffic light, going red, orange and green. Having amused the guests in this way, the fish would be returned to the kitchen to be cooked.

Edward VII’s idea of a good time was to drop half-sucked pear drops into the pockets of his houseguests.

On the 26th of May 1868, the last public execution in Britain – the hanging of murderer Michael Barrett – took place at Newgate.

In 1883, Sitting Bull was invited as guest of honour to address a celebration of the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway. Speaking in Sioux through a translator, his speech began: “I hate all white people. You are thieves and liars”. The interpreter, taken by surprise, hastily improvised a string of flowery compliments in English, with the result that the speech was greeted with rapturous applause, much to Sitting Bull’s amusement.

See other: Quite Interesting Facts

Mercurial [Noun.]

1. Volatile; erratic; unstable; flighty; fickle or changeable in temperament.
2. Lively; clever; sprightly; animated; quick-witted. ‘I have a mercurial wit.’
3. Having characteristics attributed to the Shakespeare character Mercutio, such as volatile, erratic, unstable, and shrewdness.
4. Of, or pertaining to the element mercury; containing mercury; caused by the action of mercury or quicksilver.
5. Having characteristics attributed to the Roman god Mercury, such as swiftness, eloquence, shrewdness, and thievishness.
6. In Roman mythology, of or pertaining to the Roman god Mercury.
7. In astronomy, of or pertaining to the planet Mercury; under the supposed astrological influence of the planet Mercury.

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Basileus

Basileus is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. It is perhaps best known in English as a title used by Byzantine emperors, but also has a longer history of use for persons of authority and sovereigns in ancient Greece, as well as for the kings of modern Greece.

While the terms used for the Roman emperor are Kaisar Augustos –  a decree from Caesar Augustus; Dogma para Kaisaros Augoustou, (see Luke 2:1) – or just Caesar. Herod is called Basileus.

Regarding Jesus the term Basileus acquires a new Christian theological meaning out of the further concept of Basileus as a chief religious officer during the Hellenistic period.

Jesus is known as the Basileus tôn Basileôn, the King of Kings (see Matthew 28:18).

In Byzantine art, a standard depiction of Jesus is Basileus tēs Doxēs, King of Glory or in the West the Christ or Image of Pity; a phrase derived from Psalms 24:10 and the Lord of Glory Kyrios tēs Doxēs in 1 Corinthians 2:8.

October

October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with a length of thirty-one days. The eighth month in the old Roman calendar, October retained its name from the Latin ‘octo’ meaning ‘eight’ after July and August, after Julius and Augustus Caesar respectively, when the calendar was originally created by the Romans.

October is commonly associated with the season of autumn in the Northern hemisphere and spring in the Southern hemisphere, where it is the seasonal equivalent to April in the Northern hemisphere and vice versa.

In common years January starts on the same day of the week as October, but no other month starts on the same day of the week as October in leap years. October ends on the same day of the week as February every year and January in common years only.

Pyrrhic Victory

‘Dionysius, however, makes no mention of two battles at Asculum, nor of an admitted defeat of the Romans, but says that the two armies fought once for all until sunset and then at last separated; Pyrrhus, he says, was wounded in the arm by a javelin, and also had his baggage plundered by the Daunians; and there fell, on the side of Pyrrhus and on that of the Romans, over fifteen thousand men.

“The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.” – Winston Churchill

Marble Bust of Pyrrhus of Epirus

The two armies separated; and we are told that Pyrrhus said to one who was congratulating him on his victory, “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.”

For he had lost a great part of the forces with which he came, and all his friends and generals except a few; moreover, he had no others whom he could summon from home, and he saw that his allies in Italy were becoming indifferent, while the army of the Romans, as if from a fountain gushing forth indoors, was easily and speedily filled up again, and they did not lose courage in defeat, nay, their wrath gave them all the more vigour and determination for the war.’

– Plutarch, The Parallel Lives Volume IX – The Life of Pyrrhus New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A: Loeb Classical Library Edition (1920) p. 416