Jim McCormick dissects the latest Roman-bashing revisionism, over at Albion's Seedlings.

Alas, the Romans were not too terribly kind to either Christian or Jew as well as Celt. Masada?

Commodus, Nero, Caligula?

Rome was at its greatest when the Senate and the Republic rather than the Emperors held the largest share of political power. Marcus Aurelius was a terrific Emperor, yet his son Commodus was one of the worst.

A free nation only remains free when it looks to the legislature, not the executive for its greatness.

Speaking of Rome:

Hadrian attempted to root out Judaism, which he saw as the cause of continuous rebellions. He prohibited the Torah law, the Jewish calendar and executed Judaic scholars. The sacred scroll was ceremoniously burned on the Temple Mount. At the former Temple sanctuary, he installed two statues, one of Jupiter, another of himself. In an attempt to erase any memory of Judea, he wiped the name off the map and replaced it with Syria Palaestina, as an insulting reminder of the Jews' ancient enemies the Philistines, long-extinct by then. He reestablished Jerusalem as the Roman pagan polis of Aelia Capitolina, and Jews were forbidden from entering it.

Of course you neglect to mention that part about decades of rebellions that finally lead to Hadrian's use of the "nuclear option." If anything, the Romans willingness to only tolerate so much [male bovine fecal material] from the Middle East was a virtue.

NOT to mention, we tend to forget in any modern comment, that the Romans thought it right and politically correct to rule AS THEY SAW FIT. They were attempting to keep peace in their world.

We cannot view history through our current feelings without having our sight be off focus. Let's look at some comparisons of American history and American present.

George Bush is trying to keep the peace in a bigger world and his detractors keep calling him to task for being Imperialistic. I don't buy it. If he / we were Imperialistic, he’d / we'd have Halliburton building gasoline refineries in Iraq and Afghanistan to keep our prices down. Empires tend to keep the locals down and ship off the local resources for the Empires good. Look at what Spain and Portugal did in Mexico and South America. At $3.00 per gallon I don't think it's happening that way now in our “Empire”.

Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. It was legal. It was not seen as outrageous by the standards of the day. There was legal and religious backing for the ownership and care of slaves. Yes there were people who saw it as wrong. But for the majority of people it was PC to buy and keep slaves.

If George Bush, in an effort to shut him up, made an offer to buy Jesse Jackson...

Steve -- Where may we contribute to this fund to acquire Jesse?

:)

Expanding the topic a bit:

In my lifetime it's been fashionable to bash people of that Mediterranean peninsula. The contributions of Rome were glossed over in order depict Romans as savages. This was done by the new wave of academics and screen writers who, unwittingly, have prepared the way, by comparison, for their unapologetic promotions of the "Religion of Peace." In the latter case, casual beheadings, women burned alive, bombed out crowded pizzerias and low flying planes (Allah is my co-pilot) have been glossed over.

We also found on the first and only occasion for Americans to celebrate the 500 the anniversary of anything that Mr. Columbus was not only lost, he brought AIDS with him to the Americas. He also developed the human condition known as hate, we are told.

No longer depicted as having purple feet or to be concealing a Tommy gun in his violin case, today's Italian American male is either on his way to the home of his goomahd(the other woman), or of his mother with a dead guy in his trunk. The women, while no longer seen enforcing domestic protocol with a wooden spoon in hand while forever wearing the same dress with stockings down around the ankles, are now fleeing constant comparison with Victoria Gotti, or Lorraine Bracco in Medicine Man.

As with other proud ethnic groups in America, such as the Irish, German, Polish, etc. etc.etc., the Italian has put up with it all and never vied for the status of the aggrieved; nor did he come to America to achieve it. ( As for the reason he did, the European elite are still clueless.)

(Yes...there was a small ax to grind.)

GB,
it's not an outright purchase. However, money donated to the RNC would in effect help us "own" all liberal America haters.

Romanes Eunt Domus!

What about the liberal America lovers? Are you going to try to "own" them, too, Steve?

Latin humor? Awesome!

Kudos to Jay Manifold after he gussied up this place.

From the text...

...Now I'm wondering how a comedian and amateur historian

Does he mean Terry Jones? The historian with the degree in Medieval history from Oxford? Who just happens to also be a comedian?

He's written several text books on the history of Chaucher - another subject, I understand that he's one of the world's experts in including an excellent review of Chaucer's role in British Politics. Not to mention his seminal "The Knight's Tale" which explores the history of knight's in medieval culture from the perspective of Chaucer's writing.

Amateur? Bollocks.