"Alastor" <rossmcp@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:7b405e12-37ea-43a2-9adc-bb386fed7c1b@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Apr 3, 11:17 pm, "Ed Cryer" <e...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> "Alastor" <ross...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>
>
news:a1a486e4-7cac-4859-a80c-057621c57513@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Apr 2, 9:28 am, fictionalfant...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
>
> > Hi,
>
> > I'm doing some research about the popularity of Latin on the
> > internet
> > and was wondering if anyone could tell me how long this group has
> > been
> > around for? I know that the first archived post is from 1999- but is
> > that a reflection of when the group started or Google's limited
> > capacity for storage?
> > Additionally, are there any other websites that you frequently use
> > to
> > discuss/write in Latin?
> > I'd really appreciate any help you could give me.
> > Gratias ago. Vale. xx
>
> Rome has its slaves even in this technological age. This forum is a
> kind of wine shop where they gather in the hopes of fooling each other
> that they are all Romans. They'll never be Romans. Yes, they can speak
> Latin a bit, and maybe they know some Roman customs, but they're
> really just Greeks, Egyptians, Germans, Britons and only Jove knows
> what else! A polyglot, polymorphic, polysyllabic rabble. I refuse to
> drink with them. I only come here for the dancing girls.
>
> ************
>
> Do you want to see my pictures of Rome? I was there this time last
> year,
> and I didn't waste time with modern "artists" who turn the water in
> the
> Trevi fountain red, and then pour thousands of plastic balls down the
> Spanish Steps.
> No, I paid a small fortune to walk inside the Colosseum. And then I
> walked up to the Capitoline (quite free and gratis through the old
> Forum
> Romanum) and when I got on top I resisted temptation to pay out
> another
> small fortune to tour the museums there. Instead I walked on to the
> Trevi fountain and threw some coins into it over my shoulder; at which
> hundreds of Japanese tourists who'd been hanging around there like
> locusts waiting to be liberated descended on me and almost hoisted me
> onto their shoulders in delight. And while some jabbered at me in
> Japanese, many of the others just got coins and threw them over their
> shoulders. Lots of others, of course, were all pointing cameras at
> this
> liberated horde of tourists doing the modern Grand Tour. I felt rather
> like Russell Crowe in "Gladiator"; arrived in Rome and started a
> revolution!
>
> Ed
You want to show me your pictures of Rome? I was interested until they
turned out to be pictures of Rome. I thought it had sonmething to do
with dancing girls!
Don't talk to me about holidays in Rome. I have breathed the air of
Athens. Except for the carbon monoxide and atomised lead and
innumerable other chemical concoctions, the air of Athens is the air
of freedom. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the rest of Greece
because I forgot my credit card and nobody is allowed to hire a car
without a credit card (or maybe that was a fortunate oversight on my
part since Greek motorists all drive as if they've inhaled too much of
that free air I mentioned just now and road fatalities are as common
as olives). But I had a great time walking around Athens, checking out
the ruins, most of which turned out to be abandoned building sites of
the modern era (why don't Greeks ever finish what they start?), except
I almost got run over several times by Greek motorists due to the lack
of footpaths and road rules. Anyhow, one day I walked around Mount
Hymettus and, being a dopey Australian, I decided to ascend the
eastern flanks overlooking Paeania, in summer, without any path to
guide me up. Fortunately I survived (actually I was much safer there
than on the footpaths in Athens). Why am I mentioning all this? Well,
ascending Hymettus was probably the highlight of my holiday. I could
see a long way through space and time up there. It's the things we
don't plan on doing that often turn out to be the best part of life's
adventure, and that includes during our holidays. Your wonderful
account of your holiday in Rome got me to thinking about these things
again.
****************
I went to Rome last year and loved it. I was planning to visit Athens
this year but changed my mind after reading other accounts similar to
yours. I studied Classics at university, and that's the why of the
planned visits. But I don't feel the need to do Athens; I did once do
Rhodes, however, and found out just why the ancients regarded it as the
birthplace of Helios.
Christ, it was hot!
I had a nice extra flying from the UK to Rome. We were over the Alps and
I had a right-hand window seat. I could see south into Italy; and east
into France. I felt like Hannibal. And then the pilot announced that we
were right on top of Mont Blanc if you looked down on the left. So I
scrambled across the aisle and got an even more incredible view.
Ed
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