"Ed Cryer" <ed@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:ft5e9q$83f$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> "Alastor" <rossmcp@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>
news:7b405e12-37ea-43a2-9adc-bb386fed7c1b@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On 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
>
>
Corrigendum; I could see south into Italy; and west into France.
Beatissimus cui permittitur se ipsum corrigere.
Edus Britannicus
P.S. I also saw the curvature of the earth southwards; the main trunk of
Italy disappearing over the horizon.
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