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16 Jan, 5 tweets, 3 min read
1) "To purify your new farmland you need to have a pig-sheep-bull procession. They must be led around the land as the following words are spoken: 'I call upon the benevolence of the gods, in the hope of good fortune I entrust to you this pig, sheep and bull led around my farm'.. Image
2) "You should then invoke Jupiter and Janus with an offering of wine. Then to Mars you speak these words: 'Father Mars, I pray you be kind to my new home and family. I have arranged this pig-sheep-bull procession so you may ward off disease, barrenness, disasters and storms'.. Image
3) ..'I pray you allow my vegetables, grain and orchards to grow and reach maturity; protect the shepherds and the flocks and bestow good health upon me, my home and my family. For these reasons, and to purify my farm, please be honoured by my pig-sheep-bull procession'.. Image
4) "Afterwards you need to slaughter the sacrificial animals with a knife. Offering the gods the slaughtered animals and oblation crackers you must say: 'please be honoured by my pig-sheep-bull sacrifice.'"

(Cato the Elder, On Agriculture, 141)
#Roman #religion #agriculture Image
The sacred procession and sacrifice of the pig, sheep and bull was known as the 'suovetaurilia'; the name of the purification ritual deriving quite literally from the three animals involved: pig (sus), a sheep (ovis) and a bull (taurus). Image

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Gareth Harney Profile picture
18 Jan
1) Chasing 'likes' and validation on social media? Seneca has some advice to offer from 2,000 years ago:

"Why should pride in your abilities lure you into publicity? Who needs the applause of strangers or the approval of the mob? Not one of them can fully understand you anyway.. Image
2) "You may ask then, 'For what purpose did I learn these skills?' It was for yourself that you learned them. Your efforts are never wasted. Asked if he worries his art will only reach a few, the wise man says: I am content with few, content with one, content with none at all.. Image
3) "In fact, you should scorn the pleasure which comes from the applause of the majority. Many people praise you? So? Have you any reason for praising yourself? Do you really want to be a person whom the many can understand. Your good qualities should face inwards." Image
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Gareth Harney Profile picture
10 Jan
1/5) Caesar crossed the small Rubicon river with his 13th Legion, on this day January 10, 49 BC. Crossing this boundary into Italy with his forces, he effectively declared war on the Roman state. Plutarch vividly describes the point of no return:

"When he reached the river...
2/5) "..known as the Rubicon, he paused to reflect; now as he drew nearer and nearer to the dreadful step. His mind wavered as he considered the tremendous magnitude of this venture. He ordered a complete halt and for a long time he weighed matters up silently in his own mind"..
3/5) .."his resolution wavered back and forth and his purpose suffered change after change. For some time too he discussed his perplexities with his friends around him. He considered the sufferings which him crossing the river might bring upon mankind, but he also...
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9 Jan
1/4) "His military training gives the Roman soldier a resilient physique but also a resolute spirit. Roman military law means the death penalty for any soldier who abandons his post or even commits a petty crime. But the commanding officers invoke even more fear than the law"..
2/4) .."By rewarding the good soldiers they make the punishments for the bad soldiers seem all the worse. Roman troops are so completely obedient to their superiors that they set a good example to all of Rome in peacetime."..
3/4) .."They act as one on the battlefield: so tight in their formations, so adaptable in their manoeuvring, their ears always pricked for orders, their eyes always watching for signals, and their hands always ready for work to be done."..
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7 Jan
1) In the 2nd century a young Egyptian named Apion, from Philadelphia, enlisted in the Roman navy. He sailed across a stormy Mediterranean to the naval base at Misenum. When he arrived safely he wrote this letter to his father back in Egypt:

"Dear Epimachus, my father and lord..
2) .."Before all else, I pray you are flourishing and in good health, and that my sister and her daughter and my brother are also well. I thank the Lord Serapis for keeping me safe when I was in danger during my sea voyage!.."
3) ..."When I arrived at Misenum I received from the emperor three gold coins to compensate me for my travelling expenses - so I am well! I beg you father, write me a letter; firstly telling me about your health, secondly about the health of my brother and sister, and thirdly..
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2 Jan
1/6) It is important to remember that without modern medicine, many in the ancient world endured chronic conditions that today we could treat. Seneca suffered from asthma and described how it informed his Stoic views on mortality:

"I have been dealt one illness in particular..
2/6) .."The Greeks call it 'asthma' but it is adequately described as 'laboured breathing'. Attacks usually last an hour or so - can you imagine drawing your final breath for that long? I have been visited by all types of physical pain but none are more distressing than this"..
3/6) .."With other ailments you might get sick but with this one you are losing your very soul's breath. For this reason doctors call asthma a 'rehearsal for death'. Even when an attack ends I can't rejoice: you don't win this legal case, you just postpone the day of the trial"..
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Gareth Harney Profile picture
31 Dec 20
1/7) A powerful plea to the Emperor asking for religious tolerance ..coming not from a Christian, but from a Pagan - the senator Symmachus, petitioning the Emperor in 384 AD to preserve non-Christian monuments:

"Every man has his own customs and religious practices... Image
2/7) "Just as every man receives at birth his own soul, so every nation receives its genius, its guardian spirit, guiding its destiny. The favour we have been bestowed proves to us the existence of gods; nothing illuminates the will of the gods better than our own prosperity".. Image
3/7) "We must preserve centuries of faith by following our fathers, who prospered by following their own fathers, and so on. Let us imagine Rome herself stands before us now, pleading of us: "Respect my age! Respect the religious rites that carried me through so many years"... Image
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