After reading about Caesar and his military conquests, I have began to wonder why and this great man was not more informed about a plot against his life. [The author has started to refer to Caesar as "The Dictator." This puts visions of Caesar marching around as Charlie Chaplin in his robes. Funny notion.] Furthermore, the author refers to it as a conspiracy, not a coup as I have come to view it. A coup for the good of Rome. Had Caesar put an end to the conspiracy or coup, the history of the Roman Republic would have turned out much differently.
Caesar's "duty" was to restore the [Roman] Constitution for the good of the Republic. The conspiracy against Caesar started one year prior to his death, March 15, 44 BC. There was a strong disaffection among the ruling class. There were up to 60 people involved in the effort to kill Caesar. They called themselves Freedom Fighters (Liberatores,) they were dissatisfied with the immense death toll from the recent civil war. At the Battle of Munda there were 30,000 deaths alone. Pompey's son Cneaus was killed in this fighting with his troops.
In addition to the political unrest, the treasury was bankrupt from fighting the civil war. A further strain was the cost of administering a larger republic and the food supplements handed out in Rome and elsewhere in the republic. And Anthony's mismanagement of the government during Caesar's absence during the civil war and while in Egypt.
On of the other contributing factors, in my opinion, was the death of Cato. When Cato killed himself, it was a big blow to Caesar's reputation. Cato was respected in the Senate and by the Optimates; but that someone would take his life for dignity and honor really hit the heart of what Caesar was trying to do. Then the publication of Cato by Cicero, Anti-Cato by Caesar and the pamphlet by Brutus did not do Caesar well in the public eye.
Lastly, when the author refers to Caesar as "Dictator," he was not really. He turned down the opportunity "officially" when the Senate offered it to him, but he was acting the role. Nothing upset the Roman people more then the idea of a king or dictator for life. Caesar should have know that from his powers of working with people and command in the military. Maybe the military service also kept him thinking he was in charge and unstoppable. That I don't know.
Note on the civil war: estimated 100,000 Roman citizens had lost their lives since 49 BC. Certain citizens viewed the civil war as two great generals going at each other for power. Pompey, representing the Optimates, the conservative faction and Caesar, representing the Populares, the people. Therefore the large death toll was uncalled for.
People mentioned in the conspiracy:
Caius Trebonius - Governor of Spain - asked Mark Anthony if he would join plot to kill Caesar
Mark Anthony - ran Italy in Caesar's absence - Remained silent when approached by Trebonius
Marcus Brutus
Caius Cassius Longius - Quaestor - Taken over Syria after Crassus's death at the Battle of Carrhae - Success with respect to Parthians in 51 BC when Cicero was Governor of Cilicia a neighboring province
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
And the Mountains Echoed by Khalid Hosseini
Wyckfield Book Group - July Selection
Setting: Maidan Sabz - rural village outside of Kabul in the 1950s
Cast of Characters:
Baba Saboor Ayub - father
1st wife dies in child birth
Parwana - Second Wife
Masooma - Parwana's sister
Nabi - Parwana's brother and chauffeur to Wahdati family in Kabul
Of Mrs. Wahdati - from chapter 2 - "Abdullah looked at her and sensed something alarming in the woman, beneath the makeup and the perfume and the appeals for sympathy, something deeply splintered." (p 43)
Opening Quote:
"Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I will meet you there." Jelaluddin Rumi, 13th century
Darul Aman Palace - mentioned in chapter 3 - where Masooma would like to go
From Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darul_Aman_Palace
Setting: Maidan Sabz - rural village outside of Kabul in the 1950s
Cast of Characters:
Baba Saboor Ayub - father
1st wife dies in child birth
- Abdullah - son
- Quais - son taken by div/educated
- Pari - daughter - collects feathers
Parwana - Second Wife
Masooma - Parwana's sister
Nabi - Parwana's brother and chauffeur to Wahdati family in Kabul
Of Mrs. Wahdati - from chapter 2 - "Abdullah looked at her and sensed something alarming in the woman, beneath the makeup and the perfume and the appeals for sympathy, something deeply splintered." (p 43)
Opening Quote:
"Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I will meet you there." Jelaluddin Rumi, 13th century
Darul Aman Palace - mentioned in chapter 3 - where Masooma would like to go
 |
| Darul Aman Place |
From Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darul_Aman_Palace
Darul Aman Palace ("abode of peace" or, in a double meaning "abode of Aman[ullah]")[1] is a European-style palace, now ruined, located about sixteen kilometers (ten miles) outside of the center of Kabul, Afghanistan.
Darul Aman Palace was built in the early 1920s as a part of the endeavours of King Amanullah Khan to modernize Afghanistan. It was to be part of the new capital city (also called Darul Aman or Darulaman) that the king intended to build, connected to Kabul by a narrow gauge railway.[2] The palace is an imposing neoclassical building on a hilltop overlooking a flat, dusty valley in the western part of the Afghan capital. Intended as the seat of a future parliament, the building was unused for many years after religious conservatives forced Amanullah from power and halted his reforms.
Darul Aman Palace was gutted by fire in 1969. It was restored to house the Defence Ministry during the 1970s and 1980s. In the Communist coup of 1978, the building was set on fire. It was damaged again as rival Mujahideen factions fought for control of Kabul in the early 1990s. Heavy shelling by the Mujahideen after the end of the Soviet invasion left the building a gutted ruin.
In 2005, a plan was unveiled to refurbish the palace for use as the seat of Afghanistan's future parliament.[3] It was to be funded primarily by private donations from foreigners and wealthy Afghans. As of July 2010 there were no signs of renovation of the palace. The palace was reportedly part of the targets in attacks launched on 15 April 2012 for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.[4]
On a hill near the Darul Aman Palace stands the Tajbeg Palace, built as a residence for Amanullah, his wife, Queen Soraya, and their family.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
The Kiss by Rodin - Took My Breath Away
I saw The Kiss by Rodin for the first time a week ago. It took my breath away!
When I first walked into the Rodin Museum with my daughter in Philadelphia I did not know what to expect. Small vestibule. Admission. An iPod as a tour guide. I walked in and turned the corner and saw a woman prostrate with her back and bottom facing me in white. I was amazed by her back. You could see nothing, but everything. You could feel her cringe.
I turn another corner and it's there. The Kiss. I am transformed. Smooth. Turning. White. Romance. Passion. Sadness. That moment right before submission to your partner. [Francesca] did not dive in... I did. Amazement. Fascination. A symphony plays in the background. I took many pictures of the sculpture. From all angles. Rodin wanted you to look at it from all sides. Then I begin to wonder about the lovers story. (I didn't know her name was Francesca at that time or I did from the iPod guide?)
So then I actually listen to the iPod guide and it tells me about Paolo and Francesca and how she fell in love with him. The brother of her husband. It tells how Rodin initially intended the piece for the lower right hand corner for The Gates Of Hell. A project he was working on. That did not agree with what I saw before me. Passion. [Syn. desire, hunger, craving, lust, urge, ache... all view-able before me in Rodin's work.] As time passed, Rodin removed the piece from The Gates of Hell and made it a stand alone piece. It didn't fit. (Yes, I understand that sentiment.)
Raw emotion and passion are emotions elicited from The Kiss on first sight. I also heard a symphony of lovely music. Summer. Four Seasons. Vivaldi. His hands lightly resting on her leg. Doesn't that drive you crazy? For some reason, earlier that day, I purchased a sketch book. I drew my daughter as we were sitting down to rest. She's an artist. That's what she is studying in college. Her comment to me, "I didn't know you did that." My response, "it's been too many years." It came back to me. Like riding a bike. I sat down at this point on a bench in front of The Kiss and started to sketch. Minutes had passed, but it seemed much longer. The drawing was slow at first, but then it continued. Erase. Re-draw. ("That's why there are erasers on pencils kid." ~ CJF)
The pictures I took are being developed and there will be more sketches. I will go back to the Rodin Museum and be captivated again and again. Life returns and it is good! Summer will turn into fall and life, love will be found again.
Links:
Song - John Legend - All of Me - reminds me of this work
BBC Documentary - The Private Life of a Masterpiece - The Kiss - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0UJ5BZOd_A
Rodin-web - http://rodin-web.org/works/1880_kiss.htm
More History:
Paolo and Francesca in their first kiss. Before they could kiss, they were slain by Francesca's husband and Paolo's brother Giovanni and doomed to hell.
In 1275, Francesca, daughter of Guida Vecchia da Polenta de Ravina, is arranged to marry Giovanni Malatesta, Lord of Rimini. There were political reasons for the union. Giovanni was physically deformed. Francesca falls in love with Paolo, Giovanni's younger brother. Giovanni does kill, stabs, Francesca and Paolo in a jealous fit of rage when he sees them kissing. This is a huge scandal in Florence when it happens. Dante is 17 at the time. Francesca leaves behind a 9 year old daughter. Paolo, also married, leaves behind 3 children and his wife.
The piece comes from Dante's Inferno, Canto V. (I have tried reading the Inferno, I have it on my phone, but find it quite hard to understand.) The lovers go to the second circle of hell where sinners are punished for all eternity.
No doubt Camille Claudel, Rodin's mistress is the muse for Francesca? No, according to the BBC documentary. The work was started 2 years before their affair did. The two Italian sisters Anna and Adelle Abruzzezzi, with Adele being the most likely candidate as the model for the kiss.
Originally the piece was designed for the commission of The Gates of Hell, but Rodin finally realizes the piece does not fit into the composition. A 29 inch bronze version was first made for the project. It was displayed at the World's Colombian Exposition for display. It was considered risque for the late 1880's and was displayed in a separate room and view-able only by appointment. Considered Eroticism.
The French government commissioned a larger, marble version of the sculpture to be made in 1888. Jean Turkin, Rodin's assistant, enlarges the piece into marble; but does not finish it. He leaves Rodin's studio before it is finished. Rodin finishes it.
Initially displayed in the Salon de Societe Nationale de Beaux Arts in 1898. In 1900 moved to the Musee de Luxemborg and in 1919 to the Musee Rodin in Paris, where it resides today. There is a copy in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, where I viewed, was transformed, by the piece.
When I first walked into the Rodin Museum with my daughter in Philadelphia I did not know what to expect. Small vestibule. Admission. An iPod as a tour guide. I walked in and turned the corner and saw a woman prostrate with her back and bottom facing me in white. I was amazed by her back. You could see nothing, but everything. You could feel her cringe.
I turn another corner and it's there. The Kiss. I am transformed. Smooth. Turning. White. Romance. Passion. Sadness. That moment right before submission to your partner. [Francesca] did not dive in... I did. Amazement. Fascination. A symphony plays in the background. I took many pictures of the sculpture. From all angles. Rodin wanted you to look at it from all sides. Then I begin to wonder about the lovers story. (I didn't know her name was Francesca at that time or I did from the iPod guide?)
So then I actually listen to the iPod guide and it tells me about Paolo and Francesca and how she fell in love with him. The brother of her husband. It tells how Rodin initially intended the piece for the lower right hand corner for The Gates Of Hell. A project he was working on. That did not agree with what I saw before me. Passion. [Syn. desire, hunger, craving, lust, urge, ache... all view-able before me in Rodin's work.] As time passed, Rodin removed the piece from The Gates of Hell and made it a stand alone piece. It didn't fit. (Yes, I understand that sentiment.)
Raw emotion and passion are emotions elicited from The Kiss on first sight. I also heard a symphony of lovely music. Summer. Four Seasons. Vivaldi. His hands lightly resting on her leg. Doesn't that drive you crazy? For some reason, earlier that day, I purchased a sketch book. I drew my daughter as we were sitting down to rest. She's an artist. That's what she is studying in college. Her comment to me, "I didn't know you did that." My response, "it's been too many years." It came back to me. Like riding a bike. I sat down at this point on a bench in front of The Kiss and started to sketch. Minutes had passed, but it seemed much longer. The drawing was slow at first, but then it continued. Erase. Re-draw. ("That's why there are erasers on pencils kid." ~ CJF)
The pictures I took are being developed and there will be more sketches. I will go back to the Rodin Museum and be captivated again and again. Life returns and it is good! Summer will turn into fall and life, love will be found again.
Links:
Song - John Legend - All of Me - reminds me of this work
BBC Documentary - The Private Life of a Masterpiece - The Kiss - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0UJ5BZOd_A
Rodin-web - http://rodin-web.org/works/1880_kiss.htm
More History:
Paolo and Francesca in their first kiss. Before they could kiss, they were slain by Francesca's husband and Paolo's brother Giovanni and doomed to hell.
In 1275, Francesca, daughter of Guida Vecchia da Polenta de Ravina, is arranged to marry Giovanni Malatesta, Lord of Rimini. There were political reasons for the union. Giovanni was physically deformed. Francesca falls in love with Paolo, Giovanni's younger brother. Giovanni does kill, stabs, Francesca and Paolo in a jealous fit of rage when he sees them kissing. This is a huge scandal in Florence when it happens. Dante is 17 at the time. Francesca leaves behind a 9 year old daughter. Paolo, also married, leaves behind 3 children and his wife.
The piece comes from Dante's Inferno, Canto V. (I have tried reading the Inferno, I have it on my phone, but find it quite hard to understand.) The lovers go to the second circle of hell where sinners are punished for all eternity.
No doubt Camille Claudel, Rodin's mistress is the muse for Francesca? No, according to the BBC documentary. The work was started 2 years before their affair did. The two Italian sisters Anna and Adelle Abruzzezzi, with Adele being the most likely candidate as the model for the kiss.
Originally the piece was designed for the commission of The Gates of Hell, but Rodin finally realizes the piece does not fit into the composition. A 29 inch bronze version was first made for the project. It was displayed at the World's Colombian Exposition for display. It was considered risque for the late 1880's and was displayed in a separate room and view-able only by appointment. Considered Eroticism.
The French government commissioned a larger, marble version of the sculpture to be made in 1888. Jean Turkin, Rodin's assistant, enlarges the piece into marble; but does not finish it. He leaves Rodin's studio before it is finished. Rodin finishes it.
Initially displayed in the Salon de Societe Nationale de Beaux Arts in 1898. In 1900 moved to the Musee de Luxemborg and in 1919 to the Musee Rodin in Paris, where it resides today. There is a copy in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, where I viewed, was transformed, by the piece.