James, great piece, your ability to debunk the history of the “vomitorium” is well executed. I really like how you link to the false understanding that Roman life was decadent for all. We like to equate excess in current life to Roman excess leading to their fall and our impending one but perhaps that isn’t quite true. Thanks for the different perspective.
"... stopping for a bite to eat, snaffling up a delicious little morsel of roasted meat or a fluffy little cake from amid the altars, hot out of the oven, gobbling them up on the spot. Or he'd dart into a little roadside cookshops, wolfing down smoking hot sausages, even those left over from the day before, which someone else had nibbled before him."
Most of translating is just about turning Latin into some form of usable English that conveys a specific narrative style, but occasionally there's a passage that's really fun to play with!
James, great piece, your ability to debunk the history of the “vomitorium” is well executed. I really like how you link to the false understanding that Roman life was decadent for all. We like to equate excess in current life to Roman excess leading to their fall and our impending one but perhaps that isn’t quite true. Thanks for the different perspective.
Thank you for your kind words. I'm delighted that you enjoyed it.
I was unreasonably amused by him being thrown into the Tiber. You know why!
My own translation, too!
News of which is due any day now. Maybe even today!
I'm quite proud of:
"... stopping for a bite to eat, snaffling up a delicious little morsel of roasted meat or a fluffy little cake from amid the altars, hot out of the oven, gobbling them up on the spot. Or he'd dart into a little roadside cookshops, wolfing down smoking hot sausages, even those left over from the day before, which someone else had nibbled before him."
Most of translating is just about turning Latin into some form of usable English that conveys a specific narrative style, but occasionally there's a passage that's really fun to play with!