Thanks for such excellent storytelling. It reminds of the quote attributed to Bill Clinton that there are no permanent victories of defeats in politics. While your story was about real warfare, it seems that Clinton's observation holds - mostly - true.
Way to bring it full circle, Tom. To your point: victories or defeats are, well, just a matter of who’s ahead, and who’s behind. Happy New Year, Tom! ✨
I was on the edge of my seat... would Julius Ultimately make it? Would the pirates prevail? Tune in next week for the season Finale of Caesar and the Pirates 😆
I love learning about historical events that I've either forgotten or never learned. The existence of Cicilian pirates is a new nugget of knowledge for me. Boats and ships. Their relative advantages and disadvantages and the choices people made about vessel design and how that affected their ability to achieve their goals.
The Cicilian's seemed to be very naive and Julius what one would expect him to be in this circumstance. The concept of "rightfully theirs" is similar to "possession is 9/10s of the law". Both of these are ways to overcome any guilt you might have about the brutality of your actions. It's effective.
Also, I always love a brush with Latin. Gladius to gladiator.
Mostly, I love your voice in this evocative piece. It's conversational and smart. No insufferable academic tone or language.
I appreciate this, Patricia. I’ll try to remember your encouragement the next time insufferability oozes out of my writing. 😉 And you’re right: this story is so unique and curious in every way. I sure wish there’s some more surviving artifact and texts to give it even more color. Gladius to gladiator is such a cool insight, isn’t it? ✨
Thalia, this was such a great read, especially with what is going on currently. The whole question of who has the absolute "right" to anything or anywhere has been placed in our moral spotlight like the batman logo in the Gotham night-sky. And it has clearly been a worldview-cataclysm for so many of us. At this point I have no judgment on any of it, personally. But it is an amazing thing to be on the planet to witness.
Perhaps it is in the nature of nations and tribal groups that the post-WW2 Western notions of how international relations "should work" had to come to an end at some point? I don't know , and I don't know whether that is good or bad in the long run. We are suffering from a complete lack of historical perspective because it is the way it has always been for us !
Jim- Yet another great observation on the question of precedence. And I love the reference to WW2 specifically. Global history is definitely a good place to start our review … Hope you had a great New Year on your side of the ocean, Jim? ✨
Thalia, It's not something I tend to get energised about personally, but I am always glad to see a "bit of a stretch" on the daylight hours - though at this latitude you don't really see much difference until late January. I don't know what the climate is like where you are? Is the turn of the year a very major thing in your Sumatran heritage Thalia?
Not much of a great celebration there. Oddly funerals and re-funeration is much more so. But I learn to wish all my friends in the western hemisphere a happy new year. I’m in the mountain regions myself so it’ll be frigid until March-ish. My Sumatran family is fairly blind to weather—they simply go about the day rain or shine. A great model for me, I think. How many daylight hours do you get there in the winters, Jim? Here we’d be lucky if we get 8 hours.
around Midwinter, we get as little as 5 hours of full daylight on a dull day, Thalia ! Although it’s a good consolation that in high Summer we get about 18 hours of daylight. Swings and roundabouts, as they say :)
This was so entertaining! I LOL’d at Julius left hanging. It’s a timely reminder that focusing on power and money is corrupting, and that force and theft are always reciprocated. I imagine you’ve been working on this for a while, but your timing — given recent world events — is impeccable.
Thanks for such excellent storytelling. It reminds of the quote attributed to Bill Clinton that there are no permanent victories of defeats in politics. While your story was about real warfare, it seems that Clinton's observation holds - mostly - true.
Way to bring it full circle, Tom. To your point: victories or defeats are, well, just a matter of who’s ahead, and who’s behind. Happy New Year, Tom! ✨
"But we don’t have time here to discuss this in depth. Especially if Julius is still left hanging."
This had me chuckling ...
Thanks for an enjoyable read Thalia!
😂 I mean, he was left hanging for a bit, Mohammed! 😉
I was on the edge of my seat... would Julius Ultimately make it? Would the pirates prevail? Tune in next week for the season Finale of Caesar and the Pirates 😆
Right? 😂
Very interesting, thank you, Thalia
PS resolutions do remain alien concepts to me
as for the rights, I agree, which kinda goes without saying, but am reminded of a famous line from the old Soviet comedy movie "The Garage":
"право-то, вы, милая, имеете..."
Love this, Chen. Translation of the line for those who don’t have a translation device? ✨🙏
something along "well, the right per se, you have, dear..."
Very accurately put! 🙌🏼✨
Fascinating piece of history, so well told, as usual – subtle and powerful.
Thank you, Kathy! Glad you enjoyed it. Happy weekend to you! 🙏
Thanks and Happy New Year!
This is brilliant!
Thank you Patricia! Any favorite part of the story that stood out to you?
I love learning about historical events that I've either forgotten or never learned. The existence of Cicilian pirates is a new nugget of knowledge for me. Boats and ships. Their relative advantages and disadvantages and the choices people made about vessel design and how that affected their ability to achieve their goals.
The Cicilian's seemed to be very naive and Julius what one would expect him to be in this circumstance. The concept of "rightfully theirs" is similar to "possession is 9/10s of the law". Both of these are ways to overcome any guilt you might have about the brutality of your actions. It's effective.
Also, I always love a brush with Latin. Gladius to gladiator.
Mostly, I love your voice in this evocative piece. It's conversational and smart. No insufferable academic tone or language.
I appreciate this, Patricia. I’ll try to remember your encouragement the next time insufferability oozes out of my writing. 😉 And you’re right: this story is so unique and curious in every way. I sure wish there’s some more surviving artifact and texts to give it even more color. Gladius to gladiator is such a cool insight, isn’t it? ✨
Just to clarify, I don't think your pieces are ever over wrought with academic-speek.
That’s certainly good to hear, Patricia!
Thalia, this was such a great read, especially with what is going on currently. The whole question of who has the absolute "right" to anything or anywhere has been placed in our moral spotlight like the batman logo in the Gotham night-sky. And it has clearly been a worldview-cataclysm for so many of us. At this point I have no judgment on any of it, personally. But it is an amazing thing to be on the planet to witness.
Perhaps it is in the nature of nations and tribal groups that the post-WW2 Western notions of how international relations "should work" had to come to an end at some point? I don't know , and I don't know whether that is good or bad in the long run. We are suffering from a complete lack of historical perspective because it is the way it has always been for us !
Jim- Yet another great observation on the question of precedence. And I love the reference to WW2 specifically. Global history is definitely a good place to start our review … Hope you had a great New Year on your side of the ocean, Jim? ✨
Thalia, It's not something I tend to get energised about personally, but I am always glad to see a "bit of a stretch" on the daylight hours - though at this latitude you don't really see much difference until late January. I don't know what the climate is like where you are? Is the turn of the year a very major thing in your Sumatran heritage Thalia?
Not much of a great celebration there. Oddly funerals and re-funeration is much more so. But I learn to wish all my friends in the western hemisphere a happy new year. I’m in the mountain regions myself so it’ll be frigid until March-ish. My Sumatran family is fairly blind to weather—they simply go about the day rain or shine. A great model for me, I think. How many daylight hours do you get there in the winters, Jim? Here we’d be lucky if we get 8 hours.
around Midwinter, we get as little as 5 hours of full daylight on a dull day, Thalia ! Although it’s a good consolation that in high Summer we get about 18 hours of daylight. Swings and roundabouts, as they say :)
Yikes, that’s pretty brutal!
LOL you get used to it :)
This was so entertaining! I LOL’d at Julius left hanging. It’s a timely reminder that focusing on power and money is corrupting, and that force and theft are always reciprocated. I imagine you’ve been working on this for a while, but your timing — given recent world events — is impeccable.
Absolutely, Julie! What is happening right now is so baffling that a hint of tragic comedy in our writing couldn’t hurt. Happy New Year, by the way! ✨
Same to you!
Oh, Julius. You sure had it going on for quite a while.
Thank you, for a great story. I read it twice to make sure I didn't miss anything!!
That’s right, Margaret! 🤓 He sure did…