The spirit of Rome: eternal city

Apr 21, 2015 1426

by Raffaele Di Zenzo

SPQR: SENATUS POPULUSQUE ROMANUS
The Senate and the Roman People: A.D. MMXV, MMDCCLXVIII A.U.C.

SALVETE OMNES! PAX ROMANA ET PAX AMERICANA SINT SEMPER VOBISCUM. CAESAR AUGUSTUS IMPERATOR, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS IN MONTE CAPITOLINO, ROMAE. SALUTEM PLURIMAM DICIT OMNIBUS IN IMPERIO ROMANO ET IN AMERICĀ PRO MAXIMĀ ROMAE GLORIĀ ET AD MAIOREM AMERICAE GLORIAM.

I am the spirit of ancient Rome. I speak Latin. Latin is as old as the Eternal City, founded on April 21, 753 B.C., on the banks of the Tiber River in the region of Latium in Central Italy.


Latin is as new as America, homo sapiens, habitat, caveat, status quo, quid pro quo, agenda, propaganda, idea, junior, senior, maximum, minimum, plus, minus, major, minor, superior, inferior, deficit, exit, video, forum, stadium, museum, campus, census, censor, consensus, formula, equilibrium, index, labor, calculus, medium, media, stimulus, appendix, area, equinox, ultimatum, referendum, memorandum, modus operandi, innuendo, pendulum, compendium, momentum, millennium, aquarium, Aquarius, in loco parentis, terra firma, terra incognita, placebo, senator, doctor, aviator, orator, create, creator, donor, donate, index, indicate, labor, elaborate, conductor, cogito ergo sum, Pax Americana, persona non grata, ego, alter ego, alma mater, deus ex machina, Altius, Citius, Fortius (Olympics: Higher, Faster, Stronger). E pluribus unum and Novus ordo seclorum (United States), Semper Fidelis (US Marines), Urbs in horto (Chicago), veto, virus, bacterium, bacteria, radius, nucleus, focus, fungus, alumni, bonus, pro bono, bona fide, de facto, de iure, fiat, alibi, summa cum laude, magna cum laude, A. D.=Anno Domini (in the year of the Lord), A.M., P.M, N.B. ... The jet engine, the car, the bus (short for omnibus = for all), the computer, the fax machine. Latin is ageless and timeless. Latin is the Alma Mater of all languages.


I lived in a little, rural, pastoral village by the Tiber River, the village of Romulus, from whom came the name Rome. My people grew and expanded into a great Empire, my Roman Empire. I became the Caput Mundi, the center of the world.


Everywhere I conquered civilization dwelt as Winston Churchill said of me. I built beautiful cities in my own image: Lutetia Parisiorum (Paris), Londinium, Vindolanda, Leptis Magna, Constantinopolis, Treviri, Italica, Caesaraugusta, Caesaria, Pompeii... I brought pure drinking water. I built aqueducts, fountains, baths, roads (All roads lead to Rome), bridges, villas, schools, temples, the Pantheon in honor of all the gods of the Empire, theatres and amphitheatres. I unified the world with one language: Latin. I gave the Latin alphabet, the calendar, the solar system, the periodic table, the zodiac, a republican government, a lasting peace, the Pax Romana. I gave Forum, the Senate, Senators, res publica. I governed with just laws: Salus populi suprema lex (The well-being of the people must be the supreme law). Every individual of the Empire was proud to be able to say: "Civis Romanus sum" (I am a Roman citizen).


During the time of my Republic my people were frugal, honest, thrifty, law abiding. I am proud of my children: Cincinnatus, who defended me from the Aequi and returned to his farm without asking any rewards. He performed his civic duty. Menenius Agrippa, who gave the persuasive apologue about the strike of the body parts against the belly, and avoided a civil war between the Patricians and the Plebeians. Cato the Censor and Scipio defended me from attacks of Hannibal in the Punic wars: "Carthago delenda est" (Carthage must be deleted, before Carthage will destroy Rome). Cornelia and her jewels: Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, who defended the common people against any rapacious government and gave farmland to poor citizens. Cicero, with his outcry "O tempora! O mores!" saved me from the conspiracy of Catiline: "Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientiā nostrā?" (Catilina, until when are you going to abuse of our patience?). The poet Virgil glorified my mission in history with his poem the Aeneid: "Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento" (Roman, remember to rule people with just laws). The poet Horatius honored me with his Carmen Saeculare: "Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui promis et celas aliusque et idem nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma visere maius" (life-giving Sun, with your shining chariot, you see all the cities of the world, herald the day, then hide it, to be born again new yet the same, I pray, you may never see any city greater than Rome!).


Julius Caesar expanded my Empire up to Gallia, Helvetia, Germania and Britannia: "Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres... Orgetorix mortuus est... Britannia insula naturā triquetrā..." (The whole Gallia is divided into three parts ... Orgetorix is dead... Britannia is an island triangular in nature). Through Caesar Christ paid me the greatest honor and glory: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to God what is God's". Caesar Augustus honors me with the Ara Pacis and the Pax Romana. As Pontifex Maximus he also proclaimed a campaign for family virtues and values: he made adultery a crime punishable by exile. Trajan honors me with his majestic column. Marcus Aurelius honors me with his column and equestrian statue on Capitol Hill.


Pliny, the conscientious young student, honors me because he preferred to stay home and do his Latin homework—and survived—instead of going closer to see the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on August 24, 79 A.D. Pliny also honors me as a conscientious Roman Governor of Bithynia. In a letter of 110 A.D. to Emperor Trajan in Rome, Pliny defended the early Christians against false accusations. Their only "crime", he wrote, "was to meet on a fixed day before dawn and to sing a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery." Trajan responded by saying that the Christians should not be hunted down and that Roman law should be respected for all citizens.


Tacitus honors me with his ethnographic work Agricola, in which he describes the British youth eager to learn Latin, thus giving the first foundation in the formation and evolution of the English language; this is one of the reasons why English is about 50% of Latin origin.


Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 A.D. and gave the concept of freedom of religion, thus beginning a new chapter of my universal history. Christianity survived the barbarian invasions and destructions and in turn saved western civilization as we know it today: schools, libraries, hospitals, cathedrals, orphanages, science, art, music, Gregorian chant, monasteries, where the monks, in the scriptorium, preserved the classical knowledge... As the poet Giosuè Carducci glorifies me: " Salve, dea Roma! Tutto che al mondo è civile, grande, augusto, egli è romano ancora" (Hail, goddess Rome! All that in the world is civil, great, august, that is still Roman).


The poet Rutilius Namatianus honors me with his farewell to Rome: "Te canimus semperque, sinent dum fata, canemus/, non procul a caelo per tua templa sumus" (We always sing of you, 'til the fates allow it, we sing of you; because of your temples, we are not far from heavens). Emperor Justinian codified my Lex Romana. Pope Leo I defended me from Attila the Hun in 452 A.D. On December 23, 800 A.D. I crowned Charlemagne as the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1215 the Magna Charta was written in my glorious Latin language. Pope Julius II honored me with Saint Peter's Basilica and let Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel. Nicola Salvi built my fountain of love: Trevi Fountain. I also gave the Feast of Saint Valentine and the word Romanticism. Pope Leo XIII, with the encyclical Rerum Novarum, presented the Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor in the sharing of "Pane" (bread), from which comes the word "Company." Pope Pius XII, as Defensor Civitatis, saved me from the Nazi occupation. In 1957 my Rome became again the center of the world. The Pax Romana brought its fruits: in the Hall of Horatii and Curiatii on Capitol Hill was signed the "Treaty of Rome" to foster peace, economic cooperation, and to put an end to the millenary wars among the European Nations.


I have survived all kinds of invasions and vicissitudes, thus securing my legacy of law, justice and peace to the world. For millennia, I am the destination of pilgrims and visitors: all come, see, and are conquered. Over the centuries, I have also acquired new youth in my descendants: the children of Italy, of France, of Spain, of Portugal, of England and of the Americas, especially of Latin America. I know that this youth will be eternal, for I shall live in these children, and my fame shall be as eternal as the fame and grandeur of my Eternal Rome.

WHILE THE COLISEUM STANDS, ROME SHALL STAND, WHEN FALLS THE COLISEUM, ROME SHALL FALL; AND WHEN ROME FALLS—THE WORLD" (Lord Byron)


AD MULTOS ANNOS!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROME, 2768 CANDLES FOR YOU

You may be interested