Rome, an ancient city in Italy, had a war god as part of its ancestry and was nourished with wolf milk. These traits suggested that its people were skilled in warfare, a skill they would demonstrate repeatedly. In its early days, Rome was conquered by the Etruscans, who were the dominant civilization in Italy before Rome became powerful.
The Etruscans, who came to Italy from Asia Minor around the 12th century BC, have an enigmatic background since their language is unrelated to any other language group. Etruria, their homeland in Italy, was composed of multiple city-states. The Etruscans were famous for their exceptional abilities in metalworking and pottery, which ultimately influenced Roman civilization.
During the 6th century BC, the Etruscans reached their peak in power but began to decline by 500 BC. At that time, the Romans emerged and took control of the city to establish a republic. Initially governed by the patrician class, Rome gradually witnessed the Plebs, or common people, gaining influence. Although weaker compared to Greece and Persia, Gauls sacked Rome in 390 BC. However, during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, Romans established dominance over central and southern Italy while also exploring Greece where they conquered armies and were captivated by Greek culture. Romans emerged victorious against Greek armies but brought back an appreciation for fine art and literature to Rome.
Rome had a formidable rival in Carthage, an influential city that ruled over north Africa and the western Mediterranean. The Punic Wars were a time of humiliation for Rome as Hannibal’s Carthaginian army stayed on their territory for over ten years. Despite both Rome and Carthage’s attempts, neither could achieve victory. Eventually, the Carthaginians had to retreat, causing Rome to pursue them all the way back to Africa. In 202 BC, at the Battle of Zama, Rome emerged victorious over Carthage.
Following a period of tranquility, Rome engaged in another Punic War resulting in the obliteration of Carthage. In the succeeding centuries, the Roman Empire grew by incorporating territories once governed by Alexander the Great, including Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. While endeavoring to assert dominance over the Mediterranean area, Rome simultaneously cultivated its unique civilization and governance system.
The city reluctantly expanded its prized citizenship to a wider range of people, including those from other Italian towns as well as previously marginalized social classes. In 60 BC, Rome was led by a triumvirate consisting of Gaius Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Marcus Licinius Crassus. Pompey the Great, who had previously fought against the Marian party in Africa, Sicily, and Spain in 67 BC, first cleared the Mediterranean of pirates before being appointed to lead the war against Mithridates. Meanwhile, Gaius Julius Caesar gained prominence during Pompey’s absence and demonstrated his political skills while competing with him. As leader of the popular party, Caesar strengthened his support by seeking justice for Marius and Cinna and advocating for mercy towards their exiled or executed children. He also held Sulla’s corrupt followers accountable. Additionally, Caesar found a willing partner in wealthy man Marcus Licinius Crassus.
Catiline’s conspiracy in 63 BC was uncovered and defeated by Marcus Tullius Cicero, a renowned orator and statesman, during his consulship. This plot resulted in Caesar being associated with the negative reputation that the middle classes held for ambitious individuals. Meanwhile, Pompey arrived back from the east and sought the Senate’s endorsement of his measures in Asia, as well as the granting of land to his legionaries. Despite facing staunch opposition, Pompey’s demands were eventually met when Caesar, feigning friendship, allied with him and Crassus to create the first triumvirate. While Caesar initially gained power as a popular democratic leader, he also possessed extraordinary military abilities.
During the next decade, Caesar fought the Gallic Wars and led a Roman army all the way to Britain. When he returned to Rome, the nation was in chaos. He was ordered to stop his army at the Rubicon River, but he defied this command and crossed the river in 49 BC, initiating a war for control over Italy. After succeeding there, he pursued his enemies into Greece and Egypt. While in Alexandria, a tragic event occurred: the renowned Library of Alexandria, which housed nearly 500,000 manuscripts, was set on fire. Nevertheless, Caesar had not only war on his mind but also love.
After achieving victory, he made Cleopatra the queen of Egypt and his mistress. In the year 47 BC, he emerged victorious in the battle of Zela and famously declared, “Veni, vidi, vici” – meaning “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Caesar then returned to Rome, where his presence garnered both admiration and jealousy. In the presence of such an impressive figure, the longstanding ideal of the Roman republic appeared to diminish. The triumvirate formed in 59 BC adhered to their agreement. As a result, Caesar obtained the consulship and appeased Pompey’s demands. He also won over wealthy members of the mercantile class, known as equestrians, at the expense of the Senate. Additionally, he passed an agrarian law that allowed him to reward his troops. However, his greatest achievement was obtaining a five-year military command over Cisalpine Gaul, Illyricum, and eventually Transalpine Gaul. This granted him the opportunity to gain military glory through conquests and closely observe political developments in Italy.
The triumvirs, consisting of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, renewed their alliance. Caesar secured his command in Gaul for an additional five years. In 55 BC, Pompey and Crassus were elected as consuls. As part of their roles, Pompey was given control over the two Spains and Africa, while Crassus received Syria. Unfortunately, Crassus’s death in 53 BC led to a confrontation between Pompey and Caesar. Rome experienced unrest due to the lack of effective governance, until the Senate convinced Pompey to stay in Italy. They entrusted his provinces to legates and appointed him sole consul in 52 BC. Additionally, he became Rome’s champion against Caesar.
The Senate wanted to end Caesar’s military command and stop his second attempt to become consul in 49 BC. They demanded that Caesar either disband his legions and be present in Rome during the election, or continue his command and give up his claim to the consulship. Negotiations failed to resolve the deadlock and in 49 BC, Caesar bravely crossed the Rubicon River, the southern boundary of his province, with his legions and marched on the city, thus starting the civil war that lasted for five years. Pompey and the leading members of the aristocracy fled to Greece, allowing Caesar to triumphantly enter Rome. Unlike other generals who had marched on Rome, Caesar’s victory did not result in a reign of terror; no proscriptions or confiscations occurred.
With the goal of fighting corruption and reinvigorating Rome, a set of economic and administrative reforms were put into action. Despite being in the midst of his war against Pompey, Caesar hurriedly journeyed to Spain and achieved victory over Pompey’s legates’ powerful armies. Upon returning to Rome, Caesar willingly gave up his appointed dictatorship and was chosen as consul instead. In early 48 BC, he invaded Greece and dealt a crushing blow to Pompey at Pharsalus.
Pompey met his demise in Egypt, while the Pompeian cause continued until its demise at Munda in Spain in 45 BC, resulting in Caesar’s appointment as lifelong dictator. Caesar’s assassination on March 15, 44 BC was executed by Republican nobles, specifically Gaius Cassius Longinus and Decimus Junius Brutus. Nevertheless, the autocratic empire he established would endure long after his passing.
Following the murder of Ceasar, Cicero attempted to restore the previous Republican constitution. However, Mark Antony, who was appointed consul alongside Caesar, joined forces with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Octavian, later known as Emperor Augustus. Together, they established the second triumvirate. The triumvirs began by proscribing and assassinating their opponents, including Cicero. At Philippi, Octavian and Antony triumphed over two of Caesar’s killers – Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius.
Afterward, the triumvirs divided control of the empire: Octavian received Italy and the western territories; Antony assumed power in the east; while Lepidus laid claim to Africa. Antony embarked on a journey to the eastern regions where he forged a passionate relationship with Cleopatra – Caesar’s former mistress and Egypt’s queen. They collaboratively devised plans for an empire in the east.
Lepidus, who had been summoned to Sicily by Octavian to assist in the war against Sextus Pompeius, made an attempt to seize Sicily for himself. Consequently, he lost his province and position within the triumvirate. After Sextus Pompeius’ demise and the destruction of his fleet in the Mediterranean, Octavian emerged as Antony’s sole rival. The Battle of Actium in 31 BC followed by Antony and Cleopatra’s subsequent suicides led to Octavian’s victorious emergence as the undisputed ruler of the entire Roman Empire in 29 BC. Despite the calamitous civil wars during the Republic’s final years, there was a noticeable surge in literary activity. This era known as the Ciceronian period spanned from approximately 70 to 43 BC and marked Rome’s Golden Age of literary development. The Augustan period, which lasted from 43 BC to AD 14, constituted its second part. Caesar and Cicero elevated Latin prose to its zenith while Marcus Terentius Varro stood out as that era’s greatest scholar.
Representing the poetry of the period are Gaius Valerius Catullus and Lucretius. Bibliography:
Carvers Realism From Fires
How does Carver create precision of realitywith his characters, focusing on Fires?When looking at the works of Raymond Carver, one can feel a sense of autobiography, that the characters in his stories are struggling against the same circumstances that Carver himself once struggled through. How true this is, is marginal to say the least, for Carver tells us in Fires that anything from a phone call to living in a seedy apartment in Jerusalem for four months is cause to influence his writing.
But taking this as subject of influence for his stories, one must then look at his characters, who at times more than closely resemble a certain element of Carver himself in a certain situation that Carver has since been in. The essence of the characters make Carvers stories all the more realistic, as you can sense the trials and tribulations that these people have gone through, and are being faced with as we read each page further. In looking at Carvers Fires, a collaborations of essays, poems, and stories, we can see the realism of each character, and in doing so, reflect them upon Carver for some likeness. But is this truly where the characters come from? Are they just a reflection of Carver and his life?In private desperation, Raymond Carvers characters struggle through their lives, knowing, with occasional clarity, that the “good life” they had once hoped would be achieved through hard work, will not come about. In many ways, Carvers life was the model for all of his characters.
Married to Maryann Burke at nineteen, and having two children in the space of seventeen months, the Carvers life was decided for years to come. Early on Carver felt, along with his wife, that hard work would take care of nearly everything. We had great dreams, my wife and I. We thought we could bow our necks, work very hard, and do all that we set our hearts to do. But we were mistaken. (Fires, p.
31)Somewhere in the middle of this life of dead end jobs and child raising, he realised, very much like one of his characters, that things would not change. He recounts one of the strongest of these moments in his essay on writing influences, Fires. He was at the laundromat washing clothes and, at this point in the essay, waiting for a dryer: When and if one of the dryers ever stopped, I planned to rush over to it with my shopping basket of damp clothes. Understand, I’d been hanging around in the laundromat for thirty minutes or so with this basketful of clothes, waiting for my chance. I’d already missed out on a couple of dryers- somebody‘d gotten there first.
I was getting frantic….. even if I could get my clothes into the dryer it would still be another hour or more before the clothes would dry….. Finally a dryer came to a stop and I was right there when it did….. This woman put her hand into the machine and took hold of some items of clothing. But they weren’t dry enough, she decided. She closed the door and put two more dimes into the machine…..
I remember thinking at that moment, amid the feeling of helpless frustration that had me close to tears, that nothing….. could possibly be as important to me….. as the fact that I had two children. And that I would always have them and always find myself in this position of unrelieved responsibility and permanent distraction.
(Fires, pp. 32, 33)This sort of epiphany is what Carver deals with in almost all his stories- the daily responsibilities of life weighing down on one’s shoulders when nothing is certain, not one’s marriage, one’s sobriety, not even a dryer to finish drying the clothes. “ Almost all the characters in my stories come to the point where they realise that compromise, giving in, plays a major role in their lives,” Carver said. “ Then one single moment of revelation disrupts the pattern of their daily lives.
It’s a fleeting moment during which they don’t want to compromise any more. And afterwards they realise that nothing ever really changes”. (Gentry, p.80) And Carver has been to that point. Looked it in the face and thrown an empty Vodka bottle at it then sat down and wrote about each piece of shattered glass, and the effort to put it back together. It’s because Carver has been there, that he is able to write about such things as he does.
His first hand perception, which he gives to his characters, brings them to life, and leaves a flavour of autobiography lingering in his stories. Parallels can be drawn between Carver and his characters, despite his resurgence in denying basing them on himself. This can be seen in the story Where is Everyone? The narrator of the story is a self-proclaimed alcoholic and through the course of the story confronts the many vices of alcoholism. This struggle also plagued Carvers life, and one that he also succumbed to. More than once Carver has been criticised for condescending to his characters, or dealing with them ironically.
He flatly denies this stance at every opportunity. “ I’m not talking down to my characters, of holding them up for ridicule, or slyly doing an end run around them. I’m much more interested in my characters, in the people in my story, than I am in any potential reader. I’m comfortable with irony if it is at the expense of someone else, if it hurts the characters” (Gentry, p.185) If he had condescended to his characters then he would had to have condemned the first forty years of his own life for his ordinariness. “ I do know something about the life of the underclass and what it feels like, by virtue of having lived it myself for so long,” he said. “Half my family is still living like this.
They still don’t know how they are going to make it through the next month or two”. (Gentry, p.138)The precision found in Carver’s writing comes from Carver himself, his experiences, his rises, and his downfalls. Carver’s stories changed with his life, and his characters reflect this. We can say a certain percentage of his stories dealt with the working poor, or alcoholics out of work, or adulterers.
Or we can say that overall he dealt with people who had no hope, or little hope. He once said, “It’s strange. You never start out life with the intention of becoming a bankrupt or an alcoholic or a cheat and a thief. Or a liar.” (Gentry, p.38) At one time Carver was all of these. And so were his characters. BibliographyCarver, R (1997)Fires: Essays, Poems, StoriesThe Harvill Press: LondonGentry, M.B., Stull, W.L., eds.(1990)Conversations with Raymond CarverUniversity Press of Mississippi: JacksonNesset, K (1995)The Stories of Raymond Carver-A Critical StudyOhio University Press: AthensPp.1-8
A Love Story
At 16 years old, I encountered a typical boy on my California farm. We frequently engaged in playful teasing, chasing, and fighting. However, despite our initial confrontation, we developed a strong bond and became inseparable. He became the person whom I entrusted with all my secrets and who attentively listened to everything I shared. He served as an exceptional sounding board for any discussion.
Despite having different sets of friends at school, our conversations at home always focused on our experiences in school. One day, I confided in him about the profound hurt and heartbreak caused by someone I had feelings for. In response, he provided comfort and offered words of encouragement that aided me in overcoming the pain.
Despite considering him a true friend and being genuinely happy, there was an undeniable attraction that brought me closer to him. Despite always being together in high school, including graduation night, I initially saw our bond as mere friendship. However, deep down, I knew my feelings were different. Even though we went with different prom dates, I longed to be by his side on graduation night. So after everyone left, I went to his house to express my desire to spend time with him. That evening gave me the perfect opportunity; however, all we did was sit together under the starry sky and discuss our future plans and aspirations. As I looked into his eyes and listened intently while he shared his dreams with me, my affection for him only grew stronger.
While he openly expressed his desires for marriage and success, I could only share my own dreams and take comfort in his presence. However, I left the encounter feeling hurt because I lacked the bravery to express my true feelings. Despite longing to confess my love during our time in college, various circumstances always prevented me from doing so, particularly his constant companionship. After we graduated, he secured a job in New York City. Although I was happy for him, there was also a hint of sadness as he departed without ever knowing about my genuine emotions. With his imminent departure for this significant career opportunity, I concealed my feelings and bid him farewell at the airport with tears streaming down.
That night, upon returning home, I wept over failing to reveal what lay deep within my heart. Nevertheless, I found employment as a secretary and gradually advanced to become a computer analyst—a milestone that filled me with pride.
Then one day, an invitation arrived in the mail—it was his wedding invitation. The news brought forth both joy and sorrow simultaneously.
Accepting that a romantic relationship with him was not possible, I acknowledged our fate as friends. Consequently, I attended his wedding the following month, an event of great significance held in a magnificent church. The reception took place at a hotel. During the ceremony, I had the chance to meet his bride and engage in conversation with him. Despite experiencing love all over again, I chose to suppress my emotions so as not to overshadow what should have been the happiest day of his life.
That night, despite my efforts to outwardly enjoy myself, internally it pained me to witness how blissful he appeared while I struggled to hide my sadness and tears. As I left New York, I firmly believed that my decision was justified. However, unexpectedly just before takeoff he hurriedly approached me to say goodbye and express his joy at seeing me.
Upon returning home, I consciously made an effort to erase the events in New York from my mind and focus on moving forward with my life. Over the following years, we continued exchanging letters where we updated each other on our lives. In these letters he admitted how much he missed our conversations.
I became increasingly concerned after sending six letters without hearing back, worried about his lack of response. However, just as despair began to consume me, a note arrived instructing me to meet him at our familiar spot by the fence. With a heavy heart, I found him there, overwhelmed with sadness and heartbreak. We held each other tightly until we ran out of breath. Eventually, he revealed that his prolonged silence was due to his divorce. He wept until he could cry no more.
We returned to the house where we once shared stories and laughter, catching up on each other’s lives amidst it all. Yet amidst it all, I couldn’t confess my true feelings for him. Over the following days, he seemed to temporarily forget about his troubles and divorce as we reveled in each other’s company. Once again, I found myself falling deeply in love with him.
Tears streamed down my face when the time came for him to depart for New York as I bid him farewell with a heavy heart. He promised to visit whenever possible and eagerly awaited those moments when we could be together again and have fun like old times.
Initially, he did not show up as promised, leading me to believe he was preoccupied. Over time, I gradually forgot about it. But then out of the blue, a lawyer from New York called and broke the news that he had tragically died in a car accident on his way to the airport. Dealing with the extensive legal matters left me deeply saddened and my heart shattered. These unexpected events shocked me and finally unveiled the reasons for his absence on that day.
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Once again, my heart was shattered, and that night I wept tears of sorrow and pain. I questioned why fate would bring such misfortune upon a genuinely good person like him. Gathering my belongings, I traveled to New York for the reading of his will. As expected, his family and ex-wife received their rightful shares. It was there that I finally met his ex-wife again since our last encounter at their wedding. She shared with me his true nature – always providing, yet perpetually unhappy. Despite her efforts to bring him joy, he remained as content as he had been on their wedding day. Among the bequeathed items was a diary, which was given to me. Tears flooded my eyes upon receiving it, leaving me with perplexity about why it was entrusted to me. Carrying it with me, I boarded my flight back to California. During my journey, memories of our cherished moments together resurfaced, compelling me to delve into the diary and uncover its contents.
The diary chronicles our first meeting and following that, my emotional response while reading it. It reveals his admission of falling in love with me on a day when I was heartbroken, yet he hesitated to confess his feelings, resulting in his reserved behavior and preference for listening to me. The diary depicts his desire to express himself numerous times but being overwhelmed by fear. It recounts his journey to New York where he found love with someone else. However, the happiest moment he experienced was seeing and dancing with me at a wedding, envisioning it as our own. He shares his perpetual unhappiness until he had no choice but to end his marriage. Moreover, he highlights the immense joy he derived from reading the letters I wrote to him, considering it the best time of his life.
Finally, the diary concluded with the statement, “today I will tell her I love her,” which sadly turned out to be the day he was killed. It was the long-awaited moment when I would discover his true feelings. This experience serves as a poignant reminder not to delay expressing love to someone. There is no guarantee that the next day will ever arrive.