04-14-2014, 01:55 AM
Robert wrote:
If Rome's protection was warranted by 'the gods' until 383 AD, then it was the discarding of those gods in favour of the Christian God that would render that warrant useless.
Rome’s protection by the gods ended a few years (less than eight years to be exact) before the sack in 410 AD.
Robert wrote:
Any 'enemy of Rome' could have concluded that, instead of depending on a letter from Stilicho (how DOES one communicate a secret to 'all the enemies of Rome', anyway?) that the warranty had run out.
The enemy would first have to know that there was a religious belief the gods are protecting Rome. Should they obtain information of when this protection ended and that this date had just transpired, it would have been a great boost to the enemies’ morale. Unfortunately there has been little attention applied to Rome’s belief in them being protected by the gods for a 1200 year period. After Rome was sacked in 386 BC, although Livy mentions at the battle the Romans deployed their reserves incorrectly, the first item the Romans did after the Gauls left was to conduct a religious investigation, which found one of the consular tribunes was guilty of not following a religious procedure. There is no mention of incorrectly deploying the reserve forces. The Romans wanted a religious reason, not a military, and they must have been extremely concerned to protect their religious belief about being favoured by the gods.
The life of Rome is defined in four periods: infancy, youth, manhood and old age, which funnily enough also covers the 1200 year period of protection. The four periods equate to the Pythagorean tetractys. So those in the Roman priesthood would know the exact year when Rome will metaphysically die due to old age. In fact a Roman priest in 438 BC, would know what the date of Rome’s demise would be. This must not have been public knowledge in 438 BC, but by the 4th century AD, with the raise of Christianity, the primary sources indicate this was public knowledge. For the year 401 AD, Claudian (Gothic War 26 265-320), relates that after cutting open two wolfs that attacked the emperor’s cavalry escort.
“In each animal, on its being cut open, was found a human hand, in the stomach of one a left hand, in that of the other a right was discovered, both still twitching, the fingers stretched out and suffused with living blood.”
One interpretation of the events believed that the might of Roman was to be unimpaired. However, another interpretation of the portent believed the portent threatened destruction on Rome and her empire. Claudian goes on to say:
“Then they reckoned up the years and, cutting off the flight of the twelfth vulture, tried to shorten the centuries of Rome's existence by hastening the end.”
The 12 vultures represent 1200 years, and Claudian’s passage of hastening the end is due to the different calibration points the Romans have about their founding date. There is Rome’s conception date, Rome’s founding date, and Rome’s conception and founding dates in relation to the sack of Troy. Rome’s founding date of 753 BC is Varronian and was done to neatly conform to Pythagorean time frames or cycles of time. Claudian’s passage is highlighting the differences in dates given by the Varro and the date relating to the sack of Troy. Regardless of the date, Claudian’s passage informs us the Romans knew they were close to the end.
Also knowing Rome was to be abandoned by the old gods, such information would have worked in favour of the Christians. I cannot say with any accuracy what the secret Rutilius is referring to, and Stilicho could well have been made a scapegoat, but the fact Rome is sacked some six years after the protection of the gods does intrigue me.
If Rome's protection was warranted by 'the gods' until 383 AD, then it was the discarding of those gods in favour of the Christian God that would render that warrant useless.
Rome’s protection by the gods ended a few years (less than eight years to be exact) before the sack in 410 AD.
Robert wrote:
Any 'enemy of Rome' could have concluded that, instead of depending on a letter from Stilicho (how DOES one communicate a secret to 'all the enemies of Rome', anyway?) that the warranty had run out.
The enemy would first have to know that there was a religious belief the gods are protecting Rome. Should they obtain information of when this protection ended and that this date had just transpired, it would have been a great boost to the enemies’ morale. Unfortunately there has been little attention applied to Rome’s belief in them being protected by the gods for a 1200 year period. After Rome was sacked in 386 BC, although Livy mentions at the battle the Romans deployed their reserves incorrectly, the first item the Romans did after the Gauls left was to conduct a religious investigation, which found one of the consular tribunes was guilty of not following a religious procedure. There is no mention of incorrectly deploying the reserve forces. The Romans wanted a religious reason, not a military, and they must have been extremely concerned to protect their religious belief about being favoured by the gods.
The life of Rome is defined in four periods: infancy, youth, manhood and old age, which funnily enough also covers the 1200 year period of protection. The four periods equate to the Pythagorean tetractys. So those in the Roman priesthood would know the exact year when Rome will metaphysically die due to old age. In fact a Roman priest in 438 BC, would know what the date of Rome’s demise would be. This must not have been public knowledge in 438 BC, but by the 4th century AD, with the raise of Christianity, the primary sources indicate this was public knowledge. For the year 401 AD, Claudian (Gothic War 26 265-320), relates that after cutting open two wolfs that attacked the emperor’s cavalry escort.
“In each animal, on its being cut open, was found a human hand, in the stomach of one a left hand, in that of the other a right was discovered, both still twitching, the fingers stretched out and suffused with living blood.”
One interpretation of the events believed that the might of Roman was to be unimpaired. However, another interpretation of the portent believed the portent threatened destruction on Rome and her empire. Claudian goes on to say:
“Then they reckoned up the years and, cutting off the flight of the twelfth vulture, tried to shorten the centuries of Rome's existence by hastening the end.”
The 12 vultures represent 1200 years, and Claudian’s passage of hastening the end is due to the different calibration points the Romans have about their founding date. There is Rome’s conception date, Rome’s founding date, and Rome’s conception and founding dates in relation to the sack of Troy. Rome’s founding date of 753 BC is Varronian and was done to neatly conform to Pythagorean time frames or cycles of time. Claudian’s passage is highlighting the differences in dates given by the Varro and the date relating to the sack of Troy. Regardless of the date, Claudian’s passage informs us the Romans knew they were close to the end.
Also knowing Rome was to be abandoned by the old gods, such information would have worked in favour of the Christians. I cannot say with any accuracy what the secret Rutilius is referring to, and Stilicho could well have been made a scapegoat, but the fact Rome is sacked some six years after the protection of the gods does intrigue me.
