01-25-2018, 01:42 PM
Thank you very much. An honour from you.
I don't think I have ever come across a Roman invalid reconstruction -- there are many statuesque figures, so this will be a bit of a shock. I have taught myself the Old Roman Cursive, as my left hand shakes too badly to manage Rustic Capitals (they look more like the work of a spider drunk on Falernian wine -- writing on wax is easier than on paper, but my handwriting is getting better and papyrus is actually easier than paper as it ''bites'' more) and devote myself to scholarly and religious living history -- I have just bought a gilt-bronze ewer, a replica from the nineteenth century Grand Tour period for libations.
I know that a Belgian reenactor also possesses a Senecan lens but unless I stage a daring bank heist, Nero's lens is beyond me!
Interestingly, Beckmann, in a note on Bostock and Riley's translation of the Naturalis Historia, suggests that green fluorspar, green jasper and green glass may have been included in the ancient conception of smaragdus. If I can obtain a slice of polished transparent green fluorspar I might take the liberty of using it, based on the interpretation of Nero's ''lens'' as a sort of mirror: it would serve an identical purpose to the neutral density filter glasses I wear for my weak eyes (good grief, I am a wreck!)
I don't think I have ever come across a Roman invalid reconstruction -- there are many statuesque figures, so this will be a bit of a shock. I have taught myself the Old Roman Cursive, as my left hand shakes too badly to manage Rustic Capitals (they look more like the work of a spider drunk on Falernian wine -- writing on wax is easier than on paper, but my handwriting is getting better and papyrus is actually easier than paper as it ''bites'' more) and devote myself to scholarly and religious living history -- I have just bought a gilt-bronze ewer, a replica from the nineteenth century Grand Tour period for libations.
I know that a Belgian reenactor also possesses a Senecan lens but unless I stage a daring bank heist, Nero's lens is beyond me!
Interestingly, Beckmann, in a note on Bostock and Riley's translation of the Naturalis Historia, suggests that green fluorspar, green jasper and green glass may have been included in the ancient conception of smaragdus. If I can obtain a slice of polished transparent green fluorspar I might take the liberty of using it, based on the interpretation of Nero's ''lens'' as a sort of mirror: it would serve an identical purpose to the neutral density filter glasses I wear for my weak eyes (good grief, I am a wreck!)
Patrick J. Gray
'' Now. Close your eyes. It's but a short step to the boat, a short pull across the river.''
''And then?''
''And then, I promise you, you'll dream a different story altogether''
From ''I, Claudius'', by J. Pulman after R. Graves.
'' Now. Close your eyes. It's but a short step to the boat, a short pull across the river.''
''And then?''
''And then, I promise you, you'll dream a different story altogether''
From ''I, Claudius'', by J. Pulman after R. Graves.
