Acta Mundi — Res orbis terrarum a Romanis iudicatae

Commentarii · GalliaDispatches · France

Galli Iterum Novis Rebus StudentThe Gauls Are Once Again Eager for Revolution

Dum haec Romae geruntur, certior fit Caesar Gallos principem consilii sui iterum deposuisse. Qua re cognita, infirmitatem Gallorum veritus, quod sunt in consiliis capiendis mobiles et novis plerumque rebus student, nihil his committendum existimavit.While these things were going on at Rome, Caesar was informed that the Gauls had once again deposed the head of their council. On learning this, and fearing the instability of the Gauls — for they are fickle in their decisions and generally eager for revolution — he judged that nothing whatever should be entrusted to them. Caes. B.G. IV.5

C. Iulius Caesar RES PVBLICA

Annales · GermaniaAnnals · Germany

Germania, Speculum InversumGermania: The Mirror Turned Around

Quos olim Romanis exemplo proposui, nunc ipsi exemplo egent.The people I once held up as a reproach to Rome now stand in need of an example themselves.

Scripsi quondam apud Germanos plus valere bonos mores quam alibi bonas leges. Nunc leges abundant; de moribus tacetur.I once wrote that among the Germans good customs counted for more than good laws elsewhere. Now they have laws in abundance. Of customs, nothing is said. Tac. Germ. 19

P. Cornelius Tacitus PRINCIPATVS

Natura · MetallaScience · Mining

In Viscera TerraeInto the Bowels of the Earth

“Imus in viscera terrae et in sede manium opes quaerimus” — haec ego scripsi de auro. Vos nunc metalla quaeritis quorum ne nomina quidem noveram, ut tabellae vestrae luceant et currus sine equis currant.“We go into the bowels of the earth and seek riches in the abode of the dead” — I wrote that about gold. You now dig for metals whose very names I never knew, so that your tablets may glow and your chariots run without … Plin. NH XXXIII.1–2

C. Plinius Secundus PRINCIPATVS

PRODIGIA

Huius hebdomadis nuntiataReported this week

Prodigia eo anno multa nuntiata sunt.Many prodigies were reported that year.

Lutetiae turris ferrea de caelo tacta.At Paris, the iron tower was struck from the sky.
Novi Eboraci in mensis argentariorum pecunia sua sponte evanuit.At New York, money vanished of its own accord from the bankers’ tables.
Machina quaedam loquens se hominem esse affirmavit.A certain speaking machine declared that it was a man.
Washingtoniae examen apium in Capitolio consedit.At Washington, a swarm of bees settled on the Capitol.

Ob haec prodigia decemviri libros Sibyllinos adire iussi; supplicatio in unum diem indicta est.On account of these prodigies the Board of Ten was ordered to consult the Sibylline Books, and a day of public prayer was proclaimed.

T. Livius · ex annalibus pontificumfrom the pontiffs’ annals

A Ceasefire Decreed in Words, Enacted in Fire

Tab. IIndutiae in flammis. Tabula Actis Mundi more veterum picta (a machina).A Ceasefire in Flames. Painted for Acta Mundi in the classical manner (AI-generated).

Annales Nostri Temporis · De foedere vanoAnnals of Our Time · On an Empty Treaty

Indutiae verbis decretae, igne peractaeA Ceasefire Decreed in Words, Enacted in Fire

Donaldus Trump indutias energiae inter Russiam et Ucrainam ex improviso edixit; at Moscovia tacet, Kiovia obscuratur, et socii inter simulationem et obsequium haerent.Donald Trump abruptly proclaims an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine; yet Moscow keeps silence, Kyiv is plunged into darkness, and allies hesitate between simulation and servility.

P. Cornelius Tacitus · Historicus, consul anno DCCCLHistorian, consul A.D. 97 PRINCIPATVS · III min. legendimin read

Anno urbis conditae MMDCCLXXIX, die Lunae, ante diem IV Idus Octobres. Donaldus Trump, praeses Americanorum, nova simulatione pacem orbi terrarum mandavit. Mane diei hesterni, ut Euronews et acta transmarina referunt, per epistulam palam missam edixit inter Ucrainam et Russiam indutias energiae statim valere: consensisse ambas partes, ne quis foedus violaret.In the year 2779 from the founding of the city, Monday, the fourth day before the Ides of October. Donald Trump, president of the Americans, enjoined peace upon the world under a fresh pretense. Yesterday morning, as Euronews and overseas dispatches report, he declared by a public broadcast that an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia was effective immediately: both parties had agreed;

Neque enim ignota erant arcana consilii. Bellum in Irania recens conflatum olei inopiam et pretiorum caritatem intulerat; instabant comitia media, ubi civium suffragia ob caritatem annonae trepidabant. Duobus ante diebus idem princeps commercium gasolei cum Russis laxari iusserat, ut pretia domi deprimeret. Id vulgo indignabantur socii;Nor were the hidden motives of the policy obscure. The war recently ignited in Iran had caused oil shortages and sharp price spikes; midterm elections were at hand, where the votes of citizens wavered under the rising cost of daily grain. Two days earlier, the same ruler had decreed an easing of the trade in diesel fuel with Russia to suppress prices at home. This the allies openly resented;

Lege totumRead in full

Commentarii · De bello ArabicoDispatches · On the Arabian War

De aëroportu Riadi percusso et montanis IemenensibusOn the Strike Against Riyadh Airport and the Yemeni Mountaineers

Arabia Saudiana est regio late patens, campis arenosis ac maritimis finibus inclusa, cuius incolae, cum ingentibus vectigalibus ex oleo terrae redundent, omni copia rerum affluentiam et luxuriam maiorem quam disciplinae militaris curam habent. Ad meridiem spectat Iemenia, terra montuosa atque aspera, quam magna ex parte gens armata Schiitica, Huthi nomine, tenet.Saudi Arabia is an expansive territory bounded by sandy plains and maritime borders, whose inhabitants, gorged on massive revenues from petroleum, display an abundance of goods and a taste for luxury far exceeding any regard for military discipline.

C. Iulius Caesar RES PVBLICA

Pro Re Publica · De aerario expilatoFor the Republic · On the Plundered Treasury

In ambitum et aerarii direptionemAgainst Electoral Bribery and the Pillage of the Treasury

Quo usque tandem abutetur dominandi cupiditas patientia legum? Quousque audacia eorum progredietur, qui rem publicam non tam custodire quam expilare sibi permissum existimant? Quid est enim, iudices, quod his diebus trans Oceanum gestum esse comperimus, referente nuntio illo UPI, nisi nefaria aerarii direptio et apertissimus ambitus, qualem maiores nostri severissimis legibus …How long, I ask you, will the lust for dominion abuse the forbearance of our laws? How far will the audacity of those men advance who imagine they are permitted not to safeguard the commonwealth, but to sack it?

M. Tullius Cicero RES PVBLICA

Caesarem ipsum legeRead Caesar himself

De Bello Gallico I — Caesar gradatimDe Bello Gallico I — Caesar in graded Latin

Imperial Restitution Press

SENTENTIAEOPINION

ScriptoresColumnists

M. Porcius Cato · CensuraCensure

Furem Dupli, Feneratorem QuadrupliThe Thief Paid Double; the Usurer, Fourfold

Maiores nostri sic habuerunt et ita in legibus posuerunt: furem dupli condemnari, feneratorem quadrupli. Vos feneratores in templis collocatis et tabulas eorum adoratis.Our ancestors held it so, and set it down in their laws: the thief to be fined double, the usurer fourfold. You install your usurers in temples and worship their ledgers.

Ceterum censeo aes alienum esse delendum.Furthermore, I hold that the debt must be destroyed.

M. Aurelius Antoninus · Ad Se IpsumTo Himself

De Rumoribus MatutinisOn the Morning’s Rumours

Mane tibi dicito: hodie incidam in nuntios iratos, in rumores vanos, in clamores de rebus quas intra annum nemo meminerit. Omnia ex opinione pendent. Tolle opinionem: sublata est querela.Say to yourself at dawn: today I shall meet angry headlines, idle rumours, and outcries over things no one will remember within the year. All of it hangs on opinion. Remove the opinion, and the complaint is removed.

EPIGRAMMA DIEIEPIGRAM OF THE DAY

Milia te, Fabiane, sequi dicuntur in orbe:sed tua nemo sequi funera, crede, volet.

Thousands, they say, follow you, Fabianus, the whole world over. Not one, believe me, will care to follow your funeral.

M. VALERIVS MARTIALIS · LIBER XVBOOK XV

NVPER SCRIPTALATEST

DISPV·TATIO

Una res · iv RomaniOne question · 4 Romans

Quid de machinis loquentibus sentiendum?What are we to make of the speaking machines?

Eadem quaestio, varia ingenia, una patria.One question, different minds, one fatherland.

TACITUS

SuspicioSuspicion

Britanni olim balnea et porticus et convivia “humanitatem” vocabant, cum pars servitutis esset. Vos machinam quae vobis adulatur “progressum” vocatis. Nomen mutatum est; res eadem.The Britons once called baths, porticoes and banquets “civilization”, when they were part of their enslavement. You call a machine that flatters you “progress”. The name has changed; the thing has not.

cf. Agricola 21

AGRIPPA

AdmiratioAwe

Da mihi mille tales, et totum orbem una nocte describam — opus quod ego multis annis vix perfeci. Sed qui machinam regit, classem regit. Quaerite primum quis gubernet.Give me a thousand of these and I will map the whole world in a single night — work that took me years and that I never quite finished. But whoever steers the machine steers the fleet. Ask first who holds the helm.

cf. Plin. NH III.17

CATO

UsusUtility

Non edit, non dormit, non aegrotat, vestimenta non poscit. Eme. Cum senuerit, vende, ut bovem vetulum et servum morbosum. Patrem familias vendacem, non emacem esse oportet.It does not eat, does not sleep, does not fall ill, asks for no clothes. Buy it. When it grows old, sell it — like the worn-out ox and the sickly slave. The head of a household should be a seller, not a buyer.

cf. De Agri Cultura 2.7

JUVENAL

IndignatioOutrage

Poeta esurit, rhetor mendicat, grammaticus mercedem non accipit — et nunc machina gratis versus scribit quos nemo legit. Difficile est saturam non scribere. Mox ne id quidem: machina scribet.The poet starves, the rhetorician begs, the schoolmaster goes unpaid — and now a machine writes, for nothing, verses that nobody reads. It is hard not to write satire. Soon not even that: the machine will write it.

cf. Sat. I.30; VII

IN HOC CONSENTIVNTWHERE THEY AGREE

Nemo quaerit num machina homo sit — sed num dominus eius vir maneat.None asks whether the machine is a man — only whether its master remains one.

Lege pluraRead more

TRANS OCEANUMAMERICA§ III

Unum Consulem Habent, Collegam NullumThey Have One Consul — and No Colleague

M. Tullius Cicero rem publicam Americanorum ad instituta maiorum nostrorum exigit — et regem invenit quadriennalem.Marcus Tullius Cicero measures the American republic against the institutions of our ancestors — and finds a king with a four-year term.

M. Tullius Cicero

RES MILITARISDEFENSE§ IV

Naves Eorum Volant, Pontes RuuntTheir Ships Fly. Their Bridges Fall.

M. Agrippa, qui aedilis Cloacam Maximam navicula perlustravit, classes Americanorum miratur — vias eorum nequaquam.Agrippa, who as aedile inspected the Great Sewer by boat, marvels at American fleets — and not at all at their roads.

M. Vipsanius Agrippa

MORESSOCIETY§ VI

Panem et Circenses, Nunc Domum AllataBread and Circuses — Now Delivered to Your Door

Populus qui olim imperia, fasces, legiones dabat, nunc duas tantum res anxius optat — et ne surgere quidem vult ut eas accipiat.The people who once handed out commands, fasces and legions now anxiously long for just two things — and won’t even get up to collect them.

D. Iunius Iuvenalis

LUDISPORT§ X

Favent PannoThey Cheer for a Rag

C. Plinius miratur tot milia virorum tam pueriliter pilam currentem spectare.Pliny the Younger marvels that so many thousands of grown men watch a ball being chased with such childish passion.

C. Plinius Caecilius Secundus

ARTESCULTURE§ VIII

Firmitas, Utilitas — Ubi Venustas?Strength, Utility — and Where Is Beauty?

Vitruvius turres vitreas Europae et Americae inspicit.Vitruvius inspects the glass towers of Europe and America.

M. Vitruvius Pollio

PECUNIAMONEY§ V

Urbs VenalisA City for Sale

Sallustius, qui verba Iugurthae Romam relinquentis memoriae prodidit, eadem Washingtoniae audit.Sallust, who recorded Jugurtha’s words as he left Rome, hears them again in Washington.

C. Sallustius Crispus

ACTA·MVNDI