Talk:Constitutio

From Ancient Ways

I see you found my latest project?

Why on earth might you ask why I am doing this? Two reasons: 1) It is something of which I am very interested (and that is always a good reason, nonne? and 2) I want a comprehensive model of how Roman government was structured from voting in the Comitia to introducing a relatio for consideration as a Senatus consulta to how the census was conducted to how an ex-citizen was denied fire and water within 500 miles so that when and if the society ever adds or modifies positions or institutions we have an exacting depiction of how it was done so we can better determine if and how it can fit them within our own constitution.

The reason I am so interested in this is because there are a lot of great sources out there (even Wikipedia is looking pretty good these days) but I've never found a static description of the complete constitution for one particular time period...so, I am creating one for a time period that I think is stable and encompassing.

Whaddya think?

Clare simplicitas!

I think this is very like the Pay and Benefits Chart I put together for the Roman Army: an idea so transparent in its simplicity that only we ever thought of it. I'd been carrying my US Air Force pay chart (updated yearly) in my pocket for dogs'-years; so when I did my Western Civ term paper ("Life with the Legions", available in the Collegium Militarium section of the Web site), of course I went looking for one for the Legions. There wasn't any. So I went this place-that place-this place-that place to get as much of the story as scholarship allowed...and made one. And you know what...? It is still the only pay-and-benefits chart available for the Roman Army. I am not kidding! Scholars e-mail me for this thing. It has shown up in the back pages of a few journals and a couple of books. The Roman world thanks me profoundly to this day, and I built the thing in 1991.

So the short answer is, "It's about blessed time somebody wrote an actual Roman Constitution; why didn't I think of that??" Even if it's just a best-guess, it'll be something to work with, and who can object to that? Rather, I think you will be thanked profoundly, or at least plagiarized. >({|;-)