Saturnalia 2778 - December 20th, 2025

Saturday, December 20th, MMDCCLXXVIII, Approximately 10:00 a.m. - 8:10 p.m.
Participants: Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia
                    Marcus Cassius Julianus
                    Marcus Quintius Clavus
                    Aulus Iulius Paterculus
                    Numerius Octavius Astronomus
                    Titus Ovidius Nonus
   The evening before, on December 19th, there had been a major storm. The power went out in the home of Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia, where our meeting was to take place. M. Cassius Julianus, who arrived after dark, had not been able to call ahead and had seen downed trees along the way, giving some hints of what had occurred. Nonetheless, Sibylla and Cassius had made the best of the situation, going to a nearby restaurant for a dinner of fish & chips that night and out for coffee (and water) in the morning of December 20th.
    M. Quintius Clavus and I arrived around 10 a.m. Quintius was aware of the situation, having checked the power outage map online and spoken with Sibylla by cell phone the previous night. Sibylla and Cassius greeted us outside and led us through the garage to sitting room, where the hearth was blazing. We had a lengthy conversation, which went into the current situation and our daily lives as well as into Roman topics.
    We discussed fiction series: the Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough (which Quintius, Cassius, & I loved and which Sibylla had yet to read) and the Karus Saga by Marc Alan Edelheit (of which I had just finished the first book, Lost Legio IX). Cassius recommended the Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson as a similar tale of people from a specific historical period being transferred to another world, adding that though the premise sounded a bit silly, everyone to whom he'd recommended it had enjoyed it. I stated that this reminded me of the Codex Alera series, which had been the result of a deliberately silly prompt (Lost Roman Legion plus Pokemon) being given to the author, Jim Butcher, only to become a success.
   Quintius spoke about a nonfiction book, The Inheritance of Rome by Christopher Wickham and its thesis that much more of the Roman Empire survived into the Middle Ages than was commonly thought.
   Contemplation of the fire brought Nero and Crassus the Rich to mind, and there was some thoughtful discussion of them, including whether either might be considered underrated or misunderstood. Cassius and Quintius agreed that Nero was a more complex figure than generally appreciated. Quintius pointed out that Nero's mother had attempted to rule through him while he was quite young and Cassius said that the remnants of Nero's Golden House had the feeling of a profoundly sad place. I argued that having Crassus around to purchase and then save burning buildings was an improvement over having no fire department at all, which elicited what looked like an appalled expression from Cassius, though he conceded some truth to it, at least for those not personally obliged to sell under those conditions.
  A little after noon, the power came back on. We had called N. Octavius Astronomus earlier to let him know that the plan to contact him through Zoom might not succeed due to the outage, but when 1 p.m. arrived and we were able to connect to the internet, we called to see whether he would be able to join after all. Just after he agreed to connect through Zoom and hung up, the power failed again. We called back and spoke to Astronomus on speaker. Astronomus shared his goals with his continuing education at the university, and stated that he hoped to study and possibly one day move abroad. There was some discussion which followed, especially between Astronomus and Sibylla, about learning languages and differences between Norwegian and Swedish. Eventually, Astronomus had to go, in case there was someone who wanted to see the next presentation at the planetarium where Astronomus worked, which were scheduled for every half hour.
  Cassius reported briefly on happenings in Byzantium Novum, noting that they had members as far away as Thailand and that there had been a number of Zoom meetings, with a few offline ones as well, though none Cassius had personally had the chance to attend thus far. Cassius also mentioned that one citizen of Byzantium Novum had attended MithraCon in a previous year.
   This prompted me to ask whether Mithraism had persisted into the Byzantine Period. Cassius answered that it had, and this led into an extended discussion on religion.
   Quintius recounted some events which had transpired during past reenactments, and Cassius recalled that one of the legionaries mentioned in the anecdote Quintius was telling had left behind his armour and some other items, which Cassius had in storage, waiting for some other legionary to take them one day.
   Sibylla and Quintius talked about the SCA. Sibylla shared some activities of members of the SCA in the Navy which had taken place over the years. One such incident involved the U.S. SCA folks appearing on deck in their period garb, thus baffling the Russians known to be spying on them. Quintius described judging the "Artifacts of a Life" contest, which had required creating and using a number of items which would have belonged to a specific person at a specific time and place in history, then describing how these objects illustrated the life of that particular person.
   Eventually, we decided to serve the dates, figs, and almonds, snacking on these items as we continued our conversation.
   We had been checking the driveway periodically, as T. Ovidius Nonus had said he would arrive around 3:00 p.m. He arrived a little later, and joined us next to the fire. He was dressed in a tunic, which was impressively historical-looking. After greetings, introductions (Nonus and Cassius had already met), and a brief tour of the premises, Nonus told us a bit about his interests in permaculture, archaeology (which he hoped might become a career), and religion, as well as his experiences in Nova Roma thus far. Quintius advised that Vindolanda in Britain was always looking for more people to help them excavate.
   The power came back on again around dusk, somewhat after Nonus arrived.
   Nonus served the bread he had brought along. Sibylla brought out some grapes and wine as well.
   Nonus was interested in becoming an augur and was doing an exhaustive reading of primary sources, but had not yet found the guidance for which he'd been hoping on how to pursue this study within Nova Roma. I noted that Nova Roma required holding a more junior priesthood before moving on to a senior one, but  suggested reaching out to Flavius Vedius Germanicus for advice on how to get started.
  Sibylla highly recommended the M. Didius Falco series, highlighting how each novel illuminated a different facet of Roman life.
  Quintius said that the railroad gauge being based on the width of Roman roads (something which we had just discussed during our December MMDCCLXXVIII Remote General Meeting) was an old wives' tale.
   As the power had come back too late for us to do the cooking we had intended, three pizzas were ordered. Cassius very generously paid for the meal, and went with Quintius to retrieve it.
   I asked Cassius about planning for a potential conventus in Maine. Cassius listed what was available in his vicinity: his office, space in his apartment in which a few guests could conceivably stay, the local Oddfellows Hall, and hotels in which people could also rent rooms. Sibylla and Quintius were both somewhat skeptical that this was feasible, but offered some helpful thoughts. Cassius, reflecting on what Quintius said would be needed both (indoor and outdoor space, as well as insurance), said that the best thing might be to rent a private campground during the off-season. Quintius mentioned that Nova Roma expected people to dress in Roman garb, and Nonus suggested having a garment-making workshop as part of the event. Cassius agreed to discuss the topic further with Astronomus and me after the holidays. Nonus asked to be included in these communications as well. 
  Nonus had brought along a game of Yahtzee. (Out of curiosity, someone looked up how Yahtzee go its name. The answer found: it was originally played on yachts!) He had also brought some recreated tesserae, six-sided dice made from bone. He mentioned that they were not balanced, compared to say, the casino-grade dice he had considered bringing. Indeed when we rolled them, they seemed reluctant to roll threes and twos, but they had a nice feeling in the hand, rather different from plastic dice. While Cassius was up checking something, we agreed that the prize to the winner would be the remaining half bag of almonds. Cassius won, and I handed him the prize, which he said he could enjoy on the ride back to Maine. He later commented that when he was told he won a prize, he thought he might have been selected for human sacrifice (a la Shirley Jackson).
  I mentioned that now that there were four relatively active citizens based in Maine, they might have some regio-level gatherings in addition to those they participated in as part of Nova Britannia as a whole (and the conventus we one day hoped to host for Nova Roma as a whole). Cassius was thoughtful and begin talking with Nonus about the possibilities for a casual meeting.
  Quintius and I left soon after the game finished. On the ride back to his house, Quintius told me about a four book series he had been reading set in Roman Britain.