On Sat, 14 Aug 2010 14:42:02 -0600, HMS Victor Victorian
<victorvictorian@hushunomail.com> wrote:
>On Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:15:54 -0400, NP-f31 wrote:
>
>>Hey Double V,
>>
>>Are you back from vacation yet?
>>
>>Love,
>>
>>Doc
>>NP-f31
>
>Dearest Doc,
>
>I apologise for having neglected my correspondence of late. Thank you
>for your kind letter to my hush account some days hence. I am
>flattered.
>
>I have been quite busy lately, having just secured a permanent
>position as instructor at a small institution. I gladly accept the
>luxury of not having to worry about money in my accounts quite as much
>as usual, but understand that luxury draws heavily on the account of
>time. I have also just completed watching the wonderful 1976
>mini-series by the BBC, "I Claudius." I'd read Graves work better
>than twenty years ago, but had never seen it. Although the work is a
>masterpiece, and there were several young boys in short tunics in
>several scenes (tho' nothing revealing-blast!), my opinion of the
>Roman imperial families was confirmed, that they were conniving,
>treacherous and brutal--and that their perversions were equally so.
>
I picked up on this wonderful series last year when it was posted to
the British Drama group. I was moved to (on-topic) tears when the
beautiful boy Postumus supported by the beautiful boy Herod appealed
to the youthful Claudius for help and the camera cut to Claudius now
an old man emphasising how useless Postumus's appeals had been
>In the film, Gaius Caesar Germanicus, better known by the chilling
>name of Caligula, finds annoying the chronic cough of a boy of the
>court, perhaps eleven years of age, who was favoured by Claudius. He
>sends the General of his Praetorian Guard to the lad with instructions
>to make it right. Presently the General returns and presents
>Caligula with, dripping in gore, the poor boy's head. With a smile,
>Caligula comments to Claudius, "Oh, yes. And I've cured his cough."
>
>This particular atrocity seems unsubstantiated in the historical
>records, but I find there are many such cruelties to children that are
>a matter of record. Tiberius, who preceded Caligula, kept an island
>resort where little girls ran naked as nymphs ... and as did little
>boys. The Emperor took frequent pleasure in raping the girls ... and
>enjoyed snapping the necks of the little boys with his bare hands. Can
>you imagine! Monstrous sadism! Monstrous!
>
Cheer up VV - this is probably part of the reputation blackening that
started after Tiberius's death. Though, God knows, things like that
have happened throughout our pathetic human history and are still
happening in Africa today.
>I've never postured that young boys, however comely and willing, could
>not be utter beasts in much the way of the older folks. Additionally,
>looking at the supposed sanctity of children from a completely
>objective point of view, a human child could be seen as having no more
>intrinsic value than a cockroach child, and that it could equally be
>conceived therefore that the killing of the former could engender no
>more guilt than the killing of the latter.
>
"Objective" in that sense is the way the word has been used by
Marxists, Religionists and other filthy extremists to summarise the
means justifying the ends. My view is that any definition of
"Objective" MUST take account of our shared humanity.
>And so it was ... and, I fear, in many places still is. Considering
>these terrible things, and despite all the injustices and hatred
>suffered by Boylovers nowadays, I am grateful that I live and love in
>these times!
>
I'm with you there.
>As an aside, I once heard there was an emperor who enjoyed swimming in
>the nude. He never swam alone, but in the company of a dozen or so
>hand-picked naked young boys who leapt into the water as soon as the
>Emperor did. As the emperor paddled his way across, his "little
>sharks" as he called them, would come up beneath him and nibble gently
>as his ... well, you get the idea. I hope this fellow wasn't
>Tiberius, for that would ruin this wonderful mirage of paradise.
>
>Nevertheless, I think I'll put in a pool.
>
The Emperor WAS Tiberius but this is one of the few tales about him
that I hope is not a myth. He called his little boys "My Minnows" and
the post of Minnow was allegedly much coveted.
>Sincerely Yours,
>
>HMS Victor Victorian
>God Save the Queen.
>God Bless the Prince of Wales.
>God Preserve the Windsors.
>Rule Britannia!
and to you, Z
PS Have you seen Caligula? This was my nomination for worst film ever
made until I saw Meet the Spartans!
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