# Rome, 4 September **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203 "2005-09-05T14:55:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/41 "2005-09-07T14:25:21Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [Eyewitness to the crossing.](http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/caesar.htm) > > [Location of the Rubicon.](http://www.roman-empire.net/maps/italy/rubicon.html) That definitely looks like it would take longer than it took Lucius and Pullo. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/42 "2005-09-07T14:47:09Z")
Well, yeah. But if you played out the show in the time frame of _then_, the audiences \*now \* would all switch channels. No matter how much sex was showing. Speaking of which, I am noticing the preponderance of non-missionary positions being shown. Three cheers for research! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/43 "2005-09-07T14:57:24Z")
Well, I didn’t expect to watch a three day horse journey, but even when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were travelling to get the eagle back they had a night time stopover. Now, Swearingen sends 'em all the way to Yankton and it looks like it on the other side of the Bada Bing. I think I’m watching too much HBO. Tune in next week when Pompei tells a newly arrived Caesar, “let’s hug it out bitch.” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/44 "2005-09-07T14:59:17Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > I liked the “crossing the Rubicon” scene. It’s supposedly such an epic event and it was a muddy stream with a little kid playing in it. By the way…my college-educated/well-read daughter had never heard the phrase “crossing the Rubicon”. Sigh. Kids these days… ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/45 "2005-09-07T16:38:47Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Well, I didn’t expect to watch a three day horse journey, but even when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were travelling to get the eagle back they had a night time stopover. > > Now, Swearingen sends 'em all the way to Yankton and it looks like it on the other side of the Bada Bing. > > I think I’m watching too much HBO. > > Tune in next week when Pompei tells a newly arrived Caesar, “let’s hug it out bitch.” I find it interesting how similar \*Deadwood \* and _Rome_ are in some ways, no doubt reflecting the sensibilities of the HBO executives who greenlighted them, and their expectations of us, the target audience. When Pompey was looking down at the Forum, seeing his cunning plan come undone, I could picture Al looking down into the Thoroughfare, watching Dan and Johnny fuck up bigtime. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/46 "2005-09-07T16:45:38Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Well, yeah. But if you played out the show in the time frame of _then_, the audiences \*now \* would all switch channels. No matter how much sex was showing. Speaking of which, I am noticing the preponderance of non-missionary positions being shown. Three cheers for research! 😃 Well, what if they showed it in the time frome of then and filled in with sex while we were waiting…? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/47 "2005-09-07T17:20:43Z")
The scene with Lucius’ wife (Naobi? Naomi?) caught me a little off guard. She thought he was dead, as his pay had not been coming to her for more than a year. She sees her husband, and has the presence of mind to pass the boy off as his grandson, then she goes home with her husband. Unless I missed something, she did not have an opportunity to take her older daughter aside and say, “Look, sweetie, Mommy needs a favor. Make this work and you can marry Whatshisname.” And where is the father of the baby? If she thought her husband was dead, there’s no shame in getting with another man, is there? And if she’s still nursing the boy, how is her daughter and her new husband going to take the baby into their own house? And guesses on if Naobi hooks up with Titus? The casual attitude toward sex touches a nerve with me. My son is about Octavian’s age, and the thought of him waiting impatiently on a horse while some other centurion scratches his itch makes me want to bleach my brain. I was embarrassed when his sister pulled a Sally-in-the-diner-with-Harry imitation of her mother. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/48 "2005-09-07T17:23:36Z")
Wouldn’t her name be Niobe? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/49 "2005-09-07T17:34:10Z")
Quite possibly. I couldn’t quite catch it when it was said. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/50 "2005-09-07T17:39:36Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > The casual attitude toward sex touches a nerve with me. My son is about Octavian’s age, and the thought of him waiting impatiently on a horse while some other centurion scratches his itch makes me want to bleach my brain. I was embarrassed when his sister pulled a Sally-in-the-diner-with-Harry imitation of her mother. Well: 1. It IS about Rome 2. It IS on HBO 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/51 "2005-09-07T18:12:24Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > The casual attitude toward sex touches a nerve with me. Our modern prudishness is, let’s say, something of a historical novelty. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/52 "2005-09-07T18:27:52Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Our modern prudishness is, let’s say, something of a historical novelty. True, and IIRC, one of the goals of the creators was to show a society with non-Christian attitudes towards sex (I believe it was in the HBO special about Rome). ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/53 "2005-09-07T18:35:59Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Our modern prudishness is, let’s say, something of a historical novelty. I guess it was very cavalier back then, right? She’s hungry, so she needs to eat, he’s thirsty, so we’re going to stop at this stream to fill our canteens, she ate some bad apples, so hold off while we stop by this tree, and oh, hey! There’s a shepherdess! Let’s stop for a second! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/54 "2005-09-07T19:11:54Z")
Pretty much. For that matter, check up-thread. The quickie by the side of the road might very well have been _her_ idea, if she was augmenting her income by doing some prostitution on the side. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/55 "2005-09-07T20:55:36Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > True, and IIRC, one of the goals of the creators was to show a society with non-Christian attitudes towards sex (I believe it was in the HBO special about Rome). In general, something I like about this show (and also about _Deadwood_ ) is the lack of anachronistic attitudes. There’s no character with 21st century sensibilities going around saying “I think it’s wrong to own slaves. I think it’s wrong to rape captives. Don’t you understand, it’s wrong to treat the women in your family as property.” Way too many shows set in another era have been spoiled by this kind of out-of-place moralizing. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203/56 "2005-10-13T23:55:21Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > I wonder how accurate the veto and Antony’s walk to veto scene was. I’m reading Tom Holland’s [Rubicon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400078970) and I just came across this passage: > [@](#): > > Metellus Scipio then stood up and dealt the deathblow to all the final, flickering hopes of compromise. He named a date by which Caesar should surrender command of his legions or be considered an enemy of the Republic. This motion was immediately put to the vote. Only two senators opposed it: Curio and Caelius. Antony, as tribune, then promptly vetoed the bill. So, did the veto occur or not? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rome-4-september/320203.md?page=2)