"What have the Romans done for us?"

[DruidSmith]

This Celt will raise a Guinness to that!

Slainte !!! And ....Failte !

And never forget that Paul and John from....
Scouser band never denied their Irish origins.





And that means a lot to me......and to the
Swedish county I love the most linked to the
band I love the most. With Irish origins.
Why not ? Racism is always a bad beast.

Cead mileh failte.

By the way, ten, one hundred points to the
Irish for their talent in knowing how to
read my posts. Really great performance.


Slainte.

And enjoy this great Irish band :





Feelings of Ireland sometimes can come from
a person you will never suspect for being
capable of. Actually, it happens all the time.

Lycka till och slainte.
And ciao, of course. Slan.

[England987]

Originally posted by PaulMc

"What have the Romans done for us ..... ?"

Right, Wally, this is the detention classroom!! Pay attention!

Just in case anyone is so unfortunate as never to have seen it, John Cleeese hijacked this line for a classic Monty Python sketch, many years ago!! For that reason, I've used Quote Marks and am still grinning at the memories the phrase brings back!

Now, Wally, as for the history which the Italian system has no doubt indoctrinated you to believe is a true version of the Roman "civilising" influence on the geographical land mass currently yclept Britain.

Let me state from the outset that I have no nationalistic axe to grind here! In fact, my family is pure-blood Celt (Royal line , High Kingdom of Tara) and we are relative newcomers to mainland UK (ever heard of the Potato Famine? Say no more ....)

The Roman occupation of Britain, however, was neither as secure nor as easy for the Romans as some accounts would have us believe.

Granted, the Romans were "playing away from home" and would certainly have had problems with supplies and backup, reinforcements and other logistical problems. However ....

First of all, their opponents were not an organised (or even united) opposition - the tribes involved probably hated each other as much as they hated the 'foreign invaders' and the Romans would certainly have benefitted from some basic "Divide & Conquer" tactics similar to those used by others throughout history.

Second: Yes, the benefits of decent roads, an efficient admin. network and a lingua franca throughout the parts of the UK where Rome held sway was a big plus!
But at the same time you have to remember that they controlled (being generous) perhaps half the geographical landmass, and certainly nothing of what is now Wales or Scotland. These countries were effectively sealed to them by conveniently placed mountain ranges which made it impossible for Roman military tactics to succeed against what were in reality little more than loosely organised guerrilla fighter groups carrying out SAS-style harassment raids!

Considering all the technological, organisational and military advantages which the Romans had at the time, the only thing which has ever surprised me is - why didn't the Roman influence last a lot longer than it did? Considering the undoubted benefits they brought to Britain, I've always thought that their influence ought to have been greater, the Lex Romana more permanent.

On the other hand you can argue (and I will argue, so there!) that the namby-pamby Southerners were a pushover for the Romans - us "Real Men" in the North have always said this. The 'Hard Men' Celts (Irish, Welsh or Scot) of the North were a different story altogether, and were the probable main cause of Rome deciding to "cut their losses" and slink back with tails between their legs to an Italy which was falling apart from decadence - and which seems to have continued to do so ever since .......

Here endeth today's detention class.
Now write the following 100 lines as punishment

Cæsar adsum iam forte
Brutus aderat
Sed Brutus "Passus sum"

The Romans also ruled Wales, not just England. And since when was Wales in the north?

[England987]

The Romans ruled England and Wales, and the English helped to get rid of the Romans, because the English are actually the Welsh. The Welsh of today are descended from people who lived in England. The modern day Welsh are the true inhabitants of England. The Welsh are the true English. The Anglo-saxons (the people who most English people are descended from) didn't arrive until AFTER the Romans had left. Also, most Scots aren't Celts. Most Scots are lowland Scots, and the lowland Scots are Anglo-saxon just like the English. The only reason the Romans never invaded Scotland was because there was nothing there that was valuable enough that the Romans wanted.

[England987]

Originally posted by wally-the-walrus
And enjoy this great Irish band :





Feelings of Ireland sometimes can come from
a person you will never suspect for being
capable of. Actually, it happens all the time.

Lycka till och slainte.
And ciao, of course. Slan.

And that band is rubbish.

Keep the rubbish with you. Don't spread it to
a band who's loved by many people. And as a
consequence you spread that rubbish to those
people.

As for your story, I can see only one thing :

That you're enviuous for the great role played
by the Romans in the History of England.....

Is it so difficult for you to see that ?
Are you blind-minded ?




Is it too small for you little englander ?

[Edited by wally-the-walrus on 20th January 2004 at 14:12]

[DruidSmith]

Remember Hadrian's wall? Remember the Antonine wall?

It's not that there was nothing of value, the Romans were frankly scared sh*tless of the Scots

[mykfin]

Noooo!

Its what the Scots had under their kilts that worried the Romans.

[PaulMc]

Carry on up the Khyber!!!!

[DruidSmith]

I got married in a kilt...

What's worn under a kilt? Why nothing's worn, everything's in perfect working order!

Rude answer?

Yer mother's lipstick!!

So it's nothingness what worried the Romans.

Also in sports competitions you see the scots
are not exactly so...competitive. That's why
they wear skirts. To show that the Real Men
are...the Women......quips quams.

Also in doing whisky they come always after
the Real Irish Wiskey. Suicide, suicide !!

To say nothing of The REAL INDEPENDENCE.
It's EIRE option. As for the scots they
had to wait for a mercyful devolution
from the south of the island...Londinium !

Michael Collins that's the Real Celt.

What sissy sean connery and his/her queens !!

If you really want to be Real Celts learn from
EIRE. That's a country which can be proud.
Not you celtic faggots and pansies.

[DruidSmith]

Wally has obviously not heard of Scots Highland Games... REAL sport and test of strength Turn the caber? Throw a 22lb hammer? 20lb stone? How about a 56lb block of metal?

And HARDLY nothingness.. see, unlike you others, Scot's aren't wee little laddies afraid of embarrasment if their "skirt" happened to blow up in the fray We're plenty confident about our manhood Let's see you in a kilt on a cold windy January day, Wally

And you go on drinking your old Bushmills... No complaint here... BUT Scots have their single malt scotch, with the flavor from peat smoke and clear icy mountain streams... Sure, any ridgerunner can make whisky, but these particular nuances of single malt are UNIQUE to Scotland...

We Scots killed many a Sassenach, we kept those English plenty occupied on the homefront, so that our gentle Irish cousins wouldn't be bothered with them all these centuries...

A few fierce Scottish heroes... we'll begin with the easy ones...

Remember Rob Roy MacGregor? Robert the Bruce? How about William Wallace?

After the Battle of Agincourt, were it not for the help of the Scots, France's national hero, Joan of Arc would have been defeated by the English. The Auld Alliance of France and Scotland curtailed the spread of English power for centuries.

Before that, Scottish Kings... Duncan? He united the Four Kingdoms of Pictland, Dalriada, Lothian, and Strathclyde into modern mainland Scotland. Kenneth McAlpine? United the Scots and Picts? Fergus? First king of Scotland (Dalriada) and 131st king of Ireland- descendant of Heremon, 2nd King of Ireland.

All of these (with the exception of Wallace) are direct ancestors of mine... watch who you step on....

And if we go back to the days of the Romans, another Celtic ancestor of mine who, even though totally outgunned, totally frustrated and stymied the Romans...

Queen Boudicca

Let's hear it for Celts!!!!

[Edited by DruidSmith on 20th January 2004 at 19:35]