Town Talk | Feel the joy: give this Christmas!

Megan mentioned how happy the Foodbank volunteers were and how very much they enjoyed their work.

The reward is immense.

If we think about our own Christmas — and what we are truly anticipating — it is not receiving presents.

It is seeing someone’s eyes light up because we’ve chosen with care and love.

The volunteers at Foodbank, or our local FoodShare, are rewarded by ‘thank you’ and, sometimes, eyes filled with tears of gratitude — direct rewards.

So, of course, they love their work.

You would and I would.

Sometimes, we see our volunteers as making sacrifices to serve others — but perhaps that’s because we haven’t thought a great deal about it.

I have met many of our local volunteers, in various endeavours, and some are clearly making sacrifices for their work.

However, their enthusiasm and their passion for the jobs they do — and the people they are helping — is clearly apparent.

My point is that there are real rewards for giving.

It’s not necessarily self-sacrifice; in fact, it is much more than that.

The peace and contentment that comes with having done our best — given and shared where possible — is an enormous reward, particularly at Christmas.

Happy Christmas

Perhaps you are planning a peaceful day, with a couple of friends and a pizza; perhaps you’re having a barbecue at the lake, with family and friends coming from all over, or perhaps you will have a house full of hungry and noisy family members.

However you choose to celebrate, make it a good one.

Don’t let anything or anyone spoil it for you — because where there is love, where there is gratitude, there also is God.

You may not have time to recognise the presence, but it will be there.

I wish you a Christmas filled with laughter and the joy of giving.

I am sharing a little of our Christmas with the pics on this page.

Rome — as previously mentioned

Marvellous and merciless, the Roman Republic was created in 509BC.

The last king of Rome, Tarquin, took himself into exile — and they didn’t like him anyway.

The Romans decided to replace him with elected leadership.

The Republic, at its height, stretched over five million square kilometres, including all of France, Italy and Spain and additional substantial areas of Europe and Northern Africa.

Although the population of Rome was around one million, the Republic had an estimated population of 45 million.

Over the past two centuries, Roman artefacts have been discovered in Ukraine — about 2400km from Rome.

And in 2022, during this current war, Ukrainian soldiers uncovered ancient amphorae (containers) in Odessa.

The Republic came to an end when Julius Caesar’s heir, Octavian, turned himself into an Emperor (no longer up for election) and in 27BC the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire.

Rome — the city state

The ‘mos maiorum’ was Rome’s version of a constitution.

It was the established order of customs, tradition, religion and habits of government and public institutions.

It was one of the excuses used to assassinate Caesar in 44BC.

There were sections of it that, to Caesar’s thinking, needed updating.

He was, however, adamant about the religious aspects.

There were 35 tribes in Rome; all placed into a class (there were five classes) according to their income.

And then there was the ‘head count’; too poor to be in any class.

Everyone had slaves; even some of the head count had one.

Wealthy households would have up to 40.

The numerous temples, for their numerous gods, were painted in bright, raucous colours — such as red, bright blue, green.

Wide boulevards were edged with sprawling private homes that included carefully designed gardens more likely to contain statues than plants, and indoor toilets.

Most had shallow pools, sometimes in the front and back gardens.

However, the majority of Romans lived in insulae; apartment buildings from three to 12 storeys.

These were largely located in Subura.

There was a level of government for every aspect of Roman life.

Two consuls were elected every year, and they led the Senate, which was not a legislative body.

It took care of the treasury, foreign affairs, appointment of governors to the many provinces and the conduct of wars.

It could advise, or make requests to the Plebian Tribunal, which made new laws and changed old ones.

Sometimes the Plebs did what was asked; sometimes they didn’t.

The Aediles were responsible for water supply, the streets, sewers, building standards, games, markets and the grain supply to the people.

Weights and measures were also under their watch.

The Praetors ensured the law courts ran appropriately and the Censor, unsurprisingly, took care of the census.

All of these magistrates were elected.

The Pontifus Maximus made sure that all gods were honoured in accordance with the mos maiorum.

He was elected for life and Julius Caesar held this position — until they murdered him.

Julius Caesar – too clever to live

Caesar was born in July 100BC, in his family’s insula, and died in March 44BC, stabbed by a gang of nobodies.

He was too good-looking, too smart, too good a general, loved too much by the people (particularly, the latter).

Caesar was killed because the nobodies were jealous — and because they feared him. Jealousy and fear were, and are, a dangerous combination.

Descended from the kings of Rome and, possibly, from Romulus (Rome’s founder), Caesar was not interested in money but very interested in his dignity.

This he defended at all costs.

When he was very young, there was gossip regarding his innocent friendship with an elderly king.

At his grandmother’s suggestion, he discovered who was spreading the lie and seduced each of their wives.

Then made sure the husbands were informed.

It was cruel — but it worked.

Previous to this, he won a ‘Grass Crown’ (Rome’s highest military award) which entitled him to enter the Senate at the age of 19.

The mos maiorum dictated that the crown be worn for all public occasions, which repeatedly reminded the jealous nobodies of why they hated him.

He loved his first wife, Cornelia (who died in 68 BC), and their daughter Julia (who died in 53 BC) and his grandmother (who died shortly after Julia).

He married again twice, for political reasons; had two very well-known mistresses (including Cleopatra) and at least two sons out of wedlock.

One was the son of Cleopatra; Caesarion was intelligent, a born leader, strongly influenced by his father and a real threat to Caesar’s heir.

Octavian killed him.

This is a story impossible to tell in 800 words.

If you are interested, Colleen McCullough told it in about 5000 pages.

It filled her life for 30 years, and she was named an ‘Australian National Treasure’ by the Federal Government in 1997.

That’s it for now. A very happy Christmas, everyone.

May it be easy,

Marnie

Email: towntalk@sheppnews.com.au

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