26-01-2001 03:53									#32
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

dp

[This message has been edited by paiktis22 (edited January 25, 2001).]

	26-01-2001 15:21									#33
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

It's the modern spelling that more than anything else defeats me - keeping things on topic, Bar should become Bar it took me far to long to discover that I should have been looking for an "Umpah" (Mpar)!!

Thanks for the plug - but SG(2) does far more testing work than I.



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Scouse Git[1]

"CARTAGO DELENDA EST" - Cato the Censor
"The Great Library must be built!"
"A short cut has to be challenging,
were it not so it would be 'the way'." - Paul Craven

	26-01-2001 16:38									#34
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

paiktis

For a century or two in England the study of the classics (Greek and Latin) was considered essential for all (or, at least, all men) who aspired to be considered cultured (Scotland is rather different, having always been more open to modern continental European influence).

Study of the languages themselves were part of this but it also extended to study of the great classical writers, art, architecture and ancient history.

The SGs and I are of an age and this entrenched position of the classics was declining towards its end when we were young men. I had to sit (and fail, I am afraid) a paper in Latin if I wanted a place at Cambridge University whatever subject I then wished to study there. But I was one of the last to face that requirement. I struck luckier with legal qualifications - the requirement for Latin had gone by the time I was seeking to qualify.

Greek and Latin continued to be extensively taught in our public schools (that is schools only open to those who can afford to pay fees) right up until quite recently. But even there I believe it is now rare.

Classics faculties in our universities are closing for lack of students.

The civil service used to harbour many who had chosen to continue their studies of the classics at University. I have to say it did seem to produce administrators of some stature. They could, at least, be counted on to know how to express themselves. And to intimidate politicians at need.

For some reason those who taught classics, whether at school or university, were particularly likely to be rather eccentric. The type is well represented in our literature. Some were very endearing folk with a great enthusiasm for their subject. Some were just horrid.

Latin was always considered much the easier of the two languages - for reasons that your exchanges with SG(1) make clear. He'll not admit to it, I'm sure, but if he did much more than rudimentary Greek at school his teachers probably considered him one of the brighter lads.

As one who is no linguist I have never known who to envy more, the person who can converse fluently in their own language with modern flesh and blood folk in the here and now, or someone who can read Aristotle or Pliny or Aristophanes.

	26-01-2001 19:27									#35
	Inflate your Upload Space

[threadjack]

quote: Originally posted by East Street Trader on 01-26-2001 06:38 AM Latin was always considered much the easier of the two languages - for reasons that your exchanges with SG(1) make clear. He'll not admit to it, I'm sure, but if he did much more than rudimentary Greek at school his teachers probably considered him one of the brighter lads.

	27-01-2001 10:06									#37
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

aHEM!

My only Diety game (I only play SMAC now) with Civ was a wild ride. I started out as the Romans, as usual. I quickly expanded my borders to be about the same as the Byzantine Empire and stopped. BIG mistake. I was soon boxed in by the Vikings from the north, the Egyptians from the South, The English from the west, the Chinese from the east. I quietly kept to myself, except for a war with the Vikings that never officially ended. I built up my cities well, my capital Christantinople was the finest city on Earth, until the Sioux took over. The Sioux came in hoards aganst the Egyptians and Engish, who had been at war for hundreds of years. The weakened empires fell quickly to the Sioux. The English were driven from the British Isles, Africa, and Greenland. Suprisingly one of their last cities was deep in Sioux territory. It fell leaving only one city on the east coast of Africa. While this was happening my country was being overrun by the superior weapons of the Sioux and the shear numbers on the Vikings. I sent out a transport to Australia, right under the dying Chinese Empire. I made four cities by the time my last home cities were conquered. I had pillaged them before then. My last four cities prospered for a while until the Sioux built the Apollo Program, ending my cities secret. I escaped to Madagascar where I lived out my days near the Egyptians until they took my last city. It was 2230 C.E.

	27-01-2001 11:06									#38
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

hehe That's quite cool. I never play to the end if I can see that there is no possible way that I can regain the lost terrain... I do hang on for quite a while, but when it gets beyond hopeless I start over...

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You know the question, just as I did.
What is the matrix?