Blood and Guts

As I read farther into The History of Rome I'm amazed at the violence that existed in the Roman world. I wonder at how they could have sustained the wars and given rise to the culture that exists today when they regularly massacred so many people.

It's a different world than one I'm familiar with a world in which the decapitated bodies of statesmen are dragged through the streets while their heads hang in the forum. Can you imagine what would go through our minds if senators were being murdered and literally hung up to dry inside our halls of government? Horrible. And this is the foundation of our culture. Hmm...

I also wonder how they fed all of these soldiers and politicians and who was doing all of the work? I'm assuming it's the women and the slaves doing all of the actual labor to ensure survival, but Mommsens says nothing about that. He also mentions nothing about the daily life of your average Roman (or Latin, or Italian, etc.) just blood and guts.

Maybe it will get more sedate as I read farther, but somehow I doubt it. It will soon be March fifteenth, the Ides of March, and that makes me think of the bloody death of Ceasar. I haven't gotten anywhere near that in the book but I know it's coming and that makes me think that things don't cool off for the Romans.