“Once she’s dressed — radiant and armored like Venus in court shoes — she floats into her litter or down the palace hall, face veiled just enough for mystery. She’s crowned with a diadem, or sometimes a turban twist, or that curious cone-shaped tutulus that juts from the forehead like a temple spire. There’s a neck-scarf for grace, a handkerchief for dust and sweat (and occasional nose-blowing), and a peacock-feather fan to shoo away flies and men alike. On bright days, an umbrella flutters above her, green as spring, carried by a maid or gallant. And of course — the sacred handbag.”
Source: From Youngstown to Rome´s Fall: How I, Earl Jenkins, Remembered What the Empire Forgot
“When I emphasized how desperately the Huns needed
trade with Rome — to get iron weapons, real shields
instead of bone, real bits and stirrups instead of wood —
Rome the rooster suddenly reared up, opened its golden
beak, and crowed loud enough to shake the rafters.
The signal horns joined in with a blast. Tubae signiferæ uno
impetu concrepuerunt.
And Honorius... burst into gleeful, childlike laughter.
"My golden-throated Rome crows at the start of the third
hour every day — just as it does at the third hour of night.
My Rome, Roma gallus cordis mei, crows twice, three times
a day! And my Rome... is a prophet. A divine seer!”
Source: From Youngstown to Rome´s Fall: How I, Earl Jenkins, Remembered What the Empire Forgot
“Bureaucracy? Dead on arrival.
Military coordination? Like herdin’ greased geese.
Economy? Flatter than a barmaid’s singing voice.
City systems? Hah. Might as well be carved in fog.
All them noble forms of Roman order? Gone fishin’ — and
forgot their pole.”
Source: From Youngstown to Rome´s Fall: How I, Earl Jenkins, Remembered What the Empire Forgot
“Before I leave that peaceful Latinum hill, I sneak a few Salvan Cross seeds into the earth. ‘Cause someday, when all this dust settles and if the gods got a sense of humor left, I’ll come back here and find a garden of truth bloomin’ where the Empire once bled. Aliquando, cum haec omnia pulvis sedebit, et si dii adhuc risum habent, hic redibo et inveniam hortum veritatis florentem ubi olim Imperium sanguinem fundebat.”
Source: From Youngstown to Rome´s Fall: How I, Earl Jenkins, Remembered What the Empire Forgot
“The eagle is not dead. He’s just learnin’ how to fly again.
Aquila non periit — sed artem volandi iterum meditatur.”
Source: From Youngstown to Rome´s Fall: How I, Earl Jenkins, Remembered What the Empire Forgot
“Love is the greatest gift we can give or receive.”
Source: Pestilence
“All religions want the same thing-salvation. We're all the same.”
Source: War
“The third horseman of the apocalypse is having a mental breakdown right next to me.”
Source: Famine
“Forgetting doesn’t mean it never happened; it means not dealing with the consequences.”
Source: The Queen of All that Lives
“All the old stories of fairies come back to me. Monsters that lurk under mountains. The tooth fairy that built herself a palace of children’s teeth. The wild fae that, with one look, can enslave their prey.”
Source: Rhapsodic