{"id":2321,"date":"2018-07-11T16:17:55","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T20:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/?p=2321"},"modified":"2018-07-11T16:17:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T20:17:55","slug":"vivant-elephantes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/2018\/07\/11\/vivant-elephantes\/","title":{"rendered":"Vivant Elephantes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we visited the Colosseum <\/span>\u2014 <\/span>or the Flavian Amphitheater, as I like to call it when I want to show off my knowledge of the fact that the word \u201cColosseum\u201d really refers to the giant statue of Nero that used to stand on that spot. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever the structure is called, today it played host to a deadly debate concerning this question: \u201cWere the gladiatorial games good for the city of Rome?\u201d \u00a0There was only one complication: the debate was entirely in Latin. <\/span><\/p>\n

Two people represented each class in this smackdown of Homeric proportions. \u00a0I very much enjoyed helping to craft snappy phrases for my spokesmen condemning the atrocities of the gladiatorial games, but primarily I just felt honored to witness the battle of wits. \u00a0Speakers skilled as Cicero, working entirely from memory or the inspiration of the Muses, vituperated and vilified and vied for glory. There was logos and there was unapologetic pathos; there were syllogisms and there were shameless ad hominem attacks. \u00a0One of my favorite moments was when Rex compared Hibernia, whose name is derived from the Latin word for winter, to Elsa, the Disney queen with a frozen heart. My absolute favorite moment was when Peter was passionately painting a picture of a peaceful Rome only to be interrupted by a security guard who asked him why he was yelling, what language he was speaking, and if he was drunk.<\/span><\/p>\n

We continued a debate even older than the venue we inhabited. Our orators interacted with the writers, thinkers and orators of the past, discussing Augustine\u2019s moral condemnation of the gore of the games, Seneca\u2019s stoic disdain for the mob, Virgil\u2019s infernal discussion of what it means to be Roman, and Martial\u2019s suggestion that virtue can be found in the viscera of the ring. \u00a0Particularly moving was John\u2019s narration of Pliny\u2019s disgust at the slaughter of elephants in the Colosseum. By the end of his speech, we were all chanting \u201cVivant elephantes!\u201d<\/span>\u2014 \u201clet the elephants live!\u201d \u00a0I\u2019m sure the guard was not the only one who thought that we were drunk.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though we had been assured that gelato awaited the victors of the debate and death awaited the conquered, the spoils went to all. \u00a0We went as a group to Gelateria La Romana<\/span>\u2014 as essential an experience for the modern visitor to Rome as the gladiatorial games for the ancient one. \u00a0The gelato was preceded by a rollicking round of Latin karaoke. I particularly enjoyed the song adaptation \u201cQuidni Me Voces?\u201d\u2014 \u201cCall Me Maybe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, as every day yet, \u00a0reinforced my pride to be a part of this program and a fledgling member of the spoken Latin community (the Latinosphere, as my teacher calls it). \u00a0I am blessed to be able to learn from and with these scholars so skilled in the Latin language, so passionate about its past and future, and so eager to share it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we visited the Colosseum \u2014 or the Flavian Amphitheater, as I like to call it when I want to show off my knowledge of the fact that the word \u201cColosseum\u201d really refers to the giant statue of Nero that used to stand on that spot. \u00a0 Whatever the structure is called, today it played … Continue reading Vivant Elephantes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2992,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[290963],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sla-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2322,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions\/2322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}