When you look at the universe today and see how it came to be you have to look to the yesteryear in order to understand how we have come so far. I ‘ve heard the stating “ there are no more original ideas or actions any longer, everything has been thought or done ” . I think that for the most portion that stating is true, particularly when you think about our aggregations of literature both old and modern. It ‘s difficult to state that here in America any one civilization has influenced our state, particularly sing that America is a large thaw pot of other civilizations and other civilisations thoughts. But when asked the inquiry who I feel has the most traits still in field sight, I feel that is the Roman civilization. When comparing one of our literary readings to our civilization now I chose The Satyricon.
While reading The Satyricon I could n’t assist but detect that even though it was set in the Roman dynasty it still seemed like a modern twenty-four hours soap opera! From the manner Trimalchio was obsessed with how much clip he had left to populate and the manner he was excessively excessive in every facet of his life. This sort of behaviour is something that we see on T.V. , largely with celebrated famous persons. It seems like every clip I turn on the telecasting, acquire on-line, or even look at the magazine rack while I ‘m standing in line at the food market shop I see all these celebrated people who have nil to make but haunt about remaining the youngest and hottest looking, reminds me a batch of Trimalchio.
Our society seems like we feed of off cognizing other people ‘s concern, who has what, and who has the biggest or the best. I loved the fact that the writer of The Satyricon goes into such item about Trimalchio ‘s house and idiosyncrasy. It ‘s merely like in today ‘s society, people are so haunted with other people. Ever heard of Jersey Shore, The Hills, or The Real Housewifes of Orange County? No discourtesy, but if you have n’t heard of any of these world shows so you either ne’er come in contact with any sort of media or you live under a stone.
Another facet of our American society is the fact that we are a “ me ” based civilization. In the Roman civilization the people may non hold had the mindset “ all about me ” but as a society they put themselves on a base. They, like we Americans, took pride in their metropoliss and authorities but I think they became excessively conceited and look where they are now. Everyone knows that all great civilisations and empires come to an terminal and I do n’t believe the Romans had any thought what they were in for. Everywhere you look you see marks of our “ me ” and “ mine ” civilization. Everyone tries to surpass everyone in order to be the best. I guess it ‘s largely because we are humanly engineered to be the best, after all, merely the strong survive. My favourite point of this “ me ” based civilization in The Satyricon is the portion where Trimalchio is depicting what he wants on his grave. I find it rather humourous how extremely he thinks of himself, I know there truly are people out at that place that think that manner about themselves but thank goodness I do n’t cognize any of them or else I would likely set them in their topographic point. I truly enjoyed the fact that he states “ he could hold been on every board on Rome but he refused ” . That ‘s a reasonably high remark for a individual to do about oneself. It ‘s a sad truth but it ‘s still the truth.
It ‘s no secret that the Romans were first category designers and it is still reflected even in our American civilization. They were so good that their creative activities are still around for us to see 100s of old ages subsequently. Romans are n’t truly known for their modestness in their architecture, when they built something, they truly built something. Their creative activities were expansive and we can still see intimations of the Roman civilization in our state. From keen marbles, expansive columns, and great halls we still see hints of Roman civilization all over the universe, non merely in our civilization. This point sort of dips back into the “ me ” factor but I like how Trimalchio described how he turned his hovel of a house into a expansive castle. He is really proud of the fact that he is able to hold such a beautiful place, and he should be. The importance in which he describes his place shows grounds of the Roman pride in their architecture.
Homosexuality is really accepted in this twenty-four hours and age, and seemingly it was non wholly looked down on in the Roman civilization either. I do n’t hold a great cognition of Roman literature but from what I have read and docudramas that I have seen it is apparent that the Romans were a sexual people. Evidence of this in The Satyricon is the scene where a good looking male child enters the room and Trimalchio can hardly maintain his custodies to himself, in fact he ca n’t because his behaviour causes his married woman to get down shouting at him. My oh my how people are so accepting of things. Reminds me of how a few hebdomads ago Adam Lambert was executing on phase and started “ showing himself ” all over one of the members of the set! I know that the Roman civilization has been gone for a long clip, but these sorts of public Acts of the Apostless are a few of the things I wish they would hold kept in the yesteryear!
In decision, I have regard for a civilization that has managed to remain alive even after it has reached its tallness. When I was reading The Satyricon I was surprised to see so many similarities between their civilization and our ain, although some of the similarities I ‘m non a personal fan of I still have to tip my chapeau to a civilization that has managed to hold lasting traits, and most likely they wo n’t be traveling out of manner anytime shortly. That makes me inquire, what will the American civilization have to offer even after we are gone? Will people look up to our lasting qualities or wish they had stayed in the yesteryear?
