So Long To Centuries of Tradition

This is a parody short editorial piece from antiquity by an ancient member of the associated press. It is creative writing, satire, and fiction, so I threw it in shirt stories.


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Maius, IV, Year of the Consulship of Lascivius and Atilius, CMXXXVIII

Aelia Capitolina (AP) - "It's getting almost too much too bear. This loss of Tradition. The insufferable arrogance in which these cultists position themselves". These words spoken to me by Augustus Florentius are echoed throughout the Empire. The rabble comes from a new sect of belief based on the monotheistic practice Judaism. They call themselves Christians.

While we don't have record of the namesake's existence in documents, it is believed the central Icon of this sect is a person called Iēsous. He is a demigod, similar to Hercules or Bacchus in that he is the seed of a God and a mortal. He forms part of a singular monotheistic trinity. Several of his teachings condemn and demonize our customs as barbaric and evil.

They began spreading late last century during the reign of Domitian. It in widely believed the writings they put to papyrus during his reign specifically were a way of demonizing Rome as their eternal enemy. Almost seeking to scare and intimidate people with rhetoric away from our ways.

They are anti-Rome. The refuse participation in rituals for Saturnalia, they refuse to embibe the pleasures of intoxicants and the flesh in the name of Bacchus, they demonize the way we think and hold our sacred holidays and customs in contempt. They do this while righteously asserting themselves as those will the superior morality. A finger thrust to call us heathens with.

I heard a personal anecdote about last Saturnalia that disturbed me. They seem to want to supplant our holidays with their own. They will take any opportunity to undo our custom. They celebrate Iēsous during the winter festivities. The keep several of our traditions but leave Saturn out of it, inserting their own shining light in the sky.

It's insidious, in my opinion. They will stop at nothing to destroy our centuries of practice and replace it with their own "better way".

As I sit here composing my opinion piece, I cant help but cringe at where our society is going. In one-hundred-and-fifty years, will the emperor be a member of this sect and changing what we are to call ourselves? Changing our art? Our poetry and prose? Changing our focus to this something better?

Well, I stand here to say. "I am a Roman. The last true Roman to sit here and state, our traditions will not be corrupted. They will not go by way of the night as society nullifies their usefulness. The gods will remain tradition. This sect will not rewrite our morality because they find it dated and barbaric. They will not take out reverence for the pantheon."

I know many will support me on this, but the most troubling part is the many who won't. What happened to our Empire?

Octavius Marcellus is a contributor who covers Aelia Capitolina.

Clever idea and true from their perspective.
Each generation seems to renounce the last.
That's how we bounce through history one social upheaval at a time.
We must love drama because we keep manufacturing it.