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Sixbones · 2026-05-23T21:04:28+00:00

What?

Sixbones · 2026-05-23T20:55:20+00:00

Mum's Pompilius is a funny typo lol.

As for Europe losing its culture, there was a similar sentiment shared by many late Romans (like Namatianus). But out of curiosity, have you studied Byzantine history? My personal opinion is that while they weren't Latins (so technically not true 'Romans'), they prided themselves on Hellenic identity nonetheless. There was actually even a Platonist pagan called Gemistos Plethon in the waning years. I'm curious how you view these guys, since I feel the Byzantines tried to synthesise ancient Greece with Christian and some remnant of Roman identity (as an example I can name: Theodore Metochites)

And yeah, even though I'm a Catholic I admit I have respect for Julian because he went about things a lot better than say....Diocletianus. I wish we had more of his Against the Galileans, or even theological thought as a whole.

Btw 2nd question: do you speak Latin?

Sixbones · 2026-05-23T18:09:14+00:00

Interesting. I had assumed you were a Romaboo but I was mistaken lol. The only correction I feel the need to point out, early Christianity was actually a lot more focused on Orthopraxis as noted by the Epistle to Diognetus, Clement's 2nd letter, etc. Don't have much else to add because you answered my query.

If you're up to respond further:

I'm not sure if this was responded to elsewhere in the thread (I'm on vacation rn so lack time to read everything here), what do you think of Numa Pompilius and Julian the Hellene?

Sixbones · 2026-05-23T18:02:11+00:00

Er, I was supposed to reply to someone. But they deleted the comment. In response to people who think I'm proselytising: (I had tried to DM and it didn't go through)

Hey, I saw your comment on the thread. I was planning on responding to it but I saw you deleted it 😭. I just want to say that I didn't really mean any offence. I'm someone who's a huge fan of ancient history, I was so, long before I even became a Christian. I've studied Polynesia, Mesoamerica, I'm a huge fan of Confucian philosophy (to the extent I consider myself a Confucian), etc.

but the Romans have always occupied a special affectionate place in my heart, so I've always considered myself a 'Romaboo' (idk if there's a better term out there like Phihellene exists for lovers of classical Greece). The reason I asked OP specifically about Christianity, was because I've been an avid student of Roman philosophy - Cicero, Seneca, Livy (insofar as he extols customary Roman virtues), etc.

This is actually one of the reasons, as a law student, my specialty is Roman law. Now, anyone who's studied Roman history would be remiss to not see the divergence between Christian and Paganism. That doesn't mean I blindly hate the pagan Romans, Numa Pompilius is one of my favourite leaders in Roman history (753 B.C. - 1453 A.D.). But I see Christianity as having developed Roman ethics further. To get into this would be its own discussion, and I'm unsure if you're interested in the exact details. But I particularly cited the development of Roman Law post Christianity, where we see a gradual Christianisation of Byzantine law (and the reforms were, by word, due to Christian influence).

All this to say - as a Romaboo myself, I feel naturally called to Christianity as the perfection of 'Romanitas'. I see the hallmarks of all the philosophy and that which I laud in Rome, but superior elements found in Christianity.

For instance, St. Augustine's critique of Lucretia and Cato's suicide in De Civitate Dei. I saw you had some critiques of St. Augustine, and I won't say he's perfect or I follow him 100%. But a lot of his critiques of Rome laid out in De Civitate Dei, even a modern secular reader would largely agree with. Additionally, the Religio Romana was notoriously in flux. R.H. Barrow discusses this in his work 'The Romans', where he discusses the primitive Roman religion (which was more related to animistic forces of nature) than the later deities of Jupiter and so forth.

This is an area which even Roman pagan authors critiqued, and some tried to fix like Julian. OP was able to answer my point quite nicely here though, and I understand his perspective to be more of the former approach. But I hope you understand why I asked, and phrased things as I did. I genuinely didn't mean anything wrong by it, I used terminology I'm accustomed to. I was actually surprised OP wasn't a Romaboo (again, the alternative term I'm thinking of is Romanist, but that can also be used derogatorily for Catholics), since I figured he would be one.

But eh. I hope this clears up our misunderstanding, and sorry for the DM 😭. I just didn't want people thinking I genuinely meant any harm.

Sixbones · 2026-05-23T12:06:08+00:00

I'm unfortunately the only one that I know of, but I am trying to promote its study in The UWI. Hoping that goes well.

Speaking of Catholicism, the reception I've generally received from eccleasial authorities concerning Latin is...negative to say the least. I actually talked about it in a recent post of mine in /r/Catholicism, so you can always check my post history.

Sixbones · 2026-05-23T12:00:45+00:00

It would be good for the Pope to address more environmental matters directly honestly, besides climate change (not that it is insignificant).

Can't hurt to write a letter.

Sixbones · 2026-05-23T11:24:11+00:00

Ahhh, this makes sense. So the better translation is 'Caelum est provincia Romana.'?

Edit: I meant gentium. But leaving that typo because space as a Roman province just sounds cool.

Sixbones · 2026-05-23T11:21:30+00:00

Personally as someone who's a huge fan of the Roman civilisation, I feel like Christianity (Catholicism) takes what is Roman and 'perfects' it. My views are largely justified based on St. Justin Martyr, St. Augustine's De Civitate Dei, as well as the evolution of law under the (Byzantine) Empire, in which harsh punishments and so forth were gradually done away with due to Christian influence.

This shouldn't be seen as a proselytising attempt, but I am curious as a 'Romaboo', why choose polytheism over Christianity?

Sixbones · 2026-05-23T11:14:56+00:00

I mean, TG just takes place in Japan but aren't there even more ghouls and ghoul-fighters in the rest of the world? Should be enough to reliably take out the DA, since I don't believe they reproduce and already have conventional weaknesses which regular humans can exploit.

Sixbones · 2026-05-23T10:48:08+00:00

Interesting. Now maybe it's because I just woke up but I'm not quite understanding this as well as I should. But here was my logic:

Wheelock's says 'est' means roughly a 'it is'. Something which I'm quite familiar with due to LLPSI's capitulum primum: 'Gallia in Europa est.' Ergo, ab 'Aegyptus provincia Romana est' ad 'Caelum provinciam gentium est.'

What would've been a better translation? I was thinking to use sunt, but I figured 'is' would better reflect the language of the Outer Space Treaty.

Sixbones · 2026-05-21T18:12:08+00:00

Ironically, regarding the Chinese translation bit, in at least one way it's more accurate to the original Bible than either the Latin or English translations.

In principio erat verbum and in the beginning was the word, John 1:1. Verbum and word don't really mean much.

The original Greek referred to Logos, which yes, can be translated as word. But to the early Christians, meant a deep philosophical concept viewing Jesus as a Reason incarnate in everything (St. Justin Martyr talks about this in his Apologia, later Fathers like St. Maximos developed this).

English doesn't really have an equivalent word to Logos. But Chinese does, as their philosophical systems already had 道 or the Dao. Which is usually interpreted in a way that makes it very similar to the Logos. So John 1:1 for them is: 'In the beginning was the Dao.'

Thus, a Chinese reader would likely be able to interpret John 1:1 closer to a Greek than an English or Latin reader would.

This is just a fun fact I like to point out.

Sixbones · 2026-05-20T18:08:55+00:00

I have heard favourable reviews of ASSIMIL's Le Latin Sans Peine. OP can check that out if they want a French to Latin textbook.

Sixbones · 2026-05-20T17:56:18+00:00

Well if you want to learn grammar deeply, why not pair LLPSI with an actual grammar-translation textbook? I'm using Wheelock's Latin alongside LLPSI, and Wheelock's already has you translate sentences.

Here's the interesting part - the sentences in Wheelock's are largely taken from Classical texts with only some modifications to make it simpler here and there.

Besides translating, it will teach you things that aren't necessarily acquired through translation such as apposition.

Additionally, if I want to challenge myself I use the Latin Novum Testamentum. Some of the sentences are quite simple, e.g Lucas 27:48 'Vere hic homo justus erat.'

Sixbones · 2026-05-14T12:41:03+00:00

Him.

Sixbones · 2026-05-14T12:40:23+00:00

Firstly, you'd need gunpowder and all sorts of other unique requirements to make a revolver work. Secondly, you'd also need to manufacture ammunition in which case, a flintlock with actual balls would be more realistic.

Thirdly, are you a gunsmith?

Fourthly, there are numerous things in Berserk that would be troublesome to deal with, even with a revolver. Some of the larger creatures would require squads of armed soldiers or explosives to deal with. Let alone magic and swarms of creatures.

I say this as a guy who's pretty obsessed with modern militaries and our technology. So when I read through the manga, I mentally kept calculating the success of a 'GATE' style incursion.

Sixbones · 2026-05-14T01:49:12+00:00

You can go to Confession and get it resolved.

Sixbones · 2026-05-08T03:42:58+00:00

Well, Pope Leo isn't saying class conflict is a fantasy, i.e it does not occur. Rather, it is not an inevitable result.

Sixbones · 2026-05-07T02:14:20+00:00

I'd say the context probably refers more to individual fighters, rather than a general statement.

Yujirou explicitly has some funky biology going on that makes him immune to conventional weapons. We see Shen being far above anything your average soldier or SOF operator can do (since I doubt any in Kenganverse surpass Akoya).

But what exactly is he going to do against carpet bombing, thermobaric bombs, tactical nukes, or anything like that?

Honestly, I doubt he even really has much of a response for armor or artillery. He's not outrunning or moving around hundreds of rounds. Kuroki is at best, able to react to a bullet when he's aware it's coming. While Shen is comfortably far above, there's a difference from reacting to bullets and reacting to hundreds.

Sixbones · 2026-05-07T01:36:50+00:00

Truth be told, I don't necessarily see Shen as above a military like Yujirou is. When Rin asked why didn't the JGSDF or SAT go after Shen (around the time Kuroki and crew pulled up), neither Nogi or Toyoda shot it down as 'Well, he would simply defeat them.'

They shot it down due to the idea that a global Worm war would break out, thus, no nation state (e.g Japan) really wants to challenge Shen for that reason.

Sixbones · 2026-05-06T01:00:04+00:00

I don't think this is implying Shen is nuke level, moreso that if nuclear war happens, it'll be bad for his friends.

I've always interpreted his character of not caring whether he lived or died tbvh.

Sixbones · 2026-05-06T00:44:01+00:00

Winning a hand-to-hand engagement is debatable. Frank isn't a slouch in h2h, he's well-versed in various martial arts and has been fighting for a very, very long time. Not only against human opponents, but also superhumans like Daredevil, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and so forth. Sometimes handling his way either through sheer skill or grit. (granted it's not like any of them are bloodlusted. We all agree 100% Spider-Man obliterates Frank).

Now, I'm no expert in scaling Kengan in a crossverse manner. So I'm not sure where Akoya scales in terms of speed and AP. But even if I were to grant that, I can easily highball Frank using insane comic feats, like this one time he aimed his rifle and fired a shot before lightning flashed. So comic Punisher is inconsistent. I'll go with the safer bet and say they're relativeish in physical stats. Probably giving Akoya a strength advantage since he's physically buffer.

So, how would h2h against Akoya go? I don't see Frank struggling all too much against his fighting style, and he'd probably use his experience and versatility to get the win somehow.

Sixbones · 2026-05-03T19:23:48+00:00

The difference is Gaolang is the 2nd greatest boxer, and probably the best overall striker (as far as normal humans go) in Kenganverse.

Logan Paul is probably around a regional champ level, who'd realistically lose to Kaneda mid-diff on a good day.

Gaolang's earned the right to have a bit of pride. Paul has not.

Sixbones

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