Dear Senate, why do you hate the Scipii?

[Sinner]

SPQR is an acronym of Senatus Populusque Romanus.

Somebody who knows Latin can no doubt explain why the Q is highlighted.

[shaunk]

SPQR is an acronym of Senatus Populusque Romanus.

Somebody who knows Latin can no doubt explain why the Q is highlighted.

because que is a seperate word.

senatus populous que romanus

[eeyoredragon]

because que is a seperate word.

senatus populous que romanus

I see the light now! It's all clear. Now, if someone would be so kind and answering my real question...

[Sinner]

Shaunk, that was my thought except that apparently on Trajan's column it's carved as SENATVS.POPVLVSQVE.ROMANVS - 3 words, not 4, with a dot to mark between words.

[Sinner]

As for your Scipii question, eeyoredragon, the answer is simple: the Gods know that the Scipii - and those thugs the Brutii - are loathsome creatures that desserve to be tormented and punished until they're conquered by their rightful master, the Julii! :-p

Alternatively, it's just your bad luck. The time I playe the Scipii, I didn't notice any particular bias by the Senate.

[Pellinor]

Shaunk, that was my thought except that apparently on Trajan's column it's carved as SENATVS.POPVLVSQVE.ROMANVS - 3 words, not 4, with a dot to mark between words.

It is three words. "Senatus Populusque Romanus" is equivalent to "Senatus et Populus Romanus". Sometimes you use the word "et", sometimes you use the suffix "-que". Don't ask me why, though it may just be that you can muck about with the metre and some up with a better bit of poetry.

I don't know why they left the Q in, either. Maybe they were sick of TLAs, or maybe the standard plaque for the standards was four characters wide so they had to stick something in.

Thinking on it, perhaps it does change the meaning slightly. "Senatus et Populus Romanus" reads like (Senate + Roman People), whereas "Senatus Populusque Romanus" reads more like (Roman (Senate + People)) - bracketing Senate and People together as Roman.

Cheers,

Pell.R.

[Tamur]

...The time I playe the Scipii, I didn't notice any particular bias by the Senate...

Nor I. I've taken all three Roman factions out to at least 230 BC and the Senate ends up hating them all equally well (badly) by that time. Maybe hatcat can chime in, but simply based on game balance, I can't see one Roman faction being coded in as more hate-able than the others.

However, it's my theory that the Senate used bird entrails, and the Delphic oracle, to know that the stinking Gauls and the pointy Macedonians are both likely to be plague-ridden.

Therefore, we can conclude that the Senate favour the Brutii because they have the cleanly Carthaginians and sterile desert to deal with

[Kaiser of Arabia]

thats the scipii

[Palaiologos]

-que is always to be read before the word its attached to when you translate it.

[Zharakov]

Well Scipii is in a bad position in the first place. The only way for them to get troops to Sicilly is to go by ship or to make them there. That and the fact they are bottled up like the Brutii and can only expand over seas.