Ciao a tutti:  

As we begin the countdown to our 100th annual convention, it is proper to remember this purpose which is written in Article I (c)  of our OSIA Constitution: to encourage the dissemination of Italian culture in the United States and uphold the prestige of the people of Italian heritage in America.  

What an awesome charge and responsibility have been placed on us by our membership in OSIA. We are both gatekeepers and torch bearers for those who will follow us. May our efforts be found worthy of this obligation.  

On June 7th/8th the Italian Education, Culture & Language Committee (IECLC)state and district chairs will be meeting in Endicott, NY for a state-wide IECLC meeting. We are fortunate to have these dedicated Sisters and Brothers who are passionate about promoting our culture and heritage.    

Due to the IECLC meeting, the next Heritage & Culture Report will be issued on 19 June 2006. Grazie in anticipo.  

Fraternally,
Robert Necci

WORTH REPEATING

"The human race is in the best condition when it has the greatest degree of liberty."
   - Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321

IN THE NEWS

May 30, 2006 – Christian Science Monitor - Hands-On History with Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was an inventor, a thinker, and an artist who dreamed big - and then set out to achieve those dreams. Have you ever thought about an invention that would make life a little easier - or even more fun? Have you ever wondered why something works the way it does, or dreamed about how to fly higher, swim faster, or travel farther? A boy from Vinci, Italy, did just that more than 500 years ago. He dreamed big - and then went out to see if he could turn those dreams into reality. He is now known as Leonardo da Vinci (which means Leonardo from Vinci). You might know him as a famous painter. He painted the “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper.” They're two of the most famous works of Renaissance art. But Leonardo was more than an artist. “He was an incredible thinker, too,” says Maxine Anderson, in a phone interview. Ms. Anderson points out that Leonardo drew flying machines, armored tanks, and shoes that could walk on water. He thought anything was possible. Most of what is known about him comes from the notes and drawings he jotted down in journals and notebooks. He filled more than a hundred of them with his mysterious “mirror writing.” It's the kind of right-to-left handwriting that you hold up to a mirror to read.

For the complete story visit the following link:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0530/p18s02-hfks.html

May 31, 2006 – RHC (Havana, Cuba) - Havana City Historian Outlines Legacy of Columbus

The important legacy which Christopher Columbus left for humanity was outlined by Dr. Eusebio Leal during the inauguration of the 8^th Seminar on Italian Culture in Cuba dedicated to the 500^th anniversary of Columbus’ death.  Before a gathering of experts on the Italian language, literature and culture in Cuba as well as Italian delegates, Leal, Historian of the city of Havana gave the keynote speech entitled: “The Meeting of Two Cultures”, held in the restored San Francisco de Paula Church located in Old Havana.

Eusebio Leal who is also the president of the Dante Alighieri Society in Havana outlined that Columbus’ discovery of the so called ‘new world’ for the Spanish crown made an impact on the world which inaugurated the modern era in the history of Humanity.  He added that the historic event which has been much discussed and has been controversial like his humble birth, where he died, including whether or not his remains were sent to Cuba has not been concluded by researchers on the matter. Eusebio Leal referred to Columbus’ vocation, his knowledge as a sailor, his passage through most of the known seas which gave him an idea of the planet’s geography, the idea that the world was round and all the advanced scientific information of the time.  

For the complete story visit the following link:

http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/idioma/ingles/2006/may31eusebio-legal.htm

May 31, 2006 – BBC News - Roman Skeleton ‘Older Than City’

An ancient skeleton has been unearthed in Rome, Italy, and at 3,000 years old, it’s older than the city itself. The well-preserved remains of the woman were found by archaeologists digging in the Roman Forum, the main square of the ancient Italian city. It’s traditionally thought that Rome was founded in 753 B.C. Experts know Bronze age settlers lived on the site before the city arose, but until now very few traces of their society have been found. This skeleton is thought to have been a wealthy woman in her thirties. She was wearing an amber necklace with a gold pendant, a bronze hair-fastener and a bronze ring on one of her fingers. The archaeologists also found four bronze clasps, two of which may have been used to hold her shroud in place. Most of the Romans’ ancestors burnt their dead, so finding this complete skeleton buried in the ground is very unusual.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_5030000/newsid_5033100/5033130.stm

May 31, 2006 – ANSA (Rome, Italy) - Cinecittá School Out to Return Italian Cinema to Old Highs

A new academy that aims to mould the future masters of Italian cinema arts has begun classes at Rome’s legendary Cinecittá studios. The ACT (Academy of Cinema and Television) Multimedia school aims to give aspiring talents the opportunity to learn about the industry from experts who are making a success of it. Top Italian directors, actors, editors, screenwriters, make-up artists, photographers, 3D animators and journalists have been enlisted to join the teaching staff. “The initiative aims to harvest this vast, precious legacy of know-how and use it for the cinema of tomorrow,” said ACT Director Vittorio Giacci. In the process the academy hopes to contribute to reviving Italian cinema. Italian professionals continue to play a lead role in some areas of the industry, like costume design, and there is a handful of highly promising home-grown young directors, such as Ferzan Ozpetek and Gabriele Muccino, coming through. But film critics agree that Italian cinema today is some way from the post-war highs it hit with fabled filmmakers like Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti. The academy is well-positioned to inspire the next generation of Italian filmmakers to follow in those illustrious footsteps.
For the complete story visit the following link:

http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-05-31_1315543.html

June 1, 2006 – ANSA (London, England) - Columbus 1493 Letter to Be Sold

Christopher Columbus’ first account of his discovery of the New World will go on sale here next week. Billed as the world’s first bestseller, the 1493 letter to his royal backers was printed and circulated in some 500 copies by a Spanish pope eager to show how Spain had beaten Portugal to the punch. “It was the first papal press release,” said Adam Douglas of London firm Peter Harrington Antiquarian Books. Pope Alexander VI later used the letter as evidence when he carved up the New World between the two countries, giving the lion’s share to his native land. In his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus describes Caribbean islands as “rich” in the gold and spices he expected to find where he thought he had landed, the Far East.

For the complete story visit the following link:

http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-06-01_1017324.html

June 1, 2006 – AKI (Rome, Italy) – Italy: Ad Billboards Inside Famous Basilica Raise a Storm

The management of the world-famous Saint Anthony’s Basilica in Padua, northern Italy, is planning to introduce poster advertising inside the church, Milan daily Corriere della Sera revealed on Thursday. Posters will cover the restoration scaffolds, providing the funds for highly expensive maintenance and restoration works, said the chief of the Basilica’s management Gianni Berno. “We need more money and at the end of summer we will launch a real marketing campaign,” added Berno, underlining that public funds promised by the government last year were never delivered. In Italy it is common practice to cover the façade of churches and historical buildings with massive poster advertising during restoration works, but this would be the first time that posters are affixed inside a church. “Over three million people from all over the world visit the Basilica every year,” - added Berno – “and the advertising inside the church will grant our sponsors the publicity which is due to private companies kindly funding fundamental restoration works.” Saint Anthony’s basilica complex was built between 1238 and 1310 and includes, as well as the Basilica itself, a huge XIII century friary and the tomb of Saint Anthony.

For the complete story visit the following link:

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Trends&loid=8.0.305416507&par

June 1, 2006 – Queens Chroncile (Rego Park, NY) - Group Aims to Preserve Best of Italian Heritage

Naturally enough, Diego Lodico summed up the spirit of the Italian cultural organization he founded with a quotation from ancient Roman orator Cicero: “Not to know what has happened before we were born is to remain perpetually a child. For what is the worth of human life unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?” According to Lodico, this is the idea behind Bella Italia Mia - or “My Beautiful Italy” - a Maspeth based organization dedicated to Italian culture and history. The organization’s origins date to 1995, when Lodico retired after running two clothing stores and working as a consultant on Wall Street. Now that his time wasn’t consumed with work, the second generation Italian American began to look to enrich his knowledge of his roots. After searching for events to fulfill his interest, he gradually became a familiar face at local Italian cultural gatherings. After a while, people began turning to Lodico for information about Italian American heritage events, and he started a calendar to encompass the few that were happening in Maspeth and Middle Village. Then, in 1998, Lodico decided to start a nonprofit organization to promote Italian cultural observances and a positive image of Italians in general.
For the complete story visit the following link:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16722522&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574901&rfi=6

June 2, 2006 – Sons of Italy News Bureau – National Chaplain Named

The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA), the nation’s oldest and largest organization for men and women of Italian heritage, has named Father Joseph Capella of New Jersey as the new OSIA National Chaplain. OSIA National President Vincent Sarno has appointed Father Capella who will succeed Fr. Donald Licata who died in March after attending to OSIA’s spiritual needs for 15 years. “I have had the pleasure of having spiritual guidance from Father Capella for the last few years,” says National President Sarno. “I know that his insight, wisdom and love of God, combined with the respect of his Italian culture and heritage will make him a great religious counselor for OSIA.” As national chaplain, Fr. Capella will attend OSIA events at the national, state and local levels to offer prayer and counsel. He also will give pastoral assistance to the OSIA leadership and individual members as requested. Fr. Capella had previously served as OSIA state chaplain of New Jersey, where he attended conventions and other meetings, and performed weddings, baptisms and funerals for members in that state. “I am always impressed by the level of fraternal love and support shown at such times,” says Fr. Capella. “It is a wonderful intentional community that is bound together by the tenets of our Italian heritage. I'm so proud to be a part of it.”  Fr. Capella is a long-time member of OSIA, having joined through the National Office when he was a student at Washington Theological Union and Catholic University in Washington, D.C. His family belongs to the Garibaldi Lodge #1658 in Hammonton, N.J. where he was born and raised. Fr. Capella was ordained in 1990 and is currently attached to Our Lady of Grace Parish in Somerdale, N.J. His family came from Sicily and Calabria in around 1910 and settled in Hammonton. “I look forward to ministering to OSIA members and their families whenever they may need a spiritual guide or pastoral minister in any way. It is a great honor to be available and at the service to this family of OSIA,” says Fr. Capella.

http://www.osia.org/public/newsroom/press_releases.asp

COMMUNITY EVENTS CALENDAR

For a listing of many Italian and Italian American programs, updated regularly, visit the John D Calandra Italian American Institute’s Community Events Calendar at the following link:

http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/calandra/community/commcal.html

NYS OSIA BOCCE UPDATE

We are pleased to announce the following winners for the games to be held at convention: From Districts 1 & 2, Loggia Glen Cove #1016; From Districts 3 & 4, Lt. Joseph Petrosino #2741; From Districts 5 & 6, Roma Intangible #215; From Districts 7 & 8, Geneva American Italian Ladies #2397A. The semi-finals and finals will be held on Thursday, June 22^nd beginning at 10 AM. Bocce teams are to meet at the hotel at 9:30 AM and proceed to the courts as a group. Awards will be presented at the conclusion of the event.

CONVENTION CULTURAL DISPLAY

Each Lodge has a little HOMEWORK to do: Identify a few photos/programs/brochures/press clippings (you get the idea...) of cultural events you have held in the last year that you would like to showcase on our posters which will be displayed at the IECLC table throughout the convention. These posters (one per District) will be assembled during the June 7^th/8^th District Chairs meeting, being generously hosted by District VII Chair, Giuseppe Pastore (Duca Degli Abruzzi Lodge #443). Please save your dinner dance photos for the more appropriate venue (i. e., the Golden Lion). We are looking for cultural programs to highlight. Please send your ‘show and tell’ materials to your district chairs. Feel free to give me a call – (631) 256-6397 or drop me a line at: CultureNYSOSIA@optonline.net if you are unsure which of the events/activities/initiatives to include! I’m sure we share the common objective of putting our best foot forward and letting all NYS OSIA know of the fine work each lodge is doing.

MODERN SICILIAN NETWORK

Modern Sicilian Network is an international community of people “passionate about Sicily.”  Modern Sicilian seeks to inform people of Sicily’s rich history; provide its subscriber community with services that enrich it; and stimulate economic development in interior Sicily through its philanthropic efforts.  Founded in 2004, Modern Sicilian has grown to upwards 1,000 subscribers across the United States and internationally. We travel twice yearly to Sicily to experience Sicilian culture personally and interact with modern-day Sicilians.  Our donations go to the establishment of a cultural tourism center in interior Sicily whose mission is to stimulate the local economy through tourism. Modern Sicilian does not discriminate in that all people “passionate about Sicily,” regardless of ethnic or national origin, are welcome to subscribe. Contact: Matthew Platania at mgp@modernsicilian.org  or Website: www.modernsicilian.org

BOOK REVIEW

The Vatican’s Architectural Epic

Building St. Peter’s with Michelangelo and Bernini, popes and patience

By Francis Rocca – Wall Street Journal – June 3, 2006

Basilica by R.A. Scotti – Viking, 299 Pages, $25.95

The construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome took 120 years and entailed what was surely the largest assemblage of artistic genius on any single project in history. Its titanic cost, and the practice of selling indulgences to pay for it, scandalized Martin Luther and thus helped inspire the Protestant Reformation. Five centuries after Pope Julius II laid the first stone, Catholicism’s greatest shrine continues to awe visitors of every persuasion. In “Basilica,” R.A. Scotti offers a sweeping account of the construction, from the razing of the original fourth-century church (built by the Emperor Constantine) to the raising of a bronze cross atop the 450-foot dome in 1593. She extends her narrative to include the modifications by the Baroque master Gianlorenzo Bernini, including his flamboyant canopy over the high altar and the elliptical colonnades around St. Peter’s Square.

Ms. Scotti lucidly sketches out the major architectural challenges of the whole project-above all, the building of a dome of unprecedented height-but at the heart of her story are the extraordinary men who brought St. Peter’s into being. Focusing on the relationships between the architects and their papal clients, the author renders miniature portraits of Raphael (the chief architect for six unproductive years) and his epicurean soul mate, Leo X; of Giacomo della Porta, the “unsung hero of St. Peter’s,” and the hard-driving Sixtus V, who made della porta put up the dome in a mere 22 months; and of the “ebullient and worldly” Bernini, who served as the basilica’s chief architect for 51 years, more than half of them under the rule of two admiring pontiffs, Urban VIII and Alexander VII.

By far the most dramatic relationship recounted here is that between Julius II, a warrior pope with imperial ambitions for the Holy See, and the indomitable Michelangelo, who painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling in an atmosphere heavy with suspicion of his rival, Donato Bramante, the first of the basilica’s several designers. (Michelangelo’s turbulent dealings with Julius would eventually inspire the speculations of Sigmund Freud and of Irving Stone’s novel “The Agony and the Ecstasy.”) Only after a much later pope offered him full authority over the building did Michelangelo himself become chief architect, a position he held for the last 18 of his 89 years.

The author of four novels, Ms. Scotti breaks up her sweeping narrative with memorably drawn scenes, such as one in which the banker Agostino Chigi entertains his jaded dinner guests, among them Pope Leo X, by showing them an unusual way of dealing with dirty dishes: hurling the solid-gold plates into the Tiber River. Her detailed account of the transfer of a 320-ton Egyptian obelisk from the south side of the basilica, where it had been placed by the Emperor Caligula, to its current position in the center of St. Peter’s Square is remarkably suspenseful, considering that we know how it turned out.

What astonishes most in this saga of vast egos and talents, struggling and collaborating over the course of nearly two centuries, is the sublime coherence of the final result. Despite the different hands and styles evident in the basilica and its decoration, Ms. Scotti writes, “the visitor experiences unity as solid as dogma.”

IN TRIBUTE TO REFLECTION

By Silvia Montemurro

One balmy winter afternoon, I ran some errands after my water aerobics workout. On my list was a visit to the United States Post Office for two-cent stamps to supplement the one hundred thirty-seven cent stamps I ironically had recently purchased! As I exited the parking lot and proceeded homeward bound, I heard a car with a loud muffler trailing me. When I looked in my rear view mirror, I saw a beautiful German Shepherd’s head extended out of the window enjoying the breezy sunlit ride. At that moment, I had a stunning flashback to encounters with my German Shepherds; for twenty years I raised two outstandingly handsome pedigree dogs whom I loved dearly. I instantly remembered the great fun I had with them playing fetch, their loving affection, their undying devotion, their little idiosyncrasies that made them so precious to me. I was so suddenly amazed that my mind compressed with these recollections which had been so deeply wedged into my psyche like information stored on a computer disc. At that point, I realized how the past is easily resurrected and triggered by association, for it allows the floodgates of memories from different decades of our lives to emerge like a multi-faceted movie.

When I entered the house, I unloaded the groceries purchased at my favorite store, Salpino’s Italian Food Market. These wonderfully fragrant delicacies of provolone and mozzerella cheeses and olives and sausages and meats soon permeated the kitchen. Once again I had a flashback to other avenues of my life. I remembered the intense aromas of the delectable meals prepared by my beloved mother and grandmother and how they toiled over the stove preparing the highlight of the week--an Italian Sunday family dinner with incredible sauces and pasta dishes filled with meatballs and sausages and bracciole followed by every type of vegetable and salad, stuffed artichokes, and my grandmother’s signature dish--pot roast. Oh how that kitchen radiated with the odoriferous flavorings as the finely selected prime meat browned in butter of her Dutch oven pot filled with sautéing onions and potatoes! I remembered the elegance of my mother’s table settings with the starchy ironed pristine white damask tablecloth with matching napkins and the glistening crystal and porcelain bone china and polished silverware. I remembered the excitement of my Great Aunt Edith’s and Great-Uncle Jack’s arrival and my other relatives who were all fully attired in the Sunday best of dresses and suits and ties which were worn directly from Mass and who brought with them the culmination of the dinner-the amazing Italian pastries and cookies from various locales of their residences. The images became so vivid that they were almost uncannily tangible, and when I was smitten into the reality of the present moment in my cozy country kitchen with my handmade curtains and drapes adorning the six encircled bay windows, tears came to my eyes for the great loss of who and what went before. Yes, those days are indelibly etched in my mind even though they have fleeted beyond any physical grasp. I also reflected that even though I was so deeply grieved to have lost them, I was simultaneously elated to have had them, for these were visions to be cherished forever. My lament is for the many youngsters today who unfortunately will never know the cathartic delights of these family-bonding experiences.

As I commenced the preparation of that night’s supper (I love to cook because of my role models), I contemplated about how this decade will be envisioned since it is amazingly almost half over. A smile came over my face as I thought about my extended family members: my OSIA lodge, state, and national brothers and sisters, for I love so many things we share and so many of our exciting and humorous experiences. At times, I often believe that the eclectic culmination or our personalities could make a very comical T .V. situation comedy (how about the program: “Everybody loves OSIA”?) I love attending the multi-diverse events and knowing that Sister Edith and Brother Peter will be ever present guiding us through us through the proper rituals of the order. I love that Sister Anne and Brother Stan oversee our grouping as a tight-knit circle; I love Sister Josephine and Brother Nat’s constancy at recording in pictures and video the moments of

our OSIA life. I love traveling to the Plenary Sessions and State and National outings with the state and national officers who always so thoroughly embrace me as a dutiful daughter like Lucy Codella and Joey Fay, Carol and Joe DiTrapani, Madeline and Carlo Matteucci, Nettie and Ed Inne1la, and everyone in the Council who graciously and protectively solicits my input. I love traveling overseas with the Order to the

monumentally orchestrated itineraries or our Immediate Past National President Joseph Sciame. Most of all, I love the work of the Order-the celebrations and ceremonies honoring our Italian heritage, the ability to be interactive within the local, state, and national communities, the united fund-raising efforts channeled benevolently to the multitude in so many ways.

Yes, these are very fond memories for this decade, for all of us believe in the perpetuation of our heritage. We are good people who rally to a cause to be productive human beings because we are givers by our very I1ature. It is this bond that links the OSIA family together, our driving force that catapults us into cascading action. Even though our personal schedules are for the most part frantically hectic with professional and family obligations, OSIA satisfies a special need in each other, the need to be fulfilled! Therefore, I appeal to all OSIA members to be more involved by attending meetings, sessions, and social events and by bringing in new members. Long live OSIA!

THE RISE OF CAESARISM

The weakened Roman Republic was crushed by Julius Caesar, a charismatic military leader who exploited his popularity with a Roman people who desired security above all else.

By Steve Bonta, The New American – January 10, 2005

This is the seventh installment in a series of articles on the rise and fall of the Roman Republic.

The Cilician pirates in the early first century B.C. were the scourge of the eastern Mediterranean. They commanded huge fleets and immense amounts of wealth from their strongholds along the southeast coast of Asia Minor and had spread their depredations over the entire Aegean Sea. By 75 B.C. they apparently enjoyed the sponsorship of Rome’s sworn enemy Mithridates, king of Pontus, who, having already lost one debilitating war with Rome, still sought to undermine Roman power any way he could. Sometime in that year, a group of Cilicians captured a vessel carrying a young Roman aristocrat named Julius Caesar.

According to the story, the young Caesar laughed at his captors’ demand for a ransom of 20 talents. He told them they had no idea whom they had captured and instructed them to ask for 50 talents instead. The pirates readily agreed to his bold demand, and Caesar dispatched most of his entourage back to Italy to round up the ransom money. In the meantime, Caesar more or less took command of the pirates’ camp, insisting on preferential treatment, writing letters and essays, and deriding the illiterate pirates as ignorant savages. He also laughingly promised the pirates that he would crucify every last one of them. The Cilicians, unsure what to make of this cheerful, powerfully built young man with the emotionless eyes, played along with what they assumed were foolish jests by a spoiled socialite who hadn’t grasped the full peril of his situation.

After a lapse of little more than a month, Caesar’s friends returned with the ransom money, and the Cilician pirates set him free. It was the last mistake they were to make. Julius Caesar went directly to the nearest port, Miletus in Asia Minor, and assembled a small fleet of mercenaries. He then sailed back to the island where his erstwhile captors were still encamped. His forces quickly defeated and captured the pirates, and Caesar ordered them all crucified. However, in a fit of magnanimity to the condemned, he ordered their throats to be cut, to spare them the full agony of death by crucifixion. After all, he reminded them, they had treated him well in captivity.

This was the personality of the man who dominated his age like no other before or since, saving only One who came into the world a few decades later to preach the coming of a very different kind of kingdom from that espoused by Caesar and his confederates, and who had nothing in common with Julius Caesar except his initials. Gaius Julius Caesar - military genius, charismatic leader of men, author, demagogue, consummate politician - was one of the most contradictory characters ever to occupy the stage of history. He shared Sulla’s lust for dominion, but lacked his bloodthirsty vindictiveness. Capable of ruthlessness beyond measure, Caesar also frequently displayed calculated clemency. He understood where Marius, Sulla, and Cinna had not, that the path to supremacy lay in patronage and flattery, not in pogroms. His personal assets -a keen wit, powerful intellect, decisiveness, and an athletic physique hardened by years of discipline - won him instant allegiance among the men he commanded and allowed him to ingratiate himself with the masses. In an age that produced a constellation of luminaries -Cicero, Brutus, Cato, Pompey, Crassus, and many others - Caesar outshone all the rest. Yet in spite of his extraordinary assets, Julius Caesar was a tragic man who, more than any other Roman leader, was responsible for the downfall of the republic.

Early Life

Caesar was born in 100 B.C. and as a young man married Cornelia Cinnilla, the daughter of Cinna, the leader of the Marian faction. He found himself on the wrong side of Rome’s first civil war when the victorious Sulla began his purge of all of Marius’ supporters. Caesar fled from Rome and enlisted in the military to campaign in Asia Minor. While there, he is said to have developed an indecent relationship with the king of Bithynia, a powerful kingdom in northern Asia Minor. Homosexuality at the time was still taboo in Rome (in stark contrast to ancient Greece), and Caesar’s political enemies were quick to amplify the rumors of Caesar’s moral misconduct.

In spite of the scandal, Caesar, returning to Rome after Sulla’s death, was able to build a creditable career as an advocate and gained a reputation as an unusually powerful and persuasive orator.

Caesar had two great rivals in Rome for power and prestige: one, Pompey, eclipsed him in military exploits and the other, Cicero, in rhetorical skill. Although friends from youth, Pompey and Cicero were completely different in background and temperament. Pompey came from a wealthy, well-connected family, whereas Cicero came from what would now be styled the middle class, lacking the pedigree for automatic promotion and patronage. Pompey, who sided with the Sullan faction in the great civil war that arose between the rival despots Marius and Sulla, was rewarded by the latter with his daughter’s hand in marriage. Pompey was only too happy to divorce his first wife to become the Roman dictator’s son-in-law. After his marriage, he was dispatched to Sicily to quell the remnants of the resistance there. In Sicily, Pompey earned a reputation as a capable but ruthless military leader noted for his severity in dealing with opposition. Sicily was a major source of Roman grain, and its strategic position in the mid-Mediterranean made it an asset that could not be squandered. “Stop quoting laws,” Pompey reputedly told the refractory Sicilians, “we carry weapons.”

Following his success in bringing Sicily to heel, Pompey was dispatched to North Africa and eventually to Spain, where the remnants of the Marians, led by a capable general named Sertorius, held out until 71 B.C. Immediately after his victory in Spain, Pompey returned to Italy in time to assist Crassus in suppressing the uprising of Spartacus - and lay claim to a piece of the credit for the Roman victory. He was then elected consul for the first time, in 70 B.C.

Pompey’s profile grew still further during the next decade. In 67 B.C., in spite of bitter debate in the Senate, Pompey was given unprecedented power – absolute authority over the Mediterranean Sea and all coastal territory extending 50 miles inland - in order to conduct a campaign against the Cilician pirates. The campaign was brief and exterminated the pirates as a military threat. Instead of returning to Rome, however, Pompey departed for Asia Minor, where he helped another general, Lucullus, defeat Mithridates for the second and final time. He then led Roman forces into Armenia, Syria, and Palestine, including Jerusalem itself, all of which he annexed for Rome. He returned to Rome in late 61 B.C. to wild acclaim and a sumptuous two-day triumph in honor of his exploits. His popularity at an all-lime high, Pompey’s stock rose still higher after several large personal donations to the Roman treasury.

The Road to Power

In the meantime, Caesar’s other rival, Cicero, had gotten the better of the Catiline affair, in which a monstrous conspiracy to overthrow the Roman Republic was exposed and dismantled, largely through Cicero’s diligence. Caesar, who had defended Catiline’s confederates in the Senate, was oratorically worsted by both Cicero and Cato; suspicions of his involvement in the Catilinarian conspiracy tainted him in the eyes of many. By all appearances, in the late 60s, Caesar’s star was declining, and those of his rivals were ascending.

Julius Caesar, however, had the good fortune of being consistently underestimated by his enemies. He recognized Pompey and Crassus, two of Rome’s wealthiest men and most celebrated military leaders, as indispensable allies. In 59 B.C., Caesar, having managed to get himself elected consul for the first time, forged an informal, semi-secret political alliance with these two men. This, the so called First Triumvirate, was very much a marriage of convenience. Pompey needed Caesar's political support for his project of conferring state lands on veterans who had served under his command, and Crassus coveted the authority to launch a military expedition against Parthia, a powerful Persian state in Mesopotamia. Pompey and Caesar agreed to set aside their quarrels, and the former even married Caesar’s daughter Julia to cement the alliance.

The following year, 58 B.C., Caesar was made proconsul over Roman Gaul, where he promptly launched his famous war of conquest in Gaul and Britain. The Gallic campaigns, generally considered the greatest military feat since the conquests of Alexander the Great, were a turning point in the history of Rome and of the Western world. They not only brought most of what is now France and the Low Countries, as well as a part of Britain, under the Roman yoke, they transformed Caesar into a military hero whose popularity, at least with the masses, eclipsed even that of Pompey. Caesar, a tireless chronicler of his own exploits, disseminated accounts of his victories over the various Gallic and British tribes. His history, designed to appeal to the general public rather than to the literati, was written in the terse, straightforward language familiar to every second year Latin student.

In addition to his undeniable qualities as both a military leader and rhetorician, Julius Caesar was blessed with extraordinary charisma. Endowed with a hardy physique and uncommon stamina, he earned the slavish devotion of his soldiers through his willingness to share their hardships and risks on the battlefield, often plunging into the thick of combat heedless of mortal danger.

After three years of Caesar’s spectacular success in Gaul, Pompey and Crassus, elected consuls in 55 B.C., honored their agreement with him and extended his pro-consular authority. They, like many others, appear to have underestimated Caesar and put too much faith in the strength of their alliance with him. But in the years immediately following, fate took a hand in two crucial events that none had foreseen.

The first blow to the Triumvirate was the death of Julia in 54 B.C. Both Caesar and Pompey were heartbroken, and Pompey soon began to have second thoughts about his alliance with Caesar. He spurned Caesar’s offer to marry one of his nieces, choosing instead one Cornelia Metella, the daughter of one of Caesar’s political enemies.

The following year, catastrophe struck the Roman expeditionary forces in Parthia. Crassus and his son, leading a huge Roman army, allowed themselves to be lured deep into the bumming desert by the wily Parthian general Surena, where they were cut off and slaughtered to a man. This, the battle of Carrhae, was one of Rome’s worst military defeats ever. It set the stage for centuries of warfare between Rome and her greatest imperial rival, Parthia/Persia, whom Rome never completely defeated. Crassus himself was taken prisoner by the Parthians, where he met a gruesome end peculiarly apt for Rome’s wealthiest citizen: the Parthians poured molten gold down his throat.

Crassus’ defeat and death provoked outrage in Rome and calls for military reprisals, but Rome was in no position militarily or politically to avenge the setback. The rivalry between Caesar and Pompey had hardened and, with the dissolution of the First Triumvirate, Rome trembled at the prospect of another civil war.

The Fall of the Republic

In 52 B.C. Caesar cemented his military reputation with a decisive victory over a coalition of Gauls led by Vercingetorix. In 50 B.C., his five-year extended consulship expired, and the Senate ordered Caesar to disband his army and return to Rome. Caesar recognized that the time had come for decisive action. Compliance with the Senate mandate would mean the end of his political career, given the hostility of most of his senatorial colleagues, Pompey in particular. He chose instead, to the everlasting regret of history, to risk all for the sake of his ambition and cast aside forever the brittle husk of the old republic. On January 10, 49 B.C., Caesar crossed the Rubicon River, which marked the Italian frontier, with his Tenth Legion, reputedly uttering the phrase that has become synonymous with irreversible, all-or-nothing decisions: “Aleajacta est” (“The die is cast”).

With his battle-hardened veterans, Caesar stormed southwards, prompting Pompey, Cato, and others of the so-called “Optimates” (the party opposed to Caesar) to flee Rome. Perhaps Pompey wanted to spare the Eternal City the bloodbaths it had seen during the wars between Marius and Sulla, or perhaps Caesar’s swiftness and resolution dismayed him, but Pompey the invincible found himself needing to regroup to prepare to meet Caesar’s challenge. Caesar may have sought reconciliation with his rival, but the mask was now off, and Pompey wasn’t having any. Their forces collided first at Dyrrachium in Greece, where Pompey’s experience and able generalship carried the day in July, 48 B.C.

At this point, Pompey was seized with reluctance to prosecute the war further, distressed at the prospect of shedding more Roman blood. Cato the Younger, according to Plutarch, wept bitter tears at the sight of thousands of dead Romans on the battlefield after Dyrrachium. But most of Pompey’s other associates urged him to pursue Caesar, to finish him off while his forces were reeling. Tormented by premonitions of disaster, Pompey bowed to the demands of his men and led them to the place where all would be hazarded, Pharsalus in northern Greece.

Only about a month had elapsed since Dyrrachium, and Pompey’s forces greatly outnumbered those of his determined adversary. Yet Julius Caesar’s army carried the day, routing Pompey’s 45,000-man force and capturing all of his tents and equipment. Caesar, as was his trademark, was magnanimous with captured enemy leaders. He pardoned them all, judging that he would do better to win allies by showing mercy.

Pompey, Cato, and a number of others eluded capture, however. Pompey set sail, along with his wife and a substantial entourage, hoping to reach Africa and regroup. Reaching the coast of Egypt, Pompey was lured onto the beach by emissaries of the Egyptian monarch Ptolemy, who had decided to have Pompey murdered to ingratiate himself with Caesar. As his horrified wife and friends watched from the boat, the treacherous Egyptians cut down Pompey on the beach.

Caesar, pursuing Pompey to Egypt, appeared to be genuinely upset at the latter’s assassination, since it denied him yet another opportunity to put his self-serving victor’s magnanimity on display. As Plutarch noted, without a trace of irony, “in his letter to his friends at Rome, [Caesar] told them that the greatest and most signal pleasure his victory had given him was to be able continually to save the lives of fellow-citizens who had fought against him.” In Egypt, Caesar supported Cleopatra in a civil war that had lately broken out and installed her as ruler. He also had an affair with Cleopatra that produced his only known son.

After a brief interlude in Asia Minor, where he defeated the latest upstart king of Pontus, Pharnaces II, the son of Mithridates, Caesar returned to Africa to deal with the remnants of the forces representing Pompey and the Senate. Another characteristically decisive victory followed, which saw most of the remaining opposition leadership killed. Cato the Younger, who was also in Africa, was informed of the defeat and of Caesar’s great anxiousness to capture him as prelude to one of his famous reconciliations. But Cato, idealist, courageous patriot, and unshakeable partisan of the old republic, wanted no part of the new order that Caesar was ushering in. Seeing that the republic was lost beyond recovery, he denied Caesar any personal triumph in the only way he knew how: by committing suicide.

Pompey’s sons escaped to Spain, where they decided to make a last stand against Julius Caesar. Now in his fourth term as consul, Caesar hurried to Spain, the last of Rome’s dominions to defy his rule, and destroyed the last opposing army at the Battle of Munda in 45 B.C., in which more than 30,000 Romans perished. Caesar himself, now in his fifties, is said to have led his reluctant men in an all-out charge. This time, however, he may have pushed his luck too far, for in the total victory at Munda he wiped out all the remaining family and confederates of Pompey, save only one son who escaped the carnage. This, Plutarch tells us, displeased large numbers of Romans who still held Pompey in very high esteem. Not only that, Caesar arrogantly celebrated this victory with a colossal triumph in Rome, which stirred up even more antagonism.

Nevertheless, he managed to get himself appointed dictator for life and elected to a 10-year term as consul. He shrewdly curried favor with the masses by publicly repudiating calls for him to be crowned king. In one incident - probably staged – his political ally and fellow consul Marcus Antonius (Mark Anthony) attempted to place a diadem on Caesar’s head during a major religious festival. Caesar ostentatiously declined the honor, to the delight of onlookers. However, as Appian noted somberly, “the people hoped that [Caesar] would also give them back democracy, just as Sulla had done, who had achieved a position of equal power. However, they were disappointed in this.”

According to Appian, Caesar’s person was made inviolate, and he began conducting business from a throne of ivory and gold. Temples were dedicated to him, and the priests and priestesses were instructed to offer public prayers on his behalf. Magistrates were placed under oath not to oppose any of Caesar’s decisions. Even a month of the Roman calendar, Quintus, was renamed Julius in his honor.

Caesar used his dictatorial powers to redistribute wealth and land. He began planning grandiose public works and even reformed the Roman calendar. His most ambitious dream was a grand military campaign into Parthia and Scythia, and thence north and west into Germania, to bring under Roman dominion all of the nations to the north and east that still defied Roman arms.

Death of a Dictator

But the recently expired republic still had its champions. Cicero maintained a low profile, opting to play the survivor rather than the martyr. Other senators, however, led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, were dismayed at the Caesarian dictatorship. Brutus and Cassius had both been pardoned by Caesar after the defeat of Pompey, and young Brutus was even alleged by some to have been Caesar’s illegitimate son. Brutus, Cassius, and their senatorial confederates now decided that only drastic action could restore the republic. They formed a conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar.

The date chosen for the assassination was March 15 in 44 B.C. According to tradition, Caesar had ample warning of the plot against him. His associates warned him that trouble was brewing, and a soothsayer advised him to beware of the Ides of March, as the Romans referred to that fateful day. On the eve before his assassination, his wife Calpumia dreamt that he had been murdered and begged him to stay at home the next day.

Yet in spite of all these portents, Caesar made his way to the Forum the next day. Plutarch records that he met the soothsayer along the way and told him jestingly, “The Ides of March are come;” to which the soothsayer, unruffled, replied, “Yes, they are come, but they are not past.”

On that day, the Senate had chosen to meet in a building where a great statue of Pompey stood. It was at the very foot of this statue, as Caesar was surrounded by a knot of senators, that the assassins, bearing daggers concealed under their togas, made their move. As soon as he realized what was happening, Caesar fought ferociously against his assailants, but soon sank to his knees. Seeing Brutus among the assassins, he is supposed to have said, "Even you, my child?" before succumbing to more than twenty knife wounds.

After the assassination, the senators fled in confusion, and Rome descended into turmoil. The man who had dealt the republic its death blow was dead in his turn, but contrary to the expectations of his assassins, few Romans rallied now to the cause of the republic. Instead, the masses mourned the passing of a charismatic leader who had kept them entertained and who had never hesitated to raid the public treasury on their behalf. Instead of liberty, Rome now craved peace, luxury, and security. But with the permanent rise of Caesarism, Rome lost not only her liberty but also her peace and security. Her opulence and fearsome military machine guaranteed yet a few generations of imperial dominance, but for Rome’s unhappy citizens, the years to come would bring a nightmarish pageant of bloodshed and oppression that in the end would undo the civilizing work of centuries and bring to a close the first flowering of Western civilization.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• June 17, 2006 — Free Concert presented by Centennial Lodge #2828 OSIA member, Michéal Castaldo at 8:00 p.m. Rain Date (TBA). The Common Ground - Rotary Park, between Candee and Gillette Avenues, Sayville, LI, NY.  Bring a blanket or a folding chair. For additional information visit: http://www.michealcastaldo.com/
• June 22-25, 2006 — 100^th Annual NYOSIA State Convention at the Holiday Inn Turf, Colonie, NY. Contact: Rae Lanzilotta at (516) 334-0830.
• June 26, 2006 — Italian Night, Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre, Eisenhower Park, East Meadow. Contact: Carolyn Reres, (516) 358-5010 or reres@juno.com
• July 12-16, 2006 — Annual Lady of Mt. Carmel Feast. Constantino Brumidi Lodge #2211. Contact: Roy Perticone, (631) 242-5492.
• July 16, 2006 – Grand Lodge presents Italian Day with the Long Island Ducks. Information to follow.
• July 21-22, 2006 — Summer Italian Festival at the Geneva Lodge #2397 Pavilion. 2 PM. $2 per person. Contact: Dan Chelenza, (315) 781-2203.
• July 23, 2006 — Gino Di Napoli presents the best Italian/American music. 1 PM. Sit down luncheon at the “Bavarian Inn,” Lake Ronkonkoma. $30 per person. Limited seating. Advance tickets required. Contact: Gino DiNapoli, (631) 242-5808, dinapoli1@aol.com or website: www.ginodinapoli.com
• July 29, 2006 — Summer Plenary Session. Hosted by Rockland Lodge #2176, Blauvelt, NY. Contact: Marianne Principe O’Neil, (516) 785-4623.
• August 5, 2006 — Bocce Tournament at the Geneva Lodge #2397 Pavilion. 12 Noon. $20 per person. Contact: Jamie Kaim, (315) 781-2242.
• September 24, 2006 — Garibaldi Meucci Museum Annual Brunch at LaGrange Inn, West Islip. 10:30 AM. More information to follow.
• October 1, 2006 — Italian Feast by Columbus Lodge #2143 at North Broadway, Massapequa. 11 AM. Contact: Tony Ventiera, (516) 797-4992.
• October 29, 2006 — “The Giglio Feast of Brooklyn” by Prof. Salvatore Primeggio for the Loggia Glen Cove #1016. Held at the Glen Cove Library, Glen Cove. 2:30 PM. Contact: Kathryn Grande, (516) 676-7436.
• November 5, 2006 — Gift of Sight Annual Luncheon at Immaculate Conception Center, 7200 Douglaston Parkway, Douglaston, 1-5 p.m. More information to follow.
• January 26, 2007 — 14^th Annual Winter Charity Ball at the Chateau Briand, Carle Place. More information to follow. Contact: Annette Lankewish, (516) 933-7393.

Nota del Redattore:

• Due to the Italian Education, Culture & Language meeting this week, the next issue of this report will be on 19 June 2006.
• The Italian Heritage & Culture Committee Chair will send out a weekly news synopsis of articles and announcements of interest which compliment the Italian and Italian American Experience in America. Our sister and brother members are urged to submit items of interest.
• This report is available online at: http://www.nysosia.org/heritage.asp

Respectfully submitted:
Robert Necci
Coordinator - Italian Education, Culture & Language Committee
Chair – Italian Heritage & Culture Committee
2101 Bellmore Avenue
Bellmore, NY 11710-5605
HeritageandCultureReport@nysosia.org

STATE PRESIDENT CARLO MATTEUCCI

Goals & Objectives: 2005-2007 Administration

ITALIAN CULTURE, HERITAGE and EDUCATION

To promote, preserve, and support our Italian culture, heritage, and language by implementing this element of the Order in our parades, functions, meetings, and conventions.