The WAY to WOW Shows
Cocktails & Livy's History of Early Rome
March 26, 2026
Automatically generated from YouTube captions; names and wording may contain errors.

[0:02] Who are you and where are you going? What do you want?

[1:47] Well, well, this is the second week in a or the second show in a row where I've had this same technical problem. Everything seemed to be set up fine and then uh when it's showtime, it doesn't work. So, we're going to adapt. So, hello and welcome to Jiggers's Place. I'm your host, Kevin Bemmel, and I'm here every other Thursday at 5:00 p. p.m. Pacific time to have a cocktail and a schmoo. And today, I'm going to be talking about

[2:23] the history of early Rome by Libby, uh, one of the, uh, most famous books from the sort of ancient world, if you will. Um it's it's it's a wonderful book. Um exciting to read. Um but also I think there's lots of good reasons why even though it was written, you know, more than 2,000 years ago, uh it's still relevant today. And in honor of uh Libby and and his uh wonderful book, I'm going

[2:58] to be making a cocktail called the Romulus and Remis. Now, those of you who are familiar with Rome and the Roman the legend of Rome's beginnings, Rome was uh sort of founded by the twins, Romulus and Remis. I'll talk about them a little bit more when we're over on the sofa. Um but um in any event, that's what the cocktail is all about. So um with my co-cocktail creator chat GPT uh I I asked to make a cocktail using uh fig brandy. So this is um ode defig. It's a

[3:37] French uh fig brandy uh made in Paris uh since uh gosh the late 19th century uh by buoab boabsa. Um, and this is this is authentic fig brandy. This one happens to be kosher and um uh given the time of year it is, next week uh starts Passover. This happens to be kosher for Passover as well, which is kind of a nice thing. And then with that, we're going to use some smoky mscal. This is messcal unon. Um, and um, if if you you can't smell

[4:15] it, but if you smelled it, you would say, "Wow, that's uh, that's pey. Um, you know, kind of relating to a scotch." And then I have some uh, honey syrup. This is just a one to one mixture of honey and warm water. And then some orange bitters. This is Stirring's blood orange bters. It's far and away my favorite orange bitter. So unlike some of the cocktails I've made uh this season, this one's kind of a simple one, just four ingredients. And so we're going to start out with an ounce and a half of fig brandy. And we'll put it in the mixing glass.

[4:53] And then we're going to go with a half ounce of the mscal. So mscal is kind of like tequila. Uh the difference between tequila and messcal is uh tequila can only be made from blue agave and messcal can be made from any kind of agave. Okay, so that was a half ounce of the mscal and a/4 ounce of the um of the uh honey syrup.

[5:32] a little bit more. Okay. And by the way, if if you're interested in the recipes, if you sign up for my email list, you will get the recipes the morning of the show. That gives you time to uh get the ingredients together. Um and you can make it along with me. And then two dashes of orange bitters. That's one, too. So good. Okay. Obviously, we have it here in our mixing glass. I've got ice in the mixing glass and we're going to stir it until it's chilled. Oops. Ice is

[6:09] a little bit lumpy or kind of nicely. There we go. It's breaking up a little bit. Um, if you were here, you'd be able to smell the uh the smokiness of the mascal. There you go. Okay. And um we're going to stir it. We're going to chill it down, but also let some of the water melt to open up the flavors. And you can see the glass is starting to

[6:46] get frosty on the outside. We don't want to do it super vigorous the way we might if we were shaking it. It wants more of a silky texture. And I've got a big ice cube in a rocks glass. We're going to strain this over a rocks glass. We have our strainer. And here we go. It's It's really a clear color. It's It's quite interesting. Almost almost like a martini in the in the coloration,

[7:21] of course, but not in the flavor. Okay. Cheers. This is a great one. Okay, I'll see you over on the sofa. I'm just going to walk over there. It doesn't want to let me switch it. So, okay. Here we go. Well, it's uh it's Thursday afternoon

[8:01] here on the West Coast and um you know the week is excuse me ending soon. So, it's nice just to sit back um and uh and and talk with you. So, uh this is my copy of Livby's history of early Rome. You can see there on the the spine of the book. It's a beautiful leatherbound edition by Eaten Press. I think I've shown you some of my books from Eaten Press before. Um they're always so beautifully done.

[8:38] That's the the title page. There's a a line drawing of Titus Livius uh Titus Libby. Um Titus Libby, I mean. Um, and uh, let's see. I think there's some just show you one of the illustrations. Here's another one of they're they're really beautiful line drawn illustrations um, from this. So um, the uh, Libbyy's the history of early Rome is divided

[9:13] into five books. Um and they they start the the the story starts at 753 uh B.CE before the common era um at the founding of Rome and it goes until the Gauls conquer Rome in 390 B.CE. Um and um I think one of the most important aspects of this book is although it's called you know the history of early Rome

[9:48] uh you know there's there's a lot of um legend mixed in to uh to in in some cases historical fact and in other cases an embellishment. of actual history to make um certain moral points um that that Libby was striving to bring to his readers. So it's not you know by the standards of today it it wouldn't it wouldn't be considered a

[10:25] true history. It would be more almost like historical fiction I think. Um so for example the founding legend of Romulus and Remis there is no archaeological uh proof that they ever existed and uh that they you know interacted with the gods and all that kind of thing. Um that that that is just the legend that was uh you know popular at the time uh Libby wrote the book and has uh been carried through you know to uh contemporary times and even those parts of the book

[11:02] that are that are relatively historically accurate Libby wasn't writing it so much to document the history as he was trying to send a message to his fellow Romans about the kind of moral decay that uh Rome had been experiencing uh and that uh eventually led to it being conquered by the Gauls. The Gauls of course were the people living in uh Europe in in in the what became modern

[11:39] day France. Um, and they eventually um, sacked Rome. So, uh, just a some, you know, as I always do, I make some notes, but I have some of this cocktail first. Wow, that's good. Um so um throughout the book uh Libby highlights uh several virtues

[12:15] um piety, discipline, uh civic virtue and service. And those were the things that that Libby thought Rome had lost um over going from the transition from being a monarchy to a republic and then eventually uh a dictatorship. So um the the book is it's it's you know interpretive of history. Um, but like I said, it reads like historical fiction

[12:53] and so from just the plain pleasure of reading it, it's it's definitely there. Okay. So, uh, it starts with the founding legends. Uh, Romulus and Reis Rehea, Silva, Silva, Sylvia gives birth to Romulus and Remis. Um and then and who who uh whose and their father was Mars, the Roman god of war, I believe. And um subsequently the the twins were

[13:28] abandoned and raised by a shewolf and shepherds or I should say suckled by a sheolf and raised by uh shepherds. And you see right away that this is one of those sort of classic themes in literature. So Mowgli um if you remember the jungle book um he's you know he's a a an abandoned little boy in the jungle in India. He's raised by a black panther uh and and learns to live you know in

[14:04] the jungle right that that that legend of a boy uh being you know raised you know like a foundling boy being raised that way. It's it's it's it's seen in many different cultures. So uh um the twins um basically have a falling out. Uh Romulus kills Reheis and then he founds Rome in 1753 uh BCE. And you again you see another

[14:39] uh uh sort of literary theme. Now, of course, Libby postdated the Hebrew Bible, but the the um plot point of Romulus killing Reheis is somewhat similar to the story of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel too were were twins and um Cain, you know, kills Abel um and etc., etc. So again this is another uh sort of um story pattern that shows up throughout in

[15:16] literature throughout the world. So um and as I mentioned uh there's no archaeological evidence uh to support the existence of Romulus and Remis or any parts of the legend really. Uh so it's it's almost for sure allegorical. uh the shewolf. Um it it symbolizes the strength of Rome and and again this is something that uh that that Libby was trying to impress upon his fellow Romans that uh Rome had

[15:51] become too decadent. it needed to get back to uh the days when it was it was it was a strong uh city state um and could protect itself. Okay. So then from 1753 until 509 BCE Rome was ruled by a series of seven kings. Uh Romulus being the first one. Um, and the the stories of the seven kings, the one of about Romulus is of

[16:28] course legendary. The other six, they're, you know, probably partially historically accurate or at least plausible. Uh, and it really shows the development of early Rome. So the the um the development of religious institutions, legal institutions and and how during the monarchy monarchial period uh Rome you know started to grew from being this sort of you know little village really to you

[17:05] know being on the cusp of becoming uh you know a great sort of you know Mediterranean power. So the monarchy falls in 509 B.CE. Um and this is also if if you're familiar with the legend of the rape of Lacricia that happened at this time by Sexus Tarinius. U it's a legend. There's no uh historical backing for that actually happening. Uh but um

[17:40] but I again it's it's it's done Libby re you know tells the legend in order to make uh a moral point about what was happening in Rome during this transition. So, uh the nobles uh revolt um against um uh the uh the kings or the the final king are Tarinis um and um or Tarinius I should say and um eventually the monarchy is overthrown and uh the

[18:16] republic uh is established the republic of Rome in 509. So um this part of the story has you know reasonable amount of credibility uh in in terms of uh historical accuracy. Um but um the the story of Lacricia is really it almost for sure is legend. It's it's it was sort of propaganda to justify the revolt. um you know that the king of Rome would would rape you know

[18:54] a a female Roman citizen essentially uh you know g gives a a rationale for um you know for the rebellion of the nobles. So in the early Roman Republic the king is replaced by two consoles. Um they're not really presidents. They're more kind of like they're not really prime ministers either. um they're just they're they're you know executives responsible for the sort of day-to-day uh running of of Rome and the

[19:30] institutions of the Senate and the assembly are created along with the consul consilhips and we see the development of this republican small R of course republican form of government. So uh this this part of the book is uh probably fairly historically accurate. It there was this transition period into Rome becoming a republic. These institutions were created and and so uh you know we we see you know we see that

[20:06] reflected in Livy's writing. He writes about some of the internal and exter external crises that Rome faced in this early uh period of the republic. Uh and then um it moves into a a period of in particular internal conflict between the patricians and the plebeians. And you you we we you know it's so interesting we're seeing so much of these issues played out today on the world stage. So the patricians represent the sort of privileged wealthy uh class. The

[20:42] plebeians are sort of the regular people. And um one of the problems in Rome at this time was the plebeians felt that they were being taken advantage of. And so uh eventually one of the consils uh became sort of the representative of the plebes uh in order to give them a say in in the republican government of Rome. Um and around this time um 494 BCE they also created the tribunes. Um

[21:17] and and these were this was another executive office and and and the legal reforms were were codified. And so um Rome becomes uh a more solidified legal and cultural entity a as the uh fifth century uh BCE uh comes to an end. Then from there we see a series of uh wars essentially with neighboring peoples, the Atruscans

[21:54] and the um the Vuli and the Aki I think it's pronounced um and the Sabines and if you're familiar another legend the the rape of the Sabine women um is you know it it's sort of encapsulated in all of this. Um and again there's there's broad accuracy. Uh Rome did get into a lot of wars with its neighbors uh as it was sort of flexing its muscles and such. Um and we see some of the uh famous early Roman heroes um Horatius

[22:31] Klas uh gas uh Mucus Scaviola or Scavola um cloyu and and and the most famous uh Catis. So Catis uh is appointed a dictator. Now, it's interesting. We think of a dictator as someone who takes over a country um and rules it with an iron fist for life. That isn't what a dictator was in Rome. So, in Rome during crisis periods, the people would essentially appoint a dictator who had dictatorial powers to deal with the

[23:08] crisis after which he stood down. Right? So very different concept from what we think of a dictator today. But Cat, so you know, Catis uh is is a a a famous name um in the American Revolution and and it's because of um his his strength really and his ability to successfully deal with the crisis in Rome. Um, the fact that he was a dictator, it's not relevant in the context of our times

[23:44] because he he wasn't a a permanent dictator. He he was a he was, you know, basically given what we might call um uh uh shoot uh marshall legal powers um because of of the attack on Rome. So um there's um you know when we when we talk you in the stories about these heroes um a lot of it is kind of legendary. Uh again Libby is looking to highlight what he considers to be the greatest of

[24:20] the Roman virtues. Things like uh civic duty on the part of Catis uh who was somewhat reluctant to take on the role of dictator. um but he did and he was successful in in defending Rome etc. So, um, uh, so, you know, the the rest of the book, um, kind of flows through the Republican period, um, and and there's additional crises, there's military expansion, there's internal reform. Um and then eventually the Gauls under um

[24:58] Brenis sack Rome and um the uh the capital line hill is defended um and but you know Rome is essentially conquered and they end up becoming essentially a vassal state uh to Gaul. So the the sack of Rome by the Gauls uh it it did happen. It's supported by archaeological as well as li literary evidence. Um, but specific stories like there's a story about the sacred geese who warned the Romans about the attack. That's that's

[25:34] really legend. Um, and like so much of uh of Livy's writing, uh, it's it's really designed to bring out u the the the sort of virtues versus the things that caused the downfall of Rome to to contrast the two uh for his for his audience. So, um, in the in the end, uh, what is what is this book about? Well, it's about a small settlement

[26:11] growing into, um, a a a tremendous tremendously powerful citystate. And Libby wanted to show that that was possible because Rome had done it. That that's number one. Number two, he wanted to highlight what he thought were the virtues of the people who were responsible for building Rome to the level of greatness that it achieved and to sh and to reflect that against

[26:47] the contemporary values of the time in which he was writing to show his fellow Romans that they had strayed too far from the civic virtues that had built and sustained Rome for, you know, six, five, four, for over 300 years, for about 350 years, not quite 340 years. and um and and perhaps convince them to have a um a renaissance

[27:23] of morality that would allow Rome to remain an independent republic in the event of course it didn't happen. Uh and you know again he he he highlighted the military aspects of Rome to to put a spotlight on this this aspect of the sort of marshall virtue uh because it was citizen soldiers uh who fought for Rome uh most of the time. Uh, so this wasn't a war. These weren't wars

[27:59] fought by mercenaries or at least not solely by mercenaries. So what can we what why should you care about Libby and the history of early Rome? Well, first of all, I think it's important to understand the values on which Rome was built. Uh because they are part of the foundation on which the values of Western civilization are built. Now, don't get

[28:36] me wrong, there were lots of horrible things done um by Rome in the name of Rome, by powerful Romans, okay? it it was the nature to a certain extent it was the nature of society back then and I'm I'm no apologist uh for Rome however uh there was there were underlying values in Rome uh virtue civic duty I've mentioned sound governance all of these were recognized as

[29:11] important aspects of the society and And to this day, I think these values stand as part of of the foundation of American culture and American civic life. So you can see that they date back, you know, uh 2700 years uh to to the founding of Rome. Um the next is there Libby is fundamentally a book of

[29:46] moral and ethical guidance and the author was looking to make a point about how people should behave, how should they should interact, uh how they should run their government and order their society. And look, this is an ongoing discussion. I mean, it's it's become more volatile in I think it's this is the most volatile it's been here in the United States since probably the late 1960s and

[30:21] into the early 1970s. So, the United States has gone through times of civic and cultural upheaval. And this is nothing new in societies. Now, I'm not saying it's a good thing to to to have upheaval in society, but I think it's important to recognize it in the in the context of the broader historical sweep. Uh, next, Libbyy's book is it's part of the western cannon. And if we want to truly

[30:58] understand our society for cultural and literary reasons, we need to read Libby. Fortunately, unlike some other books, uh it's very very readable. Um so it's it's an enjoyable book and and I I I found it quite gripping. Uh, so you know, right now I'm reading The Canterbury Tales and it's an enjoyable book as well, but because it's written in Middle English, it's, you know, it's it's a bit of an exhausting

[31:33] book to read. The the language is very beautiful. Uh, but because uh it first of all, it's not spelled at all like contemporary English. So, takes a lot of concentration to read it. That is not the problem with Libby. Of course, we're reading an English translation from Latin. Uh but there, you know, this is this translation is by uh is it Benjamin Juel? I think let's see. No, Aubrey Delenor. Uh so, um Delenor does a beautiful job

[32:10] translating the book. Um, another reason for reading Libby is it helps us understand how uh histo history often times gets um mixed with myth. So even in much more contemporary work. So I I' I've mentioned this certainly in my other shows. I'm a scholar of the

[32:47] life and career of George Patton. So, uh, several of the books about Patton have almost a mythological quality to them. Uh, it's not that the events didn't happen per se. It's that the way they're presented is is being done clearly to burnish George Patton's image for posterity. Now, I think in some ways it's a shame.

[33:22] He was a great man. He did amazing things. Not sure his image needs a whole lot of burnishing. And in fact, some of the most powerful stories about him are ones where he makes mistakes and then deals with having to fix those mistakes. Uh so but in the end uh oftentimes depending on who is writing the history uh and in and in some of the books about Patton they they had to be approved by his family in particular his widow and

[33:59] uh Beatatrice was very uh she guarded uh her husband's legacy very jealously. So this is something for us to be aware of whenever we read history that to read one book about certain historical events not necessarily sufficient for us to really understand them and and certainly that's true with Libby although it's a wonderful place to start and then finally the narrative power of Libbyy's early history of Rome really can't be

[34:34] understated did I've I've mentioned a couple of times it's a very enjoyable book to read. Uh, and it's because it it it it encompasses the sweep of history and and some of the great heroes of at least Roman legend. And it is it's it's very powerful. And there are times when I think we need to engage with the the power of history, the power of literature, uh to to be inspired to instill in us

[35:12] the lessons that the historian or the writer at least is is looking to bring to to light. And so the sweep of the narrative, the power of the narrative of Libbyy's early history of Rome is if if nothing else has moved you, uh hopefully that will. So uh that that's that's my my case for reading uh Libbyy's early history of Rome. Uh, you may think it's a little bit strange for a Jewish guy to be suggesting that you read something

[35:48] about Rome, but I I think it's it's it's, you know, there's something to be learned from from every culture. So, I say cheers. So, I do thank you very much for joining me uh today here at Jurggers's place. I do I do have my spherical pillow if you were wondering for those of you who've been watching the show lately and I wish you a wonderful uh evening and a wonderful week. Hope hopefully you'll

[36:23] have a restful and restorative weekend and I'll be back next week for uh all my shows. And in the meantime uh again my my very very deepest thanks for spending uh this time with me. And I'm going to sign off the way I always do. Marie Darling, you are my bell. Courage at all times, my friends.