praefectus
9thJune2005, 21:46
This is the explaination I had for the ESU (as you can see, my avatar is the old ESU Double-Eagle, which was also used for another organization I started (Ordo Aquilae) ... it should suffice as a nice beginning on this Imperial symbol:
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Meaning of The Double Eagle
[by "Ursus Major"]
WHY THE DOUBLE EAGLE? To answer that, one must understand its origins. Only then he can appreciate its suitability for an organization dedicated to promoting Pan-Euro Awareness and restoring Euro-Centricity.
The Eagle, since it was made the sole totum of Rome by Gaius Marius in the waning days of the Republic, has through out the History of the West stood for Imperium: ONE foundation for government based upon Universal Law, valid for all Euro-peoples. A "universal code" should not be confused with Universal Law. A code consists of a corpus of legislation (from the Latin word lex, meaning an act made into a law, by the instition[s] empowered to do so). Universal Law is, rather the foundation for Law (sometimes called Lex Natura: Natural Law). The Roman Univeral Law [Jus, source of the English words, "just, justice"] may be summarized as follows:
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1. All laws are made by men and for men. There is no "Great Legislator in the Sky." [The sole commandment given by Euro-Indigenous Divinity was "Know Thyself!"]
2. There is no crime, unless there is a law specifically making an act a crime [nullum crimen sine lege].
3. The land belongs in usufruct to the living [jus usufructum]. ("Usufruct" means the right to enjoy, develop, and exploit, but not to the extent of destroying the usefulness to posterity. Thus destructive deforestation, pollution, or other activities which work to the detriment of posterity are contrary to Universal Law.)
4. Valid contracts between Responsible Parties bind inure [Jus Compactum]. (Thus no contract for an illegal purpose can be enforced by law; nor contracts made by those incapable of making one: minors, the mentally deficient, etc.)
------------------------------------------------
These concepts of both Universal Law and its human, rather than "divine" origin, are uniquely Euro concepts. The Roman symbol for the Primacy of Civil Law is the fasces, which like the Eagle has endured since Roman times (among the un- or misinformed being equated with "Fascism," which was simply a name given to a political system of recent time).
Roman law stands in marked contrast to both Jewish and Islamic law, which is based upon "divine revelation." When Hellenized Judaism was established as the State Religion in the Roman Empire, these fundamentally different concepts as to foundations of law were "unified" by legislating the relevant portions. (Hence Marcus Ely Ravage's superb 1928 essay on the complete conquest of the West by Judaism: "Jewish Influences.")
Through a sagacious usage of both "carrot and stick," Rome - which was legally always a city[!] - came to dominate an enormous empire. It was also the most blatant plutocracy that ever existed. Despite the massive amounts of autonomy bestowed upon the regions of the Empire, there remained the need for a common defense and the implementation of Imperial policy. In an age when communications moved by horse and oar, a centralized administration emanating from Rome proved impossible. Diocletian, one of the last pre-Christian emperors, tried to solve this problem by initiating what is called "The Dominate": Diocletian promoted Persian court ceremony (where the Shah was deemed "the Divine Vicar." "Vicar of Jove" was a title the Bosnian assumed, presaging the Pope's currently calling himself, "The Vicar of Christ." Diocletian's drastic reforms sufficed to give the Empire a new lease on life. He enjoyed an opulent retirement for twenty years. His methods were carried to even more extreme lengths by another emperor, who played both sides against the middle to emerge sole ruler. His name was Constantine.
The Roman Empire consisted of two distinct halves, roughly equal in area: the underpopulated, Latin-speaking West; and the older, much heavier populated, and much richer, Greek- speaking East. From the East had come the plethora of cults that made Rome a virtual "shopping mall" of religions, which were - to quote the great Edmund Gibbon - "deemed by the people equally true, by the philosophers equally false, and by the magistrates equally useful." A form of modified Judaism, called "Christianity," enjoyed a vogue among slaves and Rome's "Litter- Liberals" (the possessors of huge fortunes, who traveled only in litters carried by slaves), while despised by virtually everyone else. One of the most fanatical Litter-Liberals betaken with the cult was Constantine's mother, Helena.
Constantine made good use of the cult at the very onset. He adopted the XP to appeal to the Christians in the armies of his opponents. The principal one was Maxentius, who was the legitmate Emperor. At the decisive battle fought at Milvan Bridge, Constantine carried the day, and Maxentius was killed. To placate the Roman mob, Constantine completed (or renamed) a number of projects Maxentius had already started or finished, such as the magnificent baths of Maxentius, which were renamed "The Baths of Constantine."
His batty mother, Helena (later "St." Helena), went off to Judea - where there were almost no Jews: the Emperor Hardian had ordered them to leave, after Bar Kochba's revolt had exhausted Roman tolerance - where she "found" the True Cross Christ had been crucified on and the "seamless robe," which was in remarkably sound condition, for a garment 300 years old! Her son held aloof from formal acceptance of the cult (as the military loathed it, being devoted to a similar one centering around Mithra), but one aspect greatly appealed to him: consistent with its Oriental origins, Christianity taught (in accord with Jewish tradition) that the ruler was "God's anointed." To conspire against the ruler was to conspire against the Will of God. If the ruler failed in his mission, God/Christ would get rid of him. It was not a matter for mere subjects to meddle in.
Constantine went out of his way to win the favor of Rome's Christians. Legend had it that the Apostle Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, had been crucified in the old cemetery on the Vatican. Constantine built a huge basilica for the Christians on the spot: "Old St. Peter's," which lasted through the Renaissance over 1,000 years later, being torn down to accommodate the great ediface now standing there. Still, what remained of the old aristocratic families clung tenaciously to their traditions. Constantine, without formally converting to Christianity (it's said he did so on his deathbed and is a "saint" in the Eastern, but not Western church), decided to move the capital to a totally Christian locale. As there wasn't one, he created one. The ancient city of Byzantium - occupying the most strategic site in the whole Roman Empire - was "cleansed" of all non-Christian elements and renamed "Constantinople." It became the new capital of the Roman Empire. Once inside his impregnable, all-Christian capital, Constantine proclaimed Christianity as the State Religion, without penalizing those who refused to accept it, but in 331 c.e., he confiscated the treasures of other cults to reform the currency and pay for his grandiose buildings.
The new capital was in the center of the Greek-speaking half of the Empire, but Latin continued on (for several centuries) as the language of both the courts and the military. When Constantine died, he divided the Empire among his three sons. One was killed shortly after. Constans re-established Rome as his capital. His brother ruled in Constantinople. The Roman Eagle underwent a transformation: it acquired a second head, indicating two Emperors, equal in dignity and authority, but one body, as it was one Empire: the IMPERIVM ROMANVM!
---------------------------------------
Meaning of The Double Eagle
[by "Ursus Major"]
WHY THE DOUBLE EAGLE? To answer that, one must understand its origins. Only then he can appreciate its suitability for an organization dedicated to promoting Pan-Euro Awareness and restoring Euro-Centricity.
The Eagle, since it was made the sole totum of Rome by Gaius Marius in the waning days of the Republic, has through out the History of the West stood for Imperium: ONE foundation for government based upon Universal Law, valid for all Euro-peoples. A "universal code" should not be confused with Universal Law. A code consists of a corpus of legislation (from the Latin word lex, meaning an act made into a law, by the instition[s] empowered to do so). Universal Law is, rather the foundation for Law (sometimes called Lex Natura: Natural Law). The Roman Univeral Law [Jus, source of the English words, "just, justice"] may be summarized as follows:
----------------------------------------------
1. All laws are made by men and for men. There is no "Great Legislator in the Sky." [The sole commandment given by Euro-Indigenous Divinity was "Know Thyself!"]
2. There is no crime, unless there is a law specifically making an act a crime [nullum crimen sine lege].
3. The land belongs in usufruct to the living [jus usufructum]. ("Usufruct" means the right to enjoy, develop, and exploit, but not to the extent of destroying the usefulness to posterity. Thus destructive deforestation, pollution, or other activities which work to the detriment of posterity are contrary to Universal Law.)
4. Valid contracts between Responsible Parties bind inure [Jus Compactum]. (Thus no contract for an illegal purpose can be enforced by law; nor contracts made by those incapable of making one: minors, the mentally deficient, etc.)
------------------------------------------------
These concepts of both Universal Law and its human, rather than "divine" origin, are uniquely Euro concepts. The Roman symbol for the Primacy of Civil Law is the fasces, which like the Eagle has endured since Roman times (among the un- or misinformed being equated with "Fascism," which was simply a name given to a political system of recent time).
Roman law stands in marked contrast to both Jewish and Islamic law, which is based upon "divine revelation." When Hellenized Judaism was established as the State Religion in the Roman Empire, these fundamentally different concepts as to foundations of law were "unified" by legislating the relevant portions. (Hence Marcus Ely Ravage's superb 1928 essay on the complete conquest of the West by Judaism: "Jewish Influences.")
Through a sagacious usage of both "carrot and stick," Rome - which was legally always a city[!] - came to dominate an enormous empire. It was also the most blatant plutocracy that ever existed. Despite the massive amounts of autonomy bestowed upon the regions of the Empire, there remained the need for a common defense and the implementation of Imperial policy. In an age when communications moved by horse and oar, a centralized administration emanating from Rome proved impossible. Diocletian, one of the last pre-Christian emperors, tried to solve this problem by initiating what is called "The Dominate": Diocletian promoted Persian court ceremony (where the Shah was deemed "the Divine Vicar." "Vicar of Jove" was a title the Bosnian assumed, presaging the Pope's currently calling himself, "The Vicar of Christ." Diocletian's drastic reforms sufficed to give the Empire a new lease on life. He enjoyed an opulent retirement for twenty years. His methods were carried to even more extreme lengths by another emperor, who played both sides against the middle to emerge sole ruler. His name was Constantine.
The Roman Empire consisted of two distinct halves, roughly equal in area: the underpopulated, Latin-speaking West; and the older, much heavier populated, and much richer, Greek- speaking East. From the East had come the plethora of cults that made Rome a virtual "shopping mall" of religions, which were - to quote the great Edmund Gibbon - "deemed by the people equally true, by the philosophers equally false, and by the magistrates equally useful." A form of modified Judaism, called "Christianity," enjoyed a vogue among slaves and Rome's "Litter- Liberals" (the possessors of huge fortunes, who traveled only in litters carried by slaves), while despised by virtually everyone else. One of the most fanatical Litter-Liberals betaken with the cult was Constantine's mother, Helena.
Constantine made good use of the cult at the very onset. He adopted the XP to appeal to the Christians in the armies of his opponents. The principal one was Maxentius, who was the legitmate Emperor. At the decisive battle fought at Milvan Bridge, Constantine carried the day, and Maxentius was killed. To placate the Roman mob, Constantine completed (or renamed) a number of projects Maxentius had already started or finished, such as the magnificent baths of Maxentius, which were renamed "The Baths of Constantine."
His batty mother, Helena (later "St." Helena), went off to Judea - where there were almost no Jews: the Emperor Hardian had ordered them to leave, after Bar Kochba's revolt had exhausted Roman tolerance - where she "found" the True Cross Christ had been crucified on and the "seamless robe," which was in remarkably sound condition, for a garment 300 years old! Her son held aloof from formal acceptance of the cult (as the military loathed it, being devoted to a similar one centering around Mithra), but one aspect greatly appealed to him: consistent with its Oriental origins, Christianity taught (in accord with Jewish tradition) that the ruler was "God's anointed." To conspire against the ruler was to conspire against the Will of God. If the ruler failed in his mission, God/Christ would get rid of him. It was not a matter for mere subjects to meddle in.
Constantine went out of his way to win the favor of Rome's Christians. Legend had it that the Apostle Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, had been crucified in the old cemetery on the Vatican. Constantine built a huge basilica for the Christians on the spot: "Old St. Peter's," which lasted through the Renaissance over 1,000 years later, being torn down to accommodate the great ediface now standing there. Still, what remained of the old aristocratic families clung tenaciously to their traditions. Constantine, without formally converting to Christianity (it's said he did so on his deathbed and is a "saint" in the Eastern, but not Western church), decided to move the capital to a totally Christian locale. As there wasn't one, he created one. The ancient city of Byzantium - occupying the most strategic site in the whole Roman Empire - was "cleansed" of all non-Christian elements and renamed "Constantinople." It became the new capital of the Roman Empire. Once inside his impregnable, all-Christian capital, Constantine proclaimed Christianity as the State Religion, without penalizing those who refused to accept it, but in 331 c.e., he confiscated the treasures of other cults to reform the currency and pay for his grandiose buildings.
The new capital was in the center of the Greek-speaking half of the Empire, but Latin continued on (for several centuries) as the language of both the courts and the military. When Constantine died, he divided the Empire among his three sons. One was killed shortly after. Constans re-established Rome as his capital. His brother ruled in Constantinople. The Roman Eagle underwent a transformation: it acquired a second head, indicating two Emperors, equal in dignity and authority, but one body, as it was one Empire: the IMPERIVM ROMANVM!