,,,,,,,There's a flurry of activity by the door: the <i>vigiles</i>- nightwatchmen - are making their presence felt. There is some heated discussion before they depart. Funny how a coin or two improves 'fire safety'.
You look back across the table. The taciturn traveler has slipped away without a sound. You must have drunk more wine than you thought, but that probably won't stop you from [[refilling your cup->wine]].
(if: not ($inv contains "tablet"))[[A wooden tablet lies folded on the table.->tablet]][<img src="closedwaxtablet.jpg"
alt="closed wax tablet" align="left" hspace="20">]
[[Next->tavern choice]]
You arrive a stately marble-veneered library, only recently built.
[<img src="timgadlibrary.png" alt="timgadlibrary" align="center">]
The library, supposedly worth 40,000 sesterces, was largely the gift of Julius Quintianus Flavius Rogatianus. It of course came complete with a rather pompous statue of its benefactor, and the requisite inscription, lest anyone forget his name.
[<img src="timgadscript.png" alt="Timgad Inscription" align="center">]
<p> (font: "Cinzel")+(Color: "Wheat")[Ex liberalitate M. Iuli(i) Quintiani Flavi(i) Rogatiani c(larissimae) m(emoriae) v(iri) quam testamento suo Reipublicae Coloniae Thamugadensium patriae suae legavit opus bibliothecae ex sestertium CCCC mil(ibus) num(mum) curarnte Republica perfectum est. ]
[[Enter the library->library]]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timgad
Dix, T. (1994). "Public Libraries" in Ancient Rome: Ideology and Reality. Libraries & Culture, 29(3), 282-296. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25542662
Roman Ring Photo Copyright 2011 David Xavier Kenney
Source http://romanofficer.com/PermcolABU081212.htm#artorius_ring
House of Julia Felix wall painting
By Unknown - from Le Musée absolu, Phaidon, 10-2012, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36476578
Reconstructed Scrolls
By Wolfgang Sauber - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65017604
Graffiti By Fer.filol - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1354958
Closed wax tablet
By Immanuel Giel - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16023417
Open Wax Tablet
By Immanuel Giel - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16023415
Sophocles Statue - Scrolls
By Finoskov - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19471956
Woman in Red Fresco -
By Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany - Roman fresco. National Museum of Rome, Baths of Diocletian, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37882158
House of Menandro Wall Painting - Mythology
By Miguel Hermoso Cuesta - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34868802
Caius Martius House
By Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) - [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3411338
Tavern Sound by ralexpdx (2015)
https://freesound.org/people/ralexpdx/sounds/321220/
Storm sound effects (cc) R Humphries
https://freesound.org/people/RHumphries/sounds/2523/
Loculus By Gaius Cornelius - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4089493
Font:
Dieter Steffmann. https://www.1001fonts.com/users/steffmann/
Timgad Rue - Timgad Road
By PhR61 - originally posted to Flickr as IMG_0890, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4424207
A grid of wooden shelves lines the wall, each recess piled with coiled paper scrolls. Rumor has it that 3000 scrolls are stored here, but the reality is more like half of that at most. Especially given that old mate Q F Rogatianus hadn't left anything for its upkeep.
One box is empty - the scrolls on the table must belong there.
(if: not ($inv contains "ring"))[You As you peer into the dark recess you spot a [[shining object->ring]]]
[<img src="scrolls.jpg" alt="image of scrolls">]
[[go back to the library entrance->libraryentrance]]
[<img src="graffiti.jpg" alt="Roman graffiti" align="center">]
The graffiti says:
<span style="font-size: 120%">
(font:"Cinzel")['I sing of cloth-launderers and an owl, not arms and a man.']
</span>
It's a pun on Virgil:(font:"Cinzel")[[Arma virumque cano ->virgil]]... Arms and the man I sing... Someone wasn't impressed by the lofty ideals of warrior masculinity embodied in Vergil's epic. Or perhaps they knew it to be a propaganda piece.
[<img src="fullones.jpg" alt="wall painting of fullers" align="left" style="margin:10px 10px">]
That's Minerva's owl they're singing about, of course ... Minerva being the patron of the <i>fullones</i>, the laundry-workers. Now there's a job that needs a patron if any does, hefting sweaty togas through vats of urine all day
[[now, what were you doing? Oh yes, drinking ->tavern]]
(set: $culture to $culture +1)
Your Culture score is now [[$culture]]
You pick up the ring, and try it on. It's large, heavy, and plain - a man's. A moon and stars are engraved upon it. This seems familiar - you've seen these symbols before. They belong to the Legion VI Vitrix. An officer's ring.
{
(link: 'Leave the ring on your finger')[(replace: ?links)[tablet]][
((set: $inv to $inv + (a: "ring")) )]
} or replace it and [[keep looking->scroll boxes]]
[<img src="romanring.jpg" alt="roman ring" align="right">]Who is Lucilla? And who wrote this letter? It's all very curious, but clearly none of your business. The mystery will need to wait for some other traveler.
Your cup is running low. Perhaps you should [[order more wine->wine]]. Or maybe you've drunk enough. you could always [[go for a walk->road]] through the old town.
A sample Latin grammar side-quest: Declining Nouns
(set: $language to $language +1)
Your Language score is now [[$language]]
Dog: Canis, canis. masculine/feminine, third declension
<table>
<tr style="height: 21px;">
<th style="height: 21px;"> </th>
<th style="height: 21px;">Singular</th>
<th style="height: 21px;">Plural</th>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;">
<td style="height: 21px;">Nom</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Canis</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Canes</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;">
<td style="height: 21px;">Voc</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Canis</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Canes</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;">
<td style="height: 21px;">Acc</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Canem</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Canes</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;">
<td style="height: 21px;">Genitive</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Canis</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Canum</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;">
<td style="height: 21px;">Dative</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Cani</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Canibus</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;">
<td style="height: 21px;">Ablative</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Cane</td>
<td style="height: 21px;">Canibus</td>
</tr>
</table>
[<iframe src="https://h5p.csu.edu.au/eml102/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=h5p_embed&id=3" width="522" height="357" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><script src="https://h5p.csu.edu.au/eml102/wp-content/plugins/h5p/h5p-php-library/js/h5p-resizer.js" charset="UTF-8"></script>]
[[go back to the library entrance->libraryentrance]]A sample Latin literature side-quest: Virgil
(set: $culture to $culture +1)
Your Culture score is now [[$culture]]
Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit
litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram;
5multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem,
inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum,
Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae.
Arms and the man I sing, who first made way,
predestined exile, from the Trojan shore
to Italy, the blest Lavinian strand.
Smitten of storms he was on land and sea
by violence of Heaven, to satisfy
stern Juno's sleepless wrath; and much in war
he suffered, seeking at the last to found
the city, and bring o'er his fathers' gods
to safe abode in Latium; whence arose
the Latin race, old Alba's reverend lords,
and from her hills wide-walled, imperial Rome.
Vergil. Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Thamugadi's wide roads, their paving stones angled to reduce wear, designed for heavy traffic, make your journey swift.
A stray dog [[Latin: Canis->latin-dog]] trots after you, keeping a safe distance.A sample Latin grammar lesson: Conjugating Verbs
(set: $language to $language +1)
Your Language score is now [[$language]]
In latin, the ending of a verb changes to tell you who is doing the action. It's just like English, except that rather than changing the beginning, we're changing the end. There are several regular patterns that verbs follow. These are called 'conjugations'; we 'conjugate' the verb to list its endings.
Let's learn the verb "I am".
I am sum
you are es
they (s) are est
we are sumus
you (plural) are estis
they (pl) are sunt
so in order: sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt.
Practice:
[<iframe src="https://h5p.csu.edu.au/eml102/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=h5p_embed&id=2" width="522" height="357" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><script src="https://h5p.csu.edu.au/eml102/wp-content/plugins/h5p/h5p-php-library/js/h5p-resizer.js" charset="UTF-8"></script>]You have arrived in Thamugadi - or more properly,
<span style="font-size: 150%">
(font:"Cinzel")[Colonia Marciana Traiana Thamugadi]
</span>
Thamugadi is frontier town of hard-working ex-military types, veterans given land here, by Trajan's way of it, as a reward for their service. That they also serve as burly gatekeepers against barbarian neighbors is purely coincidental, mind you. Thamugadi was founded a hundred years ago by the Third Augustans, who did everything with gusto, whether razing a rebellious village, raising livestock, or raising an entire marble-clad town out of a flat plain.
The skies darken as you admire the mighty Arch of Trajan across the western great. It's starting to rain. [[Find a tavern->tavern introduction]]
<audio src="https://freesound.org/data/previews/2/2523_1112-lq.mp3" autoplay>
</audio>
(set: $inv to (a:))
(set: $culture to 0)
(set: $language to 0)
Check [[inventory]]
Back to the [[tavern]]
Go to the [[libraryentrance]]
[[Start over->Trouble in Timgad]] (if: $inv's length > 0)[Your inventory contains a (print: $inv.join("; a ")).](else:)[Your inventory is empty.]
(link-goto: "Return", (history:)'s last)
Double-click this passage to edit it.:: hallway
You see a chest here in the hallway. \
(unless: $chestOpen)[\
Do you want to open it?background css:
tw-story {
background-color: #F5EE20;
color: #5B99FF;
}
tw-link {
color: #0000FF;
}
image float css
.img-container {
margin: 1em;
float: right;
}
tw-include[type="startup"] {
display: none
}
html {
background-color: LightGray;
}
}
.tavern {
background-color: Brown;
}
.library {
background-color: Gray;
}
.forest {
background-color: LightGreen;
}
tw-story {
background-color: DarkSlateGray;
color: GoldenRod;
}
tw-link {
color: Gold;
}
.passage {
background-color: DarkGoldenRod;
border-color: Khaki;
border-style: solid;
border-width: 1px;
color: SaddleBrown;
}
{
(set: $inventory to $inventory + (a: "tablet"))
}
#box
{
background-color: Olive;
border: solid;
border-radius: 10px;
border-width: 2px;
float: left;
padding: 5px;
width: 300px;
}
/* remember to use container to float images in passage code */
.img-container {
float: right;
margin: 1em;
}
/* Remove underscore and make the hyperlink look like a button. */
a.button {
background-color: green;
color: black;
padding: 0.5em;
}
a.button:link {text-decoration: none;}
a.button:visited {text-decoration: none;}
a.button:hover {text-decoration: none;}
a.button:active {text-decoration: none;}
<div class='img-container'><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/A%C3%BAreo_de_C%C3%A9sar_%287326054884%29.jpg/320px-A%C3%BAreo_de_C%C3%A9sar_%287326054884%29.jpg"></div>
/*
<span id="box" align="right">
Back to the [[image credits]]
Go to the [[image credits]]
</span
*/
<aside>
<span>
<img src="hhttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/A%C3%BAreo_de_C%C3%A9sar_%287326054884%29.jpg/320px-A%C3%BAreo_de_C%C3%A9sar_%287326054884%29.jpg">
</span>
</aside>
you have a number of options:
NOTE: In HTML5 all tags can have a 'title' attribute even though the browser may not do anything with it.
:: Start
Testing tool tips
<a title="A under-scoreless hyperlink." class="tooltip plain">CSS3 Tooltip</a>
<a title="A button looking hyperlink." class="tooltip button">CSS3 Tooltip</a>
<span title="This is using a span." class="tooltip">CSS3 Tooltip</span>
The tavern is a little scruffy - there is [[graffiti->graffiti]] on the wall - but warm and buzzing with chatter and music. You find yourself sitting across from a traveler. They are one of those silent types who somehow seem to elicit your life story while revealing very little of their own. As work your way through a jug of wine, you work your way through the sorry tale of just how you ended up at this particularly remote corner of the mighty Roman Empire.
[[next->tavern]]
[<img src="housejulia.jpg"
alt="wall painting of the house of Julia">]
<audio volume=".3" src="https://freesound.org/data/previews/321/321220_418555-lq.mp3" autoplay></audio>The hastily scratched letters were barely legible in the lamplight.
What should you do?
{
(link: 'Take the tablet')[(replace: ?links)[tablet]][
((set: $inv to $inv + (a: "tablet")) )]
} or [[leave it.->leavetablet]]
Perhaps, in the morning, you might [[go to the library->libraryentrance]]
In the meantime, you could [[learn a little bit of latin->sum]]
[<background-image="openwaxtablet.jpg"
align=right>]
<span style="font-size: 150%">
(font: "Shadows Into Light")+(Color: "Wheat")[Salve, Lucilla.
S V B E E V
I beg you, dear sister, help me.
The guard of Proconsul Gaius Sertorius are at the door, here to arrest me.
It seems my knowledge of his activities is a threat to his progress along the Cursus Honorem.
You must gather up the information I have found and present it
to the Consul in Rome. O ly w th from the highest auth rity
shall I . .. C . Go . . . Library in .. .
y . I . . M ]
</span>
[[close the tablet->tavern]]
<div class='img-container'><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/A%C3%BAreo_de_C%C3%A9sar_%287326054884%29.jpg/320px-A%C3%BAreo_de_C%C3%A9sar_%287326054884%29.jpg"></div>
The fire has died down, along with the music. You gaze into the bottom of your cup. Is it stuffy in here, or is it just your imagination?
You decide to retire. In the morning, you might [[go for a walk->road]] and explore the town.You are in a tall, collonaded space, lined with [[boxes->scroll boxes]].
Several scrolls are unrolled and strewn across a large [[table->table]].
<audio src="https://freesound.org/data/previews/436/436014_520316-lq.mp3" autoplay></audio>you examine the scrolls on the table. Hastily unfurled, they spill over the edges; a pile has fallen on the floor.
[[go back to the library hall->library]]Double-click this passage to edit it.Double-click this passage to edit it.