SPQR Blues: CXVI

[spqrblues]

 
No rest for the bleary...

Interesting autobio and other comics in the archives sidebar today (note: not all SFW). Please visit and enjoy, while I'm busy pencilling and inking the next installment. Which might not be posted until late Friday, depending on how swamped I am today with other projects. Oh, and work, too. I do still occasionally manage to do my job.




I think even a bookkeeper could be forgiven for not being able to keep track of his money at a time like this....

{{ the archives live here }}

Comments

[pikku-gen.livejournal.com]

Oh, the age-old magic of helping a baby to be born... Of course the women all have their hair down, with no tangles and knots? In medieval times sometimes it helped if the mother-to-be sat on the lap of the man who was the father, but I'm not sure if the Romans already knew that. Especially if the parents weren't married, that is. In a pinch any man would do, but the sympathetic magic said the baby would want to meet its father.

Fish pickle sauce, maid... whatever. ;)

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Eeek! A man in the birthing room?! Sounds scandalous to me :) I don't think I'd heard that particular medical wisdom before. Someone should tell Felix...

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

Don't remember where I read it and don't have time to web search, but, in some societies that pre-date Rome, the father of the child (or closest male relative of the mother) would hold the mother on his lap in such a way that he could hold and support her thighs while the midwife did the baby catching. A laboring mother gets very tired of the physical demand on her body and having someone who loves and cares about both you and the child is comforting and relaxing.

The position also allows for the natural path of the baby without causing the birth muscles to tear as badly as the prone position (which was for the doctor's convenience).

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

The Romans generally used a special birthing chair, to allow the woman to give birth sitting up but not obstructing any parts. A female family member (or other woman) was expected to stand behind her to support her back, provide comfort, etc. So, it's pretty much the same idea, but with the addition of the chair. None of this lying on one's back so a doctor can be more comfortable...

[kyleen66.livejournal.com]

You are SOOOO good to meeee!

Heh.

The conversation in the middle is nicely done with the book.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I toned it down just a wee bit XD

Of course by the light of morning I see all the mistakes I made in the art :D Ah well, I do think I'm still improving, rather than backsliding, so I should just deal with the anxiety and keep drawing :)

I will finish and upload some files for you during my morning editorial meeting this morning. Ssshhh, don't tell anyone I'm multitasking...

punchline in final panel

[(Anonymous)]

that was really good. Undoing Felix's belt reminding mus of menander. A snorting wife clued me in that I had missed something and I continue to miss it until she pointed it out.

Re: punchline in final panel

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about in this comment at all.

[jauncourt.livejournal.com]

I love Mus's workaround. He is not allowed to free her ... so he sells her to the father of her child.

He's got his father's brain for business.

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

He may be too much of a softy to be a good businessman right now, but he can work on getting hard and calloused and ruthless :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_w_o_o_d_/]

"There were these women...

...and there was wine, and there was Vibius and somehow the next morning I was broke"

Oh, Felix.

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

It could have all been summed up with one word: Vibius. Blame Vibius...Good ol boy Vibius looking after his buddy Felix...

*whistles and pretends to know nothing about Felix's lost money as I bet it in a dice ga---nevermind :P

:D

[http://users.livejournal.com/_w_o_o_d_/]

Oh, and guess what ?



That's right, I'm all caught up !

(This wont go up on the blog until october 25th, though. I'm publishing a strip a day, and have more than one month of buffer)

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'd better draw faster.

And maybe the chapter will be finished by sometime in October...

[kit-the-brave.livejournal.com]

He wants Felix to buy a shipment of spicy maids?

That could explain what Felix and Vibius did with all Felix's money...

Everybody ought to have a maid

[meritahut.livejournal.com]

I couldn't find anywhere to fit in Felix explaining, "You know what they say about Pompeiian girls"--which might be "spicy" and "very expensive."

[meilin-miranda.livejournal.com]

I love love LOVE that midwife. huh. big bones.