spqrblues: (Blues 5 Mus colour)
SPQR Blues ([personal profile] spqrblues) wrote2015-10-25 05:00 pm
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SPQR Blues Chapter V: XXVI (and XXV)

Here are both of this weekend's comics.

There's a little cleanup and tweaking and inking still to be done, but Domitian is impatient.


Cleaning up after your husband is the number one job requirement for a potential empress.
 
Cleaning up after your husband is the number one job requirement for a potential empress.


 
The Flavian court--or, at least, Vespasian and Titus--strove to avoid the reputation for extravagance and profligacy of the previous regime, especially Nero's excesses and empire-bankrupting expenditures on luxuries and banquets. Why then the elaborate coiffures of the Flavian women, which became de rigueur fashion for many wealthy women of the time?

I read an interesting commentary on that recently. The hairstyles, elaborate as they were, also could represent the opposite of extravagance. Poets joked about how the piles of curls and coils made a tiny woman look deceptively tall and regal, a rude trick on an admirer and a literally over-the-top fashion statement; but the detailed hairstyles, with their emphasis on precise architecture and dependence on upright posture, could represent order, morality, strictness, and creating refinement from chaos. Everything Vespasian and Titus wanted to present to the world about their new dynasty.

Domitian et Domitia

[identity profile] zeus67.livejournal.com 2015-10-25 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Hahahahahahaha.

Nailed it! Domitia got back at her husband who cannot retaliate and set Mus free at the same time.

Domitian is not a happy camper and Mus is now in more danger than ever.

The imperial cat is not happy and his toy will suffer for it.

[identity profile] amedia.livejournal.com 2015-10-30 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
The imperial cat is not happy and his toy will suffer for it.

I'm afraid you're right--what seems a temporary reprieve may wind up being worse in the end.

Poor Mus! How we love to see him suffer.

[identity profile] movingfinger.livejournal.com 2015-10-25 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"Husband, your robe is open" goes straight into the top five, possibly top three, funniest lines from this comic.

This is a great set of panels. Mus has such a marvelous po-face here.

Oh, hey, is that Mrs. Nonnius Balbo in the entourage?
Edited 2015-10-25 22:25 (UTC)

[identity profile] meritahut.livejournal.com 2015-10-26 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, that's her. You'll always be able to spot her by her hair :)

Poor po-faced Mus. "You can make me come to this highly inappropriate party and drink huge amounts of wine and I will eat all the food but I am not having fun."

[identity profile] movingfinger.livejournal.com 2015-10-26 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
It was more the angle of chin and slightly elevated nose, down which she peers at things that should not be done.

I

[identity profile] meritahut.livejournal.com 2015-10-26 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my yes. I should add that to the character description. "Nose will always be pointed up away from your inappropriateness."

Re: I

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_w_o_o_d_/ 2015-10-26 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
My mom call this "looking at someone through your nostrils"

[identity profile] amedia.livejournal.com 2015-10-30 06:35 pm (UTC)(link)
My mom call this "looking at someone through your nostrils"

LOL! What a wonderful expression!

I ♥ Domitia laying down the law. You go, grrrl!