Sunday, June 25, 2006
De Morte Julii Caesaris Dictatoris - On the Death of the Dictator Julius Caesar
Today we went on our "Julius Caesar Excursion." It was very, very good. We started by going to the site of the Theater of Pompey, which was the first stone theater built in Rome. (It was against the law to construct one of stone, but Pompey got around this by building a temple on the site.) We started here in order to get a sense of where everything happened. It is still possible to see some of the remains of the theater by going in the Restaurant Pancrazio, which is, according to Reggie, "quite pricey."
We looked at a map of the original layout. The theater was next to the Porticus of Pompey, which had over 100 columns; it must have been magnificent. Attached to the porticus was Pompey's Curia (which is NOT the curia in the Forum). It was in the porticus, right in front of a statue of Pompey, where Caesar was killed.
We proceeded to the street which is above the ancient porticus. On this street there is an inscription (from about 1900) that runs along the building and tells those who can read Latin that this is "the spot." Not many people know about this inscription. It's not in the guide books I've seen, and Reggie said that for a long time even he didn't know about it. There we read Plutarch's account (translated into Latin from the original Greek) and Suetonius' account (in the original Latin) of the assassination.
We then went to Largo Torre Argentina, where it is possible to see the back wall of Pompey's Curia (and about a million cats, since it is a kitty sanctuary).
Here we read Cicero's shortest extant letter, which he wrote to Basilus, one of the conspirators, right after he had heard the news on the very day of the assassination:
Tibi gratular, mihi gaudeo; te amo, tua tueor; a te amari et quid agas quidque agatur certior fieri volo.
OR (roughly)...
Congratulations! I'm psyched! I support you, dear friend. Let me know what you're doing and what is being done.
While Reggie is pretty disgusted by Cicero's glee over this event, Cicero is representative of those Romans who wanted a "restoration of the Republic," whatever that might have been. Thanks to my brother Steve, who sent me a news item that is relevant to this whole affair and that helps to explain Cicero's attitude. Click HERE to see a photo of a coin that has just been returned to Greece. It is a coin minted by Brutus (the head conspirator) not long after the assassination. On one side of the coin is the head of Brutus. On the other side, you'll find two daggers on either side of a "cap." This cap is a "pileus," which is a felt hat that was worn by freed slaves. Under the daggers and pileus are the words "EID MAR," which stands, of course, for the Ides of March. So what this little piece of propaganda was suggesting is that the daggers of the conspirators (or "liberators" as they called themselves - sound like any Texans you know?) liberated the Roman people from slavery (the tyranny of Caesar) on the Ides of March. It's amazing how much information could be squeezed onto such a little coin, eh? I believe it was a scholar named H.A. Drake who called such coins the "sound-bites of the ancient world."
After we read a few other letters written between Cicero and Caesar, we made our way to the statue of Julius Caesar that stands before the ruins of the Julian Forum.
There we drank some wine and sang some songs to Caesar. As I said, it was a very good day.
For those who are interested, you can click HERE to hear a very short interview (about 3 or 4 minutes) with Reginald in which he speaks of the assassination of Caesar. It's worth the listen.
We looked at a map of the original layout. The theater was next to the Porticus of Pompey, which had over 100 columns; it must have been magnificent. Attached to the porticus was Pompey's Curia (which is NOT the curia in the Forum). It was in the porticus, right in front of a statue of Pompey, where Caesar was killed.
We proceeded to the street which is above the ancient porticus. On this street there is an inscription (from about 1900) that runs along the building and tells those who can read Latin that this is "the spot." Not many people know about this inscription. It's not in the guide books I've seen, and Reggie said that for a long time even he didn't know about it. There we read Plutarch's account (translated into Latin from the original Greek) and Suetonius' account (in the original Latin) of the assassination.
We then went to Largo Torre Argentina, where it is possible to see the back wall of Pompey's Curia (and about a million cats, since it is a kitty sanctuary).
Here we read Cicero's shortest extant letter, which he wrote to Basilus, one of the conspirators, right after he had heard the news on the very day of the assassination:
Tibi gratular, mihi gaudeo; te amo, tua tueor; a te amari et quid agas quidque agatur certior fieri volo.
OR (roughly)...
Congratulations! I'm psyched! I support you, dear friend. Let me know what you're doing and what is being done.
While Reggie is pretty disgusted by Cicero's glee over this event, Cicero is representative of those Romans who wanted a "restoration of the Republic," whatever that might have been. Thanks to my brother Steve, who sent me a news item that is relevant to this whole affair and that helps to explain Cicero's attitude. Click HERE to see a photo of a coin that has just been returned to Greece. It is a coin minted by Brutus (the head conspirator) not long after the assassination. On one side of the coin is the head of Brutus. On the other side, you'll find two daggers on either side of a "cap." This cap is a "pileus," which is a felt hat that was worn by freed slaves. Under the daggers and pileus are the words "EID MAR," which stands, of course, for the Ides of March. So what this little piece of propaganda was suggesting is that the daggers of the conspirators (or "liberators" as they called themselves - sound like any Texans you know?) liberated the Roman people from slavery (the tyranny of Caesar) on the Ides of March. It's amazing how much information could be squeezed onto such a little coin, eh? I believe it was a scholar named H.A. Drake who called such coins the "sound-bites of the ancient world."
After we read a few other letters written between Cicero and Caesar, we made our way to the statue of Julius Caesar that stands before the ruins of the Julian Forum.
There we drank some wine and sang some songs to Caesar. As I said, it was a very good day.
For those who are interested, you can click HERE to hear a very short interview (about 3 or 4 minutes) with Reginald in which he speaks of the assassination of Caesar. It's worth the listen.
# posted by srpaterson @ 1:58 PM 
