Caesar II: Rome on Credit
Caesar II: Rome on Credit (A quaestor sighs before a statue of Alexander, an aedile stages three hundred and twenty pairs of gladiators on credit, a wife must be above suspicion, and the consul Bibulus gets a basket of dung dumped on his head. How a debtor reached the threshold of Gaul.) — lesson 2 of the course: 4 parts, about 14 min of reading.
Spain, 69 BC. The quaestor Caesar, about thirty-one years old, sighs in front of a statue of Alexander the Great: by his age the Macedonian had conquered the world, while he has achieved nothing. He returns to Rome and starts playing for the highest stakes: on credit. He borrows fortunes for games and statues of Marius, weathers the Bona Dea scandal, strikes a secret pact with Pompey and Crassus, and as consul breaks the Senate’s resistance. In 58 BC he sets out for Gaul.
Films
- A Mask in the Forum: Julia’s Funeral, 69 BC — Julia’s funeral, 69 BC: the forbidden face of Marius appears in the procession, and a young quaestor begins to speak.
- By Night on the Capitol: The Statues of Marius — Night, 65 BC: Caesar, as aedile, carries the forbidden trophies of Marius up to the Capitol. At dawn Rome looks on, and Catulus shouts in the Senate.
- Bona Dea: A Man Where No Man May Be — December 62 BC: a man at a festival open only to women. A floor plan of Caesar’s house.
- Three Men: The Pact of 60 BC — 60 BC: Pompey, Crassus and Caesar strike a secret pact. Three portraits and three ambitions.
- Seven Days: From Rome to the Rhône — March 58 BC: the Helvetii set out west, and Caesar rides from Rome to the Rhône in seven days. An animated map.
Articles
- Tears in Gades — Caesar II: Rome on Credit — Caesar begins to speak, and his subject is his aunt. It is 69 BC, he is about thirty-one and has recently become quaestor, the most junior of Rome’s magistrates.
- Rome on Credit — Caesar II: Rome on Credit — Rome, 65 BC. Caesar is a curule aedile, the official in charge of temples, markets and games.
- Caesar’s Wife — Caesar II: Rome on Credit — That whole night was played out under a secrecy protected by law. Bona Dea, the Good Goddess, is a goddess of women, and her festival is held once a year in the house of a consul or praetor.
- The Consulship of Julius and Caesar — Caesar II: Rome on Credit — Rome, 59 BC, the day of the vote on the agrarian law. The Forum is full of people, many of them veterans.