46 Explōrātiō Nōna (IX) Adventure Nine
Decimus Laberius, mime Neuter 2nd Declension Nouns Substantives
The adjective alius, alia, aliud
Campus Martius, Rōma Mēnsis Octōber
C. Treboniō Q. Fabiō Maximō cōnsulibus
“I’
Campus Martius, Rome October, 45 BCE
m glad you enjoyed Pompey’s theatrum,” Latinitas remarked before we left, “because we’re going back there today. Only this time, the massive stone seats those workmen laid down will not be empty.”
And indeed they were not. It was impossible to count heads – 10,000? 30,000? – but the great theater was packed. The crowd was a cross-section of Romans who lived in the city: young and old, men and women, slave and free; some were sitting quiet and dignified, others loud and rowdy, all waiting for the next show. Latinitas pointed out how the seating was explicitly arranged by ordō, or social class. Senators, who were distinguished by the two wide purple stripes running over the shoulders of their tunics, occupied the front three rows. The next dozen rows were occupied by equitēs, or knights. Don’t be misled by the name, reader: they did not wear metal armor; ‘knights’ was just the name for a class of men who were of high net-worth, but who had never served in office. Their tunics also have purple stripes, but thinner ones than the senators’. The rest of the seats, including ours, were general admission, and filled by the common people, the plēbs.
“Julius Caesar is sitting down there in the front row; do you see the man in the purple cloak who has a comb-over? Yes, him. A lot has changed since the last time we talked about him. Just over a month ago, all across the Mediterranean, an enormous bellum cīvīle, a civil war, was fought that pitted one half of the Roman army against the other. Caesar was the winner. The loser was the man behind this building, Pompey the Great” – Latinitas suddenly had to shout, as Caesar stood up for a moment to face the crowd, which responded with cheers and some boos.
“Pompey’s army lost to Caesar’s in Greece, near the town of Pharsalus. After the battle Pompey fled to Egypt, where he met a miserable end, stabbed to death by bounty-hunters. The remnants of the pro-Senate forces made a stand in north Africa, then in Spain, but Caesar’s troops emerged victorious both times. Now Caesar is back in Rome, triumphant and without any serious rivals. His allies, who dominate the Senate, have voted him the powers of Dīctātor, which as the name suggests are very nearly unlimited. The Roman state now effectively belongs to Caesar, and the entire Imperium or Empire – a body of land and sea nearly as large as the United States – is technically under his command.”
“With the end of the civil war, business in the city is returning to normal. Caesar wants to fix what is broken in the Roman state. He is pragmatic and smart enough to understand the problems; he knows that settling scores will just waste his time and effort, so he has forgiven all those former enemies who want to work with him. But not everyone is so ready to forgive and forget: the sepulchra, the graves dug for those who died in the civil war are still fresh. Many important men, like Cicero, cannot bear to have all public policies and decisions depend on the say-so of one man; they are waiting for a chance to change things. In short, there is no normal in Rome, only a pretense of normality. Caesar is trying to reinforce that pretense by attending this performance, to show that he is just another Roman who likes watching plays.”
“The lineup for today’s show today features short plays by Rome’s best mime-writers, Decimus Laberius and Publilius Syrus. They’re called ‘mimes’, but don’t be mislead by the name – the actors speak. The Sorōrēs, “Sisters,” by Publilius Syrus, has just been performed…”
As it happened we were sitting right behind Syrus, whose entourage was patting him on the back and discussing the merits of the actors performing his script. Syrus, Latinitas said, was a slave who was brought to Rome when he was a young man, just like Terence had been. As you might guess from his name, he was originally from Syria. His master was attracted by his good looks when he was about 12 and made him his lover – Syrus had no choice in the matter. He received what he asked for in return – a quality education – and eventually was given his freedom, thanks to his ingenium, his talent as a writer. He had a knack for coining memorable lines, and people in the audience were quoting them. With some help from Latinitas I could even decipher a few of them. I’ll share the words that she gave me with you; see if you can translate them:
Lēx videt īrātum; īrātus lēgem nōn videt.“An īrātus is an angry man.” Virum bonum nātūra, nōn ordō, facit.“Ordō means rank or social class;
facit is ‘makes’ (3 s. pres.).”
In amōre fōrma plūs valet quam auctōritās.“Plūs … quam means ‘more than’,
auctōritās, authority, fōrma, beauty.”
A man sitting near us shouted at Publilius, fōrmōsa faciēs mūta commendātiō est, ‘a beautiful face is a wordless recommendation’, and kept repeating the line. I think he was trying to tease Syrus for once being his patron’s lover, but Syrus paid him no attention.
The next performance was a mime by Decimus Laberius; behind the curtains I could hear the shifting of stage sets and props. Laberius and Syrus were rivals: Laberius was the older established artist with a large fanbase, Syrus the young upstart. This was more than a set of performances, it was a competition; and Caesar got to decide who won. The winner would receive a palm leaf, signifying victory, and the endorsement of the most powerful man in the known world. The loser would receive five-hundred sesterces – a large prize but, in this context, just small enough to be humiliating.
As we waited, Latinitas had me take out my notebook – something that attracted some odd looks from those sitting near us – and began her tutorial again.