Friday, December 07, 2007

 

This Day in Ancient History


On this day in 43 BC, agents of Mark Anthony catch Marcus Tullius Cicero fleeing his country estate north of Rome, kill him, cut off his hands and head, and bring them back to Rome where they are displayed on the Rostrum of the Senate. Fulvia, Mark Anthony's wife at the time, is rumored to have repeatedly pierced the tongue of the hanging head with her hair pin to 'punish' Cicero for his sharp words against her husband. It was rarely good to piss off the powerful in ancient Rome. Cicero, 63 at his death, had been a gifted orator and prosecutor/spokesman, and left behind years and years of lessons for schoolboys studying Latin. Years and years.

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Quo usque tandm abutere, Catalinem, patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet?
 
How very long indeed.
 
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