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Plutarch Bona Dea Scandal
The story of Clodius, Caesar, and the Bona Dea Scandal in Plutarch comes from section 9 of Plutarch's Life of Caesar. In this, Clodius attends the women-only December feast of the Bona Dea which is being held at the home of Caesar and hosted by his wife Pompeia, thought to have been having an affair with Clodius. A roughly 30-year-old Clodius shows up dressed in women's garb, although presumably not the diaphonous flute-girl garb, looking so much like a woman that he passes until he opens his mouth. As a result of his intrusion, the sacred rites of the Vestal Virgins are violated and it is held to be a sacrilege landing Clodius on trial facing Cicero. Although Clodius is acquitted and Caesar doesn't actually accuse his wife of adultery, Caesar divorces Pompeia because, he says, Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.

In "The Early Career of P. Clodius Pulcher: A Re-Examination of the Charges of Mutiny and Sacrilege," by David Mulroy (Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-), Vol. 118. (1988), pp. 155-178.) Mulroy argues that Clodius was doing little more than party-crashing when he attended the festival. The sacrificial rite was not a necessary part of the event, which may have been a Bacchanalian festival, for which transvestism would have been appropriate, so Clodius may not have known that he was committing sacrilege. Cicero claims the Bona Dea festival was a revered ancient festival, but there is reason to think it was imported from the Greeks after the fall of Tarentum in 272 B.C., making it 210 years-old at the time of the scandal.

Posted by NS Gill at 07:41 PM | Permalink

During the Roman Republic, 4 aediles were elected each year. There were 2 curule aediles and 2 plebeian aediles.

• An Aedile was a magistrate who looked after the city of Rome, its corn supply, municipal regulations, and games.
  
• The Concilium Plebis elected plebian aediles, while the Comitia Tributa annually picked curule aediles.
  
• The office of aedile came between quaestor and praetor in the cursus honorum.
  
• It was not necessary to become aedile in order to advance to the next step, yet Julius Caesar thought it advisable to run for the office. (He was elected.)
  

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Punic Wars - Battle of Cannae 216 B.C.

Hannibal's great victory at Cannae was also Rome's great defeat during the Punic Wars.

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Hannibal Barca - Hannibal

Hannibal was the leader of the Carthaginian forces against Rome in the Second Punic War.

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Hannibal Barca - Hannibal

Hannibal was the leader of the Carthaginian forces against Rome in the Second Punic War.

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From Caesar's Civil War Commentaries Book II Massilia

"When the battle was begun, no effort of valor was wanting to the Massilians, but, mindful of the instructions which they had a little before received from their friends, they fought with such spirit as if they supposed that they would never have another opportunity to attempt a defense, and as if they believed that those whose lives should be endangered in the battle would not long precede the fate of the rest of the citizens, who, if the city was taken, must undergo the same fortune of war."

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Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae

The son of Crassus committed suicide when he faced the Parthians. Crassus (of the first triumvirate with Pompey and Caesar) was killed in fighting at Carrhae that took the lives of 20,000 Romans. Another 10,000 were captured.

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Polybius on the Battle of Cannae

Section from Polybius on how the Romans were outmaneuvered by the Carthaginians:

115. The battle was begun by an engagement between the advanced guard of the two armies; and at first the affair between these light-armed troops was indecisive. But as soon as the Iberian and Celtic cavalry got at the Romans, the battle began in earnest, and in the true barbaric fashion: for there was none of the usual formal advance and retreat; but when they once got to close quarters, they grappled man to man, and, dismounting from their horses, fought on foot. But when the Carthaginians had got the upper hand in this encounter and killed most of their opponents on the ground---because the Romans all maintained the fight with spirit and determination---and began chasing the remainder along the river, slaying as they went along and giving no quarter; then the legionaries took the place of the light-armed and closed with the enemy. For a short time the Iberian and Celtic lines stood their ground and fought gallantly; but, presently overpowered by the weight of the heavy-armed lines, they gave way and retired to the rear, thus breaking up the crescent. The Roman maniples followed with spirit, and easily cut their way through the enemy's line; since the Celts had been drawn up in a thin line, while the Romans had closed up from the wings towards the center and the point of danger. For the two wings did not come into action at the same time as the center: but the center was first engaged, because the Gauls, having been stationed on the arc of the crescent, had come into contact with the enemy long before the wings, the convex of the crescent being towards the enemy.

The Romans, however, going in pursuit of these troops, and hastily closing in towards the center and the part of the enemy which was giving ground, advanced so far that the Libyan heavy-armed troops on either wing got on their flanks. Those on the right, facing to the left, charged from the right upon the Roman flank; while those who were on the left wing faced to the right, and, dressing by the left, charged their right flank, the exigency of the moment suggesting to them what they ought to do. Thus it came about, as Hannibal had planned, that the Romans were caught between two hostile lines of Libyans---thanks to their impetuous pursuit of the Celts. Still they fought, though no longer in line, yet singly, or in maniples, which faced to meet those who charged them on the flanks."

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Cincinnatus

Cincinnatus was considered a model of Roman virtue. He was a farmer above all, although when called to serve his country he did so without question -- briefly and without ambition

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Fasti of February

The calendar in Rome used notations like "VIII ID FEB" to stand for the 6th of February, or in Roman terms -- 8 days before the Ides of February. In February, a short month, the Ides did not fall on the 15th as they do in the infamous month of March, but the 13th. 13-8=6 in Roman inclusive reckoning. KAL MART refers to days before the 1st (Kalends) of March. Again, the Roman numeral that precedes "KAL" tells how many days before the "kalends of March" it is. Find out what happened on the various "fasti" in February.
Fasti of February

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Proscription

In 82 B.C. Sulla created proscription as a means of disposing of his enemies -- the supporters of Marius. He posted a list of those he wanted killed (like the wanted dead or alive posters of the Old West). The property of the proscribed was confiscated and sold and those who killed or revealed the whereabouts of the proscribed were rewarded.

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Eburones - Germanic Tribe in Belgium

In 54 B.C. the Eburones, a Germanic tribe in the area now known as Belgium, revolted from Rome. The Eburones, like the Germans who later ambushed Varus in the Teutoberg Wald disaster, tricked the Romans, led them into an ambush, and rained missiles down on them. The battle lasted for hours, but eventually almost all the Romans were killed. Those who survived, returned to their camp and committed suicide.

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