Kalends of February
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| "Kalends of February" | |
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| The Murder of Julius Caesar | |
| Season | 1 (2005) |
| Episode | "12 (HBO; see BBC editing)" |
| Air date(s) | November 20, 2005 (HBO) January 4, 2006 (BBC) |
| Writer(s) | Bruno Heller |
| Director | Alan Taylor |
| Setting | Rome |
| Time frame | The end of February 44 BC to March 15, 44 BC See also: Chronology of Rome |
| Link | HBO episode summary |
| Prev: "The Spoils" Next: "Passover" I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII |
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Kalends of February is the twelfth episode of the first season of the television series Rome.
As a result of their arena exploits, Pullo and Vorenus have become heroes to the Roman rank and file, causing Caesar to reward those he normally would punish. Pullo's unexpected return to Vorenus' household is not appreciated by his former slave Eirene. Caesar decides to overhaul the Senate by adding some unexpected new faces, to the chagrin of the old guard. And Servilia hurdles the final obstacle in her ambitious revenge scenario, at Niobe's expense.
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[edit] Historical and cultural background
- As Vorenus is leaving to respond to a summons by Caesar, Niobe wraps a small bundle of ashes from the family shrine in cloth, and tucks it in Vorenus' toga whispering, "Juno protect you." Juno was the Roman incarnation of the Greek goddess Hera, goddess of marriage and family bonds. In a way, Niobe is calling on the power of their marriage to protect Vorenus. The gesture is also ironic and foretelling in the episode. Juno was a wife famously betrayed, again and again, by Jupiter, who had many lovers. Juno often exacted meticulous revenge upon the women and any of their offspring by Jupiter; for example, she was a lifelong enemy of Hercules, and punished Europa severely. When she said these words, Niobe had been unfaithful to Vorenus and had Lucius by another man, although she had fooled Vorenus into thinking it was Vorenus's own grandson. By invoking Juno, Niobe is in effect allowing Juno to have Vorenus informed of her disloyalty and offspring and be open to revenge. Just after leaving Niobe, Vorenus is told of Niobe's treachery and returns, enraged, with every right under Roman law to slaughter her and her child, just as Juno would have done in his situation.
- As Caesar and Vorenus are making their way to the Senate, they are surrounded by Lictors with their fasces. All magistrates whose office was recognized to be imbued with imperium were publicly escorted by Lictors - the number of them signifying the importance of the magistrate. As Dictator, Caesar is entitled to 24 of these escorts. Whether we see all 24 or not, the fasces of the Lictors have not had their axes removed even though they are within the boundaries of the pomerium. This is historically accurate - and only the lictors of a Dictator had axes within their fasces at all times. In this scene the lictors are carrying their fasces on their right shoulder when they should have been carried on their left, this is an inaccuracy stated in the audio commentary on the DVD.
- Plutarch said this of the assassination in his Life of Caesar: "For it had been agreed they should each of them make a thrust at him, and flesh themselves with his blood; for which reason Brutus also gave him one stab in the groin. Some say that he fought and resisted all the rest, shifting his body to avoid the blows, and calling out for help, but that when he saw Brutus's sword drawn, he covered his face with his robe and submitted, letting himself fall, whether it were by chance or that he was pushed in that direction by his murderers, at the foot of the pedestal on which Pompeius's statue stood, and which was thus wetted with his blood."
- It is said by some that Caesar's last act was to cover his face with his toga that his enemies might not see his face in the moment of death. This is captured in the series, although in the show he is unsuccessful in covering his face.
- Brutus's ancestor Lucius Junius Brutus drove out the Etruscan monarchy in 509 BC. As a result, he felt obligated to kill Caesar in order to preserve the republic.
[edit] Inaccuracies and errors
- According to eye witness reports recorded by Nicolaus of Damascus, Caesar fell before the statue of Pompey in the Theater of Pompey, not in the Senate House which was a sacred site for the Roman people. This incident was not shown in the episode. The Senate was meeting in the Curia, part of the complex, because Caesar was renovating the Senate House.[1]
- Similarly, the "You too, child"? (gr.: καί σύ τέκνον) reported by Suetonius has been omitted, though this is clearly an artistic choice. It is however feasible that Caesar would not have been able to say these words due to his multiple stab wounds. Indeed, Appian's account of the assassination mentions no final words, which is at least evidence that Caesar's last words were unknown to the historians. In addition the switch to another language (as in the Suetonius source) is a literary twist for the "moral of the story" found at the end of several Roman biographies (Nero, Augustus et al.), a clear indication of a fictionalized rendition. Furthermore, Caesar's official last words accounted for by the historians were spoken at his funeral ceremony in the person of an archmime, who was impersonating the deceased Roman leader: Men servasse ut essent qui me perderent ("Oh, did I save them that they might murder me?"), in this quoting Conquest for the Arms of Achilles by the Roman poet Pacuvius.
- It was Marcus Brutus himself who allegedly said sic semper tyrannis ("thus ever to tyrants") and not Cassius.
- When Caesar was assassinated, Octavian was with the army at Apollonia, in what is now Albania. He was not in Rome, and not still living like a boy with his mother.[2]
- Although Cicero himself was from a plebian family, he often took sides with senates of noble background thus his opposition of Vorenus's appointment seems to be accurate (see Optimates).
[edit] Plot notes
- Bruno Heller avoided incorporating any of the classical elements of Shakespeare's version of the assassination: no soothsayer attempting to warn Caesar of the "Ides of March", no gasped "Et tu, Brute?" as Caesar's last words, etc.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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