| Original French title | Le Cadeau de Cesar |
|---|---|
| Story | Rene Goscinny |
| Illustrations | Albert Uderzo |
| French edition | 1974 |
| English translation | 1977 |
| Preceded by | Asterix in Corsica |
| Followed by | Asterix and the Great Crossing |
Asterix and Caesar's Gift is the twenty-first volume of the Asterix comic book series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). It was the first Asterix adventure that was not published in serial form in Pilote prior to its publication as a book.
Contents |
The story begins c. 50 BC, at night. In an ill-reputed district of Rome, Veteran legionaries Tremensdelirious (pun name based on Delirium tremens) and Egganlettus (egg and lettuce) celebrate their last night as soldiers of the Roman Army. Having completed twenty years of service, the two friends await their honesta missio (Latin:honorary discharge) for the morning. Their services will be paid in land shares, awarded by Julius Caesar himself. Tremensdelirious, drunk expresses his opinion on Julius Caesar just as the night patrol enters the establishment and is arrested.
The following morning Caesar prepares himself for the discharge ceremony in honor of his veterans, and is informed of Tremensdelirious's mishap the night before. Caesar smiles and suggests playing a practical joke. He will receive his honorary discharge after all but Caesar has a "special" gift for him. In the ceremony, Egganlettus receives a share in Nicaea and the still drunk Tremensdelirious receives his special gift: a Gaulish village in Armorica, the only territory of Gaul not yet conquered by the Roman legions. The village is still inhabited by Asterix and his friends.
Tremensdelirious sees little merit in a gift he cannot drink. He attempts to sell his land share immediately. A few days later the man is drunk again and Tremensdelirious is unable to pay the innkeeper Orthapedix but instead offers his land share. Orthapedix quickly agrees to the bargain after consulting his wife Angina. They had recently moved there from Lutetia and they have little to hold them in Arausio. Soon Orthapedix, Angina and Influenza, their daughter, arrive at "their" new village. They are disappointed to find it already inhabited but hope the seal of Julius Caesar will convince the villagers to leave. They request a meeting with Vitalstatistix and state their claim. The village chief bursts into laughter and is soon joined by Asterix, Obelix and a number of villagers. Vitalstatistix dismisses their claim as absurd.
Angina berates her husband for selling their inn to travel to Armorica. She envies her sister for marrying Dithyrambix (from Dithyramb) who has succeeded in his business and become wealthy in Lutetia. Vitalstatistix, reminded of his own rivalry with his affluent brother-in-law Homeopathix, decides to offer Orthapedix a chance to get out of his situation. He informs Orthapedix that their village has no inn and offers him a building for him to use. Obelix helps the new family and soon has a crush on Influenza.
The opening night of the new inn, the villagers are invited to attend. Mrs. Geriatrix and other women seem to be gossiping about Influenza. The merriment seems to end when Vitalstatistix and his wife Impedimenta arrive. Impedimenta and Angina greet each other coldly. Impedimenta then points out the smell of fish around the inn and her own social position being superior to that of Angina. Before long the two women enter an argument about who owns the village. Meanwhile the comment about the smell of fish has set off Unhygienix and Fulliautomatix's rivalry. A fight starts with all the villagers present.
The morning finds the inn abandoned except for the bruised Orthapedix, a sobbing Angina and Influenza. Orthapedix is ready to quit and return to Lutetia. Influenza is delighted, but Angina will not have it. She wants to have revenge on Impedimenta and makes a claim to the leadership of the village on behalf of her husband. Vitalstatistix is shocked to have his long-held position challenged but Getafix points out that according to their laws anyone has the right to claim leadership.
An insecure Vitalstatistix soon has Cacofonix obtain an opinion poll of the villagers. The results are disappointing for Vitalstatistix. Soon both candidates and their families search for supporters by offering their markedly insincere voice of support to the individual concerns of each villager. For example, Angina becomes the best customer of Unhygienix and wins his sympathy despite having all the fish buried in her back yard. Influenza agrees to date Obelix despite his idea of romance consisting of offering boars and Roman helmets to his lady.
The villagers become very involved in the political race. Asterix, however, becomes worried that internal conflict could benefit the Romans. Also, Geriatrix wants to drive the foreigners out with direct combat but Vitalstatistix refuses. Because of this, Geriatrix abandons Vitalstatistix and declares himself a third party candidate. Nobody takes him seriously. Meanwhile, Tremensdelirious arrives at the village to visit Orthapedix. He explains that since their last meeting, luck was not kind to him. He unsuccessfully tried all kinds of trade. Thus he wants to claim his land share saying that veterans are not allowed to sell their shares to Gauls.
The family attempts to throw him out but he draws the sword on the family. Meanwhile Astrix arrives and the two proceed in a demonstration of their swordsmanship. Asterix quickly overwhelms his opponent, disarms the other man and uses his sword to sign a Z on Tremensdelirous's clothing. Influenza is impressed by the diminutive Gaulish warrior and Tremensdelirious leaves. Afterwards, Tremensdelirious visits one of the four Roman camps surrounding the village and introduces himself as a veteran legionary to gain entrance. Here, he finds his old friend Egganlettus serving as an aide-de-camp under the local centurion. With his support Tremensdelirious makes an official request on the centurion to restore a stolen land share to a veteran soldier. The centurion is rather reluctant to face the Gauls but the veterans threaten to report him to Caesar who would not like the Gauls taking advantage of his veterans. He agrees to prepare a military attack but Egganlettus has clearly fallen out of favor.
The following day, Influenza expresses her admiration to Asterix. A jealous Obelix feels betrayed by both his best friend and his love interest. Asterix attempts to express his concerns about the mysterious Roman from the previous day. But Vitalstatistix refuses to listen to him. Asterix decides to investigate the forest area for the Roman and soon finds unusual activities in one of the Roman camps. They are preparing siege weapons for an extended campaign. He listens to their plans but lacks the magic potion needed to end their preparations. As he tries to escape, the Romans notice him and become convinced that the Gauls can no longer resist the Romans, thus Roman morale rises.
Asterix returns to the village and attempts to sound the alarm, but the village pays no attention to him. Everybody is gathered to witness the public debate between Vitalstatistix and Orthapedix, with Cacofonix serving as a referee. Vitalstatistix opens by questioning the impartiality of Cacofonix. The angered bard immediately offers the speaking turn to Orthapedix and undermines any pretense of being an impartial referee.
Orthapedix starts by pointing out that Vitalstatistix has held the leadership for quite a while, with no evident contribution to the financial life of the village. No new industries have flourished during his term. The veteran leader prepares his answer but first warns Cacofonix not to interfere. Orthapedix points to this as a typical sign of the mindset of his rival.
Vitalstatistix claims that twelve anvils were sold this year (actually bought by his wife a few days ago), representing a 100% increase in comparison to the sales of the previous year. Orthapedix scoffs and replies that numbers can be interpreted in any manner of ways, while the village trade is in decline, offering the fishmonger trade as an example and pointing to low sales. When Impedimenta threatens Unhygenix, Vitalstatistix tells her to calm down. "Let's not cast the first stone." At this point the debate is interrupted by the rocks thrown into the village by the Roman catapults outside.
Vitalstatistix begs for Getafix to give them magic potion but the druid refuses even though he must know the village is under attack. He is just too disgusted by the Gaulish in-fighting. Orthapedix blames himself for not reporting on the existence of Tremensdelirious and his intentions on the village. He wants to meet the Romans outside in a desperate attempt to convince them to stop the attack. Vitalstatistix holds him back and again shouts for Getafix and his magic potion: not for himself this time but for his rival. Getafix approves of this change of attitude and agrees to help them. Obelix single-handedly attacks the Romans and delays their attempts to enter the village. His efforts provide enough time for the potion to be prepared. The rival factions of villagers combine their efforts against the Romans and counterattack, demolishing the war machines.
Orthapedix himself confronts Tremensdelirious who screams out his status as a civilian and tells him to take on Egganlettus instead. But Orthapedix simply wants to return the stone tablet that claims ownership of the village and smashes it on Tremensdelirious' head. Egganlettus is also furious by his "friend"'s treacherous nature and follows this up with a blow with a stick, even when Tremensdelirious tries to remind him that they are old friends and veterans.
This results on Tremensdelirious falling into unconsciousness with a very pronounced lump on the head. Both Gauls and Romans seem to want nothing more to do with him and his body is left on the field.
The centurion has Egganlettus demoted to second-class legionary and assigns him to clean up the remains of the war machines with a mere broom.
The Gauls are reconciled following their victory. A much more confident Orthapedix befriends his former rival but decides to withdraw his claim for leadership. He has decided that the "peaceful life" of the village is not for him. He belongs to the city and plans to return to Lutetia. Angina is about to object, but Orthapedix angrily puts her in her place, making it clear that the decision has been made and there is no room for argument. Now he has something to brag about to his brother-in-law. Influenza, of course, is delighted.
Impedimenta and Angina have nothing left to fight about. They exchange recipes and addresses of their relatives in Lutetia. Geriatrix is left forgotten and quits in frustration. Obelix mourns the loss of Influenza but is reconciled with Asterix, as they are no longer rival suitors. There is a victory celebration at night and everyone takes part. The narration claims that the events happened long ago, when such matters were not considered so important.