Part of my study abroad trip to London and Rome in September is a series of blog posts about some assigned readings, and reflections upon them. This is the fourth such post, and is two of five about Robert Hughes’ Rome: A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History.
“The soldiers raised a chant of praise, “Io triumphe,” and sang mildly obscene songs, the “Fescennine verses,” poking fun at their leader; a typical verse about Caesar (who was bald, and renowned for his sexual appetites) ran:
Home we bring the hairless Fucker,
Roman maidens, bar your doors –
For the Roman gold you send him
Went to pay his Gallic whores..”– except from Chapter 1: Foundation of Robert Hughes’ Rome: A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History
I always find it amusing how often history tends to gloss over these earthy bits, I’ve read of how formal Roman “triumphs” were (they were victory processions or entry into Rome by a returning victorious general, lots of rules on what it took to qualify) and before reading Hughes I’d never seen mentioned the bawdy songs the troops would sing as they entered.
I like to picture what it was like to see Julius Caesar march into Rome after one his military victories, on a formal triumph, being preceded by wagons laden down with all the spoils he had claimed in combat, his face painted red to show his divine vitality, wearing triumphal purple robes, a laurel crown on his brow, and amulets around his neck to ward off evil, and then being followed by his loyal troops singing songs like that one. It makes me think that our parades today are rather dull in comparison.