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4. Caesar ex machina
- University of Michigan Press
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4 Caesar ex machina Ceremony and Caesar’s Memory T he contiones immediately after the Ides of March demonstrated that Caesar’s memory and how it should be preserved shaped the words and in›uenced the actions of the political leaders at the time. In other words, political power was directly linked to the posthumous honors awarded Caesar and consequently to the ceremonies in which his memory was publicly celebrated. The political prestige of Caesar’s supporters, as well as the fate of the conspirators, depended upon the status of Caesar himself. If he had been judged a tyrant, then his body would have been impaled on a hook, dragged through the streets of Rome, and thrown into the Tiber River; his acta would have been annulled, his will invalidated, his fortune con- ‹scated, his memory condemned.1 Therefore, a burning question of the time was whether Caesar should be buried, and what the nature of his funeral should be; equally important was the reading of his will. Every time a privilege was granted to the memory of Caesar, his supporters rallied and the conspirators shuddered. In this chapter, we will focus on the ceremonies surrounding Caesar’s death, which only increased the city crowd’s hostility toward the conspirators. At the same time, the arrival of Amatius, a slave who claimed to be descended from the great Marius, the erection of an altar in Caesar’s honor on the site of his impromptu cremation in the Forum, and the activities of the urban plebs and Caesar’s veterans in the vicinity of this altar hastened the departure of the conspirators from Rome, directly affecting the course of politics in the months to come.2 As news of Caesar’s death spread throughout Italy, however, more of his veterans ›ocked to the city in 97 anticipation of his funeral and burial (Nic. Dam. 17.49 [FrGH 90, F130]). Thus the crowd in the city grew increasingly more Caesarian than the seemingly divided one that had listened in silence at the conspirators’ contio in the Forum or had simultaneously demanded peace and vengeance at Antonius ’ speech at the Temple of Tellus. For the conspirators the streets of Rome were still dangerous, but they became even more so after Caesar’s funeral. We will see once again how public ceremonial was a demonstration of political power by the elite and by the people. The ceremonies discussed in this chapter, especially Caesar’s funeral and ensuing demonstrations under the leadership of Amatius, also demonstrate the crowd’s ability to manage a ceremony separately from the political elite—and at times with consequences that the elite did not anticipate or desire. The Reading of Caesar’s Will When one considers the importance of the posthumous honors for Caesar, it is not surprising that Caesar’s will provoked a tumult when it was read in Rome,3 helped turn the tide of popular opinion against the conspirators forever , and put Antonius in a precarious political position. It also brought Octavian, Caesar’s principal heir, back into the public consciousness and later in the year allowed him entrée into political life, especially through the medium of public ceremonial. On the evening of the murder, when Antonius took possession of Caesar’s papers from Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, he presumably also received Caesar’s will, which Caesar had deposited at the Temple of Vesta after completing it on 13 September 45. Caesar’s father-in-law, L. Calpurnius Piso, demanded that the will be read, and this took place in Antonius’ home (Suet. Jul. 83.1). At some point, the terms of the will became known to the people, perhaps through a public reading at a contio. Plutarch (Brut. 20.1) says that Antonius’ supporters demanded that the will be read publicly, while Appian (BC 2.143.596) asserts it was the people who made this demand. If Appian is correct, then his account shows how the people were participating in the ceremonies involving Caesar’s memory from the outset. We should also note that the “people” increasingly included Caesar ’s veterans, who perhaps could have exerted greater pressure on the political leaders. By the terms of the will, the bulk of Caesar’s property went to his grandnephew , C. Octavius, and the remainder to two other grandnephews, L. Pinarius and Q. Pedius. Caesar’s practice of including the plebs in his donatives , which began in the celebration of his victories in September 46, continued after...