Sunday, January 22, 2006
This Day in Ancient History
On this day in 49 BC, Cicero writes a letter to his wife Terentia and daughter Tullia urging them to leave Rome and join him (or failing that to barricade the door and post slave/guards). Those of us who enjoyed Rome will remember the scenes which showed that Cicero had fled Rome with Pompeii Magnus, but without his family, after Caesar crossed the Rubicon. I think I translated this letter 33 years ago and it bored me to tears then. It's not much better now, but I can see the context better thanks to the BBC and HBO. Tullia's life seems to have been rather short and unhappy. She died shortly after giving birth, in February, 45 BC, to a child of a man who had the year before divorced her.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:58 AM 
