Julius Caesar- Fame and Fate Part Six

Pompey was perhaps preoccupied with the always jealous Crassus, who in 55 BC would have been preparing for his war against the Parthians. No one looking at the situation could have blamed Pompey for feeling extremely confident and powerful. In 55 his magnificent theater had been complete on the Campus Martius. This was the most gargantuan complex of buildings in Rome's history, and the Roman people were awestruck when it was revealed to them. These buildings were surrounded by a beautiful park. The great theater not only had an auditorium, but a public portico, a chamber for the Senate and a new house for Pompey himself. Wisely, Pompey had all of this surmounted by a temple to Venus. Not only was the temple used to justify the building of the whole complex, but Pompey also hoped that her temple would prevent current and future men jealous of his success from leveling this great work of architecture. The whole complex could be thought of as an egotistical monument to Pompey himself and the mere sight of its wonders was enough to provoke awe and jealousy in friend and foe alike. Rare plants, lovely statues and paintings, curtains woven with gold in the portico between the columns and great numbers of fountains all made Pompey's incredible theater the most romantic place in Rome.

Pompey had truly spared no expense or let any budgets constrain him. The paintings and statues were all masterpieces selected by the connoiseur Atticus and a board of experts. The most imposing thing of all about Rome's greatest new piece of real estate was the specially commissioned statue of Pompey himself. The great statue had been placed in the new Senate House, and now even when Pompey was not in Rome his shadow could fall over the senatorial proceedings. Pompey had decided that by the time his theater was completed that his globetrotting days were over. Hadn't he done enough? He had triumphed over three continents. Of course, he had no intention of giving up his command or the legions that came with it. He instead planned to govern Spain through subordinates. It was well and good for Caesar to continue fighting the Gauls and for Crassus to be preparing to fight the Parthians, but it was time for Pompey to stay home and enjoy his triumphs among his fellow Roman citizens. In a very real way Pompey the Great decided to bring his triumphal "trophies" to Rome. The accomplishments of Pompey would be to a very large extent represented by the exotic wildlife he had encountered as a conquering general. Much earlier in his life when he was in Africa he had stated, "Even the wild animals that live in Africa should be taught to respect the strength and courage of the Roman people." (Plutarch, Pompey, 12.).

The example of these wild animals was not only to entertain, but also to demonstrate to Romans the courage, strength and skill it took to become the masters of the world. This is why animals were rarely kept in zoos. Only when beast was matched against human could the lesson be taught. On one occasion, at least, the citizens didn't like what they saw and heard. An unheard of number of elephants-20-had been attacked by spearmen during a show at his theater. The elephant's cries and trumpetings of their pain and terror were so haunting to the spectators that everyone in the theater began to weep. Pliny the Elder reports that instead of cheering "the general and the lavish display which he had laid on especially to honor them, they rose to their feet, and through their tears, called down curses upon his head." What had gone wrong? Fourteen marble statues, each representing a nation conquered by Pompey, gazed down at the bloodbath in the arena with their unseeing eyes. Perhaps added to the sad calls of distress the elephants had made, the citizens had also realized that this carnage on display was not really there to glorify Rome herself, but was an orgy of self-glorification for Pompey. The image is a computer model of what Pompey's theater would have looked like. I hope to have the next post here very soon, sorry to be doing a bit of back-tracking at the moment. I just thought these details were to important to the overall history to leave out. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!