Kolby Henson

CLST 1013
Long Essay 1
The outcomes of Arc 1 and Arc 2 are very different if you compare
them on a political agenda or even just the events themselves. Looking back
at Arc 1 we have Scipio and Titus. Both are very young politicians that have
been proving themselves in battle and war with the Carthaginians. Scipio
believes in order to defeat the Carthaginians they must take the war to their
turf which is in Africa. This is very outlandish to the older more conservative
senate also known as the right wing, Tituss father happens to be one of
these gentlemen who Titus and Scipio were serving under also. After hearing
news of his fathers death Scipio decides he will go to Spain to take his spot
and get revenge for his father he asks Titus to join against Quintuss
approval they both leave for Spain. This is the first problem between the
right and left wing we see Quintus despises Scipio and Titus for this even
though they end up being victorious in Spain.
After returning from Spain Scipio has made a great name for himself,
he then uses his popularity to run for Consul. The only problem with this is by
tradition he is way too young to run for Consul. Scipio is elected Consul
however regardless of the traditional age barrier which further infuriates the
right wing side including Quintus. Tituss support for Scipio completely tears
apart his relationship with his father and drives Titus to help Scipio attain his
last goal. Scipios belief as stated before was in order to truly defeat
Carthage they would have to beat them in their home turf of Africa. This
once again goes against what the conservative right side believe, with the
majority believe they should stay home and defend their soil rather than
waiting resources in Africa. Titus helps Scipio sabotage some of the right
wing into not making the senate session where it will be voted on and Scipio

is granted his wish to fight Carthage in Africa. Scipio and Titus then go to
Africa and beat Carthage where Arc 1 ends.
Titus and Scipio would be considered left wing going against old
tradition and the conservative side of the senate and throughout Arc1 they
are extremely successful in attaining their goals. When trying to compare
this to the latter part of Arc 2 we have to look at some of the key points
again. Tiberius Gracchus as Tribunate has pushed the senate for a land
reform. This land reform would take land and money away from members of
the rich senate and redistribute them to lower class citizens that deserved
them. Marcus who is the character you play as in the game is asked to join
the group to help push this new legislation and gladly agrees after a large
number of his clients have their farm taken by members of the senate. They
group fights tooth and nail to push the legislation including having one man
cast out of his senate roll.
Due to Tiberiuss radical push he is assassinated by members of the
right wings influence. Not long after his death Tiberiuss younger brother
Gaius joins the party and with the help of Marcus pushes the old legislation
as well as many new legislations that would help benefit the core of the
people of Rome which is the lower class citizens. Again the right side is
furious and continues to veto the legislations. Marcus at one point is forced
to murder an old friend, a relative of Scipio who was a close friend to his
uncle the Black Ram. The sides go back and forth till the right Wing wins
back the consulship and a follower of Gaius killing one of his followers lead to
the demise of Marcus and Gaius. They are both beaten in an ally and
presumably dead as Marcus fades out of consciousness to end the Arc2.
From the main events we can see that Arc2 was much harder for the left side
the Arc1 was and it looks as if by Arc2 the right side will win killing Tiberius,
Gaius, and Marcus will end almost all opposition against them.

Next we look at two Plautus plays Poenulus or as we know The Little

Carthaginian and Casina. Both of these plays are very similar. In both you
have a male character maddened and distraught by the love for slave
woman. Also in both of these plays the men who are upper class use their
slaves to somehow trick the women into marrying them. Whats very funny
about both of these plays is how they both also go against patria potestas
which means power of the father. This term was Roman law that said the
man of the house held the power of the household in an extreme case he
could even use this power to kill members of his family though not likely. In
the first play Poenulus you have the man of the house Boris who tries with all
his effort from the help of his slave Igor and some freedmen he tries to trick
the pimp into letting him have Tchotchka so he can then marry her, but in
the end a foreigner Saddam who is actually her father comes and saves her.
Though a happy ending for the three not the ending the man of the
household Boris was looking for. Similarly in the play Casina the head of the
household Lysidamus is trying to use his slave Olympio to help trick the slave
women Casina into marrying him. His wife Cleostrata finds out though and
with the help of her slaves and network of friends devises a plan to not only
foil her husbands plan but to make him look like a fool even though he
rightfully one by drawing the lot. In both of these plays the men are trumped
and its very ironic for the times.
Another example of where patria potestas doesnt hold up really is in
the play Poenulus also having to do with the freedmen. In order to carry out
his plan Boris needs the help of the freedmen to view the transaction with
him the pimp. On trying to get them to help they strictly let him know that he
is not in charge of him and that he cant treat them like slaves. They
reluctantly still help Boris in the end but they do so on their time and more
out of a respect of disliking the Wolf than to help Boris.
The strange career of Chalinus the slave is quite interesting in the play
of Casina. If looking at the penetration model of sexual relations we can see

a correlation with social categories and classes. With the penetration model
you have two parts the penetrator and the penetrated both of these rolls
were given to specific members of society and determined what was and
wasnt socially acceptable. The penetrator was almost always the older men
after the age of about twenty who had a high class standing the rolls of the
penetrated usually belonged to women, young boys and men of lower
classes such as slaves and possibly freedmen. Chalinus a slave whose roll
was valet challenges the penetration model in the play. While being the slave
of Cleostrata he helps her by dressing as a women in hermaphrodite fashion
and once in the bedroom when Olympio and Lysidamus try to have sex with
him they not only realize what they are doing and are shamed by it but
Chalinus also beats Olympio off of him rejecting himself to be touched or
penetrated by the man of higher standing.
Given the outcomes of the two plays Poenulus and Casina and also the
outcome of Arc2 its not easy to directly tell which of these was the best
predictor for the political situation at the end of the Republic. Under further
investigation and looking into the Letters of Cicero we can see that Caesar
has taken over towards the end of the Republic and he happens to be a left
wing politician with the needs of the people at his forefront. He wishes to
settle land distribution for his veterans, cancel debts of the poor of Rome and
also to support the distribution of Grain at a lower price. We also have
Crassus the money man for Caesar and Clodius who is the thug or mob
leader that help Caesar obtain his goals. Then there was Pompey on the right
side that is mad at the senate for not siding with him and pushing the left
wing agenda. We also have Cicero on the right side that is against Caesar
and especially Clodius for getting him sent out of Rome.
When comparing the ending of Arc2 with what weve learned from the
letters of Cicero about the late republic we can see that there are some
similarities and some differences. First off in Arc2 the outcome is dreary for
the left side Tiberius and Gaius are both killed and probably Marcus as well,

while the right wing has Opimius elected Consul and a promise to undo any
legislation that the Gracchus brothers had successfully passed. This is very
contradicting with that of the end of the Republic; Caesar has basically
adopted the Gracchus brothers legislation and put it into effect. But the
rivalry between the two sides and the use of mob violence is still
unfortunately very much in use making Arc2 very similar.
When looking at the two plays you also see some similarities and some
major differences also but its important to look at the political outcomes of
the end. One thing to note was that Caesar was often made fun of by fellow
soldiers and men of the opposing side for his feminism. They related his left
wing views with this view of his feministic qualities. Caesar also was known
as a great general which was not seen often to have a great leader in times
of War not be on the right wing side. If we look at the political views with
some help from lecture 10A of the play Casina we can actually see how the
characters of the play almost directly lines up with the political agenda of the
senate in the late Republic. Cleostrata the wife of Lysidamus would be on the
left side much like where Caser would be underneath her would be her two
slaves Chalinus and Pardalisca also much like Clodius and Crassus was for
Caesar. Cleostrata was asserting her power over her husband; this totally
went against Roman law and that of patria potestas also Chalinus then
challenged that of the penetration model which would have been very
important to the men on the right side keeping conservative values and
Roman tradition at heart. You can also see Lysidamus on the right side of
things being a roman man trying to use his slaves to get what he wants also
very selfish like the Right side of the time. If you compare this with the model
of the play Poenulus there is also a similar left sided way of thinking ends up
winning in the end. Both of these plays have the left side wining like that of
the end of the Republic we could also relate Caesars feminism into that of
the women from the play but it would more of a stretch. Looking at this
evidence with the main point being the political and social ideas at the end

of Arc2 and that of the two plays, the end of the late Republic was more like
that of the two plays.