If we were to take the position of a spectator of the Roman “triumph,” and found ourselves in a position to view the entirety of the procession and offer a description of what we were seeing, fused with knowledge of what all would take place in association with the procession and the symbolism at work by what we are seeing, and then offered a report on what we witnessed, it might go something like this: “I was so excited for the events that were about to unfold before my eyes. Truly this was a banner day for Rome and its glory. From what I understood, the war had been fierce. Some thought it would never end, but eventually the general triumphed. There were some rumors that Caesar intervened and took command of the army, directing it to its victory, and I can believe it, but if he did, he’s allowing the general to receive all the credit and be the subject of today’s ‘triumph.’ So even though this general was being honored today, and even though we eventually looked to him as a ‘god for a day,’ or ‘king for a day,’ there was a bit of an undercurrent amongst the populace that it should have been the Caesar himself riding at the head of this procession. It’s interesting, with all that he has done for the empire, it’s the Caesar that is truly responsible for the victory that was celebrated here today, but he has never once insisted upon his own ‘triumph.’ What humility. It tends to make one think that he truly is a son of the gods.’
I had a great seat. I could not believe it when Caesar himself sent a royal messenger to bring me to the place from which I could watch the whole thing. Then, when I was asked to write an account of it, from the people’s point of view, well, wow! How could I refuse? Me, of all people. It was all a bit overwhelming. I was so stunned by the news that I think I fainted. I could have kissed the messenger’s feet, but he wouldn’t let me. I was day-dreaming, thinking about my good fortune, and I almost missed the beginning of the parade. It’s a good thing I came to myself when I did. That would not have been a good thing.
I saw the special gates, only used for these ‘triumphs,’ opened to reveal the ‘vir triumphalis,’ as he used to be called. Now they refer to him as the ‘triumphator.’ I wonder why that has changed. I’ll bet a previous Caesar used it, maybe Augustus, and didn’t want anybody else to ever have that same name. Will Rome ever have another one like him? Oh, we could only hope. Either way, if I was down among the people, I would have simply referred to him as the ‘man of triumph,’ as we normally do, but since I’m being asked to write a report for the Emperor, and since it was a possibility that it was going to be sent around to a number of cities that he plans to visit soon, along with the general that is being celebrated, that calls for the use of proper terminology. So I thought that I might as well start thinking along those lines, so ‘triumphator’ it is. The gates were opened and I saw him. The triumphator was riding in a brilliant white chariot, being pulled by a team of the most beautiful white horses that I had ever seen. The chariot had writing on the side. I could just make out that it read: ‘A faithful son of Rome. A true leader of men.’ I was able to have a bit more background information than usual, and I was told that he was personally chosen by Caesar to lead this campaign, and that he was hand-selected to bring impose Rome’s glorious justice upon the peoples of the enemy against which Rome was forced to go to war. Truly, they will benefit from the ‘pax Romana,’ and will come to understand just what it means to experience ‘pax et securitas.’
His face was painted red, like Jupiter. It made his face look like it was on fire. They had done something with his eyes. It was almost like they were glowing. It was pretty impressive. Naturally, he was wearing the laurel wreath crown. Not surprisingly, given the extra special nature of this parituclar ‘triumph’ and triumphator, he was wearing the ‘corona triumphalis.’ For those that may be unfamiliar with this, that doesn’t happen with every ‘triumph.’ The corona triumphalis is a gold coronet that is fashioned in the shape of a laurel wreath, with dangling gold ribbons. I noticed that there was another inscription on the chariot. I asked about that and was told that the triumphator asked to be able to write another name on the chariot---the special name given to him by his father. The writing was a bit odd. I couldn’t make out the language in which it was written, and nobody else around me was able to read that particular language either. I made a notation to ask about it, so perhaps I’ll be able to learn what it said at a later time. Written above that, however, was his proper Roman name. Everybody could read that name. Apparently, Caesar has adopted him as his very own son and he is going to function as Caesar’s mouthpiece and royal emissary. Truly incredible!
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