FM: Lesson - Reading Passage, Story Summary

Story Summary

As we continue reading the story Caedes Intellecta, it is important to remind ourselves of what has happened previously and the events that we can expect to read about in the upcoming chapter. So, let's review and get ready for the next part of the story!

The image to the right depicts the remains of the Theater of Marcellus. The edifice has been repurposed for more recent construction.

Story Notes

Nine days passed since the death of Marcellus. His body had been carefully prepared: anointed with oils, and carefully dressed in a fine toga. He had been placed with his feet facing the door, awaiting his final passage to the funeral pyre. The Julian family hired a large crowd of professional mourners to accompany the pompa funebris (funeral procession) including musicians and a set of women, who wept loudly and tore their garments, while rubbing ash in their hair. The family itself, along with a select group of close friends and associates, accompanied the body to the pyre, where Octavian Augustus himself delivered the eulogy. Qui est mortuus, est iam absens. - He who is dead, is no longer present.

Many people came out for the funeral procession for Marcellus. Even those without much offered what they could - small offerings of grain or libations of wine. A libation is a pouring out of wine in honor of the deceased or of a deity. Wine was cheaper to obtain than a full animal, so poorer families often offered libations instead of live animal sacrifices. Selene, as a prominent foreign dignitary living in Octavia's house, participated in the procession. Though keenly aware of her own mourning, Selene marveled at the grand displays of sorrow, performed by the professional guilds and by the closer family members. As she marched, and participated in the mourning for the lost Marcellus, she heard whispers, snippets of conversation having to do with the rumors. Quis haec dicebat? - Who was saying these things?

After the funeral proceedings, Selene returned to Pseudolus' study. It had been a few days since she had the opportunity to speak with her mentor, and with the new information she learned at the funeral ringing in her ears, she desperately wanted to talk. Pseudolus was more than pleased to see Selene and to have a quiet moment to compare notes on what they both had found up to this point.