Ten

“Scene one. A street in Rome. Flavius, Marullus, a mob of citizens. An initial division has already occurred. On one side, we have two tribunes, two officials who have benefited from the class system of this empire. We can assume they are elegantly dressed; with their noses in the air. On the other side, some anonymous persons: First Commoner, Second Commoner, prisoners of a nomenclature lacking in specificity. In some versions they are described by their profession; in none by their proper names. There is more. The two tribunes are upset. Meanwhile, the plebeians celebrate. We already know all this, and they haven’t even opened their mouths yet.

“Flavius breaks the enchantment. He looks out at the crowd and says, ‘Hence!’ In other words: ‘Get out of here!’ The tribune orders; the citizens listen. Flavius continues: ‘Home, you idle creatures, get you home!’ Flavius wants the citizens to return to their homes; he reproaches them for their vagrancy, reminds them that it’s prohibited to circulate in the street without guild identification. ‘Is this a holiday?’ he asks them. He doesn’t wait for a reply. ‘A labouring day’, he answers.

“And so we have an outline of our Flavius already: elitist, demanding, authoritarian. Why? Where did he get such a feeling of impunity? Who does he think he is to talk to the plebeians that way? How dare he expel these citizens from the very streets of Rome?”