And the The intro story to last episode gave us a quick snapshot into the relationship

between Cleopatra and Cicero. The intro story to this episode will give us a little snapshot of Caesar and Cicero's relationship.

And I realize that Cleopatra herself plays no role in this short story. But I just found this story amusing when I read it as it once

again humanizes these figures from history and I thought to share it with you. So according to sources this story takes place in December of

45 b.c. So this is again during the time that Cleopatra was in Rome, which we cover in depth in this episode.

And during that time, Caesar and members of his staff traveled to Putioli on business.

And Putioli, as we said last episode, was the main seaport for Rome at this time, and it was about

170 miles from Rome itself.

And Cicero had a villa in Puteoli where he often spent time.

And so during this business trip of Caesars to Puteoli, he decided to stay with Cicero. And the reason being, according to author Dr.

Joanne Fletcher, is that Caesar wanted to quote, gauge the level of

Republican feeling from his host's gossipy conversation.

End quote.

So basically, Caesar wanted intel from Cicero, who, from what we can infer here, was loose-lipped and quite the

gossiper.

The night this all took place was reported to have been December 19th of 45 bc.

Cicero later wrote to a friend the following brief account

and all this really is is a description of what it was like to have Julius Caesar as your house

guest and some of what Caesar did on any given day.

But again, this everyday description gives us an idea of what these larger-than-life figures

were like as normal people.

So letting Cicero pick it up from here, he wrote to a friend that Caesar had been, quote, a formidable

...