PEOPLE LEFT TO WONDER WHAT IS TO COME
The world, too saucy with the gods, Incenses them to send destruction
By Siddharthero Virkudius
Rome, Italy-
Torrential rain began pounding the streets late last night, prompting an onslaught of odd sightings across the empire. Fear and panic struck those left out in the open, and forced them to face the wrath the gods sent upon us all.
Most locals saw these signs as something ominous yet to come, but a select few saw it as a welcoming sign. One thing is certain, change is about to be thrust upon us.
Earlier today I ran into the most honorable Casca, who was kind enough to share what he saw last night. Caught in the midst of the storm on what he explained as a very important errand, he told us of the unusual sightings.
“I have seen tempests when the scolding winds have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen th’ ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam to be exalted with the threat’ning clouds; but never till tonight, never till now, did I go through a tempest dropping fire. Either there is a civil strife in heaven, or else the world, too saucy with the gods, incenses them to send destruction” (Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Act I, Scene 3, lines 5-13).
Not in recent times have the citizens of Rome ever experienced what went on between the hours of nine PM and one AM. Nothing compares to the horrors witnessed last night.
“A common slave (you'd know him well by sight) held up his left hand,
which did flame and burn like twenty torches join'd,” continued Casca, “and yet
His hand, not sensible of fire, remain'd unscorch'd” (Act I, Scene 3, lines 15-18).
Something so unforeseen as this prompts uneasiness not only of the local people, but should also get the great Caesar to think. Are the gods trying to suggest something to him?
As the downpour continued late into the night, stranger events began to occur. “…Against the Capitol I met a lion, who glared upon me, and went surly by, without annoying me,” Casca proceeded. “And there were drawn upon a heap a hundred ghastly women, transformed with their fear; who swore they saw Men, all in fire, walk up and down the streets” (Act I, Scene 3, lines 20-25).”
On this day the unnerved citizens of Rome have become quite ignorant of the dangers and harm from the flames sent down upon us.
As Casca stated, “When these prodigies do so conjointly meet, let not men say, ‘These are their reasons; they are natural’; for I believe they are portentous things unto the climate that they point upon” (Act I, Scene 3, lines 29-32).
Citizens such as the noble Cicero thought differently of these events.
“Indeed, it is a strange-disposèd time. But men may construe things after their fashion, clean from the purpose of the things themselves” (Act I, Scene 3, lines 33-35).
The citizens of Rome may not have faced the worst yet. Only time will tell what will happen. Anxiously we all must wait for our fates to play out. Hopefully, another event such as this will never occur again.