#20: Passing Notes
It’s a staple scene from a thousand movies and TV shows: a teacher catches someone passing a note in class. As punishment, they force the student to read the note out loud. Sometimes the note is super embarrassing, and the student who wrote it burns in shame. But other times, there’s a twist, and it’s the teacher who ends up being embarrassed for having interfered.
That’s what happened in the ancient Roman Senate, but instead of students and teachers, it was Cato and Caesar. Cato thought he had uncovered evidence of Caesar’s participation in a conspiracy, but instead what he got was a love note from his own sister, who had slept with Caesar. And that, friends, is why you read the note yourself before you embarrass yourself in front of the entire Roman Senate.