Episode 4.2.b
>Caecilius's Villa, Pompeii, Italy, 79 CE<
Caecilius listens, nods once with the air of a man whose opinion has been confirmed, and sets down his cup.
"Good," he says. "You know something. That is more than most." He settles back, and the particular comfort in his posture is the comfort of a man who is about to talk about something he genuinely loves. "I will tell you what I think, since you have earned it.
"Vergil. Every year I read the Aeneid, every year. Aeneas was the best of men: brave, dutiful, obedient to the gods, willing to carry his father out of a burning city on his own back and leave everything else behind. He did what fate asked of him, even when it cost him everything, and at the end of it he gave Rome its foundations. That is what a Roman should be." He says it with the finality of a man reciting something he has said many times and has never found reason to revise.
"Cicero." A small pause. "A good man. Genuinely virtuous, which is rarer than people think. But not wise. Who attacks Caesar? No one with any sense. Cicero had principles and no judgment, which is a dangerous combination, and it cost him his head."
He refills his cup, and something in his expression cools slightly.
"Ovid was a fool. A gifted fool, I will grant that, but a fool. Who attacks the family of Augustus? In writing? No one who understands how the world works. He got what he deserved."
He pauses. "Horace. I have his books. I have read his books. I will confess to you that I have never entirely understood his books." He says this without embarrassment, as a simple accounting of fact. "He is a fine writer. He is simply, for whatever reason, not clear to me."
He looks at you, then at Tiberius, then back at you.
"But you tell me: why do any of them matter? Why are these writers great?"
Prompt: Find out why Caecilius likes what he likes. He will not tell you outright, so you'll have to deduce from your research why he feels as he does.
