A Note From Bob

Sunday, and today belongs to Julius Caesar. Tradition holds he was born on July 12, 100 BC, which makes this his day if it is anyone's. Long before Gaul or the Rubicon, a young Caesar was kidnapped by pirates in the Aegean. When they demanded twenty talents for his release, he laughed and told them he was worth at least fifty. He spent his captivity reciting his own poetry to his captors and cheerfully promising to hunt them down once he was freed. They thought he was joking. He was not. Today's featured quiz covers the whole extraordinary life. Pour the coffee.

Trivia Question of the Day

The answer is at the bottom of this email.

Today's Featured Quiz

From a patrician family of modest fortune to master of the Roman world: conqueror of Gaul, victor of the civil war, and the man whose very name became a title. See how well you know the life and legend of Julius Caesar.

The Answer

In February of 44 BC the Senate named Caesar dictator perpetuo, dictator for life. Rome had appointed dictators before, but the office was strictly temporary, an emergency post laid down when the crisis passed. A dictatorship without end looked to many senators like monarchy in everything but name, and one month later, on the Ides of March, a group of them acted on that fear. Rome got its monarchs anyway. Caesar's adopted heir Octavian became Augustus, the first emperor, and every emperor who followed carried Caesar's name as a title.

On This Day

On this day in 1543, King Henry VIII married Catherine Parr in a small ceremony at Hampton Court Palace. She was his sixth and final wife, and she accomplished what none of her predecessors could manage: she outlived him. Henry is just one figure in the long parade of crowned heads who shaped the world, and today's companion quiz covers the whole royal cast: the conquerors, the reformers, the tyrants, and the survivors. Thirty-two questions await. Claim the throne.