Whilst it is very easy to poke fun at how historically inaccurate movies such as Gladiator are, which, as regular readers know, is something of a common target of mine, they do get some things right and in this respect, it is undoubtedly true that the emperor Commodus was a complete arsehole.
Funny how this whole poison thing didn't just disappear when Rome fell... Renaissance Italy became the go-to place for sophisticated poisoning (just think of Borgia's reputation). The same country that used to prosecute people for veneficium ended up with a Europe-wide reputation for being really good at it!
Marcia's actions put me in mind of these lyrics from Howlin Wolf's song "What A Woman": "You put poison in my coffee/instead of milk or cream/You're the meanest old woman/that I ever seen."
Later, in one version of the song, she ups the ante by spiking his drink with Red Devil Lye, whatever that is...
Great article - really interesting!
Thanks very much.
LF
-fici = doer?
Doers, plural. The ending -i often indicates a plural or genitive form. So Benefici (from beneficus) – "doers of good".
It's from facere, meaning "to make" or "to do"
Funny how this whole poison thing didn't just disappear when Rome fell... Renaissance Italy became the go-to place for sophisticated poisoning (just think of Borgia's reputation). The same country that used to prosecute people for veneficium ended up with a Europe-wide reputation for being really good at it!
Marcia's actions put me in mind of these lyrics from Howlin Wolf's song "What A Woman": "You put poison in my coffee/instead of milk or cream/You're the meanest old woman/that I ever seen."
Later, in one version of the song, she ups the ante by spiking his drink with Red Devil Lye, whatever that is...