{"id":1699,"date":"2021-10-05T15:16:32","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T15:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/?p=1699"},"modified":"2021-10-05T15:16:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T15:16:32","slug":"veni-vedi-veci-caesar-and-the-bully","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/2021\/10\/05\/veni-vedi-veci-caesar-and-the-bully\/","title":{"rendered":"Veni, Vedi, Veci: Caesar and the Bully"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Count Fosco tells his narrative, and he comes to the point where he explains his interactions with Mr. Fairlie, he simply sees the man as another obstacle to his malevolent plans. Fosco describes how he \u201ccame, saw, and conquered Fairlie\u201d (Collins 605), a reference to the Latin <\/span>veni, vedi, veci<\/span><\/i> (I came, I saw, I conquered) used by Julius Caesar around 47 B.C. (see link at bottom of post). Caesar\u2019s phrase was used in reference to a quick and easy victory, which was exactly what Fosco believed he had with Fairlie. Interestingly, going back to Mr. Fairlie\u2019s narrative of the conversation with Fosco, he does not fully commit himself to the foreigner; Mr. Fairlie thinks to himself as he writes the note to Laura about traveling to Limmeridge: \u201cThere was not the least danger of the invitation being accepted, for there was not the least chance that Laura would consent to leave Blackwater Park, while Marian was lying there ill\u201d (Collins 355). Fairlie did not believe he had been conquered by Fosco, nor even that he was obeying Fosco\u2019s wishes; he merely believed he was acting in a way that would allow Fosco to leave the house without making too much of a fuss. Fosco, on the other hand, saw this as a victory; Fairlie was doing exactly what the foreigner needed him to, with little complaint or hesitation. This feeds straight into the idea that readers have of Fairlie. He never fights against anyone around him, he (oh God!) simply <\/span>doesn\u2019t<\/span><\/i> have the nerves for it. Fairlie is weak, incapable, complicit and easily conquered; <\/span>veni, vedi, veci<\/span><\/i> indeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fosco, of course, must boast about his victory over the feeble man. Like Caesar before him, he must let the world know that he came, saw, and conquered someone weaker than himself. Fosco does this because he is insecure; he is finally called out for the whole conspiracy to get Laura\u2019s money, and clearly he was not able to conquer Laura or Marian, so he must go after the weakest link and tell everyone about it. This weakens Fosco\u2019s character, although he believes it strengthens it, and makes him seem like a bully (which he is!).<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/theculturetrip.com\/europe\/italy\/articles\/veni-vidi-vici-origin-of-the-saying-i-came-i-saw-i-conquered\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Count Fosco tells his narrative, and he comes to the point where he explains his interactions with Mr. Fairlie, he simply sees the man as another obstacle to his malevolent plans. Fosco describes how he \u201ccame, saw, and conquered Fairlie\u201d (Collins 605), a reference to the Latin veni, vedi, veci (I came, I saw, … Continue reading Veni, Vedi, Veci: Caesar and the Bully<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[135983],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/victorianlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}