Triumph - Julius Caesar

On September 21, 46 BC, Julius Caesar celebrated the first of four triumphal processions with the leader of the Gauls Vercingetorix led in chains through Rome. An excerpt from the article:

"On a bright summer morning in the year 46 B.C., the gates of Rome’s porta triumphalis swung open at last. This city gate was used only to admit a conquering hero beginning his triumphal parade, the greatest honor Rome could grant one of her citizens. Fourteen years earlier Caesar had forfeited the triumph for his Spanish victories so that he might stand for consul. But now Rome was about to witness a victory celebration unlike any before.

Over the next few weeks Caesar staged no fewer than four triumphs—one for each of his victories in Gaul, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Africa. The commemoration of the Gallic war was by far the grandest. Caesar rode in a chariot drawn by white horses and surrounded by dozens of lictors bearing the fasces before them. Carts bearing countless pounds of silver and gold treasures moved into the city, followed by high-ranking captives and slaves. Caesar’s soldiers sang provocative and obscene songs mocking their commander, as was the ancient custom:

Men of Rome, lock up your wives—

we bring you the bald adulterer!

The gold you loaned him gold here in Rome,

he wasted on the whores of Gaul.

The crowd finally glimpsed the featured attraction of the Gaulish triumph—Vercingetorix. Caesar had kept his famous adversary in prison for the last six years awaiting this moment. The man who had once led all of Gaul in rebellion spent the last few hours of his life in a cage rolling through the Roman Forum. The crowd felt no pity for the Gaulish king when Caesar gave the signal for his execution."