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* PlotTumor: Volume I: They spend most of the latter part with the carriage stuck in the ditch, and won't let the reader forget it.
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* PlotTumor: Volume I: They spend most of The carriage gets stuck in a ditch for an awfully long time. Worsened, since, when put into practice as a class textbook where sessions are spaced apart and translating through the latter part with stories can take a while, the carriage remaining stuck in the ditch, and won't let the reader forget it.can approach tedium or a RunningGag.
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Now an index
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''Ecce Romani''[[note]]"Look, Romans!" or "Behold, Romans!"[[/note]] is a series of Latin textbooks for high school students, teaching through stories, first published in 1971. The first two books follow the story of the Cornelius family, a family of [[AncientRome Romans]] circa A.D. 80. The family includes Gaius, the father and a wealthy senator; Aurelia, his wife; [[TheHero Marcus]] and Cornelia, their children, and [[TheLancer Sextus]], who is not related, but whose widowed father is a good friend of Gaius, who in turn, is looking after Sextus while he stays in Asia. Other major characters are Davus, Cornelius's head slave and farm overseer, and [[TheSmartGuy Eucleides]], the [[AcceptableTargets stereotypical ancient-Greek]] and slave-paedagogus of Marcus and Sextus. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Oh, and Flavia, too.]]
to:
''Ecce Romani''[[note]]"Look, Romans!" or "Behold, Romans!"[[/note]] is a series of Latin textbooks for high school students, teaching through stories, first published in 1971. The first two books follow the story of the Cornelius family, a family of [[AncientRome Romans]] circa A.D. 80. The family includes Gaius, the father and a wealthy senator; Aurelia, his wife; [[TheHero Marcus]] and Cornelia, their children, and [[TheLancer Sextus]], who is not related, but whose widowed father is a good friend of Gaius, who in turn, is looking after Sextus while he stays in Asia. Other major characters are Davus, Cornelius's head slave and farm overseer, and [[TheSmartGuy Eucleides]], the [[AcceptableTargets stereotypical ancient-Greek]] ancient-Greek and slave-paedagogus of Marcus and Sextus. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Oh, and Flavia, too.]]
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''Ecce Romani''[[note]]"Look, Romans!" or "Behold, Romans!"[[/note]] is a series of Latin textbooks for high school students, teaching through stories, first published in 1971. The first two books follow the story of the Cornelius family, a family of [[AncientRome Romans]] circa A.D. 80. The family includes Gaius, the father and a wealthy senator; Aurelia, his wife; [[TheHero Marcus]] and [[TheChick Cornelia]], their children, and [[TheLancer Sextus]], who is not related, but whose widowed father is a good friend of Gaius, who in turn, is looking after Sextus while he stays in Asia. Other major characters are Davus, Cornelius's head slave and farm overseer, and [[TheSmartGuy Eucleides]], the [[AcceptableTargets stereotypical ancient-Greek]] and slave-paedagogus of Marcus and Sextus. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Oh, and Flavia, too.]]
to:
''Ecce Romani''[[note]]"Look, Romans!" or "Behold, Romans!"[[/note]] is a series of Latin textbooks for high school students, teaching through stories, first published in 1971. The first two books follow the story of the Cornelius family, a family of [[AncientRome Romans]] circa A.D. 80. The family includes Gaius, the father and a wealthy senator; Aurelia, his wife; [[TheHero Marcus]] and [[TheChick Cornelia]], Cornelia, their children, and [[TheLancer Sextus]], who is not related, but whose widowed father is a good friend of Gaius, who in turn, is looking after Sextus while he stays in Asia. Other major characters are Davus, Cornelius's head slave and farm overseer, and [[TheSmartGuy Eucleides]], the [[AcceptableTargets stereotypical ancient-Greek]] and slave-paedagogus of Marcus and Sextus. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Oh, and Flavia, too.]]
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* BlueBlood: Very much the Corneli. Well, at least for Gaius's branch of the family. Titus is definitely not this.
* BrattyHalfPint: Sextus, particularly in the first book. It dies down by the second book, but he evolves more into a {{Jerkass}} to compensate.
* BrattyHalfPint: Sextus, particularly in the first book. It dies down by the second book, but he evolves more into a {{Jerkass}} to compensate.
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%% * DeadlyDistantFinale: Ho boy, it sure does. It's close to a KillEmAll ending in terms of execution.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Makes sense, considering the subject matter.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Makes sense, considering the subject matter.
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%% * DeadlyDistantFinale: Ho boy, it sure does. It's close to a KillEmAll ending in terms of execution.
*does.
%%* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Makes sense, considering the subject matter.
*
%%* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Makes sense, considering the subject matter.
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* TheAlcoholic: Uncle Titus.
* AncientRome: The setting.
* AncientRome: The setting.
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%% * TheAlcoholic: Uncle Titus.
%% * AncientRome: The setting.
%% * AncientRome: The setting.
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* CowardlyLion: Sextus, in combination with {{Jerkass}}.
* DeadlyDistantFinale: Ho boy, it sure does. It's close to a KillEmAll ending in terms of execution.
* DeadlyDistantFinale: Ho boy, it sure does. It's close to a KillEmAll ending in terms of execution.
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%% * CowardlyLion: Sextus, in combination with {{Jerkass}}.
%% * DeadlyDistantFinale: Ho boy, it sure does. It's close to a KillEmAll ending in terms of execution.
%% * DeadlyDistantFinale: Ho boy, it sure does. It's close to a KillEmAll ending in terms of execution.
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* {{Jerkass}}: Sextus
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%% * {{Jerkass}}: Sextus
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* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Uncle Titus]]
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%% * KilledOffForReal: KilledOf ForReal: [[spoiler: Uncle Titus]]
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Wedding Day is no longer a trope per TRS
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* WeddingDay: [[spoiler:Cornelia has one with Valerius]] late in book 2.
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* NeverSayDie: Averted for most of the works, but strangely played straight with [[spoiler: Uncle Titus]].
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* NeverSayDie: Averted for most of the works, but strangely Strangely played straight with [[spoiler: Uncle Titus]].
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** As seen on a high school Latin Club t-shirt: 'nostra raeda in fossa adhuc haeret'
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** As seen on a high school Latin Club t-shirt: 'nostra raeda in fossa adhuc haeret'haeret'[[note]]'Our carriage is ''still'' stuck in a ditch[[/note]]
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** As seen on a high school Latin Club t-shirt: 'nostra raeda is fossa adhuc haeret'
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** As seen on a high school Latin Club t-shirt: 'nostra raeda is in fossa adhuc haeret'
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* HavingAGayOldTime: In the words of [[http://everything2.com/user/Acid+Dragon Acid Dragon]] on [[http://everything2.com/title/Ecce+Romani everything2]]:
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* HavingAGayOldTime: HaveAGayOldTime: In the words of [[http://everything2.com/user/Acid+Dragon Acid Dragon]] on [[http://everything2.com/title/Ecce+Romani everything2]]:
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** [[TruthInTelevision veritas in televisio:]] the Romans didn't really ''have'' any other clothing styles. Men wouldn't be caught dead wearing pants, for instance: [[ValuesDissonance it was seen as being effeminate, since the implication was that you weren't sturdy enough to go around with bare legs.]][[note]]The emperor Honorius went as far as to ban the wearing of trousers, although since he was emperor during the Sack of Rome in 410, an event which shocked the Western world, you'd have thought he'd have better things to do with his time.[[/note]]
to:
** [[TruthInTelevision veritas Veritas in televisio:]] Televisio:]] the Romans didn't really ''have'' any other clothing styles. Men wouldn't be caught dead wearing pants, for instance: [[ValuesDissonance it was seen as being effeminate, since the implication was that you weren't sturdy enough to go around with bare legs.]][[note]]The emperor Honorius went as far as to ban the wearing of trousers, although since he was emperor during the Sack of Rome in 410, an event which shocked the Western world, you'd have thought he'd have better things to do with his time.[[/note]]
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->''"Ecce! In pictura est puella, nomine Cornelia. Cornelia est puella Romana quae in Italia habitat...[[note]]"Look! In the picture is a girl named Cornelia. [[ShapedLikeItself Cornelia is a Roman girl who lives in Italy..."]][[/note]]"''
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->''"Ecce! In pictura est puella, nomine Cornelia. Cornelia est puella Romana quae in Italia habitat...[[note]]"Look! "''[[note]]"Look! In the picture is a girl named Cornelia. [[ShapedLikeItself Cornelia is a Roman girl who lives in Italy..."]][[/note]]"''"]][[/note]]
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--->Q:"Ubi est raeda?" [[MemeticMutation A:"raeda in fossa"]]
** As seen on a high school Latin Club t-shirt:'nostra raeda is fossa adhuc haeret'
** As seen on a high school Latin Club t-shirt:'nostra raeda is fossa adhuc haeret'
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** As seen on a high school Latin Club
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* SternTeacher: Palaemon, Marcus and Sextus's secondary school teacher. Sextus, having fallen asleep in his class, gets sent home by him after refusing to extend his hand for it to be beaten. This is apparently a big deal, as it has "never happened before."
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* SternTeacher: Palaemon, Marcus and Sextus's secondary school teacher. Sextus, having fallen asleep in his class, gets sent home by him after refusing to extend his hand for it to be beaten. This is apparently a big deal, as it has "never happened before."before".
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** ...until the epilogue, where Sextus [[spoiler: joins the military]]. We're told "[[spoiler: Sextus...bravely died at age forty-nine trying to rally his panicked ''Legio IX'']]".
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** ...until the epilogue, where Sextus [[spoiler: joins the military]]. We're told "[[spoiler: Sextus... bravely died at age forty-nine trying to rally his panicked ''Legio IX'']]".
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* WeddingDay: [[spoiler: Cornelia has one with Valerius]] late in book 2.
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* WeddingDay: [[spoiler: Cornelia [[spoiler:Cornelia has one with Valerius]] late in book 2.
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Added examples.
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* BrattyHalfPint: Sextus, particularly in the first book. It dies down by the second book, but he evolves more into a {{Jerkass}} to compensate.
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* JerkassGods: The segments with [[ClassicalMythology Roman Mythology]]. Of course, this being a book for high schoolers, it omits the [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal racier parts.]]
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* JerkassGods: The segments with [[ClassicalMythology [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman Mythology]]. Of course, this being a book for high schoolers, it omits the [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal racier parts.]]
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** [[TruthInTelevision veritas in televisio:]] the Romans didn't really ''have'' any other clothing styles. Men wouldn't be caught dead wearing pants, for instance: [[ValuesDissonance it was seen as being effeminate, since the implication was that you weren't sturdy enough to go around with bare legs.]]
to:
** [[TruthInTelevision veritas in televisio:]] the Romans didn't really ''have'' any other clothing styles. Men wouldn't be caught dead wearing pants, for instance: [[ValuesDissonance it was seen as being effeminate, since the implication was that you weren't sturdy enough to go around with bare legs.]]]][[note]]The emperor Honorius went as far as to ban the wearing of trousers, although since he was emperor during the Sack of Rome in 410, an event which shocked the Western world, you'd have thought he'd have better things to do with his time.[[/note]]
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* WritingLines: Not so much a punishment as it is standard educational proceedure.
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* WritingLines: Not so much a punishment as it is standard educational proceedure.procedure.
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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beholdromans.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Books II and III follow.]]
->''"Ecce! In pictura est puella, nomine Cornelia. Cornelia est puella Romana quae in Italia habitat...[[note]]"Look! In the picture is a girl named Cornelia. [[ShapedLikeItself Cornelia is a Roman girl who lives in Italy..."]][[/note]]"''
--> -- '''Opening lines of Ecce Romani I: Chapter One'''
''Ecce Romani''[[note]]"Look, Romans!" or "Behold, Romans!"[[/note]] is a series of Latin textbooks for high school students, teaching through stories, first published in 1971. The first two books follow the story of the Cornelius family, a family of [[AncientRome Romans]] circa A.D. 80. The family includes Gaius, the father and a wealthy senator; Aurelia, his wife; [[TheHero Marcus]] and [[TheChick Cornelia]], their children, and [[TheLancer Sextus]], who is not related, but whose widowed father is a good friend of Gaius, who in turn, is looking after Sextus while he stays in Asia. Other major characters are Davus, Cornelius's head slave and farm overseer, and [[TheSmartGuy Eucleides]], the [[AcceptableTargets stereotypical ancient-Greek]] and slave-paedagogus of Marcus and Sextus. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Oh, and Flavia, too.]]
The plot of the first book involves the Cornelius family returning to the city of [[AncientRome Rome]] after Gaius gets recalled by the emperor to the Senate, and the second follows the things that happen to them there. The third book uses ''actual'' ancient Latin writings, so the plot ends at the end of the second book, which has a few pages (in English) describing what happens to the family.
The above description refers to the later US editions by Prentice Hall, which were published first in 2005. The series was originally published in 1971 by Oliver & Boyd of Edinburgh, Scotland, and was significantly different. It had six books, simple line-art illustrations, and some differences in the plot, though in the absence of the opportunity to directly compare Scottish and US editions it is not possible to be more specific. British schools, naturally, use the Scottish version.
Not to be confused with ''The Literature/CambridgeLatinCourse'', the equivalent Latin textbook in the UK.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* AdvancedAncientAcropolis: Rome is revealed to have been surprisingly technologically advanced and engineered to a very high standard, even when compared to 21'st century first world construction.
* TheAlcoholic: Uncle Titus.
* AncientRome: The setting.
* ArtifactTitle: The third book shares nothing in common with the first two other than being a Latin textbook.
* BlueBlood: Very much the Corneli. Well, at least for Gaius's branch of the family. Titus is definitely not this.
* ContinuityNod: In the second book, Sextus writes a letter to his father about some of the things that happened in the first book. Sextus being Sextus, it isn't exactly how the readers [[BlatantLies remembered]] it.
* CowardlyLion: Sextus, in combination with {{Jerkass}}.
* DeadlyDistantFinale: Ho boy, it sure does. It's close to a KillEmAll ending in terms of execution.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Makes sense, considering the subject matter.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: The writers needed ''someone'' to die before the end of the book in order to explain Roman funeral customs. The most likely character to die was [[spoiler:Uncle Titus, Cornelius's brother. He fell and broke his hip, which killed him a few weeks later.]]
* EthnicMenialLabor: Many of the slaves and laborers are definitely not Roman.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The first book takes only a few days in story time, but is close to 20 chapters long and consumes about 9 months in the real world.
* [[NeverASelfMadeWoman Female Success Is Family]]: Roman Family Values, being what they were, pretty much mandated this. [[spoiler:Cornelia gets married in book 2.]]
* FeminineWomenCanCook: Zig-zags; all females in the story can definitely spin wool, but cooking is exclusive to poor girls.
* GrumpyOldMan: Davus seems like one, but you can't blame his irritability, being annoyed by Sextus constantly.
* HappinessInSlavery: Most of Gaius' slaves seem happy with him as their master. When the Cornelii leave Baiae, they leave Davus in charge, the farm overseer, who is, in fact a slave (it is implied that they do this every year they leave Baiae back to Rome). Shortly after the Cornelii leave, [[spoiler:a slave escapes, and Davus sends out teams of slaves to catch him and brand "FUG" on his forehead]].
* HavingAGayOldTime: In the words of [[http://everything2.com/user/Acid+Dragon Acid Dragon]] on [[http://everything2.com/title/Ecce+Romani everything2]]:
-->"The single most unfortunate thing about these texts is a character named Sextus. This, in and of itself, is not so bad. Romans were frequently named things like Quintus, and Sextus. That's five and six, simply. No, the unfortunate thing about Sextus is that he is an absolute pest. This, also, wouldn't be too bad, except that the Latin word for "annoying" is "molestus". Thus you have the character who is frequently referred to as "Sextus Molestus". Given the average maturity level of a freshman in high school, this means that the lecture is interrupted several times a class period by some unfortunate sot who can't hold his laughter back any longer."
* IdiotBall: Sextus can seemingly conjure it from thin air, and it appears to be magnetically attracted to him.
* {{Jerkass}}: Sextus
* JerkassGods: The segments with [[ClassicalMythology Roman Mythology]]. Of course, this being a book for high schoolers, it omits the [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal racier parts.]]
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Sextus gets away with stuff most of the time, but when he doesn't make a clean getaway, it gets ugly.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Uncle Titus]]
* LargeHam: Uncle Titus. In the second book, he comes in late to the party already drunk, having already gotten smashed at a bar. He then proceeds to make very loud, extravagant drinking toasts and takes several gulps of alcohol before suddenly passing out.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Sextus, immediately after boasting about his [[BlatantLies bravery]] to Marcus because he climbed a tree, and taunting Cornelia and Flavia because he scared them, breaks the branch he was laying on and falls to the earth. Oh, and they told him to descend from the tree several times while he was mocking them.
* LimitedWardrobe: Try to count the scenes where characters wear clothes other than togas/tunicas/stolas.
** [[TruthInTelevision veritas in televisio:]] the Romans didn't really ''have'' any other clothing styles. Men wouldn't be caught dead wearing pants, for instance: [[ValuesDissonance it was seen as being effeminate, since the implication was that you weren't sturdy enough to go around with bare legs.]]
* MoralMyopia: Talk of Gaius being a good and honorable man seems very out of place considering that he can be quite cruel to slaves.
** Well, it is Ancient Rome, where this sort of stuff was more normal than it is now.
* MultiVolumeWork: There are three volumes in the series. The third volume does not continue the story.
* NeverMyFault: Sextus includes this trope when he writes to his father.
* NeverSayDie: Averted for most of the works, but strangely played straight with [[spoiler: Uncle Titus]].
* NoMouth: The artwork in the books isn't exactly of high quality.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Slaves can and will (and are) be punished or chastized for just about anything under the sun.
* OrphansOrdeal: Sextus would describe recent events in his life as this.
* ParentalAbandonment: Sextus may actually have a reason for acting like a {{Jerkass}}. His father is doing business in Asia, while his mother was killed in Pompeii the previous year.
* PlotTumor: Volume I: They spend most of the latter part with the carriage stuck in the ditch, and won't let the reader forget it.
--->Q:"Ubi est raeda?" [[MemeticMutation A:"raeda in fossa"]]
** As seen on a high school Latin Club t-shirt:'nostra raeda is fossa adhuc haeret'
* PutOnABus: Flavia, for the entire course of the whole first book. She lives in Baiae, where the Cornelii live in the summer, and is never heard from again after the Cornelii leave. In the second book, she surfaces again when Cornelia receives a letter from her.
* QuicklyDemotedWoman: Thanks to Patria Potestas, the Paterfamalias of a Roman family has absolute power over everyone in a house. As a result, Gaius always takes control from Aurelia whenever the two are together.
** Actually, by the period in which these books are set, a wife did not usually become subject to her husband's patriapotestas, instead staying in her father's patriapotestas. She would still be expected to subordinate herself to her husband, but that has nothing to do with patriapotestas.
* QuieterThanSilence: The chapter early on where Cornelia sneaks over to say goodbye to Flavia.
* RebelliousPrincess: Strangely, Flavia has more shades of this than Cornelia despite being a minor character.
* RedOniBlueOni: Loads of it.
** Uncle Titus is the hard-partying red oni to Gaius's strictly disciplined blue oni.
** Sextus is the carefree red oni to Marcus's studious blue oni.
** Cornelia is the demure blue oni to Flavia's vigorous red oni.
* RoaringRampageOfRescue: The backstory of Valerius has this.
* ShoutOut: Euclides, to famous real-life Greek geometer Euclid.
* SternTeacher: Palaemon, Marcus and Sextus's secondary school teacher. Sextus, having fallen asleep in his class, gets sent home by him after refusing to extend his hand for it to be beaten. This is apparently a big deal, as it has "never happened before."
* TookALevelInBadass: Wimpy as usual, Sextus goes back to the changing room at the public baths because the water's too hot, where sees a thief stealing his clothes and chases the guy halfway across the bath complex on slippery tiles, then pushes him into a ''frigidarium''. Unfortunately, he goes right back to being a wimp after this chapter.
** ...until the epilogue, where Sextus [[spoiler: joins the military]]. We're told "[[spoiler: Sextus...bravely died at age forty-nine trying to rally his panicked ''Legio IX'']]".
* UnhandThemVillain: When Sextus catches a thief attempting to steal clothes from the baths.
* WeakWilled: Sextus for most of story.
* WeddingDay: [[spoiler: Cornelia has one with Valerius]] late in book 2.
* WelcomeToTheBigCity: Not so much for the Cornelii as for Sextus, who had not been to Rome before the events of the story.
* WhyIsntItAttacking: Androcles and the Lion. The story ends with the same guy walking through downtown Rome with the same Lion.
* WomensMysteries: Brought up in the segments about Roman Religion. Of course, we don't know much about them.
* WouldHitAGirl: Cornelia rightly fears incurring the wrath of her father, Gaius.
* WouldHurtAChild: The robbers that Marcus dreams about were about to kill him before he woke up.
* WritingLines: Not so much a punishment as it is standard educational proceedure.
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Slaves have none of it at all, and they cannot defend themselves against abuse.
* YamatoNadeshiko: Aurelia. Cornelia is one in training.
* YouAreNumberSix: Sextus. After all, it was TruthInTelevision.
----
[[caption-width-right:300:Books II and III follow.]]
->''"Ecce! In pictura est puella, nomine Cornelia. Cornelia est puella Romana quae in Italia habitat...[[note]]"Look! In the picture is a girl named Cornelia. [[ShapedLikeItself Cornelia is a Roman girl who lives in Italy..."]][[/note]]"''
--> -- '''Opening lines of Ecce Romani I: Chapter One'''
''Ecce Romani''[[note]]"Look, Romans!" or "Behold, Romans!"[[/note]] is a series of Latin textbooks for high school students, teaching through stories, first published in 1971. The first two books follow the story of the Cornelius family, a family of [[AncientRome Romans]] circa A.D. 80. The family includes Gaius, the father and a wealthy senator; Aurelia, his wife; [[TheHero Marcus]] and [[TheChick Cornelia]], their children, and [[TheLancer Sextus]], who is not related, but whose widowed father is a good friend of Gaius, who in turn, is looking after Sextus while he stays in Asia. Other major characters are Davus, Cornelius's head slave and farm overseer, and [[TheSmartGuy Eucleides]], the [[AcceptableTargets stereotypical ancient-Greek]] and slave-paedagogus of Marcus and Sextus. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Oh, and Flavia, too.]]
The plot of the first book involves the Cornelius family returning to the city of [[AncientRome Rome]] after Gaius gets recalled by the emperor to the Senate, and the second follows the things that happen to them there. The third book uses ''actual'' ancient Latin writings, so the plot ends at the end of the second book, which has a few pages (in English) describing what happens to the family.
The above description refers to the later US editions by Prentice Hall, which were published first in 2005. The series was originally published in 1971 by Oliver & Boyd of Edinburgh, Scotland, and was significantly different. It had six books, simple line-art illustrations, and some differences in the plot, though in the absence of the opportunity to directly compare Scottish and US editions it is not possible to be more specific. British schools, naturally, use the Scottish version.
Not to be confused with ''The Literature/CambridgeLatinCourse'', the equivalent Latin textbook in the UK.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* AdvancedAncientAcropolis: Rome is revealed to have been surprisingly technologically advanced and engineered to a very high standard, even when compared to 21'st century first world construction.
* TheAlcoholic: Uncle Titus.
* AncientRome: The setting.
* ArtifactTitle: The third book shares nothing in common with the first two other than being a Latin textbook.
* BlueBlood: Very much the Corneli. Well, at least for Gaius's branch of the family. Titus is definitely not this.
* ContinuityNod: In the second book, Sextus writes a letter to his father about some of the things that happened in the first book. Sextus being Sextus, it isn't exactly how the readers [[BlatantLies remembered]] it.
* CowardlyLion: Sextus, in combination with {{Jerkass}}.
* DeadlyDistantFinale: Ho boy, it sure does. It's close to a KillEmAll ending in terms of execution.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Makes sense, considering the subject matter.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: The writers needed ''someone'' to die before the end of the book in order to explain Roman funeral customs. The most likely character to die was [[spoiler:Uncle Titus, Cornelius's brother. He fell and broke his hip, which killed him a few weeks later.]]
* EthnicMenialLabor: Many of the slaves and laborers are definitely not Roman.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The first book takes only a few days in story time, but is close to 20 chapters long and consumes about 9 months in the real world.
* [[NeverASelfMadeWoman Female Success Is Family]]: Roman Family Values, being what they were, pretty much mandated this. [[spoiler:Cornelia gets married in book 2.]]
* FeminineWomenCanCook: Zig-zags; all females in the story can definitely spin wool, but cooking is exclusive to poor girls.
* GrumpyOldMan: Davus seems like one, but you can't blame his irritability, being annoyed by Sextus constantly.
* HappinessInSlavery: Most of Gaius' slaves seem happy with him as their master. When the Cornelii leave Baiae, they leave Davus in charge, the farm overseer, who is, in fact a slave (it is implied that they do this every year they leave Baiae back to Rome). Shortly after the Cornelii leave, [[spoiler:a slave escapes, and Davus sends out teams of slaves to catch him and brand "FUG" on his forehead]].
* HavingAGayOldTime: In the words of [[http://everything2.com/user/Acid+Dragon Acid Dragon]] on [[http://everything2.com/title/Ecce+Romani everything2]]:
-->"The single most unfortunate thing about these texts is a character named Sextus. This, in and of itself, is not so bad. Romans were frequently named things like Quintus, and Sextus. That's five and six, simply. No, the unfortunate thing about Sextus is that he is an absolute pest. This, also, wouldn't be too bad, except that the Latin word for "annoying" is "molestus". Thus you have the character who is frequently referred to as "Sextus Molestus". Given the average maturity level of a freshman in high school, this means that the lecture is interrupted several times a class period by some unfortunate sot who can't hold his laughter back any longer."
* IdiotBall: Sextus can seemingly conjure it from thin air, and it appears to be magnetically attracted to him.
* {{Jerkass}}: Sextus
* JerkassGods: The segments with [[ClassicalMythology Roman Mythology]]. Of course, this being a book for high schoolers, it omits the [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal racier parts.]]
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Sextus gets away with stuff most of the time, but when he doesn't make a clean getaway, it gets ugly.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Uncle Titus]]
* LargeHam: Uncle Titus. In the second book, he comes in late to the party already drunk, having already gotten smashed at a bar. He then proceeds to make very loud, extravagant drinking toasts and takes several gulps of alcohol before suddenly passing out.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Sextus, immediately after boasting about his [[BlatantLies bravery]] to Marcus because he climbed a tree, and taunting Cornelia and Flavia because he scared them, breaks the branch he was laying on and falls to the earth. Oh, and they told him to descend from the tree several times while he was mocking them.
* LimitedWardrobe: Try to count the scenes where characters wear clothes other than togas/tunicas/stolas.
** [[TruthInTelevision veritas in televisio:]] the Romans didn't really ''have'' any other clothing styles. Men wouldn't be caught dead wearing pants, for instance: [[ValuesDissonance it was seen as being effeminate, since the implication was that you weren't sturdy enough to go around with bare legs.]]
* MoralMyopia: Talk of Gaius being a good and honorable man seems very out of place considering that he can be quite cruel to slaves.
** Well, it is Ancient Rome, where this sort of stuff was more normal than it is now.
* MultiVolumeWork: There are three volumes in the series. The third volume does not continue the story.
* NeverMyFault: Sextus includes this trope when he writes to his father.
* NeverSayDie: Averted for most of the works, but strangely played straight with [[spoiler: Uncle Titus]].
* NoMouth: The artwork in the books isn't exactly of high quality.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Slaves can and will (and are) be punished or chastized for just about anything under the sun.
* OrphansOrdeal: Sextus would describe recent events in his life as this.
* ParentalAbandonment: Sextus may actually have a reason for acting like a {{Jerkass}}. His father is doing business in Asia, while his mother was killed in Pompeii the previous year.
* PlotTumor: Volume I: They spend most of the latter part with the carriage stuck in the ditch, and won't let the reader forget it.
--->Q:"Ubi est raeda?" [[MemeticMutation A:"raeda in fossa"]]
** As seen on a high school Latin Club t-shirt:'nostra raeda is fossa adhuc haeret'
* PutOnABus: Flavia, for the entire course of the whole first book. She lives in Baiae, where the Cornelii live in the summer, and is never heard from again after the Cornelii leave. In the second book, she surfaces again when Cornelia receives a letter from her.
* QuicklyDemotedWoman: Thanks to Patria Potestas, the Paterfamalias of a Roman family has absolute power over everyone in a house. As a result, Gaius always takes control from Aurelia whenever the two are together.
** Actually, by the period in which these books are set, a wife did not usually become subject to her husband's patriapotestas, instead staying in her father's patriapotestas. She would still be expected to subordinate herself to her husband, but that has nothing to do with patriapotestas.
* QuieterThanSilence: The chapter early on where Cornelia sneaks over to say goodbye to Flavia.
* RebelliousPrincess: Strangely, Flavia has more shades of this than Cornelia despite being a minor character.
* RedOniBlueOni: Loads of it.
** Uncle Titus is the hard-partying red oni to Gaius's strictly disciplined blue oni.
** Sextus is the carefree red oni to Marcus's studious blue oni.
** Cornelia is the demure blue oni to Flavia's vigorous red oni.
* RoaringRampageOfRescue: The backstory of Valerius has this.
* ShoutOut: Euclides, to famous real-life Greek geometer Euclid.
* SternTeacher: Palaemon, Marcus and Sextus's secondary school teacher. Sextus, having fallen asleep in his class, gets sent home by him after refusing to extend his hand for it to be beaten. This is apparently a big deal, as it has "never happened before."
* TookALevelInBadass: Wimpy as usual, Sextus goes back to the changing room at the public baths because the water's too hot, where sees a thief stealing his clothes and chases the guy halfway across the bath complex on slippery tiles, then pushes him into a ''frigidarium''. Unfortunately, he goes right back to being a wimp after this chapter.
** ...until the epilogue, where Sextus [[spoiler: joins the military]]. We're told "[[spoiler: Sextus...bravely died at age forty-nine trying to rally his panicked ''Legio IX'']]".
* UnhandThemVillain: When Sextus catches a thief attempting to steal clothes from the baths.
* WeakWilled: Sextus for most of story.
* WeddingDay: [[spoiler: Cornelia has one with Valerius]] late in book 2.
* WelcomeToTheBigCity: Not so much for the Cornelii as for Sextus, who had not been to Rome before the events of the story.
* WhyIsntItAttacking: Androcles and the Lion. The story ends with the same guy walking through downtown Rome with the same Lion.
* WomensMysteries: Brought up in the segments about Roman Religion. Of course, we don't know much about them.
* WouldHitAGirl: Cornelia rightly fears incurring the wrath of her father, Gaius.
* WouldHurtAChild: The robbers that Marcus dreams about were about to kill him before he woke up.
* WritingLines: Not so much a punishment as it is standard educational proceedure.
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Slaves have none of it at all, and they cannot defend themselves against abuse.
* YamatoNadeshiko: Aurelia. Cornelia is one in training.
* YouAreNumberSix: Sextus. After all, it was TruthInTelevision.
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