History Literature / DetectivesInTogas

* CheatersNeverProsper: Icarus uses his {{whip|ItGood}} to pull Ben Gor (who's slightly ahead) off his chariot. But Ben's horses are so well-trained that they keep on running the right way - [[NiceJobFixingItVillain and since the chariot is lighter without Ben, they can run even faster]].

* ConvictionByContradiction: Inverted - at one point Caius claims to have committed the crime Rufus is in prison for (writing "Caius is a fool" on a temple wall). He states that he took Rufus' wax tablet, filled the engraved writing with paint and pressed it on the wall (that's why it looks identical to Rufus' handwriting), but Mucius concludes that if this had happened, the writing would have been in reverse.

* RaceAgainstTime: In book three, the last opportunity to convince the emperor to set Caius free will be at the chariot race, because the emperor will leave for Capri where he may stay for months. (As RL Tiberius often did.)

----

* CheatersNeverProsper: Icarus uses his [[WhipItGood whip]] to pull Ben Gor (who's slightly ahead) off his chariot. But Ben's horses are so well-trained that they keep on running the right way - [[NiceJobFixingItVillain and since the chariot is lighter without Ben, they can run even faster]].

* FilmOfTheBook: Made in Germany, and supposed to come RealSoonNow.

* JerkAss: Publius and sometimes Caius

** And in book three, Claudia sends them a letter which sounds suspicious because [[SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay she doesn't seem to care for the death of her brother]]. On the letter are three doodles - two triangles next to each other, a goat's head, and a circle with some lines around it. [[spoiler:The triangles stand for a pyramid, the goat for milk - most Romans drank goat milk - and the circle for the sun, or heat in general. Claudia was hinting at an Egyptian technique for hiding messages by writing them in goat's milk, so the letters become invisible, but reappear once you heat the pergament.]] Antonius helps to come to the conclusion when he states that it's like a riddle of the sphinx.

* NoChildhoodAmnesia: When they need someone with a good memory, Antonius claims he can remember the time when he was a baby, laid in his cradle and was bored, and could say nothing but "papa" and "mama". Xanthippos states that he can remember ''his'' babyhood as well - and the students can barely imagine he ever was a baby.

* DisproportionateRetribution: When Rufus writes down the offending words, Xanthos kicks him out from the school - forever. This sets off the plot - [[spoiler:Rufus goes to Lukos, thinking he was a real sorceror, to make Xanthos forget to tell Rufus' parents that he's kicked out.]]

* ChekhovsLesson: At the beginning of the first book, the boys have to learn Greek vocables. Quite boring for them, and probably for the reader too. So it's easy to miss the one that matters later: [[spoiler:"ho lukos" - the wolf]].
* TheComicallySerious: It rarely happens that Xanthippos is laughing, about once per book. The first time he does this, the boys can barely believe this.

* EpilepticTrees: In-story. When the boys notice that the seer Lukos never leaves his home, Antonius comes up with the explanation that Lukos has no legs (and no slaves who could carry him either). The truth, BTW, is... different.

* CheatersNeverProsper: Icarus

* DepravedDwarf: One gladiator in book 2.

'''Detectives in Togas''' (in Germany known as ''Caius, der Lausbub aus dem alten Rom'' - Caius the brat from Ancient Rome) is a 1953 children's book by Henry Winterfeld, who was born in Germany but emigrated to America. It's about the AncientRome adventures of seven preteen boys (all of them sons of senators) who visit (and constitute) the prestigious school of the old Greek teacher Xanthos.

The novel had two sequels: '''Mystery of the Roman Ransom''' (1969) and '''Caius in a Tight spot''' (1976).

* ShoutOut: Book 3 has [[BenHur Ben Gor]] from Galilee.

* TheProfessor: Teacher Xanthos, who saves the day twice - in the second book, he discovers where the disappeared gold has to be. [[spoiler:It's in the false bottom of the cage of a [[EverythingsWorseWithBears bear]]. The hint: Said bear in his cage had to be lifted by way more legionnaires than necessary - the hidden gold explained the difference in weight.]] And in book three, he manages to find out the secret codeword for the Circus Maximus, despite the fact that Caius was thoroughly confused and couldn't remember whether it was the name of "a woman who won a horrible battle" or "a man who almost drowned". [[spoiler: It's Pyrrhus (Pyrrha respectively), as in PyrrhicVictory - Caius had confused the sexes.]]

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Sometimes, the author made errors - one boy claims to have goldfish (can't be, they originated in China). Or when one boy calls another one a turkey (which came from America).