Line #15 Recap/AsterixAndCaesarsGift


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6	In the twenty-first ''Asterix'' volume, Goscinny and Uderzo skewer local politics, and especially election campaigns.
7
8	Having completed twenty years of service in the Roman Army, veteran legionaries Tremensdelirius and Egganlettus are having a final drink together before their honesta missio (Latin for honorary discharge) the next morning, at which they are due to receive plots of land as thank you gifts. However, Tremensdelirius (who has hardly ever been sober in his twenty years in the Legions) expresses his opinion on Julius Caesar in his drunken state and gets arrested.
9
10	The following morning Caesar is informed of Tremensdelirius's rant and his career alcoholism, and Caesar suggests playing a practical joke: he will receive his honorary discharge after all, but Caesar has a "special" gift for him. In the ceremony, Egganlettus receives a share in Nicaea (called Nice today) and the still drunk Tremensdelirius receives his special gift: a village in Armorica, surrounded by fortified Roman camps. A few days later in Arausio (today known as Orange), Tremensdelirius is drunk again and is unable to pay his bill, so he offers his land share to the innkeeper, Orthopaedix. After consulting his wife Angina (who was never on board with leaving their home in Lutetia to open the inn in Arausio), Orthopaedix agrees to the bargain, unaware that he has just "bought" the village Asterix and his friends call home.
11
12	Soon Orthopaedix, Angina, and their teenage daughter Influenza (who was even less enthusiastic about leaving Lutetia than her mother, and doesn't see this new move as an improvement) arrive at "their" new village. They are disappointed to find it already inhabited, but hope the seal of Julius Caesar will convince the villagers to leave. Their first encounter with the locals is inauspicious; Obelix is teaching Dogmatix to retrieve... with menhirs, which is already enough to convince Angina that the villagers are crazy. This impression is reinforced when they ask to see the village chief, and Vitalstatistix bursts out laughing upon reading the tablet, as do the other villagers. Vitalstatistix points out that nobody can offer a gift not already possessed by himself; the rule includes Caesar and this particular village is the only one not held by him.
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14	Angina starts berating her husband for his decision to leave Lutetia for Arausio and envies her sister for marrying successful businessman Dithyrambix. Vitalstatistix is reminded of his own rivalry with his affluent brother-in-law Homeopathix, and decides to offer Orthopaedix a chance to get out of his situation by inviting him to open an inn (the village not having one already) in the vacant building next to Unhygienix's fish stall. Obelix helps the new family and soon has a crush on Influenza. All of the villagers are invited to attend the opening night of the new inn, which Orthopaedix calls the Bracing Breeze (a reference to the sea air; Angina, meanwhile, can only smell Unhygienix's rotting fish), but the merriment seems to end when Vitalstatistix and his wife Impedimenta arrive. Impedimenta and Angina greet each other coldly and soon the two women enter an argument about who owns the village. Meanwhile a comment by Impedimenta about the smell of fish has set off Unhygienix and Fulliautomatix's rivalry, and the inevitable fight breaks out.
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16	The following morning, the inn's furnishings are smashed in, Orthopaedix is sporting a black eye, and Angina is reduced to sobbing as Influenza tries to comfort her. The innkeeper has already had enough and vows to return to Lutetia (to Influenza's delight), but Angina now wants revenge against Impedimenta, and she makes a claim to the leadership of the village on her husband's behalf. Vitalstatistix is shocked; never in all the time he has been chief has his position been thus challenged. He asks the bard Cacofonix to conduct an opinion poll, with disappointing results: no-one cares who runs the village except Geriatrix, who is only backing Vitalstatistix out of xenophobia. Cacofonix offers to sing in Vitalstatistix's support, but the chief can only pretend to like the bard's music for so long before he orders him to shut up, and the furious bard throws his support behind Orthopaedix. An attempt to rally support backfires when Vitalstatistix discovers the hard way that it is impossible to please Fulliautomatix and Unhygienix simultaneously, with the latter defecting to Orthopaedix, and even one of his shield bearers takes him at his word when he says anyone unhappy with his position is welcome to leave.
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18	Soon, both candidates and their families search for supporters by offering their markedly insincere voice of support to the individual concerns of each villager; Angina solicits Unhygienix and Bacteria's votes by buying fish from them (which she immediately orders Orthopaedix to bury in the back garden) and gets Influenza to canvass Obelix on her father's behalf. Though the menhir deliveryman doesn't quite take her reasons for wanting to talk to him on board, he understands enough to get angry when Asterix suggests it might be best for the village if Orthopaedix and his family left, and goes to the inn to drown his sorrows with... goat's milk. The revelation that Cacofonix, Unhygienix, and Obelix have all been seen frequenting Orthopaedix's inn worries Vitalstatistix, and his indecision enrages Geriatrix to the point of throwing his hat in the ring as a third party candidate. Getafix, meanwhile, refuses any and all entreaties to give magic potion to Vitalstatistix, Geriatrix, or their prospective supporters.
19
20	Asterix, however, becomes worried that internal conflict could benefit the Romans, and his fears are justified when Tremensdelirius arrives to visit Orthopaedix and explains that since their last meeting, he has been unable to find a trade at which he is any good (he even joined Redbeard's band of pirates, with the usual end result), and since he is technically not allowed to sell his land to Gauls, he wants the village back. The family attempts to throw him out, only for him to draw his sword on them. They are saved by the timely arrival of Asterix, who defeats the Roman in a display of swordsmanship that dazzles Influenza and sends the irate Tremensdelirius away, vowing revenge.
21
22	The veteran legionary visits Laudanum, one of the four Roman camps surrounding the village, and finds his old friend Egganlettus serving as an aide-de-camp under the local centurion, Tonsillitus, as he found retirement boring and signed up for another 20 years. With his support Tremensdelirius makes an official request on the centurion to restore a stolen land share to a veteran soldier. The centurion is rather reluctant to face the Gauls but the veterans threaten to report him to Caesar who would not like the Gauls taking advantage of his veterans. He agrees to prepare a military attack (but demotes Egganlettus back to legionary second class for getting him involved in a skirmish with the Gauls).
23
24	The following day, Asterix patches things up with Obelix, but they promptly fall out again when, as Asterix tries to tell his friend about the suspicious Roman who visited their village, Influenza stops by and thanks him for his heroic exploits; furious that Asterix has captured the eyes of his crush, Obelix casts his lot in with Geriatrix. Getafix, meanwhile, is so disgusted by the infighting among the villagers that he shuts himself in his hut and refuses all visitors, even Asterix. Hence, Asterix decides to investigate the forest area himself and soon finds that in the camp of Laudanum, they are preparing siege weapons for an extended campaign. He listens to their plans but lacks the magic potion needed to end their preparations. The Romans see him, but are afraid to attack, enabling him to escape. However his escape means the Romans become convinced that the Gauls can no longer resist them, thus Roman morale rises (and Egganlettus is promoted back to Optio).
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26	Asterix returns to the village and attempts to sound the alarm, but Vitalstatistix and Orthopaedix are about to have a candidates' debate with the decidedly partisan Cacofonix officiating, and the village pays no attention to Asterix until the debate is interrupted by rocks thrown into the village by the Roman catapults outside. Vitalstatistix begs Getafix for magic potion, but the druid continues to refuse; Orthopaedix, blaming himself for the destruction raining down on the village, tries to turn himself over to the Romans, even though Vitalstatistix points out they'll butcher him. When the chief insists to Getafix that it's Orthopaedix for whom he wants magic potion, the impressed druid agrees to help. Obelix is able to single-handedly hold the Romans at bay until the magic potion is prepared, at which point the rival factions of villagers combine their efforts against the Romans and counterattack, demolishing the war machines. Orthopaedix himself confronts Tremensdelirius and returns the stone tablet that claims ownership of the village and smashes it on Tremensdelirius' head. Egganlettus, meanwhile, gets demoted to legionary second class again.
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28	The Gauls are reconciled following their victory. A much more confident Orthopaedix befriends his former rival, and decides to withdraw his claim for leadership, stand up to Angina and return to Lutetia, to Influenza's delight. Now he has something to brag about to Dithyrambix. Impedimenta and Angina have nothing left to fight about, and they exchange recipes and addresses of their relatives in Lutetia. Geriatrix abandons his candidacy, and Vitalstatistix is once again the undisputed chief of the village. With Influenza due to leave, Asterix and Obelix are friends again. There is a victory celebration at night and everyone (men and women alike - yes, even Cacofonix) takes part.[[note]] The women of the village began attending the banquets on a regular basis starting with ''Asterix and the Secret Weapon''.[[/note]]
29	----
30	!!This album has examples of:
31	* AchillesInHisTent: Getafix is so enraged that Vitalstatistix wants to use magic potion against Orthopaedix that he locks himself in his hut and refuses to give potion to anyone. Hence Asterix has to scout on the Romans without super strength and nearly gets caught.
32	* TheAlcoholic: Tremensdelirius, so much that he was hardly ever sober during his 20 years of service.
33	* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: The story is kickstarted by a drunk soldier dissing Caesar and getting caught, which made Caesar "give" him the Gauls' village as his retirement gift.
34	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Obelix has a crush on Influenza, who has a crush on Asterix.
35	* BrickJoke: When we first see Asterix and Obelix, Obelix is trying to teach Dogmatix to fetch menhirs. During the Roman attack, Obelix crushes one of the catapults with a menhir, but to his dismay Dogmatix thinks they are playing fetch again and runs after it.
36	* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Influenza would much rather have stayed at home, and makes this known at every opportunity.
37	* CatapultToGlory: As he's out of potion, Asterix escapes the Romans this way. Unfortunately, this clues them in that if Asterix is running from them, he must be out of potion and thus the entire village must be out, prompting the attack. Also, Asterix is knocked out cold by the landing.
38	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: As punishment for general bad behavior during his service and drunkenly insulting him before being discharged, Caesar gives Tremensdelirius the deed of ownership of Vitalstatix' village.
39	* ADayInTheLimelight: Inasmuch as the four Roman camps around the village qualify as "characters", this is the first volume in which the camp of Laudanum gets a major subplot.[[note]] Compendium is featured in ''Gaul'', ''Gladiator'', ''Banquet'', ''Cauldron'', and ''Soothsayer''; Totorum is an important setting in ''Big Fight'', ''Spain'', and ''Corsica''; and Aquarium gets time in the spotlight in ''Olympic Games'', ''Roman Agent'', and ''Mansions of the Gods''.[[/note]]
40	* DirtyCoward: When Orthopaedix is advancing on Tremensdelirius with every intention of beating him up, the latter, who earlier had threatened Orthopaedix with his sword, begs for his life and tries to throw his friend Eggandlettus under the bus. Orthopaedix instead smashes the deed of ownership (a marble plaque, Caesar's titular gift) on his head. When Tremensdelirius wakes up, he sees the unhappy Egganlettus walking towards him brandishing a nasty-looking club.
41	* DrowningHisSorrows: When Obelix gets upset with Asterix, he goes to Orthopaedix's inn and starts ordering goat's milk. According to Cacofonix, he does this every time he gets into an argument with Asterix.
42	* DrunkenGlow: Tremensdelirius, who sports a big, red nose as a result of his constant drinking.
43	* ElectionDayEpisode: The feud between Orthopaedix and Vitalstatistix results in Orthopaedix trying to become chief of the village, going into an election campaign agaist Vitalstatistix. Later, Geriatrix also joins in as a candidate.
44	* EveryEpisodeEnding: Subverted; as part of the newly-restored harmony among the villagers, Cacofonix, who was one of the major proponents of said harmony, is allowed to attend the final banquet (while Geriatrix's discarded "VOTE FOR ME!" sign occupies the bard's usual position under a tree), and is seen in silhouette talking to Influenza.
45	* TheGhost: Just like in ''Recap/AsterixInSwitzerland'', Redbeard and his crew of pirates have this role; when Tremensdelirius come to the village to try and get his gift back, he mentions he unsuccesfully tried his hands at various jobs including signing up with some pirates, [[RunningGag but their ship got sunk]].
46	* HenpeckedHusband: Orthopaedix and Vitalstatistix. It's actually an important part of the story, as not only does Vitalstatistix invite Orthopaedix to stay in the village as a gesture of sympathy after seeing Angina hector him, but Angina and Impedimenta drive their husbands into their feud. Orthopaedix eventually grows a backbone, and when Angina tries to object to his decision to return to Lutetia, he angrily puts her in her place, making it clear that the decision has been made and there is no room for argument.
47	* ItsAllMyFault / HeroicSacrifice: Orthopaedix has this reaction when the Romans attack the village, and Getafix still refuses to give anyone magic potion. He even tries to go talk to the Romans, forcing Vitalstatistix to hold him back. Indirectly, this does save the day. When Vitalstatistix asks for magic potion for Orthopaedix, Getafix relents and makes potion for all.
48	* MeaningfulName: Tremensdelirius is a drunkard.
49	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Eggandlettus tries to help a friend get his property back. It gets him demoted back to legionary, beat up by the Gauls, and said friend throws him to the wolves when his idiocy catches up to him. At least he is strongly implied to [[TheDogBitesBack give his traitorous friend a righteous beating]].
50	* NotNowKiddo: Asterix tries to warn the village that the Romans are about to strike, but Orthopaedix and Vitalstatistix don't want to interrupt the debate. They only do so once a rock shot by a catapult hits the table near them.
51	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
52	** When Asterix flees Laudanum instead of bashing it up, the Legionaries take this to mean that the Gauls have lost their magic potion and prepare to attack.
53	** Getafix finally realizes the severity of the situation when Vitalstatistix [[EnemyMine begs him to give Orthopaedix magic potion]].
54	* OptOut: Rather than get mixed up in the election, Getafix locks himself in his hut and refuses to give anyone magic potion. Magic potion is only for defending the village from invasion, not for petty squabbles among themselves.
55	* OrnamentalWeapon: Averted; this album features one of the rare moments where Asterix actually uses his sword to fight off an opponent (a very drunk Tremensdelirius) since he doesn't have any magic potion with him at the time. Granted, the fight is limited to {{Flynning}}, but still.
56	* RacistGrandma: A male example. Geriatrix repeatedly states his dislike for foreigners (in his opinion, everybody from outside the village) during the story.
57	* RescueRomance: After Asterix saves Orthopaedix's family from Tremensdelirius, their daughter Influenza becomes infatuated with him.
58	* RightBehindMe: Played with; at the start of the story, when a drunk Tremensdelirius begins to insult Julius Caesar, Caesar himself is not standing behind him, but a very angry centurion is. Said Centurion has Tremensdelirius thrown in jail for the night and reports the whole thing to Caesar.
59	* SeriesContinuityError: While it's necessary to do a story satirising politics and election campaigns, the story hinges on the fact that Gaulish law allows anyone to challenge Vitalstatistix for the chieftainship of the village, requiring them to hold an election, which doesn't really jive with the plot of Recap/AsterixAndTheBigFight where the plot hinged on the fact that Gaulish law [[ChallengingTheChief allows any village chief to challenge another one to a fight with the winner taking over the loser's village]].
60	** The distinction may lie in the fact that ''Big Fight'' required one chief to challenge the chief of another village; in this case, Orthopaedix is a resident of the village (albeit a very new one) who is challenging the standing chief in a more passive election rather than a physical challenge.
61	* ASharedSuffering: Being a henpecked husband with ObnoxiousInLaws himself, Vitalstatistix can perfectly understand how Orthopaedix feels. Hence why he offers him a chance to stay in the village.
62	* ShoutOut:
63	** During Asterix's swordfight against Tremensdelirius, he quotes from Rostand's ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'' in the original French edition, and from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' in the English translation. He finishes by cutting a Z in the front of the Roman's tunic, anticipating Franchise/{{Zorro}} by thousands of years.
64	** While Tremensdelirius claims to have served in the guards of the Pontifex Maximus, footnoted as “A sort of Cardinal of the period.[[note]] In fact, the Pontifex Maximus at the time was none other than Julius Caesar himself [[/note]]
65	** To show his support for Vitalstatistix, Cacofonix sings “We Shall Overcome”. A footnote states that many freedom fighters the world over can thank Cacofonix for the song.
66	* SiegeEngines: The Romans of Laudanum get their hands on some big catapults, balistas, battering rams and even a mobile assault tower, which they try to use to finally bring down the Gaulish village.
67	* TitleDrop: Orthopaedix gives Tremensdelirius his deed back by calling it Caesar's gift, complete with font change.
68	* TrojanHorse: An unintentional example; Asterix climbs into the mobile assault tower just outside the camp of Laudanum to get a better look at what the Romans are planning. Then the Romans move the tower into the camp, along with Asterix. He is spotted soon after, and only manages to escape because the Romans think he’s full of magic potion and thus don’t dare to fight him.
69	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Julius Caesar; he gave the Gaulish village to Tremensdelirius as a prank to get back at the disrespectful drunk. It leads to the entire conflict of the story.
70	* ZorroMark: Asterix cuts one into Tremensdelirius' tunic, which causes Influenza (whose nickname is Za-Za) to think it's a tribute to her.

Context Recap / AsterixAndCaesarsGift