SERVILIA: Although the play takes place in ancient Rome during the 1st century BCE, Shakespeare sometimes makes reference to the customs and values of 16th-century England. This line by Flavius is one example.

RALPH:  “You ought not walk upon a laboring day without the sign of your profession.”

SERVILIA: In Shakespeare’s England, people dressed according to their social class and profession, following various conventions and government regulations.

RALPH: On work days in London, laborers were required to wear the clothes and emblems that reflected their occupation; while on holidays they wore what we would call their Sunday best.

SERVILIA: Flavius speaks as if ancient Rome had similar clothing restrictions.  He scolds the plebeians for dressing in their holiday attire instead of the “signs of their profession” because he refuses to recognize Caesar’s triumphal procession as an official holiday.

RALPH: This is not to say that the ancient Romans did not have any conventions regarding dress. For example, one could have easily distinguished between a Senator, a freeman, and a slave.

SERVILIA: When Flavius commands the plebeians, “Home, you idle creatures, get you home!”, he’s ordering them to go back to work. Before industrialization, there were no factories; most craftsmen worked in their homes.

RALPH: Just as there weren’t factories, there were no offices, even for the highest ranking officials. As we’ll see later in the play, the business of government took place in the homes of the leading senators, or while walking from their homes to the Capitol, where the Senate held its meetings. Lots of business got done in the streets.