On December 31, 45 BCE unexpectedly died1the current consul, Quintus Fabius Maximus. In his place – until the end of the year, that is for a few hours – Julius Caesar appointed Gaius Caninius Rebilus. Cicero joked about this: “Rebilus had to ask “in whose consulship he was consul”.
He also allowed himself some more jokes: “Watchful, we have consul Caninius, who did not sleep during his consulate”2.
He also said: “Until now we only had priests of Jupiter, now we also have one-day consuls”3. The joke was a play on words: the adjective dialis is a homonym – a word that sounds the same as another word, but has a different meaning. The priest of Jupiter to flamen Dialis and the one-day consul to consul dialis.
