Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Caligula, a monster of the Roman Empire ITALY
He ate and drank while watching executions; in the middle of the holidays, he took the wife of any guest, raped and returned to the table to tell how it went; He had incestuous relations with his three sisters; he ordered to torture and kill senators, sometimes just to keep their fortunes: it was, in short, one of the most sadistic Roman emperors.
Suetonius the Roman historian, says that Emperor Caligula: <<
capital crime was looking at him from above when passing, or pronounce,
under any pretext it was, the word "goat" >> . He
was a tall man with very white skin, thick but thin legs and neck, with
abundant body hair, deep, wide and bulging forehead, thinning hair and
baldness on the top of the head eyes. With a "naturally
ugly and disgusting" face and a proud and threatening that he
potentiated rehearsing gestures in the mirror face, Caligula inspired
fear wherever he went. He knew hated him, but admitted with Machiavellian attitude: "They hate me, as long as they fear me" .
His
real and full name was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, or
"Augustus Germanicus Julius Caesar" in the Latin of the time. He
was born on August 31 year 12 AD, and was killed by his own guards on
January 24 of the year 41, after a brief but bloody and disastrous
government, which lasted from March 16 of the year 37 until the day his
life was blinded.
Among
other things, Caligula was a psychopathic and antisocial, a
megalomaniac, paranoid, pathological envy, sexual depravity (incestuous,
highly promiscuous bisexual sadist, exhibitionist), skilled
manipulator, a thief and a pretender. It is believed that
in his youth suffered from epilepsy, and is known for certain that he
suffered from insomnia and rarely slept more than three hours. Modern
science suggests that, in addition to some life experiences, learned
behaviors and some genetic predisposition to evil, the spirit of those
days, he drank with a hubris that even the average drinker was then too,
had a quantity such a lead that was toxic to the human brain, causing,
in extreme cases like Caligula, a deterioration in the frontal lobes,
thus becoming more impulsive and violent person. However
the lead did not explain everything in Caligula, as it always retained a
great capacity planning, which would not have happened if the lead was
the only thing behind his transformation into a monster, a few months
after taking power. In other words, Caligula was born with
psychopathic tendencies, but certain experiences first, and later the
lead, took their innate darkness to the top of folly and wickedness that
immortalized him as one of the worst Roman emperors.
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Childhood and adolescence
Caligula was born on August 31 of the year 12 near Anzio (now Italy). It
was the third of six surviving children of Germanicus and Agrippina the
Elder, with his brothers Nero and Drusus, and his sisters Julia
Livilla, Drusilla and Agripinilla. Caligula's father,
Germanicus, was a prominent member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, and
yet is still regarded as one of the most distinguished Roman generals; He was also the grandson of Tiberius Claudius Nero, and adopted son of Augustus. Meanwhile
Agrippina, mother of Caligula, was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius
Agrippa and Julia the Elder, and granddaughter of Augustus and
Scribonia.
When Caligula was two or three years, he began to accompany his father on military campaigns he directed in Northern Germany. In
that context, it was something like a mascot Army, and had even made
him a small military uniform with a mini armor and everything else. It
was because at that time when he received the nickname "Caligula",
meaning "bootie" ... That nickname, so tender meaning, was always
annoying to him, and he had until his last days, never imagining that,
at present Westerners think of blood, death and horror when we hear the
name "Caligula" ...
Already
with seven years Caligula accompanied his father on a trip to Syria,
where he would die, October 1st of October 19, poisoned by an agent of
the Emperor Tiberius, who saw him as a dangerous political adversary, at
least according to historian Suetonius. So, losing his
father, Caligula began to project much of their emotional needs on
Incitatus, a horse which endiosaría to get to assume the power of the
Roman Empire. On the other hand psychological
analysis, based on historical evidence, they say, because during his
childhood Caligula did not have a good moral guide to his father and
almost all adults treated him like someone who had to serve and whose
whims were meet, Caligula became spoiled, immature, self-centered and
narcissistic. But besides the death of his father he meant
something terrible in itself for their psychological development: I saw
him die young, although it was big and powerful, so in some ways and
from a sense of identification with his father, believed (albeit
unconsciously) that would have the same fate, and that it detonated a
nihilistic and fatalistic attitude.
Now,
since it could no longer continue with his father because he lived only
Caligula had to go live in Rome with his mother, and stayed there until
the relationship of his mother with the emperor Tiberius deteriorated,
who did not want it married because, in his paranoia, he feared that the
husband became political enemy, so in '29, on false charges of treason,
he exiled her and Nero Caesar, and Caligula went to live with Livia,
great grandmother his and mother of emperor Tiberius.
When
the old Livia died, Caligula went to live with his grandmother Antonia,
along with her sisters Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla and Livilla. As
is known, Caligula kept incestuous relationships with his three
sisters, although his favorite, and which really fell in love, was
Drusilla, which she took when she was still a virgin. Far
from being something sporadic, these incestuous relationships were so
frequent that once Antonia found Caligula and Drusilla making love ...
Meanwhile, in 30 Drusus Caesar was imprisoned, and Nero Caesar, brother
of Caligula, died a year later in the exile.
Tiberius, the great master of depravity
If
the level of experience was something tremendously instrumental in the
conversion of Caligula into a monster, that was the fact of being called
to Capri by Tiberius, when he was 19 in the year 31. There, on the
island of Capri for six Caligula years had to hide resentment towards
Tiberius had to survive. "There was never here a
better servant or a worse master," said a witness on Caligula and
Tiberius, because in those six years Caligula witnessed all the
cruelties and depravities Tiberio committed, as the "old rogue" (as he
called Suetonius) He did things like everyday people pushing cliff,
mainly criminals, but sometimes innocent women and children; perform orgies with children, women, men and adolescents; order and witness torture; commit violations; swimming
naked in a pool, with children dressed fish that made him fellatio
underwater ... According to expert analysis, Caligula, being an early
version of Stockholm Syndrome, ended up wanting to be like Tiberio, and
learned from him a philosophy hedonistic and amoral that the purpose of
life was pleasure in the lives of others worthless and that violence and
pleasure could be combined perfectly under the most cruel and vicious
sadism ...
While
in those years with Tiberio also Caligula gave things like the
performing arts, dance, mime and other activities considered
inconvenient for noble but good in themselves, also he learned to enjoy
orgies and debauchery, and even the habit of attending disguise was made
(with wig and robe to not recognize) to torture and executions. "Cayo lives to their own destruction and for all" , Tiberio had said about Caligula, not suspecting that the young, seemingly harmless, he would end up killing him later.
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Rise to power and encouraging start
In 33, Tiberius Caligula granted the post of Quaestor, it held until before being emperor. Also, at the time he lost his mother Agrippina and his brother Drusus, who died in prison; moreover, he married Junia Claudilla, daughter of Marco Silano. However Junia, after becoming pregnant Caligula, died a year later in childbirth along with the baby. Caligula friend then prefect of the Praetorian Guard, Sutorio Macro (Macron) was made. Surprisingly,
Caligula began a relationship with the wife of Macron and he acquiesced
for convenience, even to speak well Tiberius Caligula, so that the old
evil did not suspect anything.
In
35, Caligula and Tiberius Gemelo were named as heirs to the throne, and
Tiberius died shortly after, 16 of March 37. According to Tacitus,
Tiberius was killed by Macron, who smothered him with a pillow to give
the throne to Caligula; while Philo and Josephus say that Tiberius died a natural death; but
Suetonius, whose version is the most widely accepted, suggests that was
the same Caligula who killed Tiberius, of course without anyone
noticing. In any case and the important Praetorian support
of Macron, Caligula became emperor, without sharing the position with
Tiberio Gemelo since the will of Tiberius was canceled with the excuse
that the old emperor had been in condition of dementia when he wrote
this document .
Thus
it came the light falsely March 28, AD 37, Caligula and entered Rome,
dressed in mourning, with a look that conveyed fragility, false kindness
and sorrow at the death of the wicked Tiberius. Hundreds
of torches shone, men, women, elderly and children were in the streets
to welcome enthusiastically the son of the famous Germanicus. Class
distinctions are blurred at the enthusiasm of the people, united in one
mass he welcomed the new Emperor, calling him a "star", "puppy" and
"shoot". Yes, they saw in him a renewed hope, a potential
savior to bury the days of blood, misery and terror that characterized
the degenerate Tiberio in its last stage. Caligula accepted
all the powers of the Principality to him by the Roman Senate that day,
and Suetonius that approximately 160,000 animals were sacrificed in
honor of the emperor, inside various temples, during the first three
months of its nascent and promising government.
The
philosopher Philo relates that during the first seven months of the
reign of Caligula, was a general happiness that had not experienced for a
long time in the Roman Empire. It was initially found to
be a pious, generous and well-intentioned be: put the ashes of Tiberius
at the Mausoleum of Augustus, though many hated him and wanted their
despicable waste material were thrown into the Tiber; He decreed an amnesty for exiles and convicted; He banished sex offenders; rehabilitated his uncle Claudio in political life; He adopted Tiberius as his successor and named Prince Gemelo Youth; He made honoring his late grandmother Antonia; He traveled to the islands of Pandataria and Pontia to recover the remains of his mother and his brother; He gave the people the right to vote for judges; He increased the plays and gladiatorial combat, to entertain the masses; donated to every Roman citizen three hundred denarii; He distributed food and gifts; He gave generous financial compensation to the Praetorian Guard and urban and border troops; made abundant banquet to which he invited senators and knights; etc
... With all these things, it was natural that all classes will give
their blessing to Caligula, and all provinces of the Roman Empire will
swear allegiance without any problems.
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The disease and the onset of barbarism
Caligula
had done all the benefits described above because he was intelligent
and aware that he could not sit and rule "to Tiberius" without prior
entrenched things. However, it is almost certain that
Caligula had in mind to become the monster that was the overnight, and
thus in the dark turnabout of his conduct that occurred after his
illness in October of 37, it must have something that escaped his plans,
something that really upset and did act in a way that even in their
wickedness, would almost certainly have not shown (obeying a rational
prudence) if not sick. On the nature of this disease they
have outlined some theories, but the most reliable approaches indicate
that symptomatically presented epilepsy, and that level causes lead
could have triggered the crisis, since Caligula began to drink too much
when he came to power; but if the lead was at the
origin of his madness, it seems clear that the metal was accumulated in
his brain, until one day, abruptly, a seizure, which led to irreparable
brain damage later manifested as profound disturbances broke behavioral.
Falling sick Caligula is said that the people loved him so much that public expressions of support were given; Caligula wished a speedy recovery: they did not know what they were asking ... Well that sums Suetonius metamorphosis when he says: "So far I have narrated his life as a prince, now narrate what remains of it as a monster" .
Indeed,
after regaining health, Caligula ordered to execute many of those who
had offered (not literally) her life to the gods if he recovered, plus
forced to commit suicide many exiles, including his wife, his Marco
Silano father, and his cousin Tiberius Gemelo. Philo says
that Tiberius Gemelo had instigated a conspiracy against Caligula while
he was ill, and therefore had been executed (be forced to commit suicide
is to be executed) in the year 38, although Suetonius says that this
conspiracy was alone in the paranoid imagination Caligula; meanwhile,
Marco Silano had to be judged by the emperor himself, since July
Grecino, which was initially going to judge him, was executed because he
refused to it, considering it a great injustice. Also, more than those mentioned in the year Caligula ordered 38 other executions without trial, without proof or evidence; among
these were the woman and Macron Macron, caused great indignation
latter, because many knew how much he had helped Macron Caligula.
Moreover,
in the year 38 Caligula also married Lollia Paolina, while being
parallel lover of his sister Drusilla, which was named heir to the Roman
Empire and previously had married his friend Marco Emilio Lepidus,
annulling the previous marriage it had with Lucio Casio Longino, friend
of emperor Tiberius. Clearly, Marco Emilio Lepidus spoiled
the situation because it was Caligula who somehow gave his sister, and
because it had no other, on pain of putting his life in danger. However,
this whole mess fell apart when Drusilla died in June of the same 38.
Then Caligula was deeply depressed and left Rome to travel to Sicily
when he returned, he held funeral honors Augusta his sister Drusilla,
and officially deified as living representation of Venus. Meanwhile,
Marco Emilio Lepidus, having lost to the shared Drusilla, I wanted to
try, largely for political expediency, the remaining sisters of
Caligula, becoming lover of Agrippina the Younger and Julia Livilla; however,
Caligula was the matter with paranoid eyes, and in the year 39 did
Marco Emilio Lepidus run and exiling his two sisters to the Pontine
Islands.
Also,
during the year 39 Caligula Milonia Caesonia married and had one month
later (had sex before marriage) to a daughter he named Julia Drusilla,
same name of her deceased sister. This child would be loved
by Caligula, who two years later would love that, at such a young age,
little enjoyed and clawing their eyes to other children ... Together
with his paternity, Caligula faced a severe economic crisis in 39, but
his corruption was so great that got money doing things like falsely
accuse wealthy individuals and then fining or send them to kill and keep
their heritage; forcing senators and knights to pay in exchange for being priests of religious worship of the emperor; forcing wealthy heir to put in their wills, sending them after killing secretly and publicly showing hurt by alleged suicides; organize large with extremely high stakes games in which cheated forever; borrow money to people in public events; create new taxes for lawsuits, marriages, brothels; auction gladiators; wills reinterpret certain citizens had left as heir to Tiberius; Centurions force to return spoils of war, and so on.
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Great works in atrocious acts
As
a parenthesis in the course of events, Caligula briefly acotaremos
carried out numerous construction projects during his reign, so it was
not all bad. Some of these projects were Regium expand ports and Sicily; finish the Temple of Augustus and the Theatre of Pompey; begin construction of an amphitheater near the Saepta; remodel the Imperial Palace; start building aqueducts Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus; repairing walls and temples in Syracuse; repair old roads and build new ones; trying to create a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth; build, based on ships, a temporary floating bridge between Baiae and Puteoli; create
two of the largest ships of antiquity, one that housed a temple of
Diana, and the other was a floating palace with marble floors and
plumbing own ...
.
Caligula and the Roman Senate
Returning
to the black history of the emperor, also in year 39 there was a
serious deterioration of relations between Caligula and the Senate, as
the latter had become accustomed to a relative autonomy until Caligula
came and everything changed. Senators thus constituted political resistance to the emperor. He
had to settle, but how ... At the point of moral decay that Caligula
had reached the answer was uncomplicated: reviewed the cases occurred
betrayal during the reign of Tiberius, and based on these documents made
exaggerated and arbitrary interpretations say that many senators were
unreliable, sending them to run. Anything enough to be
accused of lese majeste, and so many senators were marked with fire,
sent to work in mines or repair roads, locked in cages (on all fours, to
humiliate more), launched a fierce lions, open in canal with saws or,
if they were lucky, just they sent running after his carriage, or forced
to stand while he ate delicious food and laughed seeing them suffer
hunger and thirst.
But
the humiliations suffered by the senators were not limited to the
above, as they, and some other members of high society, sexual
degradation suffered unprecedented Caligula imposed for more money. Thus,
many rooms of the palace were turned into sections of a gigantic state
apparatus luxury prostitution where the wives, sisters, and daughters of
senators and other unfortunates, offered their beautiful bodies and
remember, the wealthy men used to get beautiful women and have bellas-
daughters to high prices, customers often paid with money that these
husbands, fathers or brothers of prostituted, were forced by Caligula to
lend ...
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The false conquest of Britain and the war against Poseidon
During
the year 40, Caligula devised two great farces: one that deceived many,
one that made him look like a real crazy, and that almost certainly
was made as a joke. In the first case, after
receiving the submission of Adminius (son of Cynobelino, king of
Britain) and his men, whom Cynobelino was expelled from Britain,
Caligula took them and organized a public march in
Rome, where supposedly they were prisoners the fictional war that had
just won against the recently annexed by Britain. In
this parade, Caligula also used prisoners of war Gauls, who had been
selected to be tall and strong, and which had painted their hair blond
to look like native warriors of Britain. In the second
case, Caligula made his soldiers shoot and collect sea shells that
were allegedly the remains of the great Neptune (God of the Sea,
Poseidon equivalent); on this collection, though without mentioning what Neptune and arrows thrown overboard, Suetonius account: <<
Finally, he stepped toward the shores of the ocean to the head of the
army, with large supply of balistas and war machines and proyectase as
if some big company; no one knew or suspected his plan
until suddenly the soldiers sent to collect shells and fill their
helmets and clothes them, calling them spoils the ocean due to the Capitol and the Palace of the Caesars. As testimony to his victory he built a high tower that night, and by way of headlights lit up lights to illuminate the ships. He promised the soldiers a gratuity of one hundred duleros each, and as if his gesture was the height of generosity, said , "Go away happy and rich" >>.
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Incitatus, Caligula's horse
A
kind of living sign of the madness of Caligula was his horse Incitatus,
which did name a priest and consul Bitania (territory north of Turkey),
plus sent him to build a huge stable of marble mangers ivory, a marble
statue, and a villa with 16 gardens and 18 servants.
As the racehorse that was, Incitatus participated in many races. Always,
the night before the competition, Caligula decreed a general silence on
the part of near the village of Incitatus Rome, and who disturb the
dream of his horse was sent to eternal sleep by the sword of a soldier
... They say that only a once in a lifetime Incitatus lost a race, and
the winner talented rider was executed by order of Caligula ...
He
ate oatmeal mixed with soft and very thin flakes of gold, taking the
best wine in golden goblets, devouring mice, squid, mussels and chicken;
He wore purple and wore the best quality necklaces with precious stones; He
not copulated with mares, but with a beautiful woman named Penelope,
who belonged to high society and had been chosen by Caligula as the wife
of her beloved horse ...
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The god Caligula
In 40, Caligula took a step further and autodivinizó: A self-proclaimed sun-god; I appeared dressed as Hercules, Venus, Mercury and Apollo; public documents signed with the name of Jupiter; two temples in Rome and another was erected in the Asian province of Miletus; He used the Temple of Castor and Pollux as porch for their own imperial palace; He destroyed the statues of famous men that Augustus had placed on the Champ de Mars; He unearthed the great Alexander to remove the shield and use it regularly; He forbade any statue that was not his; He beheaded statues of important gods and replaced them with his head heads; He was worshiped by the people, establishing their own cult and imposing genuflection (kneel before the emperor); in
their worship, he became a golden statue of himself to life-size, which
he steals changed every day, putting a garment identical to that used; He urged members of high society to seek to be priests of his cult to obtain privileges or saved from evil; sacrifice made many peacocks, black roosters, pheasants and other animals, all to be honored as a god; He invited numerous times, always at full moon, to make love to the Moon Goddess; often
he talked face to face with the great Jupiter (equivalent of Zeus),
while reaching to say "if you do not raise me to heaven, I will make
fall to hell"; He said Jupiter had asked him to share his
home with him, and based on that excuse connected the Capitol Palace
with the Temple of the great God; He tried to put his
statue of god (a version of the statue of Jupiter with his features) in
the Temple of Jerusalem, but could not because the Jews took up arms; etc.
Finally, Suetonius that: <<
some day taunt was placed next to the statue of Jupiter and asked the
tragic Apelles which of the two seemed bigger, and as hesitated to
answer, he made flogged immediately afterwards, making note then I had
the pleasant and beautiful voice in the prayers and even groans.
>> .
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Death of Caligula
It
is said that before he died, Caligula received some signs that the end
was to come: when they would move the statue of Jupiter was in Olympia,
gave such laughter to see who touched, the workers ran and some machines
they fell; a certain Casio told him in a dream received the order to sacrifice a bull (Caligula would become the bull) to Jupiter; lightning struck on Capitol Capua and another in the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, both on the day of the Ides of March; Sila, astrologer consulted him frequently, said he would have a future, violent and inevitable death; Anzio
oracles told him to take care of Cassius, and he reacted by running the
proconsul Cassius Longinus, forgetting that the praetorian Chaerea also
called that; He dreamed he was in heaven beside the throne
of Jupiter and that the god was pushing huge thumb of his right foot to
make it fall to Earth; it fell Flamenco blood during a sacrifice; Actor Mnester represented the murder of Philip of Macedonia.
Upon
his death, this was a murder planned by three men, led by Casio Chaerea
and executed by him and other Praetorians, although it is known that
many senators, military and others knew, but there was an attitude of
plot and no one spoke because everyone wanted see dead sadistic and
insane tyrant. So he remained in ambush when he came out of
the palatine games through an underground tunnel, and Casio Chaerea,
who was an old praetorian and knew the emperor as a child (he had been an outstanding officer of Germanicus), asked to be the first in sinking a dagger; since, as Suetonius says: << Caligula constantly insulted his old age and never ran more than outrageous words, treating him cowardly and effeminate; if you had to ask the slogan, he would answer "Priapus" or "Venus"; if the tribune came forward to thank him for something, he had to kiss the hand and with obscene movements. >>.
Thus,
when on the morning of January 24, AD 41 Caligula left palatine
scrolling games alone an underground gallery, he found Chaerea and he
asked for the password (the underground gallery was a secret exit); but before he finished answering, Chaerea felt the dagger stabbing viciously between his neck and collarbone. Terrified,
Caligula tried to run while Chaerea insulted, but Cornelio Sabino
stabbed him, then each and every one of the conspirators he sank his
weapons of metal, crossing thirty times (among all) and leaving it there
on the floor, with meats open and blood seeping everywhere ...
When
the Germanic bodyguards Caligula realized what had happened, they
killed all the conspirators who could, as well as senators and innocent
civilians who were nearby at the time, or at least this account
Josephus. Whatever the truth about those details, the
surviving conspirators killed the wife and daughter of Caligula:
Caesonia, his wife, was stabbed; Meanwhile, the evil girl
was stamped against a wall, so strong that he blew the skull and his
brains were scattered on the floor. A Claudio, who would be the future emperor, so they tried to kill, but escaped in time. Finally, Suetonius that: <<
Her body was secretly taken to Lamianos gardens, it singed in a
makeshift pyre and buried then covering her with a little lawn. Later his sisters, returns from exile, did exhumed, they burned and gave bury their ashes. It ensures that until this time the guards were ghosts of those grounds, and at night, in the house where he was murdered sounded awful noises. His wife died Caesonia while he, killed by a centurion; his daughter was slammed against a wall. >>
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Annex: a list of atrocities and follies
Besides all told, there are some atrocities committed by Caligula worth mentioning, examples are:
- He ate or fornicating while executions or torture were made.
- He drank pearls dissolved in vinegar and offered, at banquets, gold mixed with food.
- At banquets, she used to lift their dress the wives of the guests, and when he liked some, took her to a room, had sex with her (he wanted to or not the woman) and then returned to the table and criticized or commending the lady sexually abused, counting all the details. When he was with the wives of their guests, also he used to delight submission that showed fear, and kissing them and licking his neck told them while taking hair: "A head so beautiful would be torn as I ordered it."
- In his last wife, he is walking naked on horse with shield and sword, against the soldiers.
- Sometimes, took to the wives of distinguished members of high society, gozándolas before the husband did.
- He abused men besides women: for example, Catullus he hurt his ribs in a wild rape.
- When he opened the bridge Puzzoles, he invited those who were on the shore to meet him, and then sent to throw them into the water, causing them to give oar strokes that survived.
- Hico castrate the gladiator Longino as punishment for having a bigger penis than yours
- Sometimes, instead of gladiators, old parents chose deformities or family, and sent them to fight the beasts.
- Public granaries made close to the people hungry.
- Awnings made Amphitheatre remove Taurus viewers to give them heat stroke.
- He fed beasts with live criminals to save money and have fun.
- For several days, he was beaten with chains to a charge of games and hunting circus, until he did run because not stand the stench of his rotting brain, because the poor man was still alive with the brain exposed and partially decomposed.
- When commanded to execute, asked the executioner to making itself felt death to run: "Hiérelo so that he feels die , " he said once to see rdugo.
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