ID Fiction – Octavian’s Fury – A Short Story

Instructional Design or ID Fiction, Short Stories and Cases set in the e-Learning and Corporate Training Environments

Never had such fury seized him in the past. He was sure that his eyes must be blood-shot for everything in front of him had taken up a reddish hue, and it was entirely that oaf Antony’s fault. How could he ever…ever think of attacking Gaius Octavius Caesar – Caesar’s rightful heir?

He looked around for something that he could spend his fury upon. But even while he seethed with anger, he could see everything clearly. He could see how Antony was trying to siphon off his property, and he wondered why others were blind to Antony’s faults. They were also blind to his capability, but then he had gotten used to that. He had understood that even to recognize genius you had to have a fair measure of a special type of intelligence, which probably only his great uncle Caesar had, or why he’d declare a young teenaged boy who hated music and who had no eye for beauty, his heir? Well, despite his limitations in the arena of political thoughts, Caesar was brilliant and so he saw what others didn’t.

His eyes stopped on the light-holder that his great aunt Calpurnia had gifted him but if he smashed it to smithereens, it would be politically incorrect. It won’t help at all to get on the wrong side of Caesar’s widow, would it? The fruit-bowl belonged to Octavia his sister – it wouldn’t be worth it to make her cry. While he continued to scan the room his mind flashed pictures of the recent events, in vivid detail.

It was Octavian who had understood the blunder that Brutus had done. Octavian was the one who had practically gift-wrapped the Roman Republic and handed it over to Mark Antony, the baboon who had the nerve to not only ignore him, but also to humiliate him by not transferring Caesar’s property to him. Yet, what really made Octavian angry was the recent scuffle that he had with Antony.

Octavian was never physically strong. He wasn’t good at sports and his physical responses were pathetic. He could perhaps kill a man if he didn’t fight back, but there was no way he could take on Mark Antony, the seasoned veteran of Caesar’s army. Being beaten black and blue by Antony was an insult that he couldn’t take at all – and that was precisely why he had a plan – but the plan had to wait…

His eyes caught the sparkle of the previous Egyptian vase that Antony had brought for his mother. Octavian lunged at the vase, picked it up with both his hands, raised it above his head, and then smashed it against the wall with the might of one possessed by Hades. As the splinters from the vase flew about, Octavian felt the anger within him ebb. It began to give way to cool-headed reason and Octavian sat down at his desk with a feather pen in his hand – he was about to plan a conquest that would make him the first Emperor of Rome – Caesar Augustus, who’d rule for 42 years and finally establish peace in the war-torn Italy.

(This is a fictional story, which is loosely based on the historical characters, Julius Caesar, his niece Atia, his great nephew Octavian, and Caesar’s most trusted lieutenant Mark Antony.)

Note: This story illustrates Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory.

Here’s Coffeebeans’ opinion on the Multiple Intelligences theory by Howard Gardner:

A Cartoon about learning and training - Coffeebeans, the pup with an education, shares here views on the theory of multiple intelligences.

Question: List the intelligences that Octavian

  1. possessed?
  2. lacked?