Aurelius

Randall name-checks philosophers — Hegel, Kant, Nietzsche, Plato, Marcus Aurelius — he misunderstands to his advantage and drops references to the Catiline Conspiracy and the Battle of Actium to make base actions sound important and dignified.

The subtext is text as Lucius delivers several speeches about “the dream of Rome” that he learned about at the knee of his grandfather, Marcus Aurelius.

The private equity firm Aurelius paid £207m for The Body Shop in late 2023, but in February this year admitted it could not revive its fortunes and placed the UK arm into administration.

Cesar quotes “Hamlet,” as well as Emerson, Marcus Aurelius and Ovid.

The UK arm of The Body Shop was put into administration last week, a couple of months after it was bought up by Aurelius, a German private equity firm.