Monty Python

From Wikiality

Biggus Dickus is a Roman shown in the Monty Python documentary film Life of Brian.

He is a Roman nobleman and officer. He is married, according to his friend Pontius Pilate, to Incontinentia Buttocks. As he has stated, he "...May be of thome athithtanth if there ith a thudden crithith." Like his friend, he has a speech impediment – he lisps. This some find is a cause of hilarity when he reads down a list of incarcerated wrongdoers, for example, "theveral theditiouth thcribth from Thaetharea". While his lisp makes him the private laughing stock of Rome, no one dares tell him directly about his speech impediment.

We can assume Biggus to be of patrician descent and hold at least the grade of legate, as, again according to Pilate, he "commands a cwack wegion" and "wanks as high as any in Wome".

Whether "Biggus Dickus" refers to the man's cognomen and/or agnomen or should be taken to mean his nomen and praenomen (i.e. Biggus from the gens Dicka) is debatable. While it would be more appropriate for Pilate, in the formal public settings as depicted in the film, to use his friend's full name, it was common for agnomina, or nicknames, to refer to a physical trait. In any case, the name is obviously meant to be taken completely seriously, as indicated, in the film, by Pilate's treatment of soldiers who commit a career-limiting move by doubting the name's veracity.