Citizenship : Roman
French name : Quelquilfus
German name : Possiamus
Dutch name : Clerus
Spanish name : Federicus
Italian name : Qualefus
Portugese name : Fulanus
A legionary lost in the streets of Lugdunum (Lyons)
Who am I? Where am I going? That's roughly the state of mind of the legionaries led into the maze streets in Lyons by Asterix, Obelix and Jellibabix. In fact, following the example of ambitious Prefect Poisonus Fungus (obsessed by capturing the famous Gauls), a whole Roman garrison wanders around the maze to the point where they can no longer tell their head from their feet.
A perfect opportunity for the Asterix authors to give another lesson in the art of comics: In one drawing, the words and picture demonstrate the Roman's confusion and show how lost they are. We see Romans who do not know where they are, we hear others who claim to know where they are, but who are in fact so lost that we can't see them anymore. It's not surprising, given the situation, that Fibrositus (the Roman legionary whose French name Quelquifus or «'Whats-his-name» leads you to believe he must look like an ordinary Joe) did not even have the right to have a face drawn by Albert Uderzo.
He remains the symbol of lost Romans, subjected to a disorder entirely foreign to the sovereign order that they try to impose on these «crazy» Gauls. Having entered Lugdunum as proud legionaries, they get so caught up there that they lose that glorious identity and become mere Whats-his-names. Sic transit gloria mundi! [How fleeting is the glory of this world].