Part 33 (1/2)

”Those orshi+p Venusback from him a bit ”My ht before we entered her temple”

”Ask the Goddess to remove it,” he said His voice was low and persuasive ”She can do so”

I hts and be only here The echoing space of the pristine te out for so, to break the spell of incouide me back into the utter darkness of the apse, behind the base of the Venus statue He left the lantern on the floor in front of it, and a soft, diffuse light shone from around the sides

”Have you not a villa for this?” I protested weakly ”A villa, with a roo onto a garden that lets in the smells of paradise?”

”You knoell I have,” he said, ”but it isall lovers want, and which we have never tasted: privacy Behold a paradox: the richer you are, the less of it you have Noe shall have it, by heaven We shall have it”

His voice arht; ere alone as we had rarely been before, and on over ly I could feel my own bones beneath his lips, and becahts of the ht

”I love you,” I said ”I would die for you”

”Hush,” he said ”No talk of dying That belongs to poets, not to queens” He kissedto him in the darkness We were alone He was mine, and I was his

The Goddess above us looked doith favor

Brilliant sun Piercingly blue sky A slight breeze on this day, the first Triu the Via Sacra to enable exalted guests to observe the last, most important part of the Triuh the Forum and then up to the Te time in the sun, which is why Caesar had ordered silk canopies to be erected over us They flapped now, billowing as each breeze passed through the it blue

Ptolemy was beside me, and in the other places of honor were Calpurnia, Octavia, Caesar's nephew Quintus Pedius, and his great-nephew Lucius Pinarius He had a very s before dawn along the route he would pass: froh the Circus Maxi the Forum I could hear the roars and shouts from far away as he appeared at each station, and wondered what they were seeing; I was iht movement from the far end of the Forum, and soon a company of men appeared Slowly, very slowly, they wound their way down the Via Sacra, past the Temple of Vesta, past the Temple of Castor and Pollux, past the half-finished porticoes of the Basilica Julia, and then abreast of us The faint strains of rew louder, and the leaders of the procession, the musicians with their trumpets and pipes, passed by Behind the as they lifted their thuribles of incense high, the sweet perfu in the sunitaries, the officers of the city of Roisterial togas; there must have been more than five hundred of them

Then a shout went up from the far side of the Foruons trundled into view, I knehy It was the spoils, heaped high in carriages built of Gallic tions, shi+elds rattled, the wagons strained under the weight of the gold and silver Sooblet or a platter would fall off, and people would dash out and grab it, like dogs lapping up leavings fro under its ot stuck between the paving stones, and had to be heaved out Caesar must have raided every has Thereleft in Gaul of value

A cons with the naovia, Avaricum--unfamiliar names for the wild, unknown places where Caesar had conquered

A decorated wagon with an effigy of the ocean in chains rolled past, with a sign denoting the invasion of Britain

Then ca-haired chieftains, clad in leather and furs Behind theetorix, the Gallic chieftain who had led a ainst Caesar and had finally been defeated at Alesia, where Caesar had eainst an eneetorix had lost none of his proud bearing in the six years he had been waiting for his h the Foru freely at the other prisoners, fell silent as he passed by

I shuddered In the next Triu before us in defeat The shaetorix paraded the sacrificial aniilded horns, garlanded and curried, the thanksgiving offering Caesar would make for his victories

From the farther end of the Forum a vast shout arose, and I knew that Caesar had finally entered it Preceding him came the lictors--all seventy-two of them, allowed because Caesar had been dictator three tilea axes, and I liked theht spots like blood as they passed by

Then Caesar hiolden chariot pulled by four horses He stood like a God, dressed in purple and gold, looking out at the people In his left hand he held an ivory scepter surht a laurel branch Behind hiold crown of Jupiter over his head, a crown too weighty for a mortal brow

A frenzied shout arose from the throats of all who beheld him They showered him with flowers, with personal tokens and treasures, with bracelets and earrings

Behind hiht, rode Octavian in his own chariot, as the only other adult male in Caesar's fa on like the chariot of Phoebus transiting the sky, and I saave after wave of people rising to their feet and shouting

Then, suddenly, the procession stopped The Triued and lurched I heard a buzz of confusion Caesar stepped out

The axle of the chariot had snapped, just as he drew abreast of the Temple of Fortune He dismounted and stood on the pave up the Capitoline Hill to the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, where he was supposed to ascend to dedicate his wreath and scepter

He fell to his knees at the first step, and shouted in a ringing voice, ”Behold! I will clin of my submission to the will of Fate!” And he did so, laboriouslyon the ground behind hi, Caesar had turned a bad orace But the incident unnerved me It was very bad

Behind Caesar came his troops, the men who hadlo triu at the top of their lungs But I was not so happy when I heard the words of their verses:

Hoer; Roold you lent him Went his Gallic tarts to pay

The crowd roared at that, and cheered Then followed ht to sha Nicomedes, he

Here comes Caesar, wreathed in triumph For his Gallic victory!

Nicoreatest of the three

Nico of Bithynia that his eneht it was a lie Someone had shown me the libel Cicero had written in private letters: ”Caesar was led by Nicoolden couch, dressed in a purple shi+ftSo this descendant of Venus lost his virginity in Bithynia” Evidently the soldiers preferred to keep the lie alive

Now the crowd screahter And there orse to co in all the spoils The Lighthouse, the Library Queen Cleopatra and Her hter I watched Calpurnia; she was samely, and I attempted to do likewise, but I was furious

More verses followed:

If you do right You will be punished But if you do wrong You will be King

I stiffened when I heard the word King King Why was that word on everyone's lips in connection with Caesar? Why was he suspected of it? I knew his association with me ? And when they sahat he had put in the Tely endless file of the soldiersCaesar At their forefront I heard wild cries of joy, and I was later told they were receiving gifts for their courage and loyalty: ten thousand denarii denarii for each centurion, five thousand for each legionary The croere surging; other soldiers had to hold theesse for each centurion, five thousand for each legionary The croere surging; other soldiers had to hold theesse

After the sea of soldiers passed, it was over The sun had swung around until it was al in our eyes, despite the canopy I saw a procession of litters co in rhythm with their bearers All the honored spectators from this section were to be transported to the Circus Maximus, where the celebratory chariot races would be held, as part of the Triun rulers, Ptolemy and I would be seated nearby But I would not be next to Caesar; Calpurnia and Octavian would have that honor

Even though it was the long way around, ere taken up to the Capitoline Hill so that we could honor Jupiter by passing his temple Before it now stood Caesar's chariot, and in the inner recesses of the te majestically in the dimness Beside it was a new bronze one of Caesar, his foot upon a representation of the entire world Later I was told that it had an inscription saying that Caesar was a demiGod, and that Caesar had just ordered the inscription re their sacrifice, which would take place as soon as the last of the litters left Priests were standing by, s the beasts

We descended froh an area croith shops, markets, and apartments, and then ere at the Circus Maximus, the enormous racetrack that lay in a valley between the Palatine and the Aventine Hills Huge walls encircled it like a rim, inside of which tier after tier of seats rose We were taken in through the entrance arch while soldiers held back an enornitaries were seated I could see that people were already in the special section under its arched roof There was the purple toga--Caesar was there! We approached slowly, and I watched hi to see how he looked, how he behaved