Part 37 (1/2)
”Now that all are silent,” said Caesar, holding up his hands, ”I wish to give you ypt and myself Yesterday we celebrated a Triuypt Today we honor its Queen and King, Cleopatra and Ptolemy, and here in your presence do solemnly name them and enroll them as Friend and Ally of the Roman People--Socius Atque Aesture, for which this entire evening had been preparation, was enacted
”Let no one question their loyalty!” cried Caesar Again, a dutiful cheer went up
Noas the moment Now! I nodded to Charmian, who in turn nodded to Caesarion's nurse She quickly left the room
Caesar, Ptolemy, and I stood before the people, and in order to hold the one, I ah the neakened Caesarion was brought tohis wide eyes
”This is Egypt's greatest treasure,” I said, taking him in my arms ”And I lay him at your feet, Caesar”
I placed the child on the floor before the hem of Caesar's robe An immense silence fell over the crowd Well I knew that if Caesar picked hi him as his own But did they know I knew? Or did they just assu a vassal prince to Caesar? It was up to Caesar to act It was his action I cared about, not the people's
Caesar was deadly quiet I knew then he was angry, very angry I had tricked hiivable But, unlike other er He was able to set it aside if necessary, so that anger was never the basis for his actions
He stared down at Caesarion, his ht line ”And what do you call this treasurer' he asked in flat, measured words
”He is named Ptolemy Caesar--Caesar ” I said loudly I said loudly
PeopleThe two names were the same, deliberately linked
Caesar watched while Caesarion reached out and touched his sandal Then he bent down and picked him up He held him aloft and slowly moved him from side to side so everyone could see
”Ptolemy Caesar,” he said clearly ”I believe you are known as Caesarion-- Little Caesar Let it be so” He handed him back to me He did not look at rateful, Caesar,” I said ”We are yours forever”
”How did you dare to do this?” Caesar's eyes were blazing We were alone in the empty atrium Food and trash lay all over the floor
”I had to,” I said ”This was the ypt--”
”You tricked irl”
”If I did, it was because you treated ue, I cut hiirl, to bear bastard sons to her master! I am a queen! You nore our son?”
”Because he has no legal standing in Rome,” said Caesar ”Can't you understand that? What was the point of it?”
”There is a place where the legal ends and thehi to do with legality What, do you think I a your property? He, ill inherit all the treasures of the Ptolemies?”
”If I allow hiypt to remain independent”
”I hate you!” I screamed
”You don't hate me You hate the truth of the situation, which is just as I have described it Noer your voice We cannot help the situation I cannot give Egypt back her Pharaohs Nor would I wish to Things are as they are, and we ht not flourish in any other times as we do here”
”And you do flourish,” I said He flourished like a great cedar, towering above all others
But I was satisfied Words aside, I had achieved ed our son The trip to Rome had been worth it
Chapter 27
A day's respite: then the Pontic Triuht possible News of the extravagance and spectacle had spread, bringing in spectators from farther afield At each event, Caesar was expected to outdo his last effort, and people strained to see it
Again we sat in silk-shaded stands and waited This day was not particularly fair; rain was threatening Thunder had ru people to rush to the statues of Jupiter and see if hehad happened; no statue had fallen, or turned itself, or been shattered And the day went forward, with no hindrance from Jupiter
This time the musicians played Asian instruoblet-shaped dru Again the Roons lurched into the Forum These were decorated with tortoiseshell, and exhibited piles of gold platters, sion bordering Pontus, bows and arrows of exquisite workmanshi+p, horse bridles with bells, chariot wheels with scythes gleahter rose at the far end of the Foruy of Pharnaces, just a picture of hi, panic-stricken, before the Roe, comically turned eyespause, an eantic sign, the letters emblazoned in scarlet: VENI VIDI VICI Those three words stood for all of Pontus, as if it did not even deserve a representation of its cities, its terrain, its monuments It had all been reduced in an instant by Caesar, who had taken only four hours to defeat the eneer for Caesar, whose chariot now followed He reathed in aood humor, as if that battle had been an afternoon's entertainment for hihout the Foru their bawdy verses, and the crowds roared with delight
The entertainiven to celebrate this victory were more subdued than at the other Triuave an exhibition of Pyrrhic sword dances Magicians and acrobats sed fire and leapt through flaladiatorial contests continued as usual
Now must come the last of them, the African Triumph Because it was the final celebration, people were both impatient and critical, jaded and sated And it required delicate political posturing, for the African War was part of the Roman civil wars Victory had been achieved over other Ron enemies
Caesar had elected not to celebrate his victory over Poiven offense to the many who had supported Poht unseemly to rejoice in the death of fellow citizens But in this case, his caution seemed to have deserted him Perhaps he had reached the end of his patience with the civil war, or perhaps he wished to let this stand as a warning to those who ht yet harbor rebellious ideas He went ahead with the African Triuuise, as if the war had been against the foreigner only In fact, he stressed the sha, when the truth was they had served together
Riding behind him in the procession, did Octavian that day absorb the idea? For he was to i that any Roht with me acted in shame--indeed, had ceased to be be Roman Roman
The day of the African Triumph was hot, not hot as in Africa, but hot with the characteristic Ro heat Sweat could not evaporate off the skin; it led with perfume and oil to cause the clothes to stick to the body It caused a peculiar temper in the people--a restless disco before dawn, and by the ti and waiting for hours The sun beat down h a damp nimbus
Africantheir true carts, decorated with ivory inlays, creaked and bent with the spoils of war The people gasped at the sight of so antic crescents looked like a thousand ed beasts--panthers, lions, leopards, pythons, hyenas--were rolled in A file of elephants followed, ridden by Getuli, a nomad people froe pictures showing the ignoble ends of his ene his intestines spill out; Scipio was shown stabbing hirueso the Via Sacra They were deeply offended Caesar's chariot was greeted with murmurs instead of cheers, and his face showed that, too late, he understood why He tried to ht, but frowns and head-shaking were all he got in return Behind hiht as he rode past them
In the wake of the triumphal chariots came the sole illustrious prisoner: the sht of the four-year-old walking bowed down by chains, the people began to hiss and boo The little boy looked at theh soldiers followed, the fighters of the Ninth and Tenth Legions, and they had the thankless task of facing the unresponsive crowd, just as they had had the thankless task of fighting a nasty, protracted war Nevertheless they sang loudly in honor of the co that the people of Rome would never fully appreciate what occurred on the battlefield They held civilians to be stupid, unfeeling creatures, anyway
In honor of Africa, there was to be a wild beast hunt in the Circus iant entertainment would win the disaffected; and certainly the common people, no matter how much they revered Cato, were not about to turn their backs on the pro for days that hundreds of aniainst one another, and the people were fairly salivating to see it
We were carried along in our ilded litter to the Circus, held above the sea of sweating peopletheir way toward it I could sed ani over with overripe food What had happened to all the perfume bottles they had collected?
Once inside the Circus, I could hardly believe my eyes: the entire central section, the spina spina, which had looked so per-stones at each end and its lap-counting devices, had vanished The expanse was open, with only shadows toall around the perimeter, to protect us from the wild beasts
Caesar and his fa the benches were the allies who had helped defeat the enes of east and west Mauretania They looked pleased, even if no one else did Perhaps they understood the dangers of Africa better than others who had never set foot there
A nuhtly dressed men made their way into the arena So shi+elds, and others were htly dressed, in tunics These were the venatores venatores} the ht beasts