Part 42 (1/2)

”Not by you,” I said ”Roe today Leave Parthia for Caesarion After all, if you have conquered the entire world, ill be left for hieneration to aspire to”

”I will ain with you,” he said in his quiet, mock-serious voice ”I will remain in Rome for a while if you stay as well” He paused ”Will you?” Another pause ”Please?”

Yes, why should we hurry fro? I put out htly I would bind him to me with hoops of iron, keep him away from all harm No more territory No more conquests Let hiht, he was content with the boundaries of this little room, with me and what I could offer hiainst what I held to be all co a Triumph to celebrate his victory He would claim the war had been a Spanish rebellion, aided by traitorous Romans This would fool no one, as I pointed out He said he did not care

There are those who hold that Caesar, during those days, was not behaving rationally, that his usual clear-sightedness (his sterling trait) was clouded and his judgment suspect My interpretation is that he was exhausted, increasingly embittered by the failure of his reconciliation policy and the automatic suspicion and hostility of the aristocrats toward his every gesture, and in too great a hurry He treated the Senate and people of Roht without delay, on the spot Politics and war are not the saenius on the field did not transfer to the byways of the govern appointed Dictator, he had been given an unspoken overnment, as Sulla had been The hope was that he would somehow ”restore the Republic”--the pious words on everyone's tongue

But the truth was that the cherished Republic had grown moribund Even today, I wonder what could have been done to ”restore” it--save going backward in time to an era when it worked The Republic was a private club, like yptian club--the Society of Imhotep--when I was a child It answered the needs of only a few aristocrats, while excluding vast numbers of roup ho over the heads of the old established order He could not hand the reins of the govern the Republic” ainst my advice, and that of Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, Lepidus, Decimus, and even, some said, Balbus and Oppius It was an unusually warain the streets were swept, garlands were strung on thestands were set up Caesar rode forth in glory, as he had the year before, followed by solemn Octavian in his chariot But in theand adulation, one of the tribunes of the people refused to rise from his bench as the Triumphal Chariot passed by

I was shocked-when, instead of gazing serenely ahead, Caesar pulled his horses to a stop and glared at the offending tribune In a harsh voice he shouted, ”So, Pontius Aquila! Why don't you ive up the state? After all, you are a tribune!”

Aquila, astounded, just stared back But he did not rise

The Triumphal Chariot resumed its journey, but the incident burned its way into common memory

The banquet afteras said to have fallen short of Caesar's expectations (or was it the people's?) and so he ordered a second one a few days later

Then he affronted public opinion further when he allowed his two less-than-coenerals, Pedius and Fabius, to celebrate their own Triuainst the enein with

At the saned his Consulshi+p and appointed Fabius and another man to fill out the last threeof?” I asked him, one afternoon when he had come to the villa--one rare afternoon when he had a sparea tyrant,” he said ”Does a tyrant resign his offices?”

”Why ry at Gnaeus Poetorix? Had you been, could you have defeated theive me advice--you, whose one experience of as a stalemate between your forces and your brother's; you, whose one experience of an upheaval in government made you lose your throne and have to flee!” He fairly spat the words

I refused to rise to this bait ”I admit as much,” I said ”But I was only twenty-one years old, and it wasYou, the most seasoned soldier in the world, should know better”

”And now you are an expert,” he said ”How old are you?”

”Twenty-four, as well you know,” I said ”And I have had the advantage of being a bystander in this tug-of-war Bystanders can sos others closer do not And what I see is aas if he has been attacked by a pack of wolves--aout in all directions, spitefully Has it really been necessary for you to say sarcastically at the end of every political pro Aquila allows e woman would say at a well about her rival It is not worthy of you”

He shook his head and sank down on a chair ”I suppose not,” he finally said ”It is petty, and petulant” He frowned ”But they drive hed ”Past endurance? You, who have existed on roots and snoho have traveled under excruciating conditions How many miles did you cover a day en route to Spain, in the winter?”

”Over fifty,” he said Then a boyish s poeo to waste It's called The Journey' ”

”Yes, and you have yet to let --how can you now let these political barbs drive you to distraction, when all that nature has thrown against you cannot do it?”

”People arethan cold, starvation, thirst, or heat”

I knelt at his side Yes, I knelt I looked up at him as directly as possible ”You have come too far, done too much, to fail now because of huain control of you!” Would he listen toyou have worked for!”

”Auish ”How can I order s rip at me--they tear my very fabric!”

”Mend it, and rest,” I said ”Your spirit is wounded, and you must let it heal as you would a cut of any other sort on your body I fear,” I said slowly, ”that if you do not, it will becoe of it”

Perhaps he did as I said; he seemed to disappear for several days But the unrest and the murmurs continued For a city at peace, and unthreatened by external eneularly nervous

I was startled when, near the end of the month, Octavian was announced at the villa Ioff the atrium--it was painted in a deep red, withonly one

He looked taller, older (Had he had higher sandals fashi+oned?) His delicate beauty had been tea seen had turned hi Just fighting his way there had been enough

”You have grown i,” I said ”Your journey must have had a salutary effect upon you” I was surprised at rown on me And his loyalty to Caesar had been proved That counted for a great deal

”I coed for Agrippa and me to depart for Apollonia across the Adriatic and receive further training--in both rhetoric and warfare”

”I know it is difficult for hi it

”We will join hin, e can be of n? There was to be another? ”Parthia?” I asked softly It had to be Parthia

”Yes We will already be halfway there He will send for us after he has crossed over”

After he has crossed overWhen? ”Next spring, then?” I said knowingly

”I believe so,” he said

”I wish you and Agrippa a safe journey,” I said ”Noyou desire” I looked at him: at his pure, incandescent features, his wide-set eyes, his light tousled hair All I thought at the time was, Caesar's fa you,” I added

”And I fro you,” he said, his pleasant s with him, the last words we ever spoke face-to-face How the Gods like to ain, as if soht flutter out ofbut a cordial farewell between two people who loved Caesar well, and would have died for him

Chapter 31

The streets were ja and pushi+ng hly as if we had been at sea--and indeed, that here ere, atte sea of people

”This is fun!” said Ptole out the side His voice eak; with the return of the cold weather, his cough and debility had come back

I wished I had not yielded to Caesar and stayed on so long Noere trapped until spring I longed for the wide streets of Alexandria, where the thoroughfares were never choked like this We had started out to visit the quarters of the silver-and goldsmiths, because Ptolemy wished to watch them at work He had a decided artistic bent, especially for design The arrange us at their workshops, and here ere, stuck en route