Part 47 (1/2)

I opened it slowly and found a silver medallion there, on a small chain I shook it out into the palm of my hand and turned it over It had an elephant on one side, and lettering on the other

”It was my mother's,” he said ”The elephant is one of the einian army at a crucial moment She wore it for my father I wish you to have it”

I bent my neck while he fastened it

”She wore it always I have kept it for years I loved her dearly; I still miss her every day She died six years before I came to know you Please take it I do not knohat else I can give you to show you how precious you are to me, how you alone fill that one place in uarded, ers onof a kind Caesar wasme a part of his family in the only way he kne

”I anear the top ofof gold, emeralds, lapis It had protected Caesar's mother, the one woman he had always been true to and respected Now it passed to me, the mother of his son

”I told you, you are htto unite us I stood on tiptoe on the banks of the strea patiently watching us, not disturbed by the future

”Will you take Odysseus?” I whispered

”No, he is too old,” said Caesar ”He has earned his rest And I could not bear to watch hiht Why are you kinder to your horse than I a Egypt's forces has made no difference to your plans What else can I do, what other influence bring to bear?

My hands tre about us was open to the air and sky, and it was too early yet for there to be es and branches

”Co across the stream ”The temple isn't far”

It was the only shelter for rown, its roof partially collapsed Yet its old marble was a fine white with bluish veins, and its circular shape was graceful

As we approached it, I saw green lizards darting through the overgrown grass Whose te door and looked in; there was a cru statue of Venus on a pedestal

”Venus,” he said ”This is extraordinary Even here, my ancestress provides for ht Tree roots burrowed in the pave its black and white marble slabs to buckle, and moss, weeds, and wildflowers sprouted in the chipped wall crevices The worn Goddess tilted on her pedestal and looked at us wistfully At her feet a brackish pool of water had collected Light poured in through the broken do a spot on the far side of the temple

”Poor Goddess,” said Caesar slowly ”I hereby vow that when I return frorant me victory once more”

The Goddess did not indicate that she had heard, and her sightless eyes stared out the door into the open fields

”It does not look as if anyone comes here,” said Caesar ”We are quite alone” He leaned one powerful ar his head down, began to kiss the hollow of my neck, then to each side of it, and then softly up tohi of hisThe uneven floor was da on it, and the air was chilly Yet Iwall and let hiainstsince ere together as a ered for it, all the ether

I threwsensation of pleasure He was silent,a little on the ground Hismy lips; when he reached the

Then I suddenly knew that this could not be suspended, or even broken offfaster thanin ing, and sighed, ” ”This floor is worse than the riverbank”

He took ently back against the wall and lifted up the other leg, then, putting his arms under my shoulders, whispered into round” He s and repeated, ”No, it is no place for a queen,” his voice low and uneven, but then he said noat ht I would die of both the exertion and the pleasure I longed for the life force of him to infuse me, so thereby I could keep hi I felt as if that took place But all too soon it was over, and ere standing, panting and shaken, in the sad little te since fled

Our return ride across the fields at sunset was subdued The sky was streaked with purple--like a Triumphator's Triuht of late afternoon was splashed everywhere It gloith a joyful intensity, bathing Caesar's straight back in gold robe--and the peculiarly Roht of late afternoon was splashed everywhere It gloith a joyful intensity, bathing Caesar's straight back in gold

At the gate of the villa there were no farewells He took the reins of Barricade and said he would return the horses to the stables

”May you rest well tonight,” he said, wheeling away

But I did not How could I?

Caesar n to the Senate, and at the same time revealed that he had filled all the political appointments for three years in advance For this year, the Consuls were Antony and himself, with himself to be replaced by Dolabella when he departed for the east For the next year, the Consuls were Hirtius and Pansa; for the year after, Deciovernors of provinces were to be Decimus for Gaul, to be replaced by Pansa and Brutus thereafter Trebonius would take Asia and Tillius Ciovernment behind hienerals? Antony was to be tied down in Roeneral in spite of his cowardly record in Parthia--was praetor peregrinus praetor peregrinus in Roht his ith Octavian and Agrippa--those boys! My fears for him mounted in Roht his ith Octavian and Agrippa--those boys! My fears for hi ready to leave Roypt I would be able to help, in a liuest

His neas not well received People were horrified that hehis absolute control of the government For three years decisions would have to be suspended; the ordinary business of life would come to a standstill All power had been invested in Caesar, and noas re himself, with no provisions for a substitute When he had been away in Egypt, in Africa, the sa had happened No one had had the authority to act in his name Everyone had hated the situation, and that was but a taste of as now loo her, and was preparing to leave her gasping for air, abandoning her for the east

I saw hi off his critics, trying to ee ru so widely that even my servants heard it in the marketplace: The priests had consulted the Sibylline books of prophesy--the saypt with a multitude”--and they said no one could conquer Parthia but a king, or he would be annihilated and Roo, it would have to be as a king Theat all along

The ru to confer this title, when it met at Pompey's theater for the last time before Parthia, on the Ides of March He was to depart for Parthia three days later--as a king

Chapter 34

The inds blew through the garden during the first half of March, gently coaxing the hedges to bloohtly rolled, delicate leaves My preparations for, really? What was driving hinnowas still the saypt in it! And the gift of his mother's jewelry--how could I adequately express the depths of s about it? I promised myself I would never take it off until he returned fro refused hied to see hiht before the Senate was to meet, he had planned to coe that he ht He would postpone ouruntil the day after But there were still three days left in Rome, and ould have tied abruptly by the tihtinside Black-bottoh wind shrieked through the trees The shutters, drawn tight, rattled like an old woeable,” I complained to Charot used to the severe, boo thunderstorms that Jupiter hurled at his chosen city, but I would never like the--everyone had a story to tell about a statue, if not a person, that had been struck by it

”It's a very nasty night,” said Char a woolen shawl about her shoulders She started as one of the tall lamp stands--a pretty one with a slender pole and clawed feet for its base--was blown over It rolled, clanking, a little way and then stopped, spilling its oil in a trail

I was sorry Caesar had to venture out at all, but at least Lepidus's house was conveniently near him, not like this villa across the Tiber

What did Caesar think about the rue it? Diss I needed to know

But I would not know theht blue lightning flashes and the crashi+ng thunder seemed to invade my very chaht the shutters had blown open and a tongue of lightning licked at the foot of ly aftermath did not dispel The wake of the storarden uprooted, and flooded the plants by the ornamental pool In addition, the Hercules statue had been overturned, and his club was broken off, although he still stared up at the sky as if he had the situation well in hand

As I walked through the strewn garden, I heard ugly noises co, or lae to their market stalls

I forced , with Charowns, so much jewelry, ornamented sandals, hairpins and diadems and headdresses And I had worn most of the in Rome There was the dress I had worn to Caesar's dinner party, and the Triuallop through the fields

I can reown, running ers over the sturdy woven linen, when I heard a commotion downstairs There were cries and shrieks, and then footsteps running lightly up to the door I looked up and saw a boy I recognized, so, panting and gasping

Then he said those words, those words that struck me down

”Murder! Murder! Caesar's beenin”Caesar's dead!”

In my most terrible, dark dreams I had heard those words--in drea away the horror, lest it truly happen The unthinkable

Char, her face white, her hands to her mouth