Part 76 (1/2)
”How easily you seeotten,” I said ”We are already in an alliance We are Friend and Ally of the Roed, as if it were of no moment
”I keep my word,” I said ”If it is to be broken, it must be broken by the other side” It was a point of honor with me--quaint, perhaps foolish, but it was my own personal code Why, then, did I deride Antony for his loyalty to the Triumvirate?
Because, I answered myself, you cannot keep faith with a faithless person, and Octavian is faithless Except to his own ambition
When Octavian had first returned to Rome, he had declared his intentions openly: ”May I succeed in attaining the honors and position of nored it How blind!
Yes, I would keep my alliance with Rome, but with both eyes open And it was really an alliance with Caesar and with Antony hich I kept faith
”Tell your tale” Mardian prodded the ht theroup Hesitantly they inched toward ed them
”Nohat is it you wish to tell me?” I asked
”We--your dockmaster said you would wish to be informed personally,” one man said
”About what?”
”I arain transports We carry a thousand tons of wheat to Rome this time of year We were attacked just outside Sicily--despoiled of not only our cargo, but our shi+p as well! I e shi+p, is unprecedented! sextus rules the sea Nothing is safe between here and Roone?”
”Yes, taken fro I could do to prevent it”
”Did you not have soldiers aboard?”
”Yes, a few, but grain transports cannot provide quarters for hed ”All that investone”
”I will repay you,” I assured hiive me more information From what you say, Rome will be starved out”
”It looks likely When sextus--for I beheld him face-to-face--let me free, he told me that Octavian had sent for help froainst ain, no ets frohten around his neck until he'll beg for mercy' That's what he said, Your Majesty The very words”
”He has sent for help to Antony?”
”So sextus said He laughed about it, saying that it would harm both of them Antony would have to postpone his attack on Parthia, and Octavian would only reveal his weakness,the Romans more discontented with him”
”It is hard to see what sextus wants--other than to spoil the fortunes of others” He see What a sad destiny for the last son of Po transport hoe for seamen's duties,” said another rippa has taken charge of the war against sextus, and is engaged in secret preparations He did not know anything about the feat”
Agrippa--Octavian's boyhood friend, now his favorite general I wondered what ”secret” ainst sextus
”Well,” I finally said, ”I grieve with you for your losses, and will try to ood We are not at war, and there is no reason why you should suffer the pains of war”
After they left, I could not keep a s; he had been forced to call upon Antony for help
It took several months for all the pieces of the e them to form the picture of what happened next A short sketch will suffice
Antony, obedient to the call, set out for Tarentuht three hundred shi+ps To his surprise, Octavian did not hts, echoing the first ones of sextus: namely, that to call for outside help revealed his oeakness He preferred to bank on Agrippa and his secret plans; he did not wish to share any glory with Antony
Antony, furious with Octavian, was ready to break with him at last, but in the end Octavia acted as ashe would be the -out between the two people dearest to her: her brother and her husband The two ed: the Treaty of Tarentum It renewed the Triumvirate--which had technically expired--for another five years Antony was to yield two squadrons--one hundred twenty shi+ps--for the war against sextus At soue later date, Octavian would repay hiainst the Parthians Antony sailed away, leaving the shi+ps behind, but with no promised soldiers The rendezvous with Octavian had eaten up the better part of the su the Parthian attack Thus this treaty, like all the others with Octavian, lessened Antony's power He took his leave, fu well past my usual time to sleep I lay on ht blanket The lainning to gather force for the coht when the sea below seemed to moan and whisper
At first I was not sure I heard a knock It was too late for a knock But it sounded again I rose and said, ”Enter”
Mardian stepped in, his bulk draped in a shawl ”Forgive ht you would want to hear this news ie back east, he got as far as the island of Corcyra, when he suddenly said she belonged back in Ro on the next shi+p”
”He must have had sonant,” said Mardian ”But he knew that before he set sail with her He could have left her in Italy to begin with Evidently he changed hisatmine ”You knoill send for you What will you do?”
Had I been less than honest to iven a proud, noncommittal answer Instead I just told the truth ”I don't know”
lhad no illusions about ould happen if I saw him I did not even bother to deny it to ards my person, not my country's interests
Still, Mardian did not turn his gaze away
I asked, ”Do you hate him, as Olympos does?”
”Not if you love him Do you?”
I--I did did love him But much has happened to us since those days I fear neither of us is ere then--we are scarred, both of us, and older He has made decisions that I deplore; doubtless I have done likewise What changes people, changes love” love him But much has happened to us since those days I fear neither of us is ere then--we are scarred, both of us, and older He has made decisions that I deplore; doubtless I have done likewise What changes people, changes love”
Mardian rocked on his heels a bit ”A properly Alexandrian answer-- convoluted, artificial, clever”
”I am afraid to say either yes or no, for either of them would be unwelcome to me,” I said
”Then I leave you, dearest Queen, to your own thoughts for the rest of the night” Bowing, he opened the doors and glided away, hts for the rest of the night! I did not look forward to having hours alone to dwell on Mardian's news I knew that any hope of sleep was gone, yet I really did not wish to substitute soul-searching for it
I ht, hoping to trick Morpheus, the God of sleep, luring hiht dress, ruband soporific odor--beguiling for Morpheus, soporific forthat I was Iras--who it and touching it as a foreign thing Iinto the cha Then I lay down, and waited
I stretchedin particular I would force myself to picture the harbor, count the masts of the shi+ps tied up there That was usually effective
But tonight, of course, the thought of shi+psOctavia back on a shi+p She must even now be only halfway back to Rome; I knew of her dismissal before Octavian would But what did itfor his Parthian war, perhaps he reasoned that since he would be away for months, it was best for her to return to Rome to be with their passel of children and stepchildren--Antony's three and Octavia's three, plus their own In fact, she ht well have been the one to say she preferred to return to their children, even if he asked her to wait in Athens
I sighed and turned over My feet tangled in the blanket and I threw it off What was it that Mardian had said? He suddenly said she belonged back in Ro on the next shi+p He suddenly said she belonged back in Ro on the next shi+p But doubtless that was his interpretation There could be perfectly respectable reasons why Octavia had left his side Although she never had in the three years they had been togetherAntony had got ahy did I insist on using that tered Samasota with Bassus The rest of the time they had been tethered to each other's company But doubtless that was his interpretation There could be perfectly respectable reasons why Octavia had left his side Although she never had in the three years they had been togetherAntony had got ahy did I insist on using that tered Samasota with Bassus The rest of the time they had been tethered to each other's company