Part 82 (2/2)
”His name?”
”He had a Nabataean one thatyou please”
Thus er recipients
Mid-July, and I was pacing up and down in one two ed for news But instead I was forced to hear about the wretched Octavian--Mardian had just received a dispatch
”So, what of hi, but braced n is finally launched,” said Mardian, reading as he spoke ”Or, I should say, Agrippa's can”
”Ha!” I cried ”Yes, he is corippa for both the brains and the brawn of any military action” The puny Octavian and his robust friend: a happy combination, for them
”At least he has has someone he can depend on,” said Mardian pointedly someone he can depend on,” said Mardian pointedly
Antony fought alone, basically It would be a comfort to have a reliable partner; yes, it would
”He is fortunate in his friends,” I admitted ”What plans have they settled on?” I had to know
”You know about Agrippa's strategy,” said Mardian ”We had reports all winter”
”Yes, yes!” I barked ”I know all about his naval training station and his twenty thousand oarsainst sextus, as his very political survival depends on defeating hi across the paper ”The battle will be fought in Sicily, on both land and sea The Consul Taurus is sailing from Italy with the two squadrons Antony donated, and Lepidus is bringing up his twelve legions, plus a fleet fro to chance Therefore, against the swift shi+ps and superior seamanshi+p of sextus he has built such massive shi+ps that they cannot be sunk, but led under three disadvantages: his shi+ps were no better than sextus's, his oarsmen orse, and he had no secure harbor He has now solved all these problems”
If only we had such an industrious, clever lieutenant! Agrippa had indeed grown into impressive manhood
”Oh, and he has invented a device called 'the snatcher'--it is a catapult that fires a grappling hook, so that the little boats of sextus can be hauled against Agrippa's, and a land battle on decks commence”
”They will cut the ropes of 'the snatcher,' ” I said That see tubes of iron, so they cannot”
darippa, that polite boy at Caesar's dinner--who could have predicted his military acumen?
”They expect naval action at any day,” said Mardian ”And it will co unpopularity with the Roer One has to go”
The blue seas around Alexandria were innocent and cal the action elsewhere We waited, day after day, for nehich see shi+ps liain Thirty-two shi+ps of the line and alleys were destroyed in a storn for another year Our spirits soared That would give Antony the lead he needed
Octavian thought likewise He dared not let another season pass, allowing Antony a great victory while he suffered from unpopularity at Rome yet another winter And he feared that sextus would find a way to destroy his fleet at anchor So, with his custorimly ”I will triumph even over the will of Neptune,” he vowed
”There is even a report that he aled when his fleet was lost, but--”
”With the ht better of it,” I said I knew his thinking Octavian would alait for the e of the can The action had narrowed to the wicked Strait of Messina, which sextus guarded and Octavian's forces needed to cross Agrippa fought sextus, and his heavier shi+ps proved the worth of his strategy, crushi+ng sextus's vessels But sextus withdrew and decided to attack Octavian instead as he ferried his troops across; Octavian escaped, but the shi+ps Antony had lent him were ruined, unable to withstand sextus
”A lesson for us in that!” I said ”No more small shi+ps!”
”Tiht, reading the dispatch ”He had to send Maecenas back to Rorippa--”
”Agrippa what?” what?” I grabbed the letter frorippa sorabbed the letter frorippa sorippa had seized a port on Sicily that allowed him to land his and Octavian's land forces--a total of twenty-one legions and auxiliaries They caged in sextus, who then decided to stake all on a sea battle
”And what happened?” I waved the letter It had ended there
The battle was long over, but we must wait to know the outcoreat battle was fought at last, and sextus utterly defeated sextus'sthey could expect nosextus's shi+ps captive, hooking theht of sextus's shi+ps were sunk, against only three of Agrippa's Only seventeen escaped, and sextus fled with them
”How many shi+ps out of three hundred?” I could not believe it
”Seventeen”
”The victory is decisive, then” Octavian had prevailed
”sextus has fled to Antony,” Mardian read in disbelief ”He will throw himself on his mercy”
”O Isis!” I said ”What will Antony do with hiainst Octavian and Agrippa It seelected member of the Triumvirate all these years; swelled with pride in the twenty-two legions he had acquired--reckoning that neither side had had as rippa But the troops were having none of it; they eary of civil war and unimpressed with Lepidus
”Lepidus was forced to throw himself on Octavian's mercy,” read Mardian ”To kiss his sandals!”
I shuddered Then I remarked, ”His built-up sandals” The ultireat show of mercy, but he has deprived hiions, and his power Lepidus has departed for an enforced retirement”
”Octavian is one He rules all, as far as Greece”
”Yes,” said Mardian ”He has forty-five legions under his command Some are undermanned, but they still number at least a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers”
”Whatever will he do with them?” I asked softly ”For they must either be paid and dismissed, or used, and he has no funds to pay them”
Work must be found for those soldiers, then Octavian could, of course, transfer some to Antony But I kneould not He would keep theand find some plunder for them, some untouched treasure trove into which they could dip their hands and pay theypt? Or what Antony won in Parthia?
Chapter 59