Part 100 (2/2)
”They are practicing,” said Antony ”The Dionysian songs will fill the island”
The sweet and haunting hosts singing,” I said
”Ghosts sighing,” he said
We stood together listening
Finally I took his hand ”Let us walk There is a path here in the field”
It wound its way toward a ruin, whose roof had long since vanished and whose weathered pillars weretheir capitals Tall weeds and shrubs bordered the path, and reached out to clutch at our clothes But from the rise we could see the flat sea and the s Samos from the mainland It was called the Seven Stadia Channel, which er than the expanse of water between the Pharos and the mainland of Alexandria proper Yet an island had a special feel to it, if it was properly an island
I wondered, idly, when an island stopped feeling like an islandwhen you could walk to it in low tide? When ait to the er, and neither did Tyre Once-invincible Tyrejoined to the e
Alexanderyes, he would understand e did here on Samos He would be present to with celebrations, as the leaders of our forces all gathered for the blessing, drenched in wine, food, song, and draht oxen from each of their cities to be sacrificed, and in a special ceremony just for theonia, Coing voice, of the prophecy of the east's rising against Ro her ”The woman who shears the hair, the Widow, stands here beside ether in the name of her son's inheritance It is not your lands or territory that will be lessened, but Rome will fall to his lot”
There was a deep murmur of approval and desire This was theirfor over a hundred years What Mithridates had failed to do, ould: deliver the east from its stooped humiliation
Day after day the hills resounded with our celebrations ”What will they do to celebrate the victory, when they went to such expense of festivity for its opening?” people were asking--the question we meant the back: that here we dedicated our entire beings, our treasury, our army, our navy, our creative forces to the supre the army over to southern Greece
Greece A Roman civil as to be decided in Greece, for the third time in only seventeen years For the third time the thin, hard Greek soil would soak up the blood of Ro for dominance in their homeland
I had been profoundly affected by each of these battles The first had brought Caesar into my life, the second, Antony Noas the fate ofclash Would they receive their inheritance, secured by Antony's victory, or lose everything, be banished into the nameless void outside history?
There could be no ainst Caesar because he had not pursued his initial rout, and his strategy was not flexible enough; Brutus and Cassius killed thenals from their own camp It was not lost on me that the losers in both previous clashes had been the Roround in Greece; the winners had been the Romans who invaded from the west Yes, there ions dedicated to the war effort Another eleven were standing guard in Egypt, Syria, Cyrenaica, Bithynia, and Macedonia
So Greece would be the battlefield But what part of Greece? North, south? Middle? Where should the troops be deployed?
We had gone round and round on this vital question, in consultation with soht after the revelers had gone to bed After the entertainment, that hen the real work-- and the real decisions--were tackled And it would continue in Athens
All o to Athens As a child I had been taught about the glorious font of all our cultural history, theand Greek-educated people Thenbeen driven off his throne, and I used to wish myself there with hie I was, there was so in Athens to appeal to it: the architecture, the art, the scholars, the schools of oratory and philosophy, the shrines, the witty salons Athens was a place it was irow
Because I was Macedonian, and Greek-educated, Athens had always been un to acquire the dark coloration of association withunder the statues of his idols, the ancient ”tyrannicides” The Athenians had even hailed him as a liberator when he fled there after Caesar's assassination, and raised a statue of his own to him Cicero had made himself at home there, where they lauded him almost as much as he lauded himself And then--it here Antony had passed riun to acquire the dark coloration of association withunder the statues of his idols, the ancient ”tyrannicides” The Athenians had even hailed him as a liberator when he fled there after Caesar's assassination, and raised a statue of his own to him Cicero had made himself at home there, where they lauded him almost as much as he lauded himself And then--it here Antony had passed most of his married life with Octavia
And, oh! the Athenians had outdone the her this title or other, putting up inscriptionsThus Athens had beco it for me So that nohen I came to it at last, it had already been appropriated byit for me So that nohen I came to it at last, it had already been appropriated by my enemies and rivals
Antony seemed happily oblivious of all this As weavenue, lined with cheering crowds, our carriage passed right under a plaque honoring Octavia as ”Goddess of good works” and ”Athena Polias” I stared at it, going rigid with the actuality of seeing it I clutched at his ar his head around ”What?”
”That plaque!” I did not want to point at it, as others would see o of his ar” But I made up my mind that now he entle hints on the subject as--but not in the right direction They had reminded Antony that the breach with Octavian was not irreparable; after all, Antony was still married to his sister Ahenobarbus all but cao back to her, so there would not be a war But even he had not dared to go quite that far--at least in front of er For five years--five years!--I had bowed to all the political argu up the fored Antony's sad excuses about her iainst hiuer They were stale and irrelevant, and all the cautionary reasons for keeping up the pretense were shattered by the pain it caused me to see the mementos of her all over the city
We were housed innot a palace, since the Greeks did not have kings, but what ht as well have been one I have observed that where there are no kings, wealthy citizens live like them, so that instead of one palace, there are dozens
Antony looked supremely contented as he padded up and down our bedroo what I called his ”oriental potentate” gown--red silk, encrusted with gold thread and pearls, with enormous sleeves Decorated slippers flapped on his feet
If he did not wish to be called a degenerate oriental, I thought, he ought to abandon this costuht to provoke hiest one
The acropolis, crowned by the Parthenon, was visible froave life to its still whiteness Antony had stopped pacing and was staring at it
I caendary Parthenon at last last all hthouse of Alexandria from my , and now another white marble wonder was there to fill my eyes But then, unbidden, ca as Bacchus on the very slopes of the acropolis in his wild celebration a few years ago And of Antony being ”betrothed” to the Goddess Athena in her annual ceremony in the Parthenon This city was his in a way it could never be mine I was just the visitor-come-lately, the outsider all hthouse of Alexandria from my , and now another white marble wonder was there to fill my eyes But then, unbidden, ca as Bacchus on the very slopes of the acropolis in his wild celebration a few years ago And of Antony being ”betrothed” to the Goddess Athena in her annual ceremony in the Parthenon This city was his in a way it could never be mine I was just the visitor-come-lately, the outsider
I would not spoil this moment withas he wished, and I would stand silently beside him But when he turned
”Antony, the tientle and persuasive, not shrewish But even as I blurted out the words, I berated , but uised
He looked at ined I had lured some exotic entertainment to the chamber, or had ordered dishes of Athenian delicacies to be sent up ”Yes?” he said eagerly
I took his arainst his shoulder ”You must divorce Octavia,” I whispered
”What?” he said Frowning, he turned me to face him ”Why do you say that?”
Because I cannot bear it anyuous position in the eyes of the world, cannot bear sharing you And on the eve of a war, all things must be made clear and tidy, all debts settled I dropped h It is confusing our friends and allies It is hindering our cause” There--was that political-sounding enough for him? I dropped h It is confusing our friends and allies It is hindering our cause” There--was that political-sounding enough for him?
”I don't knohat youto be difficult, then I hated that
”Your e was a political one, meant to unite you and Octavian It failed to do that You are on the brink of war The Triues made for political reasons ed That is the Roman way, is it not? Octavian himself has made, and discarded, many matrimonial ties There was the sextus connection, another connection with you--ree?--and the betrothal of little Julia to your Antyllus All snapped in a second Only you you”--O dear Isis! keep that tone froe Now you should, as befits an honorable man, end it”
”It still serves a purpose,” he said
”What purpose?” I could hear
”It still provides an excuse for certain Ro as I retain ives the lie to Octavian's attempts to paint me as un-Roman”