Part 103 (2/2)

All these words, written and witnessed, were delivered into our hands at Patrae I could al them aloud to the crowds and the sky

HERE ENDS THE SEVENTH SCROLL

Chapter 72

THE EIGHTH SCROLL

”The oblet and hailed Antony Dining with us were our intimates, who followed suit ”Janus, the God who looks both ways, open this year to us and shower his blessings on us”

Antony allowed hiifts for everyone Boxes were distributed; each contained thirty gold coins, the nificent issue he had struck to honor each of his thirty legions, as well as his praetorian bodyguard and corps of scouts Each displayed the eagle and standards on one side, and a warshi+p of our fleet on the other They orth a fortune, and our friends were stunned It seerew used to

”Hail, Consul!” one said, since our Senate--the legal one--had duly declared Octavian's action in appointing Messalla Corvinus as his replaceality of our actions, or Octavian's, could be ratified only one way now: by arms

While aited in Patrae, winter storms lashed the seas But ere secure, tucked away in the protecting Gulf of Corinth It was an interesting part of Greece--or would be, in better weather We were not far from Olympia, where the Games were held, and its world-fa In the other direction lay the ruins of old Corinth and the new colony set up by Caesar The city itself lay on the shore just beyond a fertile area of orchards and vineyards

Antyllus had been dispatched to Alexandria, there to make himself a home with his half brothers and sister; I hoped they would welcome him warmly It could not be easy for him to be uprooted from the only home he had ever known and sent to a new one, with neither father northe twins and Caesarion to be friendly

Before leaving Athens, the client kings had all sworn allegiance to Antony, in a pale imitation of the oaths Octavian had extracted in Italy And Antony had in turn sworn to theht on without reconciliation While in Athens, Herod had whispered what he thought was astute advice into Antony's ear: kill ypt He said it made perfect sense, and would solve the problem of the contention in our camp

So Herod could not be allowed to participate directly in our can But he could still be used; I tied hi, who had been tardy in paying his rent for the bitue reserves of money, and our ability to mint coins--Antony still possessed a mint in Italy itself--we distributed bribes to key people in Roainst Octavian's extractions and taxes This made us, for a ti looked favorable On January first, the new year, Janus see ahead with a boundless future for us We had mountains of money, an enorypt, and the best general in the world leading us

Was that when I was the happiest? Are we happiest e are holding everything that is dear to us, or e are reaching out, in all confidence and hope, to grasp it? I think for ht, and the waiting was only a delicious sauce poured over the days, drenching them with sweet anticipation

When I think of that winter, for sohts Both our dining cha red, and the floor of the council chamber was of purple-red porphyry; the chill rain and windred-eyed in braziers, and torches fla scarlet, and I always felt felt warmer when I had them on Antony, too, had tunics of that shade, as well as thick mantles in a duller rust color Even the sun--on the days that it shone--slanted into the s in rays dipped in rubies, pooling on the floor We had discovered an exquisite local wine, so dark its depths only gave off glints of red, but red it was nonetheless We drank it sohts until our heads barely started to spin, and then we set the goblets carefully on the small table and retired to our bed, there to experience the heightened feelings that a small amount of wine can induce warmer when I had them on Antony, too, had tunics of that shade, as well as thick mantles in a duller rust color Even the sun--on the days that it shone--slanted into the s in rays dipped in rubies, pooling on the floor We had discovered an exquisite local wine, so dark its depths only gave off glints of red, but red it was nonetheless We drank it sohts until our heads barely started to spin, and then we set the goblets carefully on the small table and retired to our bed, there to experience the heightened feelings that a small amount of wine can induce

And, oh! how I loved to hold hia, and noas again the Antony of years ago Exercise had burned off the flesh of ease and excess, leaving his arhs lean and strong The young Antony had returned, the soldier who had shone bright for Caesar This was the Antony I had first loved at Tarsus, now co in bed, half-covered by the blankets, I would drowsily ask why he had coo It had become a ritual for us, as it does for all lovers: where, when, why? remember where, when, why? rememberI understand even old people rehearse their private religion of how they first loved,his words, ”Because I had to” The question and the ansere always the same I understand even old people rehearse their private religion of how they first loved,his words, ”Because I had to” The question and the ansere always the same Why? Because I had to Why? Because I had to

And I would lean down and kiss his lips, holding his face inthe round ri his closed eyes He would murmur and reach up, slowly, to put one hand ine, and sleep would slide away, replaced by the urgency of desire and the loosening of restraints that the ic of wine conferred Soon ould be lost in the thickets of body- to reach one another in a e never had before We never did, and it was good we did not, because then it would have becorew tired of him, of the physical essence of him We are more than our bodies, it is true; but we cannot be divorced from them They are are us, and the only way in which we can see one another Perhaps the Gods are above this, but in their o too far astray that way And I loved Antony in his bodily form-- Isis help me, how I loved it! us, and the only way in which we can see one another Perhaps the Gods are above this, but in their o too far astray that way And I loved Antony in his bodily form-- Isis help , in the luxury of breathing slowly, enjoying our food, our long-neglected interests, and each other In so in time, back to e had simpler lives Our children were not with us, nor were our ministers and officers, and ere not in our hoone In place of them we could read, exercise, write, daydream All of them were necessary to nurture ere, to make us truly Antony and Cleopatra, the selves beyond the public persons--the selves that had originally given rise to the public persons

”I wonder,” I said idly to Antony, one ht as we lay in one another's arms, ”ould have been without one another?” My head was resting on his chest, and I was savoring the warmth of it, soothed by the barely felt heartbeat under reat ed Queen of Egypt, and I a partner with Octavian, shouldering what Caesar had left behindperhaps always yearning for as lost, but knowing that it was gone No man is his equal; no man can duplicate what he would have done It would have been, by the world's judg”

He kissed the top of e hohat is hile can be so lacking”

”And nowwe are trying to forge a neorld Would Caesar approve, do you think?”

He paused a long tione to sleep Finally he said, ”Even Caesar was bound by his tione past him left him behind”

How that hurt! To think of Caesar as finite, finished, over, a prisoner of time

”He would say to us,” Antony continued, ” 'Pursue your dream Only take care of the details Dreams without details cannot come true' Just as I cannot ainst him--”soldiers cannot march without boots Remember the boots; remember the details”

”Yes The boots--” But he was pressing up against me in a way that told uilty,” Ithis tiuished and tortured with the waiting, and instead it has been a gift A gift of tiift of one another” I ran h his hair, his hair that was still thick and felt springy and healthy

He loosened the front of own, and slowly kissed the hollow of my throat and my shoulders, then the tops of ift,” he said, ”and stop talking”

The Gods snatched away the respite, our little island of time January spun away, then half of February And in spite of the seas, reports fro readied, and he was putting the final touches on his can to win the hearts and minds of the Romans

As I said earlier, we still had -standing aristocratic ties, his service to his country, had not been forgotten Then, our monetary bribes had done much to remind people that there were powers other than Octavian and his lot So, before he could leave the capital, Octavian still had much work to do

One blustery day in February, Aulus Cossus arrived on a shi+p, bearing copies of Octavian's speeches Protocol deraciously, and that we did, although his arrival was an unwelco us

We received hi to put him at his ease He was an old friend of Antony'ssides in Rome

”I'm too old,” he said, ”and no one is interested in ” He was a spindly man, and so dried up it was no wonder no one was interested in him ”I still miss your mother,” he said simply

”As do I,” said Antony She had died while he was in Parthia At least she had been spared knowing--for Antony would have had to have told her her the truth--of the disaster there Now all Antony's family was dead: his father, two brothers, and mother As were mine We had only each other the truth--of the disaster there Now all Antony's family was dead: his father, two brothers, and mother As were mine We had only each other

”I s have been well received Here” He thrust a copy of the speech Octavian had given on the steps of the Senate house into our hands

Antony took it and read it, slowly His s, and then, wordlessly, he handed it to me He stood up, and, arm around Cossus's shoulders, walked toward the covered portico where we showed guests the artworks as a diversion

I read it Octavian had opened all gates in this one He left no abuse unuttered After reviewing hisreatest and best portion of the world, to be trodden underfoot by an Egyptian woman is unworthy of our fathers; it is unworthy also of ourselves Should we not be acting racefully if we should , who, oh heavens! are Alexandrians and Egyptians (orse or what truer name could one apply to them?), who are slaves to a wo Rouards of this Queen? Who would not groan at hearing that Rohts and senators fawn upon her like eunuchs? Who would not hen he both hears and sees Antony himself, the man twice Consul, often Imperator--when he sees this man has now abandoned all his ancestors' habits of life, has emulated all alien and barbaric customs, that he pays no honor to us or to the laws of his father s Gods, but pays ho her children Helios and Selene, and finally taking for himself the title of Osiris or Dionysus, and, after this,presents of whole islands and parts of the continents, as though he were master of the whole earth and the sea? us, Roreatest and best portion of the world, to be trodden underfoot by an Egyptian woman is unworthy of our fathers; it is unworthy also of ourselves Should we not be acting racefully if we should , who, oh heavens! are Alexandrians and Egyptians (orse or what truer name could one apply to them?), who are slaves to a wo Rouards of this Queen? Who would not groan at hearing that Rohts and senators fawn upon her like eunuchs? Who would not hen he both hears and sees Antony himself, the man twice Consul, often Imperator--when he sees this man has now abandoned all his ancestors' habits of life, has emulated all alien and barbaric customs, that he pays no honor to us or to the laws of his father s Gods, but pays ho her children Helios and Selene, and finally taking for himself the title of Osiris or Dionysus, and, after this,presents of whole islands and parts of the continents, as though he were master of the whole earth and the sea?

I shut my eyes a moment I could see it all from the Romans' point of view, knew that if only Antony were able to return and show himself to themBut the animosity stirred up by Octavian h in his plans and hisI had to see it all

Yet I ave hiranted hiift! A if it were all in Octavian's gift! A sharegranted hiranted him

After that I felt so kindly, so affectionately, toward hie war on hilected the children she had borne hiyptian woman to her, or because he bestowed upon that woman's children practically all your possessions, or for any other cause I did not think it proper to assume the same attitude toward Antony Antony as toward Cleopatra; for I adjudged her, if only on account of her foreign birth, to be an enemy by reason of her very conduct, but I believed that he, as a citizen, ht to reason as toward Cleopatra; for I adjudged her, if only on account of her foreign birth, to be an enemy by reason of her very conduct, but I believed that he, as a citizen, ht to reason