Part 111 (1/2)
”To have gathered a fleet and an army like this, and not to use theate
”Neither the army nor the fleet is what it was,” he re” He sighed ”Now everything is changed The worst criht today's battle with the troops of yesterday”
”Of course” I must defer to his experience Let us not compound one error with another
”If we can extricate roup there ” He was thinking out loud ”The followers of Poain”
But that army had ultimately lost Once someone is on the run, he has lost his initiative and is the hunted rather than the hunter I refrained froypt is to be the arena,” I said faintly I did not like it What if Octavian pursued us to our own shores? I did not want fighting there That hy Pothinus had killed Pompey--to forestall exactly that
”No, no,” he reassured ain” ”Perhaps it would be better to fight it out here, in Greece, now” Spare Egypt! ”Your areneral”
”If they won't fight, we can't,” Antony insisted ”All we can do is leave”
”But ould Octavian bring an enorht? It s have happened” He rose and took otten
It had been late already when he had hunched over his ht The ca beast He blew out the laed the tent into darkness, then pulledarea Beside the bed, he took lecting you,”At least I have not deserted”
He bent his head and kissed htened ive ive,” he said, falling on the bed and takingafter long abstinence, has a headiness all its own It was as if he were a new person, and-I ain
At last it had come: the council of here ouldour posts Everyone had to be certain of his duties, and of our suprey: not as simple as one would suppose
The leaders were still deeply divided on e should do The only agree, or perish at this wretched site Both are to be abandoned, too weakened to be reliable The only question hich one was in worse condition?
Seated around the trestle table were our four admirals--the experienced Sosius and Publicola, and the less-trained Insteius and Octavius (unfortunate naeneral, Canidius, as well as Dellius
The heat had continued unabated, as had the disease and debilitation, and as we talked, flies buzzed around the stifling cha on the maps Antony had unrolled They crawled excitedly, and I wondered if they were anticipating all the corpses that would litter the area depicted on the ive them joy Antony swatted one, and its iridescent blob smeared the area of Athens
”My friends,” he said, leaning forward on his knuckles, ”we must now cast our final plans”
Now that the moment had coy
”Canidius, the state of the legions?” asked Antony, to fill the hesitant silence
Canidius rose ”Of our original hundred thousand ht”
Now a groan or two escaped around the table To have lost thirty thousand ht! Truly disease is a worse eneest loss is in the client kings who deserted; the reionaries, many of them veterans”
”Just as well,” snorted Publicola ”Octavian never had any of those worthless foreigners to begin with He was sner,” or was past caring what I thought
”True, now the numbers are almost equal,” said Canidius
”Minus the riffraff,” Publicola emphasized
”In any case,” said Antony, ”with equal numbers, and Romans versus Romans, would you say we are evenly ht for a her on the side that can claim recent victories, even if they are ser for action I would recommend that we abandon the fleet, and effect an ordered retreat east to Macedonia to link up with our forces there We can call on help fro Dicomes nearby Octavian will follow us, and we can draw hi” He looked at ypt by land, there to await the outcome”
I was taken by surprise ”But, Canidius,” I said, ”you supported rippa rendered your fleet helpless,” he said ”Nov/ you are only a liability--a target for Octavian's abuse You are har Antony's cause to remain”
What he said was true, but there was no help for it If Egypt did not participate in this war as a sovereign state, we becadoms--worthless allies The shame would be unendurable We would deserve the censure that Rome already heaped on us
”It seems to me that if you retreat, the troops will ued ”Then they will desert in droves, and there will be no ar Octavian”
”The alternative plan is to escape from the naval blockade and save as many shi+ps as possible,” said Antony ”After all, if we lose our entire navy, the land army will be trapped in Greece, unable to cross into Asia because ill have no transport, while the eneed”
”Bah!” said Dellius ”Forget the fleet!”
”What is the state of the fleet?” Antony asked calmly
”We are badly undermanned in rowers, and the shi+ps suffer from disrepair,” said Sosius
”How many shi+ps would you estimate could be manned with our oarsmen?” asked Antony
”No yptian ones”
Now roans sounded around the table This time last year, we had had five hundred warshi+ps and three hundred supporting merchant shi+ps, plus scouts What a decline!
”We must burn the extra shi+ps, then,” said Antony ”No sense in ift of them to Octavian”
Burn yptian ones are manned by my own mercenaries, and are entirely reliable!” I said quickly
”The few that are left,” said Publicola ”They had no ic to survive the fevers and dysentery any better than the rest”
”Forget the sea!” Canidius burst out ”The fleet is eeneral The Rorippa is notanywhere Seek your victory where you are strongest, not where you are weakest!”
Antony shut his eyes as if to shut out all the conflicting noise He was fighting within hiht by land, but as supreme commander he had to keep all the issues in y, not just one battle Clearly the sea offered hi resources and preserve a long-teroal of victory
What would Caesar have done? But whatever it would have been, it would have needed Caesar himself to carry it out
”I think” Antony finally raised his head ”It must be by sea”
”No!” cried Dellius ”That's a mistake!”