Part 38 (2/2)
”And I?” asked Caesar, for the first time displaying any personal interest.
”You, Imperator, must disband your army and return to Rome speedily, or be declared an outlaw, as Sertorius or Catilina was.”
”Ah!” and for a minute the proconsul sat motionless, while Drusus again kept silence.
”But you--my friends--the tribunes?” demanded the general, ”you spoke of danger; why was it that you fled?”
”We fled in slaves' dresses, O Caesar, because otherwise we should long ago have been strangled like bandits in the Tullianum. Lentulus Crus drove us with threats from the Senate. On the bridge, but for the favour of the G.o.ds, his lictors would have taken us. We were chased by Pompeius's foot soldiers as far as Janiculum. We ran away from his cavalry. If they hate us, your humble friends, so bitterly, how much the more must they hate you!”
”And the tribunes, and Curio, and Caelius are on their way hither?”
asked Caesar.
”They will be here very soon.”
”That is well,” replied the proconsul; then, with a totally unexpected turn, ”Quintus Drusus, what do you advise me to do?”
”I--I advise, Imperator?” stammered the young man.
”And who should advise, if not he who has ridden so hard and fast in my service? Tell me, is there any hope of peace, of reconciliation with Pompeius?”
”None.”
”Any chance that the senators will recover their senses, and propose a reasonable compromise?”
”None.”
”Will not Cicero use his eloquence in the cause of peace and common justice?”
”I have seen him. He dare not open his mouth.”
”Ah!” and again Caesar was silent, this time with a smile, perhaps of scorn, playing around his mouth.
”Are the people, the equites, given body and soul over to the war party?”
Drusus nodded sadly. ”So long as the consuls are in the ascendant, they need fear no revolution at home. The people are not at heart your enemies, Imperator; but they will wait to be led by the winning side.”
”And you advise?”--pressed Caesar, returning to the charge.
”War!” replied Drusus, with all the rash emphasis of youth.
”Young man,” said Caesar, gravely, half sadly, ”what you have said is easy to utter. Do you know what war will mean?”
Drusus was silent.
”Let us grant that our cause is most just. Even then, if we fight, we destroy the Republic. If I conquer, it must be over the wreck of the Commonwealth. If Pompeius--on the same terms. I dare not harbour any illusions. The state cannot endure the farce of another Sullian restoration and reformation. A permanent government by one strong man will be the only one practicable to save the world from anarchy. Have you realized that?”
”I only know, Imperator,” said Drusus, gloomily, ”that no future state can be worse than ours to-day, when the magistrates of the Republic are the most grievous despots.”
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