Imperium:

by Robert Harris

  He finished to a round of boos and cat-calls, and as he resumed his seat, with the most magnificent display of disdain, some kind of fight broke out at the other end of the chamber. I believe a senator threw a punch at Gabinius, who turned round and punched him back, and very quickly he was in difficulties, with bodies piling in on top of him. There was a scream and a crash as one of the benches toppled over. I lost sight of Cicero. A voice in the crowd behind me cried that Gabinius was being murdered and there was such a surge of pressure forwards that the rope was pulled from its fixings and we tumbled into the chamber. I was lucky to scramble to one side as several hundred of Pompey’s plebeian supporters (who were a rough-looking lot, I must admit) poured down the aisle towards the consular dais and dragged Piso from his curule chair. One brute had him by the neck, and for a few moments it looked as though murder would be done. But then Gabinius managed to struggle free and pull himself up on to a bench to show that, although he had been somewhat knocked about, he was still alive. He appealed to the demonstrators to let go of Piso, and after a short argument the consul was reluctantly released. Rubbing his throat, Piso declared hoarsely that the session was adjourned without a vote – and so, by the very narrowest of margins, for the moment at least, the commonwealth was saved from anarchy.

  SUCH VIOLENT SCENES had not been witnessed in the heart of Rome’s governing district for more than fourteen years, and they had a profound effect on Cicero, even though he had managed to escape the mêlée with barely a ruffle in his immaculate dress. Gabinius was streaming blood from his nose and lip and Cicero had to help him from the chamber. They came out some distance after Pompey, who walked on, looking neither right nor left, with the measured tread of a man at a funeral. What I remember most is the silence as the mingled crowd of senators and plebeians parted to let him through. It was as if both sides, at the very last moment, had realised that they were fighting on a cliff-edge, had come to their senses and drawn back. We went out into the forum, with Pompey still not saying anything, and when he turned into the Argiletum, in the direction of his house, his supporters all followed him, partly for want of anything else to do. Afranius, who was next to Pompey, passed the word back that the general wanted a meeting. I asked Cicero if there was anything he required and he replied, with a bitter smile, ‘Yes, that quiet life in Arpinum!’

  Quintus came up and said urgently, ‘Pompey must withdraw, or be humiliated!’

  ‘He already has been humiliated,’ retorted Cicero, ‘and we with him. Soldiers!’ he said to me in disgust. ‘What did I tell you? I would not dream of giving them orders on the battlefield. Why should they believe they know better than I about politics?’

  We climbed the hill to Pompey’s house and filed inside, leaving the muted crowd in the street. Ever since that first conference I had been accepted as the minute-taker for the group, and when I settled into my usual place in the corner, no one gave me a second glance. The senators arranged themselves around a big table, Pompey at the head. The pride had entirely gone out of his massive frame. Slumped in his throne-like chair he reminded me of some great beast that had been captured, shackled, baffled and taunted in the arena by creatures littler than himself. He was utterly defeatist and kept repeating that it was all over – the senate would clearly never stand for his appointment, he had only the support of the dregs on the streets, Crassus’s tame tribunes would veto the bill in any case: there was nothing left for it but death or exile. Caesar took the opposite view – Pompey was still the most popular man in the republic, he should go out into Italy and begin recruiting the legions he needed, his old veterans would provide the backbone of his new army, the senate would capitulate once he had sufficient force. ‘There is only one thing to do if you lose a throw of the dice: double your stake and throw again. Ignore the aristocrats, and if necessary rule through the people and the army.’

  I could see that Cicero was preparing himself to speak, and was sure he did not favour either of these extremes. But there is as much skill in knowing how to handle a meeting of ten as there is in manipulating a gathering of hundreds. He waited until everyone had had their say, and the discussion was exhausted, before coming fresh to the fray. ‘As you know, Pompey,’ he began, ‘I have had some misgivings about this undertaking from the outset. But after witnessing today’s débâcle in the senate, I have to tell you, they have vanished entirely. Now we simply have to win this fight – for your sake, for Rome’s, and for the dignity and authority of all those of us who have supported you. There can be no question of surrender. You are famously a lion on the battlefield; you cannot become a mouse in Rome.’

  ‘You watch your language, lawyer,’ said Afranius, wagging his finger at him, but Cicero took no notice.

  ‘Can you conceive of what will happen if you give up now? The bill has been published. The people are clamouring for action against the pirates. If you do not assume the post, someone else will, and I can tell you who it will be: Crassus. You say yourself he has two tame tribunes. He will make sure this law goes through, only with his name written into it instead of yours. And how will you, Gabinius, be able to stop him? By vetoing your own legislation? Impossible! Do you see? We cannot abandon the battle now!’

  This was an inspired argument, for if there was one thing guaranteed to rouse Pompey to a fight, it was the prospect of Crassus stealing his glory. He drew himself up, thrust out his jaw and glared around the table. I noticed both Afranius and Palicanus give him slight nods of encouragement. ‘We have scouts in the legions, Cicero,’ said Pompey, ‘marvellous fellows who can find a way through the most difficult terrain – marshes, mountain ranges, forests which no man has penetrated since time began. But politics beats any obstacle I have ever faced. If you can show me a route out of this mess, you will have no truer friend than me.’

  ‘Will you place yourself in my hands entirely?’

  ‘You are the scout.’

  ‘Very well,’ said Cicero. ‘Gabinius, tomorrow you must summon Pompey to the rostra, to ask him to serve as supreme commander.’

  ‘Good,’ said Pompey belligerently, clenching his massive fist. ‘And I shall accept.’

  ‘No, no,’ said Cicero, ‘you will refuse absolutely. You will say you have done enough for Rome, that you have no ambitions left in public life, and are retiring to your estate in the country.’ Pompey’s mouth fell open. ‘Don’t worry. I shall write the speech for you. You will leave the city tomorrow afternoon, and you will not come back. The more reluctant you seem, the more frantic the people will be for your recall. You will be our Cincinnatus, fetched from his plough to save the country from disaster. It is one of the most potent myths in politics, believe me.’

  Some of those present were opposed to such a dramatic tactic, considering it too risky. But the idea of appearing modest appealed to Pompey’s vanity. For is this not the dream of every proud and ambitious man? That rather than having to get down in the dust and fight for power, the people should come crawling to him, begging him to accept it as a gift? The more Pompey thought about it, the more he liked it. His dignity and authority would remain intact, he would have a comfortable few weeks, and if it all went wrong, it would be someone else’s fault.

  ‘This sounds very clever,’ said Gabinius, who was dabbing at his split lip. ‘But you seem to forget that it is not the people who are the problem; it is the senate.’

  ‘The senate will come round once they wake up to the implications of Pompey’s retirement. They will be faced with a choice of either doing nothing about the pirates, or awarding the supreme command to Crassus. To the great majority, neither will be acceptable. Apply a little grease and they will slide our way.’

  ‘That is clever,’ said Pompey admiringly. ‘Is he not clever, gentlemen? Did I not tell you he was clever?’

  ‘These fifteen legateships,’ said Cicero. ‘I propose you should use at least half of them to win over support inside the senate.’ Palicanus and Afranius, seeing their lucrative commissions in jeopardy, immediately
objected loudly, but Pompey waved them to be quiet. ‘You are a national hero,’ continued Cicero, ‘a patriot above petty political squabbles and intrigue. Rather than using your patronage to reward your friends, you should use it to divide your enemies. Nothing will split the aristocratic faction more disastrously than if some can be persuaded to serve under you. They will tear each other’s eyes out.’

  ‘I agree,’ said Caesar, with a decisive nod. ‘Cicero’s plan is better than mine. Be patient, Afranius. This is only the first stage. We can wait for our rewards.’

  ‘Besides,’ said Pompey sanctimoniously, ‘the defeat of Rome’s enemies should be reward enough for all of us.’ I could see that in his mind’s eye, he was already at his plough.

  Afterwards, as we were walking home, Quintus said, ‘I hope you know what you are doing.’

  ‘I hope I know what I am doing,’ replied Cicero.

  ‘The nub of the problem, surely, is Crassus and those two tribunes of his, and his ability to veto the bill. How are you going to get round that?’

  ‘I have no idea. Let us hope that a solution presents itself. One usually does.’

  I realised then just how much Cicero was relying on his old dictum that sometimes you have to start a fight to discover how to win it. He said good night to Quintus and walked on, head down in thought. From being a reluctant participant in Pompey’s grand ambition, he had now emerged as its chief organiser, and he knew that this would put him in a hard place, not least with his own wife. In my experience, women are far less willing than men to forget past slights and it was inexplicable to Terentia that her husband should still be dancing attendance on the ‘Prince of Picenum’, as she derisively called Pompey, especially after that day’s scenes in the senate, about which the whole city was talking. She was waiting for Cicero in the tablinum when we arrived home, all drawn up in full battle order and ready to attack. She flew at him immediately. ‘I cannot believe things have reached such a pass! There is the senate on one side and the rabble on the other – and where is my husband to be found? As usual, with the rabble! Surely even you will sever your connection with him now?’

  ‘He is announcing his retirement tomorrow,’ Cicero soothed her.

  ‘What?’

  ‘It is true. I am going to write his statement myself this evening. Which means I shall have to dine at my desk, I am afraid, if you will excuse me.’ He eased past her, and once we were in his study he said, ‘Do you think she believed me?’

  ‘No,’ I replied.

  ‘Nor do I,’ he said, with a chuckle. ‘She has lived with me too long!’

  He was rich enough by now to have divorced her if he wanted, and he could have made himself a better match, certainly a more beautiful one. He was disappointed she had not been able to give him a son. And yet, despite their endless arguments, he stayed with her. Love was not the word for it – not in the sense that the poets use it. Some stranger, stronger compound bound them. She kept him sharp, that was part of it: the whetstone to his blade. At any rate, she did not bother us for the rest of that night, as Cicero dictated the words he thought that Pompey should say. He had never written a speech for anyone else before, and it was a peculiar experience. Nowadays, of course, most senators employ a slave or two to turn out their speeches; I have even heard of some who have no idea of what they are going to say until the text is placed in front of them: how these fellows can call themselves statesmen defeats me. But Cicero found that he rather enjoyed composing parts for others. It amused him to think of lines that great men ought to utter, if only they had the brains, and later he would use the technique to considerable effect in his books. He even thought of a phrase for Gabinius to deliver, which afterwards became quite famous: ‘Pompey the Great was not born for himself alone, but for Rome!’

  The statement was deliberately kept short and we finished it long before midnight, and early the following morning, after Cicero had performed his exercises and greeted only his most important callers, we went across to Pompey’s house and gave him the speech. Overnight, Pompey had contracted a bad dose of cold feet, and now he fretted aloud whether retirement was such a good idea after all. But Cicero saw that it was nervousness about going up on to the rostra as much as anything else, and once Pompey had his prepared text in his hands, he began to calm down. Cicero then gave some notes to Gabinius, who was also present, but the tribune resented being handed his lines like an actor, and questioned whether he should really say that Pompey was ‘born for Rome’. ‘Why?’ teased Cicero. ‘Do you not believe it?’ Whereupon Pompey gruffly ordered Gabinius to stop complaining and say the words as written. Gabinius fell silent, but he glowered at Cicero and from that moment I believe became his secret enemy – a perfect example of the senator’s recklessness in causing offence by his repartee.

  An enormous throng of spectators had gathered in the forum, eager to see the sequel to the previous day’s performance. We could hear the noise as we came down the hill from Pompey’s house – that awesome, oblivious swelling sound of a great excited multitude, which always reminds me of a huge sea rolling against a distant shore. I felt my blood begin to pulse faster in anticipation. Most of the senate was there, and the aristocrats had brought along several hundred supporters of their own, partly for their protection, and also to howl down Pompey when, as they expected, he declared his desire for the supreme command. The great man briefly entered the forum escorted, as before, by Cicero and his senatorial allies, but kept to the edge of it, and immediately went to the back of the rostra, where he paced around, yawned, blew on his freezing hands, and generally gave every indication of nerves, as the roar of the crowd increased in volume. Cicero wished him luck, then went round to the front of the rostra to stand with the rest of the senate, for he was keen to observe their reactions. The ten tribunes filed up on to the platform and sat on their bench, then Gabinius stepped forward and shouted dramatically, ‘I summon before the people Pompey the Great!’

  How important appearance is in politics, and how superbly Pompey was fashioned by nature to carry the look of greatness! As that broad and familiar figure came plodding up the steps and into view, his followers gave him the most tremendous ovation. He stood there as solid as a full-grown bull, his massive head tilted back slightly on his muscular shoulders, looking down on the upturned faces, his nostrils flared as if inhaling the applause. Normally, the people resented having speeches read to them rather than delivered with apparent spontaneity, but on this occasion there was something in the way that Pompey unrolled his short text and held it up that reinforced the sense that these were words as weighty as the man delivering them – a man above the smooth oratorical tricks of the law and politics.

  ‘People of Rome,’ he bellowed into the silence, ‘when I was seventeen I fought in the army of my father, Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, to bring unity to the state. When I was twenty-three I raised a force of fifteen thousand, defeated the combined rebel armies of Brutus, Caelius and Carrinas, and was saluted imperator in the field. When I was twenty-four I conquered Sicily. When I was twenty-five I conquered Africa. On my twenty-sixth birthday, I triumphed. When I was thirty, and not even a senator, I took command of our forces in Spain with proconsular authority, fought the rebels for six years, and conquered. When I was thirty-six I returned to Italy, hunted down the last remaining army of the fugitive slave Spartacus, and conquered. When I was thirty-seven I was voted consul and triumphed for a second time. As consul, I restored to you the ancient rights of your tribunes, and staged games. Whenever danger has threatened this commonwealth, I have served it. My entire life has been nothing but one long special command. Now a new and unprecedented menace has arisen to threaten the republic. And to meet that danger, an office with new and unprecedented authority is rightly proposed. Whoever you choose to shoulder this burden must have the support of all ranks and all classes, for a great trust is involved in bestowing so much power on a single man. It is clear to me, after the meeting of the senate yesterday, that I do not have their tru
st, and therefore I want to tell you that however much I am petitioned, I shall not consent to be nominated; and if nominated, I shall not serve. Pompey the Great has had his fill of special commands. On this day I renounce all ambition for public office and retire from the city to till the soil like my forefathers before me.’

  After a moment of shock, a terrible groan of disappointment broke from the crowd, and Gabinius darted to the front of the rostra, where Pompey was standing impassively.

  ‘This cannot be permitted! Pompey the Great was not born for himself alone, but for Rome!’

  Of course, the line provoked the most tremendous demonstration of approval, and the chant of ‘Pompey! Pompey! Rome! Rome!’ bounced off the walls of the basilicas and temples until one’s ears ached with the noise. It was some time before Pompey could make himself heard.

  ‘Your kindness touches me, my fellow citizens, but my continued presence in the city can only impede your deliberations. Choose wisely, O people of Rome, from the many able former consuls in the senate! And remember that although I now quit Rome altogether, my heart will remain among your hearths and temples for ever. Farewell!’

  He raised his roll of papyrus as if it were a marshal’s baton, saluted the wailing crowd, turned, and trudged implacably towards the back of the platform, ignoring all entreaties to remain. Down the steps he went, watched by the astonished tribunes, first the legs sinking from view, and then the torso, and finally the noble head with its crowning quiff. Some people standing close to me began weeping and tearing at their hair and clothes, and even though I knew the whole thing was a ruse, it was all I could do not to break into sobs myself. The assembled senators looked as if some weighty missile had dropped among them – a few were defiant, many were shaken, the majority simply blank with wonder. For almost as long as anyone could remember, Pompey had been the foremost man in the state, and now he had – gone! Crassus’s face in particular was a picture of conflicting emotions, which no artist ever born could have hoped to capture. Part of him knew that he must now, at last, after a lifetime in Pompey’s shadow, be the favourite to seize the special command; the shrewder part knew that this had to be a trick, and that his whole position was threatened by some unforeseen jeopardy.