Scipio’s eyes hardened. “Is this an insight into the nature of love from a man who has fallen for a prostitute?”
I was not expecting this kind of reaction. “The woman in the trial was not a prostitute by any choice of hers, sir. I knew her when she was just a girl, before Marcellus’ siege turned her life upside down.”
Scipio seemed above it all and turned away from me without a comment.
“War can make people do things they wouldn’t otherwise,” I said to his back.
Scipio spun around. “War brings out the best in men of character, and the worse in those without. I wouldn’t know, but it must be the same for a woman.”
Masinissa entered the tent preventing me from saying anything more. Masinissa nodded to me and addressed Scipio. “You wanted to speak to me, sir.”
Scipio began by complimenting him on his success against Syphax, then paused and walked off across the tent, as though thinking. After a moment, he turned and faced the Maesulii king. “I believe, Masinissa, that you offered your services to me as an ally against Carthage because you saw some good in me during our first meeting in Spain. But of all the virtues that might have caused you to seek my friendship, there is none in which I pride myself more than self control and superiority to lust of the flesh.”
Masinissa bowed his head.
“How I wish, Masinissa, you had added this to your other excellent qualities. For I have seen you in battle, and there are few men with your ability on a horse or your courage in the face of danger. You have been the key to our success on several occasions here in Africa, but with this one human failing, with this one action, wedding the daughter of Hasdrubal, you have put my high praise of you in jeopardy—at a time when all that I’m trying to accomplish is at hand. I anticipate Hannibal’s arrival in Africa in the coming weeks, and I don’t know if I can trust you. I fear you are under the influence of Hasdrubal’s daughter, a known seductress.”
Masinissa lifted his head, a passionate man fighting his emotions.
Scipio continued. “I would rather you had thought this over on your own instead of being forced to blush at the mention of your regretful marriage. Believe me, for those who are devoted to a military career, there is no greater peril to their success than being surrounded by the opportunity for sensual pleasures. You have seen what this kind of weakness has done to Syphax. He has been reduced to chains.” Scipio sighed and shook his head sadly. “And all of those things that once belonged to him now belong to Rome by right of conquest. That includes not only the city of Cirta and the surrounding region, but also his wife—and would include this woman even were she not the daughter of one of our enemy’s commanders.”
Masinissa couldn’t contain himself any longer. “But General, I promised my queen that I would never give her up to any man, even you. You have now placed me in a position to break a promise that means as much to me as any I have ever made—even equal or surpassing that which I made to you.” Tears began to run from Masinissa’s eyes.
“Be master of thyself, Masinissa, don’t spoil your many fine qualities with this one defect. Don’t spoil my gratitude for all your services by surrendering to the most common and base of desires. Hasty moments in a wedding bed mean so little in comparison to the larger thing that we must do. Your promise to this woman cannot stand if you are to remain loyal to Rome. I give you a choice. Either the woman or your kingdom.”
Masinissa, who idolized Scipio as a model soldier, as the highest ideal of a man, was undone by his words. “You leave me no choice. I must remain king of the Maesulii. I must retain my kingdom.” His voice broke with emotion. “I will renounce my promise to Sophonisba.” He looked upward as to his gods. “The things that I did were impetuous and unwise. Please forgive me, allow me to remain in your service to do whatever you request.”
Scipio took a step toward Masinissa and put a hand on his shoulder. “Carthage is on the verge of defeat. If they don’t simply surrender, a confrontation with Hannibal is as inevitable as the rising sun, and I will need you to lead a contingent of cavalry with all your skill and energy. Now go. Consider all that I have said. Know that this business of war is more important than the flame of lust, which in time always fades. Before the week is out, I will send a contingent to Cirta to bring Hasdrubal’s daughter back here to be sent to Rome with Syphax.”
Masinissa put his hands together and bowed at the waist to Scipio, then backed out of the tent.
Scipio came over to the map table. “Was I unfair, Timon? Were my words not true—war or no war?”
I didn’t believe that the defeat of Syphax was only a victory for Rome, nor did I believe that Rome should control all of the lands that had once been Masinissa’s father’s. As to Sophonisba, I had never met her. I didn’t know what influence, good or bad, she might have on my friend. But instead of defending Masinissa, I bit my tongue and said, “It’s not for me to judge, sir.”
CHAPTER 95
That night I went to Masinissa’s camp. I found him in his tent alone, suffering as much as any man who had broken his own heart.
“I’m sorry for the dilemma you are in, Masinissa,” I said, trying to console him. “We have spoken many times of the women in our lives, and in that, I feel we are nearly brothers and that there is nothing hidden between us. Still, though I certainly question Scipio’s demands, I don’t know what to say to you tonight.”
Masinissa looked at me through eyes bleary from crying. “I have every desire to mount Chthonia right now and race back to Cirta to save Sophonisba. Just to say her name makes my heart pound. And now I have promised Scipio that she will not be mine.” He put his hands to his face to hide his grief, then immediately dropped them.
“Couldn’t I just take her away, Timon? Couldn’t I just ride off to the farthest edge of Africa and lay with her on the sands washed by the great sea?” Without giving me a chance to answer, he continued to rip at himself. “But then I forsake my father’s kingdom, and my word to noble Scipio. How can I fulfill my promise to Sophonisba and also be the kind of soldier I must be? How can I preserve my honor and also prevent her from being exhibited in a triumph in Rome? I can fight for Rome. I can do battle against Carthage. But give up Sophonisba or give up my kingdom?” Masinissa looked up at me. “I lose no matter which I choose.”
I had no answer, no comforting words for my friend. I embraced him, then left him alone in his despair.
That night, unbeknownst to me or anyone else, Masinissa called his most trusted slave, Anir, to his tent. Masinissa, like many kings, carried a vial of poison with him at all times, knowing that should he be captured, death was a better choice than the humiliation of enslavement. He poured a portion of this poison into a small blue vial and gave it and a letter to Anir, with instructions to ride to Cirta immediately and deliver them both to Sophonisba face-to-face, directly into her hands and her hands only.
PART VII
HANNIBAL
“For years they have been trying to force me back to Africa by refusing me reinforcements and money; but now they recall me no longer by indirect means, but in plain words. Hannibal has been conquered not by the Roman people whom he defeated so many times in battle and put to flight, but by the envy and continual disparagement of the Carthaginian Council of Elders. At this unlovely and shameful return of mine, it will not be Scipio who will be wild with triumph and delight, but rather Hanno, whose only way of ruining me and my house has been by ruining Carthage.”
-Hannibal, from Livy’s The War with Hannibal
CHAPTER 96
The capture of Syphax and the third complete destruction of an army he had raised appeared to signal the end of the war. The Council of Elders acknowledged the desperate situation, and though they were aware that Hannibal and Mago would soon be on their way to Africa, a vicious debate ended in the decision to sue for peace. Thirty elders, representing some of the most senior members of the Council, were sent to Scipio’s camp in Tunis.
Scipio received them outside the camp with Laelius, Lucius
, and Cato. The Carthaginian elders prostrated themselves at Scipio’s feet, and in an ugly, if not deceitful, capitulation, blamed the entire war on Hannibal, claiming that Carthage had never wanted war with Rome. In addition to their fawning before Scipio and his war council, they pleaded for the salvation of their city and their people, saying they would accept whatever terms of peace Scipio proposed.
Scipio, clearly disgusted by the display, made the following demands, which I transcribed into Greek for the Carthaginian elders:
Return all prisoners, deserters, and runaway slaves
Withdraw all armies from Italy and Cisalpine Gaul
Stop all activities in Spain
Evacuate all the islands between Spain and the Italian peninsula
Surrender all but twenty warships
Supply the Roman army with five hundred thousand bushels of wheat for the soldiers and three hundred thousand measures of barley for the animals
Pay an indemnity of five thousand talents of silver
Scipio told the men that they had three days to agree to the terms. If the terms were accepted, a truce would be imposed while envoys from both sides traveled to Rome to have the treaty ratified by the Roman Senate. The thirty elders accepted these contingencies and immediately returned to Carthage.
Two days later, the Council of Elders, again after a vicious battle with the Barcid faction of the Council, voted to accept the agreement. Five envoys were sent to Scipio’s camp to report the vote and to verify that Hannibal and his brother had already been ordered to leave Italy. The envoys then sailed with Laelius to Rome seeking a final ratification of the treaty.
CHAPTER 97
Riding as fast as he could, Anir reached Cirta in six days. He had no trouble entering the city or the palace, but access to Sophonisba’s chambers required going through her cordon of slaves, including her two new personal attendants—both Numidians—Menna, a gray-haired, older woman, and Illi, a girl of fifteen. Anir got as far as stout and protective Menna by saying he had a letter from Masinissa, but she would not allow him to deliver it directly.
“No man, other than the king, is allowed in the queen’s chambers.”
“I’m on strict orders to deliver this letter in person,” said Anir. A thin layer of dust covered his face and clothing from the two hundred mile-ride from Carthage.
“That’s impossible.”
“Then bring her to me. I will not disobey the king’s orders.”
Menna went to get Sophonisba. When the handmaiden returned, she told Anir that Sophonisba would see him in her chambers.
Menna led him to Sophonisba’s bedroom. She announced him, then ushered him in. Felicia, laying in the corner, lifted her head and growled softly.
Sophonisba stood in the center of the huge stone chamber. Sunlight through its two windows projected bright trapezoids across the floor behind her. She wore a long maroon robe, embroidered with gold wire at the hem and cuffs. The collar was tight around her neck and studded with rubies. Her hair had just been brushed and braided by Illi. Sophonisba recognized the slave as Masinissa’s. She waved her hand. Both Menna and Illi left the room.
“What have you got for me, Anir?”
Anir, with a wary eye on the attentive cheetah, approached the queen and knelt at her feet, hardly daring to look at her in the intimacy of her bedroom. He reached inside his tunic and withdrew the small blue vial and gave it to her.
Sophonisba accepted the bottle, then frowned as she turned it over in her hand. When she looked up, Anir held out the letter, folded in thirds and sealed with Masinissa’s signet ring. Sophonisba told Anir to wait outside her chambers. She would have a letter for him to take back to Masinissa.
When the door closed behind Anir, Sophonisba began to cry. She knew what the bottle contained and what it meant. She opened the letter and read it slowly.
Sophonisba,
These past few days without you have been as dark and joyless as any I have known, but the news that I must impart turns all the world black. My heart-felt promise to keep you out of Roman hands is in immediate jeopardy. The Roman general has demanded that our marriage be annulled and that I release you to him—or the next realm of Roman conquest will be my kingdom and all that I have fought so hard to regain. My choice could not be more difficult if I had to tear my heart in half—my love for you is matched against my blood-born responsibility to my kingdom and my people—something no king can deny and still be a king. What many will judge as strength in the years to come feels like weakness as I write the words. With regret piled on top of regret, I must choose my people.
This fateful decision confessed, you must be forewarned. Scipio will send a squadron of soldiers to Cirta within the week to take you into his custody. Expect them within days of receiving this letter. With unfathomable sadness, and apologies for that which I can no longer control, I give you this vial. If I cannot stop them from taking you, at least I can offer you this way of escape—if, as you have said, death is preferable to humiliation at the hands of the Romans. Though our time was short, I can say now that I have known heaven.
Please forgive me for making a promise that I could not fulfill.
I pray that all love is forever,
Masinissa
After a while Menna peeked into the room. Sophonisba lay on her bed sobbing. The handmaiden came into the room and knelt beside the bed. “My lady, what has happened?”
Sophonisba gathered herself and sat up. “Get me a piece of papyrus and some ink.”
“What’s wrong, my lady?” She used a handkerchief to dab at the tears on Sophonisba’s cheeks.
Sophonisba stood and pushed her away. “Just get me what I’ve asked for. I have a letter to write.”
CHAPTER 98
A turma of Roman cavalry led by Marcus Ralla left for Cirta to retrieve Sophonisba four days after Anir left with Masinissa’s letter. Upon learning of the turma’s departure two days later, Masinissa tore at himself for sending his slave to Sophonisba, knowing he should have gone himself. He paced back and forth in his tent into the night. Near midnight he slipped from his tent, and without telling anyone his intentions, went to the horse corral and whistled for Chthonia. Moments later he was riding southwest at gallop, headed for Cirta, determined to reach Sophonisba before the Roman soldiers.
Masinissa rode through the night, then continued on the entire next day before stopping to rest. The morning of the third day, he saw a cloud dust on the horizon. A horse and rider were coming toward him from the west. He recognized the horse before seeing that it was Anir. Upon reaching each other, they circled around on their horses, talking excitedly.
“Anir, did you see a contingent of Romans on horseback? Have they reached Cirta yet?”
“I saw the riders, but didn’t allow them to see me. They were riding at a good pace. By my reckoning, they’ll reach Cirta three days from now.”
“Did you deliver my letter directly to Sophonisba?”
“Yes, sir, of course. She gave me this letter for you.” Anir retrieved the letter from inside his tunic and handed it to his master. Masinissa broke the queen’s seal and unfolded the letter. In tears, he read her note.
Masinissa,
I knew from the moment I first saw you that our destinies were entwined, and yet from the beginning, our lives have been bound up in choices each of us would have preferred not to make. It seems the fabric of our fate contains an unfortunate weave, but also something noble and profound. If my love for you is true and transcendent, then I must also understand that the choice you have made was necessary—and really no different than the one I made accepting the marriage my father arranged for me. In both we chose to deny ourselves because of greater responsibilities. In this we were one.
Now, it seems, our honeymoon must end with a funeral, but that bleak finality will be a thousand times easier to bear than the ridicule I would face in Rome. I welcome your bridal gift in the spirit it was offered. Please remember this when you think of me; I could only die a more dr
eadful death if we hadn’t had those few days together. Thank you for understanding the choice that I have also had to make.
All love is forever,
Sophonisba
“Come with me, Anir. Do your best to keep up. I will not rest until I have seen Sophonisba.” Masinissa gave his horse a kick and raced off to Cirta with Anir trailing behind.
Late in the afternoon of his fifth day on the road, not more than five miles from Cirta, Masinissa caught sight of the Roman contingent ahead of him, riding at an easy pace. He was determined to stop Sophonisba from taking the poison. The thirty Romans on horseback were nothing. He could easily assemble enough men to send them back to Scipio empty handed.
CHAPTER 99
The soldiers standing guard in Cirta’s battlements saw the cluster of riders coming from the east long before they reached the main gate. Their orders were to let the soldiers into the city, but to also notify Sophonisba as soon as they had been spotted. A series of slaves relayed the message to the palace, finally reaching Menna who rushed into Sophonisba’s bedroom with the news.
Sophonisba had deliberately put off using the poison until the Romans were at the gates on the off chance that something in the war could change. She told Menna to have the Romans wait in the great hall when they arrived. She would come down to speak with them when she was ready.
Instead of preparing to meet the Roman soldiers, she went to her dressing table. She removed the vial of poison from the back of the top drawer, along with the letter from Masinissa. She held the blue vial out before her, appraising herself and the poison in the mirror. “What a strange wedding gift,” she said aloud to herself, and to Felicia laying on her bed, then pulled the cork from the tiny bottle. “Many dream of being a queen. I only wish to be free to follow my heart.”
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