by C K Ruppelt
He wiped his hands and followed his wife out of the barn to the house. “Did he say what it’s about?” he asked.
“No, only that it’s very important for him. The man said he came a long way to find your brother. She hesitated, then added, “and he might be someone important. He wears expensive clothes, and he has an Aethiopean with him.”
Penthylos raised his eyebrow. “Oh. Not somebody local then.” He was quite anxious by the time he made it to the farmhouse, though he relaxed once he opened the back door to find two grown men joking and playing with the children on the floor. One of them looked Greek with his dark hair, and physically very strong, maybe in his mid to late twenties. Yes, definitely well-off. Look at those clothes and the ornate sword sheath with its gold decorations.
The black-skinned man’s arms were similarly muscled, and he was also well-dressed, though without any of the little bits of gold his companion showed.
“Welcome!” he said to the two men. “I hope the children didn’t bother you too much. What can I do for you?”
“They were no bother.” The men stood up. “We are looking for Nicolaos, who I understand is your brother. I hoped to find him here.”
“He left Crete over six years ago. May I ask who you are and why you are looking for him?” Penthylos replied.
“Certainly, my apologies. Your brother showed me much kindness when nobody else would, and my fond memories of him got me through some rough times. I simply had to come back to Crete to see him again,” the man replied. He reached out his hand. “Let me introduce myself. My name is Timon.”
696 AUC (58 BC), early fall
Twenty-five miles southwest of Vesontio, Free Gallia, heartland of the Sequani Nation
“I may know why he’s moved your wedding out, I overheard him talking to Osburga yesterday. The big Roman army that beat the Helvetii is nearby, and its leader is demanding that Ariovist leave the Aedui alone. Though he thinks his Suebi should win if it comes to a battle, he wants to negotiate first. They have sent many letters back and forth already,” Seisilla, the king’s second wife, told Aina in confidence. A fellow Celtic chieftain’s daughter and sister to king Vocion of Noricum on the far side of the Alps, she had been another involuntary wife, sent by her family to cement an alliance. Once Osburga started to leave them alone together, they had fast become friends.
“So, he’s moved the wedding because it might offend the Roman leading the army if he were to marry a noblewoman of the Aedui? That means he must be worried. Maybe not without reason—after all, the Romans beat the entire Helvetii nation,” Aina stated.
Seisilla nodded in agreement. They were in the second wife’s bedroom, darning socks and re-stitching some of the king’s worn clothes. Nara sat at Aina’s feet, playing with Seisilla and Ariovist’s daughter Freawaru, who albeit two years older showed remarkable patience with the young girl.
“Who knows, they might come to blows, and though we have more Germans here than ever, I think the Sequani would turn on my husband in a heartbeat. That could become dangerous for all of us. If the Romans win, I doubt they’ll politely ask if we volunteered to be part of Ariovist’s household. They might show you mercy if they find out who you are, but not me. I am his wife after all.”
Aina nodded in agreement. “If that day comes, I’ll vouch for you. I hope my word as a daughter and a sister to an Aedui chieftain will count for something.” Nara started to cry about a broken toy and she bent down to give her daughter a hug.
Maybe Esus, Toutatis, and Taranis heard me after all. Did they send the Romans to right the wrongs done to the Aedui and my daughter? Please, gods, all I need is a chance.
696 AUC (58 BC), early fall
South of Andematunnum, Free Gallia, Southern lands of the Lingones Nation
“Salve! What did you think about the many presents the envoys gave me?” a happy Caesar on his way back from the officer’s latrine stopped to ask his aide Aulus Hirtius.
“How about calling it incredible? That was a lot of chests,” Hirtius answered with a shrug.
“Would you mind walking back to the tent with me?” Caesar beckoned.
“That would be a good excuse for not getting back to my paperwork just yet,” Hirtius answered in amusement while falling into step next to Caesar. “I thought the many presents were too much, frankly, it made them look desperate, but from our point of view, it’s lots of free gold—nothing bad about that.”
Liscus, Divitiacus, and many noble envoys had come back from Bibracte to notify Caesar that the meeting of Gallic Nations had ended, with the near unanimous result he had expected. Handing over a sealed missive including the signatures of chieftains and kings from all over Gallia, they then proceeded to bring forth present after present, some from the Aedui, some from the Arverni, and even a few from Sequani eager to get out from under their new overlord.
“So, what exactly was in their letter if you don’t mind sharing?” Hirtius poked.
“That’s no secret. The Aedui and many of their allies are begging me to move against Ariovistus, to evict his Suebi and his other German allies from Gallic lands. If you don’t mind, you can help me with the letter I want to send back with them. I’ll agree, of course. I knew I would go after Ariovistus since I shook the young Aedui chieftain’s hand back at the Arar river.”
“I remember, though I am wondering, you’ve done a lot of conversing via letters with the Suebi king over the last few weeks. Why bother with that if we are going after him anyway?” Hirtius mused.
“That, my friend is called statecraft. Ariovistus was declared friend and ally of the Senate and People of Rome last year. The senators behind this are some that bear me ill will, and by writing letters back and forth that I can publish later, I have proof for the Senate that I tried to negotiate first. Of course, I can not agree to anything Ariovistus wants since the major point is that he leaves Gallia to go back to Germania. And he would never do that.”
The two men entered the command tent. Caesar greeted the guards and the two young scribes sitting in the outer room with affection before continuing through to his inner office to sit down at his desk holding three letters, two written on rolled papyrus and one on vellum. “I have three letters to share with you,” Caesar said, shoving one of the papyrus letters across the desk to Hirtius. “This first one is odd. It’s from a magistrate in Clusium, asking for recompense and justice. He says that the Ninth Legion is responsible for theft of property and several murders.”
“Where, here in free Gallia? Or maybe in Aquileia in Gallia Cisalpina?”
“No, back in Clusium, and just a couple of months ago,” Caesar grinned. “Would you please write the man back on my behalf and inform him that the Ninth Legion has been deployed outside of Roman territory for several months now and that he has no legal grounds for any demands.”
Hirtius cackled in amusement and nodded while opening his satchel to stash the letter from the Clusium magistrate. “Thank you, that letter will be fun. What else do you have?”
“A letter from Marcus Crassus. Here.” Caesar handed the other rolled papyrus to Hirtius. “He informs me that the Optimates senators are already in full swing against me. First, they accuse me of stripping three provinces of all defensive forces without having reasonable cause, and second, for threatening an official ally of Rome by being in the vicinity of Ariovistus. Of course, the offense is that I did either without asking the Senate for guidance first.”
“As if each of them wouldn’t do the same if given half the chance,” Hirtius added.
“Exactly,” Caesar answered. “So, short of facing them myself on the Senate floor, I need an alternative, something that provides the ammunition needed to shut my accusers up. Let me run this by you. How about we take the missives I sent to the Senate so far, maybe tweak them a bit to make things sound better, and send them back to Rome from winter quarters to have them published? For the title, I thought maybe About the Gallic War? That kind of book might get the public’s opinion behind me
,” Caesar mused.
Hirtius nodded his head. “That sounds like a good idea. I would change the title to Commentaries on the Gallic War, and write every sentence in third person, that way it will read more objectively.” They both laughed at the idea.
“I like it,” Caesar stated and put Crassus’ letter away. He opened the remaining vellum letter, adding weights to the corners to keep it from rolling back up. “This is the most urgent. It was sent by the Council of the Treviri, whose lands are close to the Rhenus river. In quite passable Latin no less, they report many Germanic tribes amassing on the far side of the river, and they believe it’s in preparation for them to join Ariovistus.”
“Ah, merda. That means we are out of time.” Hirtius answered soberly.
“At least we’re freshly stocked with food. The Aedui are more than forthcoming now.” He sighed. No rest, on to the next challenge.
“Please arrange a full staff meeting, include all the tribunes and cohort prefects. We will break camp in the morning and head south for Vesontio and the Suebi.”
***
The story continues in INTO DAWN.
COMMENTARIUM
After re-reading all the ancient accounts of Caesar’s wars in 2005—for the first time since my years of school Latin in the 80s—I was left with two unique new considerations on the subject matter. The first was an insight into how long many of his soldiers, some of which would become his friends, fought in his legions. Anybody joining his oldest legions during the levies in Spain would have served 19 years through tumultuous times of war before receiving land grants as reward once Caesar disbanded the legion. The second was an even more important insight, at least to me. A huge part of his fighting force and camp followers consisted of people from all walks of life and all over the Mediterranean, with legionary and auxiliary families traveling with the army. That thought stuck with me and ultimately compelled me to tell this story.
A more recent insight developed while deep into research twelve years later. I found many parallels between recent, modern time (US) politics and the Roman system at the end of the Republic. Understandably, the specific details are different, but one of the clear underlying enablers for corruption and circumvention of the checks and balances of either ancient or modern system seems to be private and industrial interests forcing their voice directly into government through election finances, pushing purely self-serving personalities into office ahead of contenders that might have looked out for the greater good.
Another research facet were the sometimes surprising differences I found between Roman society of the late Republic and others around them. The educated echelons of Rome had devolved from a more equal culture, illustrated by early republican women having two full names exactly like their male counterparts, to a male dominated state in which women were intentionally kept out of positions of power. High-born females were excluded from professions except for religious ones. In stark contrast, there is indication that ancient Celtic women were much stronger and more independent than commonly known. The references I found point to women druids and even women chieftains. Though perhaps not common, they are still hinting at equality in ancient Celtic society and led me to include many Celtic women warriors.
On the embedded historical details - it’s much easier to state what I didn’t find ancient references for than the other way around. I attempted to keep historical accuracy for the biographical parts, or at least plausibility for the fictional parts of the story. For the reader interested in digging deeper, a brief list of pertinent historical works is included in the Addendum.
- No ancient accounts of Caesar’s Lusitania campaign in Hispania survived. It’s known that he was accused by senate peers of attacking for plunder. His financial insolvency is well documented, as is his leaving Rome inappropriately early for his post in Spain to avoid his creditors.
- The direct communication Crassus had with Spartacus and his betrayal is speculation. Attested are Crassus’ trading in slaves, and Spartacus being home-free in the north of Italy to flee to free Gallia before suddenly turning south again with his host of 120,000 men, women and children. At the same time Crassus petitioned the Senate for the Roman high command with an offer they could not decline, namely the raising of six legions from his own purse. Once active, his forces pushed the slaves south where he trapped them by building a wall across the tip of the Italian toe, leaving them unable to escape for some time, with only a small portion getting away for a final battle. At the conclusion, the Senate was informed that only 6,000 slaves survived, which is the number Crassus crucified along the via Appia. The small number of survivors always smelled fishy to me considering the tempting monetary value of the slaves.
I hope you enjoyed reading about the characters as much as I enjoyed creating them.
C.K. Ruppelt - October, 2018
GRATIA
The most heartfelt THANK YOU goes to my wife, who supported me throughout the painful process of learning how to be a writer. She told me to give it my all and to stop worrying about anything else for the duration.
Thank you to all early readers, some for glowingly supportive comments that kept me going, others for enough critical feedback to nudge me to the conclusion that my writing was in desperate need of professional help. Thank you, Jamie Aikman, Toby Funk, Seth Isenberg, Scott Ketterer, Chris May, Starla McCauley, Bill Mears and Costel Vasiliu.
Special thanks also to Jamie’s mother Marlene Hanten, who was the only early reader besides my wife to make it through the entire pre-edit version of the manuscript—despite the many issues and generally horrific writing.
And finally, the biggest THANK YOU of all goes to my editor Mary Ann Jock, without whose steady guidance I would never have absorbed the basics of modern writing. She performed a miraculous tour de force to overcome my outdated habits and the handicap of English as my second language.
C.K. Ruppelt - October 2018
ADDENDUM
For detailed color versions of the maps, more historical background and artwork visit the author’s website at: www.ruppelt-pdx.com.
***
DE SCRIPTOR (Brief Author Bio)
C.K. Ruppelt lives in Oregon with his wife and two children. After spending most of his adult work life as a Mechanical Engineer, he dabbled in Program Management before moving on to Product Reliability. He considers himself very lucky for finally having discovered his passion for storytelling.
Excerpt of Ancient Sources
Directly related
Comentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War) by Julius Caesar
Commentarii de Bello Civili (Commentaries on the Civil War) by Julius Caesar
De Bello Alexandrino (On the Alexandrine War) by Julius Caesar
De Bello Africo (On the African War) by Julius Caesar
De Bello Hispaniensi (On the Spanish War) by Julius Caesar
De Vita Caesarum (The Twelve Caesars) by Suetonius
Vitae Parallelae (The Parallel Lives) by Plutarch
Historiae Romanae (The Roman History) by Velleius Paterculus
Historia Romana (Rome) by Cassius Dio
Historia Romana (Roman History) by Appian
Bibliotheca historica (Historical Library) by Diodorus Siculus
Letters to brother Quintus and to friends (incl. Julius Caesar) by Cicero
Cultural background
Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Books from the Foundation of the City) by Livy
Bellum Jugurthinum (The Jugurthine War) by Sallust
Germania by Tacitus
De Agri Cultura (On Farming) by Cato the Elder
Origines (Origins) by Cato the Elder
Bellum Catilinae (The War of Catiline) by Sallust
Ta eis heauton (Meditations) by Marcus Aurelius
Cursus Honorum
The Cursus Honorum (“Path of Honor”) illustration below shows the sequence of public offices for politicians of the late Roman Republic, specifically after the reforms by Sulla.
Gaius
Julius Caesar Family Tree
Organization of a typical Roman Legion of the Late Republic
Males of patrician, very wealthy and/or senatorial plebeian families typically started their Cursus Honorum career as a military tribune, and often returned to military service later as legatus. File and rank positions were filled by the plebeian poor, all praefectus positions were reserved for plebeian nobility, also called the eques.
Table of Contents
DEDICATIO
Map of the Roman Republic
Map of Hispania
Map of Gallia
DRAMATIS PERSONAE (Cast of Characters)
PROLOGUS Omnia Mutantur (Everything Changes)
PRIMUS Ante Lucem Tenebras (The Darkness Before Dawn)
Illustration: Typical Roman Cohort field camp
SECUNDUS Temet Nosce (Know Thyself)
Illustration: Typical permanent Roman legion fort
TERTIUS Nova Familia (A New Family)
EPILOGUS Spero (Hope)
POST SCRIPTUM Inabsoluto Negotio (Unfinished Business)
COMMENTARIUM
GRATIA
ADDENDUM
DE SCRIPTOR (Brief Author Bio)
Excerpt of Ancient Sources
Cursus Honorum
Gaius Julius Caesar Family Tree
Organization of a typical Roman Legion of the Late Republic