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We did not speak or rest until we had walked for at least two hours and had got clear of the monumental tombs that line that stretch of road – in those days, notorious hiding places for robbers. Then Cicero decided it was safe to stop, and he sat down on a milestone and looked back at Rome. A faint red glow, too early for the dawn, crimson at its centre and dissolving into bands of pink, suffused the sky, outlining the low black humps of the city's hills. It was amazing to think that the burning of just one house could create such an immense celestial effect. Had I not known better, I would have said it was an omen. At the same time, faint on the still night air, came a curious sound, harsh and intermittent, pitched somewhere between a howl and a wail. I could not place it at first, but then Cicero said it must be trumpets on the Field of Mars, and that it was Caesar's army preparing to move off to Gaul. I could not make out his face in the darkness as he said this, which perhaps was just as well, but after a moment or two he stood and brushed the dust off his old tunic, and resumed his journey, in the opposite direction to Caesar's.
GLOSSARY
aedile an elected official, four of whom were chosen annually to serve a one-year term, responsible for the running of the city of Rome: law and order, public buildings, business regulations, etc auspices supernatural signs, especially flights of birds and lightning-flashes, interpreted by the augurs; if ruled unfavourable no public business could be transacted
Carcer Rome's prison, situated on the boundary of the forum and the Capitol, between the Temple of Concord and the senate house carnifex the state executioner and torturer century the unit in which the Roman people cast their votes on the Field of Mars at election time for consul and praetor; the system was weighted to favour the wealthier classes of society chief priest see pontifex maximus consul the senior magistrate of the Roman republic, two of whom were elected annually, usually in July, to assume office in the following January, taking it in turns to preside over the senate each month comitium the circular area in the forum, approximately 300 feet across, bounded by the senate house and the rostra, traditionally the place where laws were voted on by the people, and where many of the courts had their tribunals curia in its original form, the main assembly of the Roman tribes (of which, prior to 387 BC, there were thirty), consisting of a senior member of each curule chair a backless chair with low arms, often made of ivory, possessed by a magistrate with imperium, particularly consuls and praetors dictator a magistrate given absolute power by the senate over civil and military affairs, usually in a time of national emergency equestrian order the second-most senior order in Roman society after the senate, the 'Order of Knights' had its own officials and privileges, and was entitled to one-third of the places on a jury; often its members were richer than members of the senate, but declined to pursue a public career
Gaul divided into two provinces: Nearer Gaul, extending from the river Rubicon in northern Italy to the Alps, and Further Gaul, the lands beyond the Alps roughly corresponding to the modern French regions of Provence and Languedoc haruspices the religious officials who inspected the entrails after a sacrifice in order to determine whether the omens were good or bad imperator the title granted to a military commander on active service by his soldiers after a victory; it was necessary to be hailed imperator in order to qualify for a triumph imperium the power to command, granted by the state to an individual, usually a consul, praetor or provincial governor legate a deputy or delegate lictor an attendant who carried the fasces – a bundle of birch rods tied together with a strip of red leather – that symbolised a magistrate's imperium; consuls were accompanied by twelve lictors, who served as their bodyguards, praetors by six; the senior lictor, who stood closest to the magistrate, was known as the proximate lictor manumission the emancipation of a slave
Order of Knights see equestrian order pontifex maxiumus the chief priest of the Roman state religion, the head of the fifteen-member College of Priests, entitled to an official residence on the Via Sacra praetor the second most senior magistrate in the Roman republic, eight of whom were elected annually, usually in July, to take office the following January, and who drew lots to determine which of the various courts – treason, embezzlement, corruption, serious crime, etc – they would preside over; see also urban praetor prosecutions as there was no public prosecution system in the Roman republic, all criminal charges, from embezzlement to treason and murder, had to be brought by private individuals public assemblies the supreme authority and legislature of the Roman people was the people themselves, whether constitued by tribe (the comitia tributa, which voted on laws, declared war and peace, and elected the tribunes) or by century (the comitia centuriata, which elected the senior magistrates) quaestor a junior magistrate, twenty of whom were elected each year, and who thereby gained the right of entry to the senate; it was necessary for a candidate for the quaestorship to be over thirty and to show wealth of one million sesterces rostra a long, curved platform in the forum, about twelve feet high, surmounted by heroic statues, from which the Roman people were addressed by magistrates and advocates; its name derived from the beaks (rostra) of captured enemy warships set into its sides senaculum an open space in front of the senate house where it was traditional for senators to assemble before the start of a session senate not the legislative assembly of the Roman republic – laws could only be passed by the people in a tribal assembly – but something closer to its executive, with 600 members who could raise matters of state and order the consul to take action or to draft laws to be placed before the people; once elected via the quaestorship (see quaestor) a man would normally remain a senator for life, unless removed by the censors for immorality or bankruptcy, hence the average age was high (senate derived from senex = old) tribes the Roman people were divided into thirty-five tribes for the purposes of voting on legislation and to elect the tribunes; unlike the system of voting by century, the votes of rich and poor when cast in a tribe had equal weight tribune a representative of the ordinary citizens – the plebeians – ten of whom were elected annually each summer and took office in December, with the power to propose and veto legislation, and to summon assemblies of the people; it was forbidden for anyone other than a plebeian to hold the office triumph an elaborate public celebration of homecoming, granted by the senate to honour a victorious general, to qualify for which it was necessary for him to retain his military imperium – and as it was forbidden to enter Rome whilst still possessing military authority, generals wishing to triumph had to wait outside the city until the senate granted them a triumph urban praetor the head of the justice system, senior of all the praetors, third in rank in the republic after the two consuls
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
AFRANIUS, LUCIUS an ally of Pompey's from his home region of Picenum; a legate in the war against Mithradates; later Pompey's nominee for the consulship
ARRIUS, QUINTUS a former praetor and military commander, closely allied to Crassus
ATTICUS, TITUS POMPONIUS Cicero's closest friend; brother-in law to Quintus Cicero, who is married to his sister, Pomponia
AURELIA mother of Julius Caesar
BIBULUS, MARCUS CALPURNIUS Caesar's colleague as consul, and his staunch opponent
CAESAR, GAIUS JULIUS effectively the leader of the populist faction in Rome; six years Cicero's junior; married to Pompeia, with whom he lives along with his mother, Aurelia, and daughter, Julia
CATILINA, LUCIUS SERGIUS former Governor of Africa, beaten by Cicero for the consulship
CATO, MARCUS PORCIUS half-brother of Servilia, the great-grandson of Cato the Censor; a stern upholder of the traditions of the Republic
CATULUS, QUINTUS LUTATIUS former consul, member of the College of Priests, one of the most experienced men in the senate, leader of the patrician faction
CELER, QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS brother-in-law of Pompey (who married his sister), husband of Clodia, brother of Nepos; member of the College of Augurs; praetor; head of the most extensive and powerful family in Rome; a war hero with a powerful military reputa
tion
CETHEGUS, GAIUS CORNELIUS Patrician senator, one of Catilina's co-conspirators
CICERO, QUINTUS TULLIUS Cicero's younger brother; senator and soldier; married to Pomponia, the sister of Atticus
CLODIA daughter of one of the most distinguished families in Rome, the patrician Appii Claudii; the sister of Clodius; the wife of Metellus Celer
CLODIUS PULCHER, PUBLIUS scion of the leading patrician dynasty, the Appii Claudii; a former brother-in-law of Lucullus; the brother of Clodia, with whom he is alleged to have had an incestuous affair; lieutenant of Murena, the Governor of Further Gaul
CRASSUS, MARCUS LICINIUS former consul; brutal suppressor of the slave revolt led by Spartacus; the richest man in Rome; a bitter rival of Pompey
GABINIUS, AULUS a former tribune from Pompey's home region of Picenum, he promulgated the laws that gave Pompey his extended command in the East; rewarded by Pompey with a legateship in the war against Mithradates
HORTENSIUS HORTALUS, QUINTUS former consul, for many years the leading advocate at the Roman bar, until displaced by Cicero; brother-in-law of Catulus; a leader of the patrician faction; immensely wealthy; like Cicero, a civilian politician and not a soldier
HYBRIDA, CAIUS ANTONIUS Cicero's colleague as consul, descendant of one of the most illustrious families in Rome, but nevertheless once expelled from the senate for corruption and bankruptcy
ISAURICUS, PUBLIUS SERVILIUS VATIA one of the grand old men of the senate – 70 years old at the time Cicero becomes consul – a tough and highly decorated soldier, having triumphed twice; a former consul and a member of the College of Priests
LABIENUS, TITUS a soldier from Pompey's home region of Picenum; a tribune in Caesar's and Pompey's interests
LUCULLUS, LUCIUS LICINIUS former consul and commander of the Roman army fighting in the East against Mithradates until supplanted by Pompey; haughty, aristocratic and vastly rich, his enemies in the senate have contrived for several years to deny him a triumph and keep him waiting outside Rome; bitterly divorced from one of the sisters of Clodius and Clodia
NEPOS, QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS brother of Celer and brother-in-law of Pompey, who sends him back from his legateship in the East to stand for the tribuneship and guard his interests in Rome
PIUS, QUINTUS CAECILIUS METELLUS Pontifex Maximus; sixty-six years old and ailing; the adoptive father of Scipio
POMPEY, GNAEUS born in the same year as Cicero; the most powerful man in the Roman world; a former consul and victorious general who has already triumphed twice, he has been away from Rome fighting in the East – first against the pirates and then against Mithradates – for four years; married to Mucia, the sister of Celer and Nepos
RUFUS, MARCUS CAELIUS Cicero's former pupil, the son of one of his political supporters in the provinces
SERVILIA ambitious and politically shrewd wife of Junius Silanus, a candidate for the consulship; the half-sister of Cato; the long-term mistress of Caesar; the mother of three daughters and a son, Brutus, by her first husband
SERVIUS SULPICIUS RUFUS contemporary and old friend of Cicero; a former praetor, famed as one of the greatest legal experts in Rome; a candidate for the consulship; married to Postumia, a mistress of Caesar
SILANUS, DECIMUS JUNIUS married to Servilia, the long-term mistress of Caesar; a member of the College of Priests; defeated once for the consulship and now planning to stand again
SURA, PUBLIUS CORNELIUS LENTULUS former consul, once expelled from the senate for immorality; married to the widow of Hybrida's brother, and stepfather to the youthful Mark Antony; making a political comeback as urban praetor, and closely allied to Catilina
TERENTIA wife of Cicero; ten years younger than her husband, richer and of nobler birth; devotedly religious, poorly educated, with conservative political views; mother of Cicero's two children, Tullia and Marcus
TIRO Cicero's devoted private secretary, a family slave, three years younger than his master, the inventor of a system of shorthand
TULLIA Cicero's thirteen year-old daughter
VATINIUS, PUBLIUS junior senator, famed for his ugliness; subsequently a tribune and a close ally of Caesar
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