Masters of Rome Boxset: First Man in Rome, the Grass Crown, Fortune's Favourites, Caesar's Women, Caesar

by Colleen McCullough

  It ought to have been the most wonderful day of his life, to walk into the filled Senate chamber wearing his chaplet of oak leaves and find the House risen to its feet—including consulars as venerable as Flaccus Princeps Senatus and Marcus Perperna—with hands vigorously applauding in this one permissible infraction of Sulla’s new rules of conduct for the Senate.

  Instead, the young man found his eyes studying face after face for any hint of amusement or contempt, wondering how far the story had spread, and who despised him. His progress was an agony, not helped when he ascended to the back row wherein the pedarii sat—and wherein he fully expected he himself would sit—to find Sulla shouting at him to sit with the men of the middle tier, wherein soldier heroes were located. Of course some men chuckled; it was kindly laughter, and meant to approve of his embarrassment. But of course he took it as derision and wanted to crawl into the furthest, darkest corner.

  Through all of it, he had never wept.

  When he came home after the meeting—a rather boring one—he found his mother waiting in the reception room. Such was not her habit; busy always, she rarely left her office for very long during the day. Now, stomach roiling, she waited for her son in a stilled patience, having no idea of how she could broach a subject he clearly did not wish to discuss. Had she been a talker it would have been easier for her, of course. But words came hard to Aurelia, who let him divest himself of his toga in silence. Then when he made a movement toward his study she knew she had to find something to say or he would leave her; the vexed subject would remain unbroached.

  “Caesar,” she said, and stopped.

  Since he had put on his toga of manhood it had been her custom to address him by his cognomen, mostly because to her “Gaius Julius” was her husband, and his death had not changed the file of references in her mind. Besides which, her son was very much a stranger to her, the penalty she paid for all those years of keeping him at a distance because she feared for him and could not allow herself to be warm or kind.

  He halted, one brow raised. “Yes, Mater?”

  “Sit down. I want to talk to you.”

  He sat, expression mildly enquiring, as if she could have nothing of great moment to say.

  “Caesar, what happened in the east?” she asked baldly.

  The mild enquiry became tinged with a mild amusement. “I did my duty, won a Civic Crown, and pleased Sulla,” he said.

  Her beautiful mouth went straight. “Prevarication,” she said, “does not suit you.”

  “I wasn’t prevaricating.”

  “You weren’t telling me what I need to know either!”

  He was withdrawing, eyes chilling from cool to cold. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

  “You can tell me more than you have.”

  “About what?”

  “About the trouble.”

  “What trouble?”

  “The trouble I see in your every movement, your every look, your every evasion.”

  “There is no trouble.”

  “I do not believe that.”

  He rose to go, slapping his thighs. “I can’t help what you believe, Mater. There is no trouble.”

  “Sit down!’’

  He sat down, sighing softly.

  “Caesar, I will find out. But I would much rather it came from you than from someone else.”

  His head went to one side, his long fingers locked around themselves, his eyes closed. Then he sighed again, and shrugged. “I obtained a splendid fleet from King Nicomedes of Bithynia. Apparently this was a deed of absolute uniqueness. It was said of me that I obtained it by having sexual relations with the King. So I have returned to Rome the owner of a reputation not for bravery or efficiency or even cunning, but for having sold my body in order to achieve my ends,” he said, eyes still closed.

  She didn’t melt into sympathy, exclaim in horror, or wax indignant. Instead, she sat without saying anything until her son was obliged to open his eyes and look at her. It was a level exchange of glances, two formidable people finding pain rather than consolation in each other, but prepared to negotiate.

  “A grave trouble,” she said.

  “An undeserved slur.”

  “That, of course.”

  “I cannot contend with it, Mater!”

  “You have to, my son.”

  “Then tell me how!”

  “You know how, Caesar.”

  “I honestly don’t,” he said soberly, his face uncertain. “I’ve tried to ignore it, but that’s very difficult when I know what everyone is thinking.”

  “Who is the source?” she asked.

  “Lucullus.”

  “Oh, I see…. He would be believed.”

  “He is believed.”

  For a long moment she said nothing more, eyes thoughtful. Her son, watching her, marveled anew at her self-containment, her ability to hold herself aloof from personal issues. She opened her lips and began to speak very slowly and carefully, weighing each word before she uttered it.

  “You must ignore it, that is first and foremost. Once you discuss it with anyone, you place yourself on the defensive. And you reveal how much it matters to you. Think for a little, Caesar. You know how serious an allegation it is in the light of your future political career. But you cannot let anybody else see that you appreciate its seriousness! So you must ignore it for the rest of your days. The best thing is that it has happened now, rather than ten years further on—a man of thirty would find the allegation far harder to contend with than a man of twenty. For that you must be grateful. Those ten years will see many events. But never a repetition of the slur. What you have to do, my son, is to work very hard to dispel the slur.” The ghost of a smile lit her remarkable eyes. “Until now, your philanderings have been restricted to the ordinary women of the Subura. I suggest, Caesar, that you lift your gaze much higher. Why, I have no idea, but you do have an extraordinary effect on women! So from now on, your peers must know of your successes. That means you must concentrate upon women who matter, who are well known. Not the courtesans like Praecia, but noblewomen. Great ladies.”

  “Deflower lots of Domitias and Licinias, you mean?’’ he asked, smiling broadly.

  “No!” she said sharply. “Not unmarried girls! Never, never unmarried girls! I mean the wives of important men.”

  “Edepol!” cried her son.

  “Fight fire with fire, Caesar. There is no other way. If your love affairs are not public knowledge, everyone will assume you are intriguing with men. So they must be as scandalous and generally known as possible. Establish a reputation as Rome’s most notorious womanizer. But choose your quarry very carefully.” She shook her head in puzzlement. “Sulla used to be able to cause women to make absolute fools of themselves over him. On at least one occasion he paid a bitter price—when Dalmatica was the very young bride of Scaurus. He avoided her scrupulously, but Scaurus punished him anyway by preventing his being elected praetor. It took him six years to be elected, thanks to Scaurus.”

  “What you’re trying to say is that I’ll make enemies.”

  “Am I?” She considered it. “No, what I think I mean to say is that Sulla’s trouble arose out of the fact that he did not cuckold Scaurus. Had he, Scaurus would have found it much harder to be revenged—it’s impossible for a man who is a laughingstock to appear admirable. Pitiable, yes. Scaurus won that encounter because Sulla allowed him to appear noble—the forgiving husband, still able to hold his head up. So if you choose a woman, you must always be sure that it’s her husband is the goose. Don’t choose a woman who might tell you to jump in the Tiber—and never choose one clever enough to lead you on until she is able to tell you to jump in the Tiber absolutely publicly.”

  He was staring at her with a kind of profound respect as new on his face as it was inside his mind. “Mater, you are the most extraordinary woman! How do you know all this? You’re as upright and virtuous as Cornelia the Mother of the Gracchi, yet here you are giving your own son the most dreadful advice!”


  “I have lived a long time in the Subura,” she said, looking pleased. “Besides, that is the point. You are my son, and you have been maligned. What I would do for you I would not do for anyone else, even for my daughters. If I had to, I would kill for you. But that wouldn’t solve our problem. So instead I am very happy to kill a few reputations. Like for like.”

  Almost he scooped her into his arms, but the old habits were too strong; so he got to his feet and took her hand, kissed it. “I thank you, Mater. I would kill for you with equal ease and pleasure.” A thought struck him, made him shiver with glee. “Oh, I can’t wait for Lucullus to marry! And that turd Bibulus!”

  *

  The following day brought women into Caesar’s life again, though not in a philandering context.

  “We are summoned by Julia,” said Aurelia before her son left to see what was going on in the Forum Romanum.

  Aware he had not yet found the time to see his beloved aunt, Caesar made no protest.

  The day was fine and hot but the hour early enough to make the walk from the Subura to the Quirinal an enjoyable one. Caesar and Aurelia stepped out up the Vicus ad Malum Punicum, the street which led to the temple of Quirinus on the Alta Semita. There in the lovely precinct of Quirinus stood the Punic apple tree itself, planted by Scipio Africanus after his victory over Carthage. Alongside it grew two extremely ancient myrtle trees, one for the patricians and one for the plebeians. But in the chaotic events which had followed the Italian War the patrician myrtle had begun to wither; it was now quite dead, though the plebeian tree flourished still. It was thought that this meant the death of the Patriciate, so sight of its bare dry limbs brought Caesar no pleasure. Why hadn’t someone planted a new patrician myrtle?

  The hundred talents Sulla had permitted Julia to retain had provided her with quite a comfortable private dwelling in a lane running between the Alta Semita and the Servian Walls. It was fairly large and had the virtue of being newly built; Julia’s income was sufficient to provide enough slaves to run it, and more than enough to permit her life’s necessities. She could even afford to support and house her daughter-in-law, Mucia Tertia. Scant comfort to Caesar and Aurelia, who mourned her sadly changed circumstances.

  She was almost fifty years old, but nothing seemed to change Julia herself. Having moved to the Quirinal, she took not to weaving on her loom or spinning wool, but to doing good works. Though this was not a poor district—nor even closely settled—she still found families in need of help, for reasons which varied from an excessive intake of wine to illness. A more presumptuous, tactless woman might have been rebuffed, but Julia had the knack; the whole of the Quirinal knew where to go if there was trouble.

  There were no good deeds today, however. Julia and Mucia Tertia were waiting anxiously.

  “I’ve had a letter from Sulla,” said Mucia Tertia. “He says I must marry again.”

  “But that contravenes his own laws governing the widows of the proscribed!” said Aurelia blankly.

  “When one makes the laws, Mater, it isn’t at all difficult to contravene them,” said Caesar. “A special enactment for some ostensible reason, and the thing is done.”

  “Whom are you to marry?” asked Aurelia.

  “That’s just it,” said Julia, frowning. “He hasn’t told her, poor child. We can’t even decide from his letter whether he has someone in mind, or whether he just wants Mucia to find her own husband.”

  “Let me see it,” said Caesar, holding out his hand. He read the missive at a glance, gave it back. “He gives nothing away, does he? Just orders you to marry again.”

  “I don’t want to marry again!” cried Mucia Tertia.

  A silence fell, which Caesar broke. “Write to Sulla and tell him that. Make it very polite, but very firm. Then see what he does. You’ll know more.”

  Mucia shivered. “I couldn’t do that.”

  “You could, you know. Sulla likes people to stand up to him.”

  “Men, maybe. But not the widow of Young Marius.”

  “What do you want me to do?” asked Caesar of Julia.

  “I have no idea,” Julia confessed. “It’s just that you’re the only man left in the family, so I thought you ought to be told.”

  “You genuinely don’t want to many again?” he asked Mucia.

  “Believe me, Caesar, I do not.”

  “Then as I am the paterfamilias, I will write to Sulla.”

  At which moment the old steward, Strophantes, shuffled into the room. “Domino., you have a visitor,” he said to Julia.

  “Oh, bother!” she exclaimed. “Deny me, Strophantes.”

  “He asked specifically to see the lady Mucia.”

  “Who asked?” Caesar demanded sharply.

  “Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.”

  Caesar looked grim. “The prospective husband, I presume!”

  “But I’ve never so much as met Pompeius!” cried Mucia Tertia.

  “Nor have I,” said Caesar.

  Julia turned to him. “What do we do?”

  “Oh, we see him, Aunt Julia.” And Caesar nodded to the old man. “Bring him in.”

  Back went the steward to the atrium, where the visitor stood oozing impatience and attar of roses.

  “Follow me, Gnaeus Pompeius,” said Strophantes, wheezing.

  *

  Ever since Sulla’s wedding Pompey had waited for further news of this mysterious bride the Dictator had found for him. When he heard that Sulla had returned to Rome after his nuptial holiday he expected to be summoned, but was not. Finally, unable to wait a moment longer, he went to Sulla and demanded to know what was happening, what had eventuated.

  “About what?” asked Sulla innocently.

  “You know perfectly well!” snarled Pompey. “You said you had thought of someone for me to marry!”

  “So I did! So I did!” Sulla chuckled gleefully. “My, my, the impatience of youth!”

  “Will you tell me, you malicious old tormentor?”

  “Names, Magnus! Don’t call the Dictator names!”

  “Who is she?”

  Sulla gave in. “Young Marius’s widow, Mucia Tertia,” he said. “Daughter of Scaevola Pontifex Maximus and Crassus Orator’s sister, Licinia. There’s far more Mucius Scaevola in her than genuine Licinius Crassus because her maternal grandfather was really the brother of her paternal grandfather. And of course she’s closely related to Scaevola the Augur’s girls called Mucia Prima and Mucia Secunda—hence her given name of Mucia Tertia, even though there’s fifty years in age between her and the other two. Mucia Tertia’s mother is still alive, of course. Scaevola divorced her for adultery with Metellus Nepos, whom she married afterward. So Mucia Tertia has two Caecilius Metellus half brothers—Nepos Junior and Celer. She’s extremely well connected, Magnus, don’t you agree? Too well connected to remain the widow of a proscribed man for the rest of her life! My dear Piglet, who is her cousin, has been making these noises at me for some time.” Sulla leaned back in his chair. “Well, Magnus, will she do?”

  “Will she do?” gasped Pompey. “Rather!”

  “Oh, splendid.” The mountain of work on his desk seemed to beckon; Sulla put his head down to study some papers. After a moment he lifted it to look at Pompey in apparent bewilderment. “I wrote to tell her she was to marry again, Magnus, so there’s no impediment,” he said. “Now leave me alone, will you? Just make sure I get an invitation to the wedding.”

  And Pompey had rushed home to bathe and change while his servants chased in a panic to find out whereabouts Mucia Tertia was living these days, then Pompey rushed straight to Julia’s house blinding all those he encountered with the whiteness of his toga, and leaving a strong aroma of attar of roses in his wake. Scaevola’s daughter! Crassus Orator’s niece! Related to the most important Caecilii Metelli! That meant that the sons she would give him would be related by blood to everyone! Oh, he didn’t care one iota that she was Young Marius’s widow! He would not even care if she was as ugly as the Sibyl of Cumae!
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  Ugly? She wasn’t ugly at all! She was very strange and very beautiful. Red-haired and green-eyed, but both on the dark side, and skin both pale and flawless. And what about those eyes? No others like them anywhere! Oh, she was a honey! Pompey fell madly in love with her at first glance, before a word was spoken.

  Little wonder, then, that he hardly noticed the other people in the room, even after introductions were made. He drew up a chair beside Mucia Tertia’s and took her nerveless hand in his.

  “Sulla says that you are to marry me,” he said, smiling at her with white teeth and brilliantly shining blue eyes.

  “This is the first I know about it,” she said, unaccountably feeling her antipathy begin to fade; he was so patently happy—and really very attractive.

  “Oh well, that’s Sulla for you,” he said, catching his breath on a gasp of sheer delight. “But you have to admit that he does have everyone’s best interests at heart.”

  “Naturally you would think so,” said Julia in freezing tones.

  “What are you complaining about? He didn’t do too badly by you compared to all the other proscribed widows,” said the tactless man in love, gazing at his bride—to—be.

  Almost Julia answered that Sulla had been responsible for the death of her only child, but then she thought better of it; this rather silly fellow was too well known to belong to Sulla to hope that he would see any other side.

  And Caesar, sitting in a corner, took in his first experience of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus unobserved. To look at, not a true Roman, that was certain; the Picentine taint of Gaul was all too obvious in his snub nose, his broad face, the dent in his chin. To listen to, not a true Roman, that was certain; his total lack of subtlety was amazing. Kid Butcher. He was well named.

  “What do you think of him?’’ asked Aurelia of Caesar as they trudged back to the Subura through the noon heat.

  “More germane to ask, what does Mucia think of him?”

  “Oh, she likes him enormously. Considerably more than ever she liked Young Marius.”