Caesar

by Allan Massie

  He moved around our band of friends, smiling and offering encouragement. Casca clapped me on the back.

  "And what happened to you last night, old boy?"

  "Much the same as happened to you, but with a being of a different gender, and more briefly, and probably with less pleasure."

  "You couldn't have had more. I must say, I feel unaccountably well. Perhaps I am still a little drunk. Look at Antony - he is still reeling. He can't take wine as he used to, you know, for I matched him cup for cup."

  Antony certainly seemed crapulous. Indeed he retired behind a pillar and vomited, then summoned one slave to clean up the mess, and another to fetch him a jug of wine. He caught my eye and winked.

  Cassius said to me: "I have told Trebonius to attach himself to Antony when Caesar arrives, and to hold him in conversation." "Trebonius?"

  "Yes, he has sufficient resolution for that part, if no other."

  "I've just had a nasty moment," Casca said. "Do you see that old fool over there, can't remember his name, he's a connection of the Dolabellas. Well, he came up to me and said, 'Allow me to congratulate you. You've kept your secret well, but Marcus Brutus has let it slip.' Well, I was just wondering, old fruit, whether it mightn't be prudent to let the blabbermouth - both of them perhaps - have one in the guts, when he went on, 'All the same I'd like to know how you became so rich all of a sudden as to be able to stand for election as aedile. It'll involve you in enormous expense, you know.'"

  "What did you reply?"

  "Oh, I said, 'Ask my creditors, old boy.'"

  That was not the only alarm, for Popilius Laena, a notorious gossip, accosted Cassius and myself and wished us luck.

  "I am with you in heart and spirit," he said, "only be quick, for I fear your secret is out."

  Cassius turned away, uncertain what to reply. So it fell upon me to soothe the old man, and to assure him that all was in train and that we were grateful for his expression of sympathy.

  And still there was no sign of Caesar.

  One of Marcus Brutus' servants approached, looking agitated. "Where is my master?" "There: dispensing justice." "There has been a calamity." "Tell me."

  "No, I must tell my master first," and he ran over to Markie, plucked at his sleeve and whispered in his ear. Markie concluded the business he was engaged in as rapidly as possible, and announced that the sitting was suspended.

  "I must leave," he said. "This man has brought me terrible news. Porcia has collapsed. She may be dead."

  "I fear she is," the servant, a freedman, said.

  "If she is dead," I said, "your presence will be to no purpose. Your place is here."

  "No, no, I must go."

  I wondered (of course) whether this might not be some ruse prearranged by Markie to provide him with an excuse to quit the field. It would have been in character. On the other hand, Porcia would have flayed him with her tongue if he abandoned the enterprise, and I doubt if she would have thought it proper for him to do so even for her sake: so deeply did that woman hate Caesar, her hatred could overcome even her egotism. I was, of course, the last man to be able to persuade Markie; so I turned the matter over to Cassius. I did so even though I had thought we would manage the affair better without my cousin. I had good reason. We had neglected, as a result of his insistence, to take the precautions which I thought necessary. I was not confident of success, but I was determined that, if we should fail, Markie should not escape the consequences of the decisions he had urged on us.

  Cassius began to argue with him, but made little headway. If only Caesar would arrive . . . but he didn't. Someone whispered that he was not coming to the Senate that day.

  "But that's nonsense," I said. "I happen to know that his old uncle, Julius Cotta, is going to make public his discovery of the prophecy in the Sibylline Books that the Romans will only conquer Parthia under the leadership of a king. You can't tell me that Caesar will miss seeing his enemies' faces when that particular piece of news is imparted."

  "Calpurnia, it seems, has had a dream; and therefore Caesar will not come."

  "Pish and tush," I said. "I never knew the day when Caesar's actions were controlled by a woman's fears."

  Nevertheless I was doubtful, for I knew only too well these moods of lassitude which could suddenly overtake him.

  Markie pulled away from Cassius.

  "I must go," he cried. "Nothing is more important to me than my wife."

  Fortunately, the action provoked by this sentiment — so unworthy of a Roman nobleman — was abruptly checked, for, as he broke away, he bumped into a second freedman sent, puffing and panting, from his house in search of him.

  This man babbled that Porcia had recovered. She had only fainted. She insisted that her husband should not turn away from the work in hand.

  Was it dismay that made Markie look so sullen?

  It was confirmed: Caesar would not come.

  "So the matter must be put off to another day," Markie said.

  "We cannot afford delay," I said.

  "Not for an hour." Cassius was brisk. "Mouse, you must at once to Caesar, persuade him to come. You alone can do it. If Caesar does not attend today, then I'm afraid we are all lost. A secret which is known to Popilius Laena is no secret. It's a miracle that Caesar himself has not yet learned of it."

  "Perhaps he has," I said. "Perhaps that is why he isn't here. Well, I'll make the attempt. If Caesar knows our plans, I have nothing more to lose."

  There was relief in action. I was glad to be free of the highly charged atmosphere of the Senate. Nothing in the streets suggested anything of that febrile excitement which can run through a crowd when it feels that events of great moment are about to unfold. The stallholders yelled their wares as usual. The taverns were filling up as usual. The people went about their business as usual. I passed a gang of gladiators being escorted to the practice arena; they looked surly, as usual. I hurried round the base of the Capitol and entered the Forum. Perhaps there was less activity than was normal, but then that was often so on days when the Senate met. I passed along the Via Sacra towards the Regia, the house opposite the temple of the Vestal Virgins where Caesar had recently taken up his residence, as he was entitled to do in his office as Pontifex Maximus.

  "Here's Decimus Brutus," Calpurnia's voice was harsh and almost hysterical. There were tear-marks on her cheeks.

  "Caesar, Calpurnia," I said. "I am giving myself the honour of escorting Caesar to the Senate."

  "Thank you, Mouse, but I'm afraid it's an honour which you must do without today. I cannot come. No, that is untrue, and it would be still less true to say 'I dare not come.' So simply take the message that I shall not."

  "Say he is sick," Calpurnia said.

  "No, I am not sick, and I would not burden you with a lie, Mouse. Say only: I shall not come."

  "Can you give me some reason? The Senate will be offended if I return with such a blunt message. They will say that Caesar . . . well, never mind what they will say. You know it as well as I do."

  "I do not choose to come. That is sufficient reason for the Senate, who have no right to question my actions. Still, Mouse, I owe it to you to be more explicit. Calpurnia has had a dream which disturbs her; therefore, for her sake, I choose to stay at home."

  "You never knew such a dream," Calpurnia said, her voice rising to a shout. "I saw his statue," she hurried on, "and it was running with blood. And then the people, stinking plebs, came and bathed their hands in it, and some of them smeared their faces with his blood; and so I am afraid, and have begged Caesar to remain at home. For that's not all. There were ghosts seen in the streets last night, shrieking and lamenting, and others saw bloodstained men fight in the skies. And then there was that business of the sacrifice. You heard about that, Mouse. When they killed the ox it was found to have no heart. These are all dreadful portents, which it would be impious to ignore."

  I sat down, and acted the part of a man thinking deeply.

  "I was in the streets last night and
saw no ghosts. I have just come from the Senate. The mood there is certainly excited. Your old uncle, Julius Cotta, is going about saying that he is about to reveal something of great moment which he has discovered in his researches in the Sibylline Books, and when anyone asks him what it is, he lays his finger along his nose and says, 'Wait till Caesar comes and all shall be revealed.' More important still, there is a proposal to be put to vote you a crown and the title of King, to be worn beyond Italy, in all parts of the Empire save at home. Even the staunchest Republicans are not averse to this, or so it seems, and there is a rumour that Cicero intends to come to the Senate, entering as you might imagine with the utmost drama when he has been assured that you are there, in order to support the motion. Now you know Cicero better than any of us, and you know what a blow it would be to his vanity if I brought the message that Caesar does not choose to attend the Senate today. I'm afraid that the proposal would be shelved and would probably not be resuscitated. As you have often said yourself, the great art of war and politics is to seize the moment. The moment has arrived, but if Caesar does not choose to come, why, then the moment will pass.

  "And then," I said, seeing that my words were having some effect, "Calpurnia's dream . . . perhaps I, not having dreamed it and not having experienced the fear it caused her, can offer a better interpretation. This business of the statue spouting blood and the Romans smearing their faces with it. It seems to me probable that they were indeed drinking Caesar's blood, but that this signifies that Rome has sucked, as we know it has, reviving blood from you. It is a dream signifying regeneration, nothing dreadful.

  "Finally," I said, "you know you can trust me to be silent as to the reason why you do not choose to come. But you know also how men speculate and you know how fleet of foot is rumour. So I've no doubt the reason will emerge or will be guessed, or even that some cynic will happen on it by chance, and cry out, 'Well, let's adjourn this meeting till, by chance, we hit on a day when Caesar's wife is not troubled by bad dreams, or has had a good night's sleep.' And then a fellow of similar fancy will cry out that Caesar has little chance of beating the Parthians if he is kept at home by his wife's terrors.

  "I'm sorry," I said, "if my frank language gives offence, but you know, Caesar, that I have always spoken my mind in council, and you know that I am a simple plain blunt soldier, and you will forgive me my lack of tact and of nice rhetorical skills, because you know my anxiety proceeds from the . . . love ... I bear you."

  And so I convinced him, and, leaving Calpurnia to her terrors (more justified than she could have guessed, poor bitch), we proceeded from his house.

  As we came into the Forum, a lean, mad-looking Greek with long dirty grey hair approached him yelling something which I did not understand. It was Greek certainly, but in his excitement, the words escaped me. Caesar smiled to see him:

  "So, Spurinna, you see the Ides of March have come, and I am well."

  "Aye, Caesar, but the day has far to go." This time I could understand him; he spoke in Latin, made curious by a lisp.

  He thrust a rolled-up parchment at Caesar. "Read this, I beg you."

  I said: "I have something for you to cast your eye over also: a suit from Trebonius."

  "Read mine first," the old man said, "it concerns you closely."

  "Then I fear it must take second place," Caesar said, and handed it to me.

  "You did right to persuade me," Caesar said as we approached the Theatre of Pompey. "But Calpurnia was pressing. She has been in a strange mood, almost unbalanced in its intensity. Now that Caesar is away from her, Caesar is himself again."

  I slipped from his side as we entered the theatre. Cassius smiled at me. Now that the moment had arrived he was calm as the sky on a windless night. He held Markie to his side. One glance at Markie's face told me this precaution was unnecessary. He had screwed up his courage to a point where he could find release only in action. Then his hand tightened on Cassius' arm. I followed his gaze, and saw that Popilius Laena had approached Caesar and was deep in conversation with him. Impatient murmurs ran round the Senate. Caesar's uncle, Julius Cotta, fussed with the rim of his toga. They had been kept waiting a long time, many of them. I looked about me. Cicero was not present.

  Trebonius had seized Antony's attention. After a few minutes' talk, they left the theatre.

  Caesar smiled. Popilius Laena gave a little titter and backed away.

  Metellus Cimber approached Caesar and knelt before him. He spoke at some length, quietly, so that his words did not carry to me.

  Caesar frowned, made a dismissive gesture. Cimber seized the hem of his robe and Caesar twitched it free.

  Cassius and Markie now closed on him. Cassius knelt, supporting Cimber's plea, as we had arranged. Markie stood a little apart. He had refused to kneel.

  Again Caesar swept his arm across his face in a gesture of refusal. It wouldn't have mattered if he had assented, but that refusal of so reasonable a request was as the ultimate justification of our intent. I drew near enough to hear Caesar say:

  "No, and forever no. The decree of banishment stands. If you all kneel before me and fawn on me, I reject your demands as I would dismiss a mongrel cur. When will you learn that Caesar is constant as the northern star, fixed like none other in the firmament?"

  "When will you learn that men are still men?" said Casca, and stabbed him in the neck.

  Cassius was next to strike, then Markie aimed a blow. It ran through Caesar's toga and the dagger stuck there.

  Caesar struggled to his feet, but we were all upon him.

  "This for Pompey. . ."

  "Dictator for life . . ."

  "Tyrant. . ."

  "For my brother . . ."

  He caught my eye. For a moment horror and reproach filled the theatre.

  "Not you, my son."

  I thrust my dagger under the breast-bone.

  Amazement crept over his countenance. He pulled the toga over his head, and slumped to the marble. His hands clutched at the pedestal of Pompey's statue. Even as he lay there, others of our friends drew near and stabbed him. The body kicked and was still, as the blood ran across the floor towards the rostrum.

  We stood in a ring around the body. I think we were all astonished, that it had been so easy.

  One moment, Caesar; and the next, a piece of bleeding flesh, authority and majesty departed, like a door slammed by the wind. The tune of the piper who had lured us into Italy sounded a moment in my imagination, and was still.

  A senator who had not been of our party picked up a fallen dagger and knelt over the thing that had been Caesar to add his wound to the many it had received. Cassius detained him.

  "We are not butchers," he said, "and you had no part in the danger. Therefore, no part either in the honour."

  My left arm was bleeding, gashed by a blow aimed at Caesar. I bound it up with a rag.

  Markie advanced into the open space where the actors played, and raised his voice:

  "Do not be alarmed, Conscript Fathers. We intend no harm to any other man. I pray you, keep your seats."

  He might as well have bid the wind be still. They scrambled for the door, jostling each other in their fright and anxiety to be clear of the place.

  In a moment we were left alone with Caesar's body.

  Trebonius entered.

  "Where is Antony?"

  "Fled in terror, though I assured him he was in no danger. But there is general consternation, panic even, in the streets. I could not restrain Antony."

  Markie said, "Very well. We have done what we set out to do. Let us now go, bearing our bleeding swords, to the Capitol, and proclaim to Rome that liberty has been restored."

  He spoke like an actor. I did not protest. It was for this moment that Cassius had been so determined that Markie should be one of us: we would see if he was right.

  I was the last to leave the scene. I looked back at the body: so small and insignificant; so many battles won, so much distance travelled, so much glory, so great renown: all
silenced, expunged, concluded in a flurry of knives.

  I almost longed for tears that I might let one fall on Caesar.

  I stood over what had been the Perpetual Dictator.

  "Cruel necessity," I said, and followed the others into the grey of the March morning.

  Chapter 23

  Markie led us from the theatre to the Capitol to give thanks to Jupiter for the deliverance of the city from tyranny. He behaved as if he was enacting a ceremony. In its way it was impressive. I should have preferred that he realised we had in reality effected a coup d'etat, which we still required to secure. Our advantage would be brief if we did not seize it immediately. Some of my friends and colleagues brandished their bloody daggers and cried out, "Liberty! Liberty!"

  For my part I chose to remain silent and watchful. The crowd fell away on either side as we passed, silent, shaken, perhaps reproachful. That did not disturb me. I had never supposed the rabble would applaud us.

  We rendered thanks to Jupiter and the other gods of the Republic. No doubt that was suitable. And then we waited, uncertain how to act. It was still only the fifth hour of the day.

  "Is there any news of Antony?"

  Cicero appeared, wafted there by rumour.

  He congratulated us on having set Rome free.

  "But I wish you had consulted me," he said. "You should have realised my advice would have been invaluable."

  He did not remain long, being uncertain, I suppose, how things would turn out, and reluctant to be too closely associated with the consequences of an act in which he had had no share.

  Other sympathisers made equally brief appearances, nervous, divided between elation and terror.

  Casca yawned, and sent a slave in search of wine.

  "What do we do now, eh?" he said. "Buggered if I know," he added.

  I was dizzy from my wound, unable to think clearly. Two ravens rose from the roof of the Temple of Jupiter and flapped their slow way towards the Tiber.

  Dolabella appeared arrayed in the insignia of the consulship which in other circumstances he would only have assumed when Caesar departed for the Balkans. He, too, neither knew what to say nor whether he should be with us.