by Simon Rumney
Julia now had more money, power and slaves than anyone else. Her companies won all administration contracts and, as established building firms failed through lack of work, she purchased them at rock bottom prices. This secondary endeavor had now become a multimillion sestertii business, but try as she might she could not find any personal vulnerability. Julia would not give herself any credit for such high achievements but she was now the biggest single employer, the power behind all forms of commerce, and the richest person in Rome.
Julia’s accomplishments were made all the more extraordinary by the fact that nothing was written down, no one knew the full extent of her power, and the vast majority of Romans had absolutely no idea who she was.
Quite typically, Julia ignored the brilliance required to build an empire such as hers simply attributing her success to beginner’s luck. She believed that her achievements were nothing more than blundering good fortune and in the gloom of her unhinged imagination she believed that someone as intelligent as Clitumna perceived everything.
A healthy person would have seen that the big woman presented no major threat to someone of Julia’s ability but, as always, she was looking out at the world through a badly beaten mind.
With no idea what to do about the incredibly dangerous woman who had found her way into the home of Gaius Marius, Julia looked up and wept with sheer grief. She was standing outside the door of Sulla’s home, her home, and she had no memory of how she got here. The place must be etched into her brain. Like one of the magnetic rocks sold in the market place, she was helplessly drawn to it. As she banged on the door, Julia pondered the idea of buying her own house. She could afford her own suburb if she so wanted, but the idea of vengeful destruction of Sulla was her only driving force — she must stay close to him in order to bring him down from within.
Cecilia opened the door and it pleased Julia to think that Sulla was still funding both of their accommodation, their food, even their clothes. She could afford to purchase his entire estate many times over but the thought of using him as a parasite uses its host had a certain irony which appealed to her burning desire for vengeance.
To make this eventful day even worse Cecilia informed Julia that Sulla was sitting in the courtyard in an advanced state of drunkenness, “He has been waiting for you for quite some time,” she said in a concerned voice.
As Julia approached the little fountain Sulla shouted, “Where have you been you good for nothing whore? I have been sitting here waiting for you for hours!”
Wiping away her tears and attempting a smile Julia replied, “The market.” It was the best she could do in the circumstances; his presence had taken her completely off guard.
“I beat Marius!” he sneered, completely insensitive to her distraught condition. “In the Senate, I beat him completely!”
Julia did not protest when he grabbed her wrist and violently yanked her towards his sleeping chamber. She felt sick at the thought of what was about to happen. She always hated his angry grunting acts of rape, but something’s had to be endured on the path to vengeance. She knew that he would not last long before he fell asleep; anyway she had bigger problems than sex with a drunkard to occupy her mind at that moment.
Much to her surprise Julia became aroused by Sulla. In his drunken moment of victory he needed more than to simply ejaculate — he needed to completely dominate her. He had to make sure that she understood his power and in order to focus her attention on him he beat her during his aggressive act of sex.
The first blow to her buttocks while entering from behind shocked her but the sharp pain quickly passed leaving a numbing feeling that Julia found captivating. By the time the fourth blow had been struck Julia was in fits of orgasm. Sulla felt her excitement and was driven to new heights as he snorted like the bull he thought himself to be.
Julia had found the next level in her sad subconscious existence, it was entirely logical that someone as worthless as her should be punished by someone as hated as him.
Frustrating Sulla
Clitumna spent the first week after her return learning how Rome had changed since her departure over eight years before. She walked to the Senate every day and, sitting outside, she listened to the orators as they delivered their powerful speeches. Clitumna had listened to her father from exactly the same spot as a child and could clearly recall the debates of years gone by. In those days the talk had been of many different topics but at this time at least fifty per cent of all debates seemed to concern themselves only with issues involving Sulla.
Woven within the normal discussion Clitumna could hear two lines of dialogue, those vehemently against Sulla remaining as one of the Consuls of Rome and those who were just as vehemently for him taking an army to defeat Mithridates.
It struck her that although the arguments for and against Sulla were being well delivered by wonderful speakers they appeared shallow because the content of the argument had such poor foundations. It was gainsaying rather than passionate debate.
Clitumna was correct of course, the debate appeared thin because it was being funded entirely by Julia. Unbeknown to the pirate queen any Senator who badmouthed Sulla was being paid handsomely by Julia’s moneylenders. It had become an open secret within the Senate. Sulla’s enemies were all jumping on the bandwagon, it didn’t seem to matter what they said just as long as it was anti-Sulla.
Ironically, Sulla’s friends and allies, who would not speak against him, could also make money from Sulla simply by speaking encouragingly about him leading the army departing for the East. Everyone was netting handsome sums of cash for fuelling this corrupt debate which Clitumna was sharp enough to observe.
Sulla had also become acutely aware of, and very angry about, the pressure that he was under. He could no longer spend a day in the Senate without having to defend his reputation. Senators who rarely spoke in the Curia were standing and delivering well-structured speeches attacking him personally.
He could feel opinion being swung against him with each snipe at his character but every time Sulla asked himself who held the power and the desire to cause him such harm he could only conclude that it must be Marius. It was not his traditional way of doing things but who else had the motive and more importantly the money to destroy him?
As threatening as these personal attacks in the Senate were, Sulla knew his departure could not be delayed any longer. He had no choice, he must leave for Asia with his army or risk losing control of the East. He felt very uneasy about leaving at such a time but it had to be done. He would have to win a swift victory and return as soon as possible to resolve the untenable situation with Marius at home.
Sulla’s political instincts told him to stay in Rome, he even considered the possibility of sending a Commander to the East in his place but he did not trust anyone else to do the job with only five legions. He knew that Marius was correct when he said it was a job for twenty legions but quite mysteriously the moneylenders of Rome had only been able to raise sufficient funds to support exactly four legions in the field for two years. The fifth legion had been funded by a group of Senators lead by Sulla. He was a very wealthy man but keeping an army in the field was an incredibly expensive exercise and he simply could not afford to do it by himself.
To compensate for the lack of fighting men Sulla regrouped his old legions which were assembled at the port of Neapolis on the same coast as Ostia almost exactly set between Pompeii and Rome. They had been recalled from Hispania and the Italian provinces, and all were well trained. Each man trusted Sulla with his life and when it came to fighting all of them were worth two of any other.
The only hope that an army of this size had against such a well-organized enemy was Sulla’s leadership, so go he must. He was not being boastful — he was absolutely correct in his assumption — there were only two men who could accomplish this task and one of them was now only half a man. How he wished he had the wealth of Marius, with that kind of money he could have sent a lesser General with a larger army and he could
remain in Rome. Nothing would make him ask Marius for help, he considered the old man to be dangerously unstable and an army under his influence could so easily become the downfall of Sulla and even Rome.
While Sulla prepared for his departure the man who had been secretly funding much of the debate against him was fully packed and about to flee Rome. Sulla did not know it but Calpurnius needed to get out before Gaius Marius caught up with him and he was in the anxious process of packing his last bag when a very purposeful, fat man walked into his jewelry shop.
“What can I do for you?” asked Calpurnius wondering if another debt was about to be called in.
“I understand that you have quite recently had large sums of money removed from your charge,” said Gavius as he shook his head to stop the moneylender from asking the inevitable question. “It is not important how I know but it is fortunate for you that I do. I will deposit enough funds with you to guarantee your debts and in return for my generosity I will require just two simple things.”
Seeing a glimmer of hope Calpurnius looked quizzically at his huge benefactor and replied, “The funds that I require are significant.”
“The amount of sestercii you require will not present a problem, I will have sufficient gold delivered to you tomorrow.”
“Two simple conditions?”
“The first is that you will be on a galley bound for Alexandria within one week. You are to be my agent across the great ocean in the East and you will purchase all of the food and spices you find there.”
“And the second simple condition?” enquired Calpurnius sarcastically.
Gavius knew that this seemingly well-established jeweler was somehow caught in the same web as him because he gave very little resistance to Julia’s outrageous suggestion. Feeling sympathetic but knowing there was no way to change things Gavius added, “For keeping you out of debtors’ jail I will also require half of your annual profits.”
“Your price is too high!” shouted Calpurnius but he caved in rapidly as the fat man repeated Julia’s words precisely, “I will not negotiate with you, my offer stands for as long as I am in this shop.”
Gavius returned the next day with slaves carrying the very same gold that Julia withdrew from Calpurnius exactly one week before. He also handed over the precise amount that was required to refund the money of Gaius Marius. Gavius was not entirely sure what was happening because, as usual, he had access to only half the story but he had absolutely no doubt that Julia was up to no good.
Revenge
Completely obsessed by Clitumna’s infiltration into the home of Marius, Julia could no longer delay the plan which had driven her on for so long. She would have preferred to wait a little longer but impetuous panic had taken complete control of her irrational mind. Sulla’s destruction was the only thing that mattered and the unsettling events of recent times drove her to act prematurely.
Julia’s first step was to order Gavius to tell all moneylenders to offer vast sums of money to any Senator who voted in favor of a proposition introduced to the Senate by Marius. Stage two of her bid for revenge then unfolded during her weekly dinner with the Father of Rome.
Julia still enjoyed her conversations with Marius but hated the fact that she could not be seen to drink too much in his presence. Feigning tiredness Julia usually left soon after dinner because Clitumna always flaunted her “lions” and without alcohol to deaden the pain the sight of them made her quite sick. This evening was different however, Julia wanted to speak with Marius without Clitumna in the room so she sat for many uncomfortable hours without a drink determined to outlast the big woman.
Lying sober on the dining couch until such a late hour was impossible but Clitumna would simply not leave the dining room. Julia tried polite hints but none worked, the big woman showed no interest in retiring.
The simple truth was Clitumna feared leaving Julia alone with Marius because she now knew who this seemingly insignificant, young girl really was. She had stumbled upon the truth while scouring Rome looking for Bromidus and an explanation for her downfall.
Following anyone who delivered produce from the docks at Ostia she searched for his ravaged face in the crowded streets, busy markets and endless seedy taverns but there was never any sight of the man who could explain her demise.
At the very point of abandoning her search Clitumna chanced to see the fat man from Hispania riding in the most vulgar carriage and something about the scene rankled her. The man had been too unimportant for her beloved Captain to even ask his name but his vehicle, while gaudy was expensive, far too expensive for his lowly station.
What she learned by following Gavius to his insignificant olive oil shop was too ridiculous to be believed and piecing only a small fraction of the young girl’s empire together was enough to make Clitumna want it for herself.
Sending word to all surviving members of her old world she offered riches to any man who could find compromising information about Julia. If someone with a grudge against Julia could be brought to Rome, by any means, the finder would never have to worry about money ever again.
Total frustrated Julia gave up any pretence of subtlety and stared directly at Clitumna. This did not have the desired effect, the big woman seemed to be sizing her up and it disturbed her greatly.
Lack of wine eventually outweighed the risk of Clitumna’s presence so Julia decided to risk telling her extraordinary tale anyway. Poor innocent and completely unsuspecting Cecilia almost passed out when her beloved daughter delivered a tearful narrative.
“He raped you?” Marius was unable to fully grasp what he had just been told.
“Yes some years ago, Father. I fell into a terrible depression for a very long time. Had it not been for my darling mother I may have very well died from the shame of it.” Julia clutched Cecilia’s hand for effect but also to bolster her courage for was about to come.
Looking sympathetically towards Cecilia, Marius acknowledged her sheepish nod of agreement.
“I am telling you now because I cannot marry your son without giving you the chance to disown me,” sniveled Julia into her linen handkerchief.
“I will not hear of such a thing! It is Sulla who has wronged you. You are the innocent victim,” replied Marius as he limped over to her dining couch to place a comforting arm around her shoulder.
Julia went on to say in between her tears, “I tried to summon the courage to tell you before the consular elections because I realized his conduct made Sulla unfit for the post; I am such a coward.”
“You are no coward, Julia,” said Marius with his good arm draped around her. “Sulla is the coward! And as you say, he is unfit to hold the position. You will marry my son of course. I know him, he will not hold you responsible for the acts of a swine.” Then added, “Now if you do not mind I have much to do. My slaves will escort you home.” Marius turned to Cecilia saying, “Please take good care of my daughter-in-law you both have my condolences and my full support.”
Disguising the annoyance caused by her failure to get out of the marriage Julia looked into his eyes and with great sincerity said, “There is something else that I am duty bound to tell you about Sulla, Father.”
Cecilia and Marius listened in shocked silence with expressions of disbelief as her story unfolded. Beginning on the day she had first met Sulla by the little stone well, Julia embellished the circumstances of their encounter to fit her forged existence. She explained, “I was sixteen and while walking on my father’s estate one morning I encountered Sulla. He had been silently contemplating a document as I approached and my arrival took him completely by surprise. I blame myself for startling him.” Julia cried for effect.
“That is nonsense my dear,” replied Marius, “you were a very innocent young woman and like most Roman girls you must have been a sheltered child with no understanding of men such as Sulla.”
With a pathetic smile Julia thanked Marius for his support and continued her sad account, “Before I had time to think, Sulla was upon me with a dagg
er in his hand. When his body hit mine I was knocked from my feet. Having brought me to the ground, Sulla lay on top of me, staring into my eyes with his blade at my throat; Father, I thought that I was about to die.’ Julia nestled her head on Marius’s shoulder as she spoke.
“Are you able to continue my dear?” asked a deeply concerned and very sympathetic Marius.
Julia had no intention of stopping at such a critical stage in her plan so she thanked Marius for his concern and continued speaking. “He told me that our meeting was an omen, a sign from the Gods. He said I was the weak Italian tribes and he dominant Rome.” Raising her head slightly Julia apologized for smudging her cosmetics on Marius’s toga.
“Please do not worry about such trivia.” Marius returned her head gently to the white woolen garment now smeared with red ochre, lip decoration and ground-saffron eye makeup.
Looking up through her tears to make sure that she held his attention Julia went on to repeat every word of the spontaneous plan Sulla had formulated while sitting in the shade of the heavily laden olive tree all those years before.
Julia recalled, word for word, Sulla’s full conversation. He had argued the pros and cons of war with the trees, the water pail, the occasional swooping bird and, of course, the little peasant girl to help himself perfect the lie that he had spontaneously decided to deliver to the Senate. This was a wonderful way to fine tune his inflection, his mock outrage and polished sincerity but, in so doing, he had also informed Julia of every intricate detail of his deception.
Sulla had naturally assuming that the peasant girl who spoke no Latin would be incapable of betraying him, and this had been a big mistake. Julia was a dormant genius who memorized every word of his treacherous plan like a parrot. She was also in the first flood of young love and her already razor-sharp senses were at their height. Three months had to pass before Homer could teach her enough Latin to understand the gravity of what she had been told but it was the contents of Sulla’s monologue that she now delivered verbatim to Marius.