The Triumph Of Caesar rsr-12

by Steven Saylor

  "No, that's unfair. The fellow does not demand it. He asks. He makes a polite request. He says, 'Laberius, dear friend, best and boldest of playwrights, would you be so kind…' And Laberius-jumps!" He executed an even more fitful leap with a hair-raising recovery.

  "And here's the rub: it matters not a fig that I should stand here and complain; he merely takes my mutterings as a compliment. Look, he's laughing now!" Laberius pointed at the box of honor in the midst of the seats, which was as empty as the rest of the theater. He shook his head. "Bitter are the twists and turns of Fortune. My own success has made me another's slave. The dazzling jewel of Fame had turned me into another man's ornament. My gift for words renders me… mute. But oh, can I jump!" Again he took a leap, but something in the halting movement was more pathetic than absurd, more pitiful than funny. I did not laugh at all.

  He cocked his head. "Do you remember that game we played when we were boys called king of the hill? Well, I imagined I was very nearly at the top of that hill for a while, but then I took a tumble, and now I find myself at the bottom-just like all of you-looking up at the winner, who's so high above me I have to squint to see him." In a quavering childlike voice, so strange it gave me gooseflesh, he quoted from the ditty boys sang when they played the game:

  "You will be king

  if you can cling

  to the height.

  Do the thing

  to prove you're right,

  send 'em tumbling

  with all your might!"

  I sat forward in my seat, no longer pretending to be his attentive audience but genuinely riveted. In my mind, his voice conjured images of boys at play, so seemingly harmless in their rush to compete. But I also saw fields of dead bodies and heads on stakes, the terrible outcomes of those boyhood games carried into the world of men. I was reminded of how completely an actor could command the stage, controlling his audience's emotions with a change in the tone of his voice or a simple shrug of his shoulders.

  "Ah, but I suppose I was getting too big for my toga anyway," said Laberius with a sigh. "I was due for a bit of taking down. Weren't we all, O people of the toga? We forgot the way of the world. All cannot be first, and the highest rank is the hardest to hold on to. From the pinnacle of success, the only direction is down. A man has his day and falls; his successor will fall in turn, and his successor, and so on. Only the immortals hold fast to their place in this universe, while everything around them changes in the blink of a god's eye.

  "We rightly fear the gods. We rightly fear certain men, but mark my words: the man who is feared the most has the most to fear-"

  A shrill voice, coming from behind me, interrupted him. "Laberius, you old fraud! You will never dare to speak that line from the stage. Why are you even bothering to rehearse it?"

  I looked over my shoulder and saw a striking figure, a man perhaps in his forties with touches of silver in his dark beard. He struck me as the type who's quite handsome in his youth but runs to fat in middle age. He was striding down the aisle toward the stage, followed by a troupe of actors.

  "I'll rehearse the prologue just as I wrote it!" snapped Laberius. "Whether I deliver it that way… is another matter, and none of your business, Publilius Syrus. If the temper of the audience and the exigencies of performance call for a bit of spontaneous rewrite-"

  "How about a spontaneous exit?" The newcomer had passed me and was fast approaching the stage. "You shouldn't even be here. This is the hour scheduled for my troupe to practice, and you know very well that we rehearse in secret. I can't have eavesdroppers plagiarizing my best lines."

  "How dare you, Syrus? As if I would steal a single one of your tired platitudes. You-you freedman!"

  "That right, insult a man who's actually made his way in this profession by merit! Go on, Laberius, off with you! Disappear! Send a puff of smoke out of your rear end and vanish through a trapdoor."

  "You're the one who resorts to such vulgar stage effects, Syrus. I rely on words and the instrument of my body-"

  "Well, get your instrument out of here! And take your assistant with you."

  I cleared my throat. "Actually, I am not this man's assistant. I only happened to be-"

  "Whoever you are, get out! Or I'll have Ajax throw you out." Syrus gestured to one of his actors. Whether Ajax was his name or his role in the play, it suited the man's brawny build. I suddenly regretted having wandered off on my own without Rupa.

  I had no desire to become involved in a brawl between rival playwrights, though I was curious about the men themselves. Both Laberius and Syrus were listed by Hieronymus as frequent guests at Marc Antony's parties. Syrus must have known Hieronymus; he had sent a message of condolence to my house.

  I headed out the way I had come, and was walking down a long portico when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Laberius.

  "What did you think of my prologue, citizen?"

  I shrugged. "Amusing. Provocative, I suppose. I'm not a great follower of the theater-"

  "Yet you laughed in all the right places, and when I did the bit about the boys playing king of the hill, it gave you chills, didn't it? Admit it!"

  "It did."

  "Come with me, Citizen." He took my arm and steered me to a nearby doorway. The door was plain and unadorned, but the chamber into which it opened was quite grand. We had entered by a side door into the great meeting room in the theater complex. Pompey had built it expressly to accommodate gatherings of the Senate. The hall was an oval-shaped well, with seats on either side descending in tiers to the main floor. Marble was everywhere, in many colors and patterns. The design and workmanship of even the smallest detail was exquisite.

  A common citizen like me is seldom allowed into such a place. I must have gawked like a tourist, for Laberius laughed and gave me a friendly pat on the back.

  "Quite a room, isn't it? Come, see the man who built it."

  We descended to the main floor. Laberius indulged in a bit of mummery, raising his arms and twirling like a speaker orating to his colleagues. He ended his little mime show by doing an about-face and bowing low before a statue placed conspicuously against the wall, where everyone in the hall could see it. I did not need to read the inscription on the pedestal to recognize Pompey, the man who had built this complex as a gift to the city and to serve as his crowning accomplishment.

  The statue depicted Pompey in a toga, as a statesman rather than a soldier. On his blandly handsome face was an amiable, almost serene expression. My most enduring memory of Pompey's countenance was quite different. Once, in a rage, he tried to kill me with his bare hands, and the look on his face then had been anything but serene. I still had bad dreams, haunted by Pompey's face.

  As depicted by this statue, the Great One looked harmless enough, gazing with a smile at the grand assembly room he had provided for his colleagues.

  "A great patron of the theater," said Laberius, with a sigh. "Though, to give him his due, Caesar promises to be even more generous. For the upcoming competition, he's offering the winning playwright a prize of a million sesterces. A million! That could go a long way to easing an old man's retirement."

  "So your reason for taking part in the festival isn't entirely because a dictator compels it," I said.

  "No? I don't see much difference, jumping because I fear the man who tells me to jump, or doing it because he owns all the world's gold and promises to throw a few coins my way."

  "Strong words, playwright!"

  "When politicians give up on liberty, it falls to poets to preserve it. Or to write its epitaph."

  "I don't know what your play is about, but with a prologue like that, can you really expect Caesar to give you the prize?"

  "Why not? It would prove that he allows dissent, loves freedom, and has excellent taste. What harm can I do to Caesar? At my worst, I'm no more than the buzzing of a gnat in his ear. All my ranting is mere flattery to such a man. I meant what I said: 'It matters not a fig that I should stand here and complain; he merely takes my mutteri
ngs as a compliment.' "

  "Still, that last bit-how did it go? 'The man who is feared the most…' "

  " 'Has the most to fear.' "

  "No tyrant likes to hear that sort of talk." Calpurnia certainly wouldn't like it, I thought.

  "Better that such words be shouted in public than whispered in private," said Laberius. "At least I'm no hypocrite, like that no-talent Pig's Paunch."

  "Who?"

  "Syrus. That's his nickname. Since he arrived in Rome, he eats it at every meal."

  "Which makes him a voluptuary, perhaps, but not a hypocrite."

  "No one speaks more scathingly about the dictator behind his back than Syrus. Yet his so-called play consists of nothing but insipid platitudes in praise of Caesar."

  "A million sesterces could purchase an endless supply of pig's paunch. But how do you know this? Syrus rehearses in secret."

  Laberius snorted. "I know every line of drivel in his new play. 'A gift worthily bestowed is a gift to the giver.' 'Too much wrangling and the truth is lost sight of.' 'A quick refusal is a kindness half done.' One cloying banality after another!"

  "But how do you know this?"

  He smiled. "That fellow Ajax? Looks the strong, silent type-but indulge his weakness for wine, and he sings like a lark!"

  I shook my head. In Caesar's Rome, even playwrights employed spies against each other!

  "Let me understand you, Laberius. You're saying that you speak harshly about Caesar but pose no threat to him. But a man like Syrus, who appears completely obsequious-"

  "Is far more likely to be up to no good. But Caesar knows this. He's a shrewd judge of character. How else has he kept his head on his shoulders?"

  "Are you seriously suggesting that Syrus might pose a threat?"

  "A grave threat! The man who wrote the line, 'You never defeat danger by refusing to face it,' could murder the theater outright!"

  "I see. Tell me, who is this Publilius Syrus?"

  "He was born a slave in Syria; thus the uncouth cognomen. Acquired the name Publilius from his master, when he was freed. How that came about, no one knows, but they say he was a beautiful boy; Syrus wouldn't be the first slave who rose in this world by trading on his looks. Made his way to Italy and presented himself as a playwright. He's had a bit of success in the hinterlands, doing the small-town festival circuit. Now he thinks he can make a name for himself in the big city. Ha! What passes for cleverness in Calabria won't make them chuckle in Rome. Of course, with an audience made up of Gallic senators and the like, who knows what for passes for popular taste nowadays?"

  I sighed. "Indeed, persons of true refinement are few and far between. And now there is one less such person in the world. I'm thinking of a friend of mine who was murdered recently. He was a very cultured fellow and a true lover of the theater. I think perhaps you might have met him: Hieronymus of Massilia."

  Laberius looked at me blankly.

  "Perhaps at one of those parties Marc Antony is famous for?" I suggested.

  "Ugh! Not my crowd. For those affairs, I show up early, recite a few lines, eat and drink my fill, and then run home to an early bed."

  "But you attend such parties nonetheless. A free meal is a free meal?"

  "The playwright's credo!"

  "But you never encountered my friend Hieronymus?"

  He shrugged. "The name is vaguely familiar. But if the fellow was the type to arrive late and stay till dawn, Syrus would've been more likely to make his acquaintance. Syrus is frequently seen staggering downhill from the House of the Beaks at dawn." He frowned. "But you say your friend was murdered-"

  "We need not speak of it, since you didn't know him."

  Laberius nodded respectfully, then seized my arm. "Now, citizen, if you would be so kind, take a seat about midway up. I'll stay down here and finish reciting my prologue. The acoustics here aren't the same as in the theater, but I can still practice my movements and hone my timing-"

  "I'm afraid I should leave now."

  "Without hearing the rest?"

  "I'll hear it when you perform it for Caesar, I suppose."

  "Citizen! I'm offering you a rare opportunity to witness theatrical history in the making, to hear the unexpurgated version-"

  "That's the problem, I fear! You see, Laberius, I left the triumph and wandered in this direction in search of escape. I thought that's what I was in for, when I paused to listen to you in the theater. Instead, what did I hear? Topical satire about the state of Rome, veiled references to the dictator-the very things from which I was fleeing! No, thank you, playwright. If there's no escape from the dictator anywhere in Rome, not even in the theater, then I might as well spend the day with my loved ones. Which reminds me, my wife will be desperately worried by now. Hercules protect me-I must face the wrath of Bethesda! Now there's a subject for a play."

  With a final glance at Pompey, who gazed over our heads with a placid smile, I took my leave of Decimus Laberius.

  XVII

  When I returned to my seat at the triumph, Caesar had already passed, without incident. The legionaries who had served him in Asia were marching by.

  I was a bit taken aback by Bethesda's reaction. She seemed hardly to have noticed my absence. Perversely, perhaps, I felt obliged to point out that I had been gone a rather long time.

  "Have you?" she said. "When there's so much to watch, the time simply flies. You missed the Cappadocian acrobats. I swear, those boys and girls must have wings, to fly through the air like that!"

  "And the Bithynian archers-they were impressive!" offered Davus.

  "Archers?" I said.

  "They shot hundreds of arrows high into the air," explained Bethesda, "from which multicolored pennants unfurled. The arrows fluttered down, as harmless as a rain of rose petals. It was really quite spectacular."

  "You know, I could have been in danger," I said.

  "Danger? When all Rome is watching a triumph? How?"

  "I don't know. Someone might have tried to stab me in the public latrine. That happened once before-"

  "Oh, that was a long time ago!" said Bethesda.

  "Which doesn't mean it couldn't happen again. So, it never occurred to you to send Rupa or Davus to look for me?"

  She shrugged. "I assumed you ran into someone and were chatting away. I should hate to interrupt when you're busy catching up on gossip with some lowlife from the Subura or some wharf rat from the docks-"

  "Excuse me, Wife, but most of my chatting these days is done with people considerably higher up the social scale than that. I talk to senators and magistrates, and relatives of the dictator, and famous playwrights-"

  "Yes, yes," she said. "Now shush. The soldiers have broken into one of those chants they love so much. By Bona Dea, it's not about Caesar and King Nicomedes again, is it? I suppose those archers from Bithynia reminded them…"

  If this was material for a play, it was decidedly a comedy, and at my expense. I sat though the remainder of the triumph in glum silence.

  The feasting that followed the triumph left me torpid and drowsy. I meant to read more of Hieronymus's reports when I returned home, looking especially for anything to do with the playwrights Laberius and Syrus, but I could hardly stay awake long enough to tumble into bed. I slept like a stone. Bethesda complained of my snoring the next morning.

  During breakfast, I received another message from Calpurnia.

  Come at once! I am desperately fearful! My wise counselor assures me the danger increases as the time grows shorter. Have you discovered nothing? Rub the words from this wax as soon as you have read them and report to me in person.

  Now there, I thought, is a woman who knows how to fret over her husband. Taking Rupa with me, I went to her house at once.

  Porsenna the haruspex was with her, looking as self-important as ever. Uncle Gnaeus sat with his arms crossed, shaking his head from time to time to express his opinion that all this fuss was for no good reason. Calpurnia was in a highly agitated state.

  "You realize there
is only one more triumph remaining?" she said.

  "Yes, tomorrow's African Triumph," I said, "ostensibly to celebrate the defeat and death of King Juba but also to mark Caesar's triumph over his Roman opponents who fled to Africa after the battle of Pharsalus. No Roman has ever before celebrated a triumph for killing other Romans-"

  "Which makes this occasion all the more dangerous for Caesar," said Calpurnia. "How his enemies would love to pull him down even as he reaches the pinnacle of his glory!"

  "Is that what your haruspex tells you?"

  "Porsenna's warnings are dire. But it's also common sense."

  "Then surely your husband will take every precaution. No man has more common sense than Caesar. Why, only yesterday, someone was telling me what a good judge of character Caesar must be-"

  "Enough prattling!" said Calpurnia. "Have you discovered anything that might be useful? Anything at all?"

  I sighed. "I'm no closer to being able to tell you who killed Hieronymus, and why. As I told you from the outset, that is my real purpose for pursuing this matter."

  "When will you know something?"

  "It's impossible to say. And yet…"

  All three of them leaned toward me.

  "Go on!" said Porsenna.

  "Over the years, I seem to have developed a certain instinct. As others can smell rain before it comes, so I can smell the truth approaching."

  "And?"

  "My nose has begun to twitch."

  "What is that supposed to mean?" snapped Uncle Gnaeus.

  "I sense that I'm drawing closer to the truth, though I don't yet have an inkling of what that truth is or where or how the revelation will come. It's like the first whiff of a scent. You know you recognize it, even though you can't put a name to it. At least, not yet… but soon…"

  "You sound as mystical as Porsenna!" said Calpurnia. "I thought you relied on logic and deduction, like a Greek philosopher."