On a few occasions, Melissa caught sight of Antony in the seats reserved for the most respected members of society. He was still out of favour and Caesar had forbidden him to take part in the spectacles, despite his having had a major involvement in two of the campaigns. Every time she saw him, he was accompanied by a respectable Roman matron, who was beautiful, if a little rude in her manners. Although Melissa had never been introduced, she knew this woman to be Fulvia, Curio’s widow, and soon to be Antony’s third wife.
Caesar’s final act of the celebrations was one of generosity. He gave each of his soldiers five thousand denarii, more than Vitruvius could ever have hoped to earn in his entire career in the legions. Every citizen was given one hundred denarii each, Melissa included. She was also given one hundred for Antonius and a further hundred as recompense for the death of the boy’s mother. Caesar’s generosity particularly surprised Melissa as she was not a citizen of Rome. For the first time in nearly four years she had funds of her own. She treated herself to a scroll that she had been eyeing in the bookstore for some time and then put the rest away. She knew she had to be careful with every last sesterce of what remained.
After his triumphs, Caesar left for Spain again to quell a rebellion. The governor of the region had drowned after fleeing from an angry mob, leaving the region at the mercy of Pompey’s sons, who were trying to rally support for their cause. The final decisive battle would be at Munda where the rebellion would be crushed, but Melissa never had the opportunity to speak to Caesar about it as he merely sent a messenger to gather any information she had on a scroll.
Caesar seemed to believe he was indestructible and it appeared he no longer valued her counsel in the same way he had before. Melissa knew that this was partly to do with Caesar having a new counsellor, who was far more persuasive and manipulative than she herself could ever be. Cleopatra had come to Rome at the time of the triumphs. She now held court in Caesar’s beautiful villa across the Tiber. Publicly, senators fell over themselves for an invitation to wait on the Queen, though privately most hated and despised her, and deeply resented her presence in their city. The hold she had over Caesar had been apparent from the very first day. It was not that Melissa minded her sudden fall from favour, but she was concerned about what could happen if Caesar decided he no longer needed her services at all. Adding to this fear was the fact that it was now the summer of 45 and Melissa knew that Caesar would be assassinated in a little over six months, on the Ides of March of the following year, although she made no mention of it in any correspondence with him. Antony still made no attempt at contact, preferring to spend his newly-found respectability with his new wife. Quite where this left Melissa and Antonius was a future she had no knowledge of.
During his absence, Caesar made sweeping changes to Roman life through a group of newly-appointed officers operating in his name. Veterans were settled on land that had been promised to them. A programme of civic improvements began, covering large works such as the building of new temples, but also more mundane daily tasks such as keeping the streets clean. A new calendar was introduced by the newly-arrived astronomers from Alexandria, a gift from the Egyptian Queen. In general, Caesar’s reforms were meant for the good of the people but, while the plebs loved him for every effort he made on their behalf, the patricians became ever more suspicious of his tendencies towards outright rule.
Antony went to meet Caesar as he returned from Spain at the end of the summer. He was determined to get back in favour, having followed to the letter Melissa’s advice regarding divorcing Antonia and living a quiet, exemplary life for many months until he married Curio’s widow. Fulvia was an ambitious woman who worked tirelessly to make Antony a respectable member of Roman society.
Even though he was doing very well in his newly-styled life, Antony still harboured a strong desire to get even with Melissa. Now he felt his time had come, both for forgiveness from Caesar, and for revenge on the woman who frustrated him more than any other. He felt he had been patient for long enough.
Melissa wondered how long it would be before she was summoned to see Caesar after his return, if only for him to gloat that he had coped very well with little information from her, and was unsurprised when a letter arrived just two days after his troops made camp beyond the city walls. What she was not expecting was for the letter to be from Antony, or for it to bring such dire news for her.
Mistress Lissa.
It appears our fortunes are again reversed. Caesar and I are reconciled and I shall be named consul with him for the coming year. As his time is far too precious to be concerned with trivial matters, he has granted me full control over you. As such, you are to remain within the confines of your home at all times, unless you beg my personal permission to leave it. Failure to comply will result in further punishment for you, which I will take great pleasure in overseeing. I look forward to our next meeting.
M.A.
Melissa had long feared the loss of Caesar’s patronage, but had not expected it to happen like this. Antony had a long memory and, it appeared, an unforgiving heart. She had spent her early years in Rome rejecting his advances and embarrassing him at every turn. This was his revenge, leaving her under no illusion about what he intended to happen. She thought back to those first days at the Rubicon and remembered the words Antony had said in Curio’s tent − All the while Caesar wishes it to be so, I will not touch you. Should that situation change, Caesar will give you to me anyway.
Whether Caesar had forsaken her or not, she could not tell, but it certainly appeared he had been ambiguous enough to give Antony an opportunity to seize control of her. She shuddered, knowing Antony had finally outmanoeuvred her.
For weeks Melissa considered her predicament. She could not ask Caesar for help as he was still outside the city, where he would remain until the triumph for his victory in Spain had been celebrated. Even if she were able to gain an audience without Antony’s knowledge, he had lost interest in everything except for Cleopatra and her vision of their combined rule. All he would expect to discuss with Melissa would be insights into his planned mission to Parthia ─ a mission he would never begin as he would die two days before he was due to leave for the east. He would not care less how she was being treated provided she still proved useful. She had a simple choice: either accept her imprisonment for as long as it pleased Antony to enforce it, or risk everything to maintain the freedoms she had become so used to.
If she chose to wait and see how her new ‘master’ would behave, she would lose everything and far sooner than Antony could ever have dreamed of. He had demonstrated that he was capable of patience, having waited years for this moment. Melissa knew he would be more than willing to keep her here for many more years without relenting, but she did not have more than a few months before Caesar’s life would end. After he was gone, Antony would have total control over the city and every person within it. He could send Vitruvius back to the legion, leaving her completely at his mercy, to do with as he pleased.
If she chose freedom, she knew Vitruvius would help her escape, but Antony was one of the best-informed men in the country with a network of spies that was almost as wide as Caesar’s. Her mind raced at the thought of the horrible end that would await them when they were discovered. Antony would drag them all back to Rome where he would flay the skin from Vitruvius’ back, whilst she was forced to watch, before condemning him to death in the arena. Finally, he would reap his rewards from her flesh in ways that it tormented her to think of.
Of course, if she offered herself to Antony willingly, she might be able to negotiate far more than she already had. At one time she had considered this a possibility, but no longer. The sincere, genuine man she hoped Antony was appeared to be too well buried under Fulvia’s ambitions ever to resurface.
Whatever her decision, she would end up as Antony’s plaything. It was a promise he had made on the first day they met and she knew he would never relent now he sensed victory was within his grasp. Melissa was doomed, but she
was determined to find a way to keep Antonius safe. That meant she would have to entrust the little boy’s future to Vitruvius alone, and she could think of no one better to care for him.
Melissa chose not to witness Caesar’s final triumph as she had no intention of begging Antony for permission. As she sat alone in the silence of her little house, she realised there was another option ─ one she had so far failed to consider. Caesar was destined to die and she could help it happen. Offering her services to the conspirators could give her the opportunity she was looking for. If she could strike a deal with Marcus Brutus for assistance, she might be able to get both Antonius and Vitruvius safely out of the city without the fear of Antony hunting them down. If she remained behind, she could most likely guarantee their continued safety by bargaining with Antony for the one thing she still had left to give freely. She was the prize he sought above all else, and she would let him have anything if it meant securing a future for Vitruvius and the little boy she loved so dearly. Melissa had made an oath on Rebecca’s deathbed to do whatever it took to keep Antonius safe and she intended to honour it. He was all that mattered now, and to give her life to secure his was a price she was more than willing to pay.
To make contact with Brutus meant leaving the house. This would mean running the risk of incurring Antony’s wrath if he found her gone, but it was still the best choice on a list of seemingly appalling options. One way or the other, she was going to end up begging for Antony’s mercy, so to do it on her terms would be far preferable to having to do so on his. Going to Brutus was well worth the risk of that happening sooner rather than later.
Chapter 19
It took almost another week for Melissa to persuade Vitruvius to let her out of the house, and even then he refused to let her leave alone. She told him she had had a vision and needed to speak with the man she had seen. She said the man’s life depended on it and asked Vitruvius to take her to the home of Marcus Brutus without Antony’s knowledge. Quite how they were going to get in to see Brutus was another problem, but Melissa had given the matter plenty of thought. She wanted Vitruvius to announce them as messengers from Antony. She knew his name instilled enough fear in every member of society to get her across the threshold, as to refuse Antony’s messenger entry would be a personal insult that he would not leave unanswered.
Vitruvius was surprised by Melissa’s request because it was so out of character. She had never mentioned any visions that did not concern either Caesar or Antony before, so this was a new development. As Brutus was a friend of Caesar’s, Vitruvius assumed there was some connection, but Melissa refused to tell him any details. She just kept asking him to trust her that what she was doing was in the best interests of the Republic.
Trusting Melissa was not an issue for Vitruvius, he had done for many years. He did everything he could to make her life as comfortable as possible, especially if it meant defying Antony, and leaving the house was an easy way to do that. Antony had first forbidden Melissa from going out without his permission as a punishment for trying to embarrass him into acknowledging his son. His refusal to do the right thing by his child only made Vitruvius more willing to break the rules whenever he felt it was safe to do so. After Antony’s spectacular fall from grace, he had stopped worrying what Melissa did, but since the renewed threat that Antony had made just a few weeks earlier, Vitruvius was justifiably concerned for her safety. He had watched her like a hawk ever since. Melissa had never tried to escape from him, and he had never felt a reason to doubt her honesty, but something about this latest request made him worry. They had not seen or heard from Antony since he had sent the note, which made an unexpected visit more likely. Perhaps it was the thought of being caught that put him on edge. He had no concerns regarding what Antony would do to him if their absence were discovered, but Melissa, Antonius, and even Renna, were far more vulnerable to the types of wicked revenge he knew Antony to be capable of.
In the time they had spent together, Vitruvius had grown fond of his charge. He liked being in Melissa’s company: she was as intelligent as any of the Roman upper classes, but did not adopt the same superior attitude towards him as they did, and treated him as her equal. With her encouragement, he had expanded his taste in reading material from the bawdy plays and poems popular with the lower classes to the works of the Greek philosophers, which she had purchased one at a time, as and when she could. These were not cheap items and, even though he would scold her for wasting what little money she had, her gifts meant the world to him. It was Melissa’s belief that every person had a right to the same opportunities in life regardless of their social status. It was a radical idea for the time, but secretly Vitruvius thought it was a good one. More than anything, he enjoyed watching her get the better of Antony. It gave him an odd sense of fulfilment and, in the end, it was this reason alone that made him throw caution to the wind and agree to take her to meet with Brutus. He hoped that in some way this trip would help to put Antony firmly back in his place.
Melissa put on her best stola and the jewellery that Antony had given her. She wanted to appear to have some decorum and she felt more able to pull off her act as a self-assured seer when she was well-dressed. Vitruvius was unusually tense and insisted they both wore heavy hooded cloaks in the hope of hiding their identities if they were spotted. Rumours about Melissa’s identity had circulated for years. Most people assumed she was one of Antony’s many whores, but of late Vitruvius had begun to hear tales far closer to the truth. There were rumours that Caesar had engaged the services of a witch to guide him. It made him painfully aware that their movements might come under closer scrutiny and could easily be reported back to Antony. He had told Melissa about the rumours, but she had only laughed at the thought of being considered a witch, and he had dropped the matter.
Melissa felt sure the disguises were unnecessary, especially as Vitruvius took the longest way round to reach their destination. He completely avoided going through the Forum, which was the most direct route to the Palatine hill and Brutus’ home, but she knew he had his reasons. At times she could swear they had doubled back and were walking down the same filthy backstreet as before, but she did not question him. Vitruvius had never let her down before, and she knew he was only doing what he believed to be best.
Vitruvius visibly relaxed when they finally arrived at their destination. He kicked the door with his foot and a slave slid open a peephole, revealing only his face.
“You are too late. The master is no longer conducting business. Come back tomorrow,” the slave said tersely. He went to shut the hole again, but Vitruvius rammed his arm through it to stop him.
“We are not here for business,” he replied. “This woman brings a message from Mark Antony for your master. It is of great importance and must be delivered immediately and in person. We have no time to waste with you.”
The slave looked uncertain. As Melissa had suspected, the sheer mention of Antony’s name was enough to make him think twice about his actions. He slid back the bolts on the door and allowed them to enter the hall. “Wait here,” he growled and disappeared into the depths of the house.
He was gone for some time, giving Melissa the opportunity to study the death masks of Brutus’ ancestors that were prominently displayed in niches along the walls of the dimly-lit hall. There were plenty of them to look at. Marcus Brutus was descended from one of the oldest and noblest families in Rome. One of his ancestors had removed the last king from the throne, thus creating the beginnings of the Roman Republic. This was why the conspirators chose him to be their leader. They knew his good name alone was worth more to their cause than any military commander would ever be.
The slave returned and motioned to Melissa to follow him. “You wait here,” he repeated to Vitruvius. Melissa put her hand on Vitruvius’ arm and nodded to let him know she was willing to go on alone. She had no intention of allowing Vitruvius to hear her conversation with Brutus. She had no doubt he would help her to betray Antony, but to betray Caesar might be a
step too far for him to consider, and she did not want to place him in a difficult position unnecessarily.
Melissa was led into a large reception room where an older woman sat on the only available chair. She was well-groomed and obviously someone of great importance in the house. She was too old to be Brutus’ wife, meaning she was more than likely Servilia, Brutus’ mother and a former lover of Caesar’s. Melissa stood in front of the woman and waited in silence, her head bowed in respect. She did not remove her hood.
“Well, woman, speak! What message does Antony send to this household?” the woman said impatiently.
“Madam, I apologise, but I am here to speak to Marcus Iunius Brutus and no one else,” Melissa replied.
“Insolent wretch, he does not have time to waste on the likes of you! You will give the message to me or you will speak to no one.” The woman’s reply, and its tone, was short and scathing.
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