The King of Rome

by Francis Mulhern

  As he moved past two women, selling bread from a hand cart, he decided to move in behind and use them as a shield to see what was happening. A dark-haired boy looked up at him, his hand shot out and asked if he wanted some bread. Istros smiled and handed over a small bronze coin, a warm piece of flat-bread passed to him quickly before the boy turned his attention to another man who was standing over the cart. Auguronos had vanished into the crowd. Taking a few seconds to get his thoughts clear, it seemed obvious to Istros that the man was up to something, and that he must have been one of the men he’d seen entering the crowd and splitting. But what were they up to?

  “Istros” said an urgent voice, making the assassin jump, his hand already dragging his blade free of its scabbard, his other hand whipping out to grab the tunic of the speaker.

  “Gods, Menenius” he growled, the small crowd all turning at the sudden flurry of movement. “Don’t creep up on a man like that” he scolded, sending a smile to one of the bread-sellers who was scowling at him. “Apologies, ladies” he bowed, dragging Menenius away from the cart by the tunic. “What are you doing here?” he asked, as his eyes scanned the crowd for any eyes that followed them.

  “We need your help, Istros” said the plebeian. “Capitolinus has set assassins to kill Javenoli and Camillus” he said in a whisper.

  Istros immediately knew what Auguronos and his men were now here to do. His face darkened as he spoke. “And what do you want me to do about it?” he asked.

  Menenius stared, open-mouthed, at the assassin. “To help, of course” he said, his incredulity at the response evident in his tone of voice.

  Istros looked back at him and took a slow breath. “I saw three men enter this crowd. Each of them wore a hood and disappeared in separate directions. It is unlikely that we will have time to find them” he said, still searching the crowd ahead of him. Thoughts ran through his head. “You will, of course, pay me to find them?” he asked.

  Menenius looked taken aback before he answered. “I have no funds for this. We need to do it to save the Republic.”

  “A Republic that until a few days ago you wished to change by following him” he said, inclining his head towards Capitolinus, who now appeared on a wooden stage that he’d brought with him to the Forum. A substantial portion of the crowd began to cheer, Capitolinus raising his arms and circling to look into the faces of those closest to him, his own visage showing obvious pleasure.

  Menenius whipped his hand away from Istros. “Then I need to do this myself” he snapped, turning to walk away. Istros placed a hand on his shoulder and hauled him back, placing the half-eaten flat-bread in his hand.

  “Leave this to me” he said, “you’d only get in the way.”

  ************

  Chapter 43

  Cossus appeared on the platform opposite Capitolinus and moved to his chair, ignoring the muttering from the crowd and the jeering from the defendant’s supporters. Javenoli, Camillus, Quirinius and Iulius followed with the other senators. And then out came Sicinius, to stand in front of the senate platform, but unmistakably with them. Capitolinus gawped at him, his smiling face now turned to cold anger. He turned to his own group and they started to talk quietly about what the plebeian tribune might be doing standing with the patricians. Sicinius watched as orders were passed to the men behind Capitolinus, others moving off into the crowd. He swallowed hard, knowing that Narcius had sent men to his own family as well as moving any of his closest clan members away from their homes as security from any reprisals for anything he said against the would-be dictator.

  Iulius stepped forwards and rang a bell three times, the ritual for the proceedings to start. Capitolinus turned to the senators and stood with his hands on his hips expectantly, and the crowd were hushed to silence by their neighbours. “People of Rome, we gather again to hear the case of Marcus Manlius Capitolinus, who continues to raise unfounded claims against men of the senate that they have taken gold from the temple of Jupiter for their personal use. He also claims that patricians have acted without recourse to the laws of the twelve tables in enforcing loans.” He took a moment to turn and look out at the crowd. “And further to this, the senate ask him, here today, in plain sight of you, the people he proclaims to love so dearly, to prove that he has not incited men to violence across the city. Violence that has led to many of you” at this he pointed theatrically into the crowd, “losing loved ones, losing houses, losing crops. And further” his voice rose dramatically in volume, “the senate asks Capitolinus to confirm that he has had no part in the death of a senator, killed in this very Forum under the eyes of the gods. We ask you Marcus Manlius Capitolinus, to confirm why you have pronounced yourself patron of the plebs, and to what end these meetings in your house on the Capitol Hill are aimed. We accuse you, Marcus Manlius Capitolinus, of desiring the highest of roles, in promoting yourself as a king to the people of Rome.”

  His final words brought a loud rumble of muttering from the crowd as all faces now turned toward Capitolinus.

  ******

  Istros had skirted the walls of the Temple of Vesta and spotted movement within a small clump of trees at the edge of the walls. Up in the trees were several small boys, all attempting to get a better view of the scene some seventy or eighty yards away. His face dropped as he switched his attention to other areas where any assassins may be lurking. Surely nobody would be fool enough to attack the senators openly from the crowd, he had guessed, and as such was skirting the edges where a bow might strike at the two men. He tapped his thigh with his hand as he looked around. The trees had seemed as good a place as any from which to launch an arrow, but the plethora of bodies within the branches meant that this was now out of the question. Height had been his first thought, and his first option was now closed as the land within the Forum was almost completely flat, the rise to the Capitol too far for a clear arrow shot even for the best archer. So, what were they planning? He’d heard the bell and the opening remarks, but was too intent on searching out his prey to take much notice of what was being said. He watched a small group of soldiers march across the rear of the Forum, the leading man watching he crowd keenly as if searching for something. At this he decided to gamble, something he rarely did, and stepped out towards the group. As he approached he raised an arm, seeing the centurion place a hand on his sword.

  “Friend” said Istros as he came within a few feet of the leader. “I think we are looking for the same men.” Seeing the concerned look on the centurions face he added “I’m working for Gaius Javenoli, looking for the men who have been sent against him.”

  At this the centurion relaxed a little but remained wary as he spoke. “My name is Crastinus, we’ve been sent to check the alleyways for anyone lurking with bows.”

  Istros nodded. “I’ve checked them all, and these trees” he waved an arm at the trees. “There’s nobody here.” He turned back towards the crowd, “there are no houses close enough to the platform to climb on and the Hills are too far away to get a good enough shot” he shrugged as he finished, looking back at Crastinus.

  The centurion grunted agreement. “Then it’s just as Narcius suggested” he said with a frown. “He’s going to incite a riot and in the fracas the assassin is going to kill Camillus and then Javenoli.

  Istros looked to the centurion. “The assassin?” he said. “There are three of them, I saw them enter the crowd and split. We have a bigger problem than I think you realise.”

  ********

  Marcus watched as Capitolinus turned to face the crowd and then, slowly, he twisted to look over his left shoulder. Above him was the Capitol Hill, with the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus looking down over the city. He nudged Javenoli, who looked to him questioningly. “The temple” he whispered. “Look how he’s placed himself.” Javenoli’s brows furrowed as he glanced up and across, and then his head shook as his lips tightened.

  “I told you he was clever” he replied. “This will be a complex battle of wits, my friend.” Marcus nodded agreeme
nt and turned back to listen to the opening words of the accused former patrician.

  Capitolinus raised his right hand watching it rise to a position level with his eyes, before he turned to point at the temple. “Gods of the Capitol, see how your champion is treated by those who hold power in your city” he called, his voice booming across the Forum. Every eye, including those of all the senators, turned towards the Capitol Hill. “Jupiter knows that I stand accused, here, isolated from even my own family who have not come to my defence.” This statement caused an outbreak of intense grumbling from the crowd. Marcus shook his head, a masterful first sentence, he thought. Even in the worst of times it was usual for a family to adopt their struggling brethren, to support them in their hour of need, but Capitolinus was referring to the fact that his own patrician family had disowned him, something that would pull on the sentimentality of the crowd. He looked around at the patricians arranged along the side of the platform, neither of the Manlius brothers anywhere in sight.

  “Yet, my friends, I was alone when I saved the Capitol Hill from the barbarians” he said as he looked out over the crowd and came to the front of the small platform he’d created. “Alone but for one thing” he said more volubly as he, once again, turned back to the Capitol and looked upwards. “I was not alone, I was with Jupiter himself, and he is here with me today” he said as the crowd muttered and Cossus harrumphed loudly.

  Marcus watched the reaction of the crowd and began to have a sickening feeling that Capitolinus’ words had already mesmerised the majority of them.

  “Look down on me not as an ex-patrician, Jupiter, but as a saviour of your divine grace.” He turned quickly to the crowd, his back bending as he leant forwards and raised his right arm, pushing it towards the crowd. “Look at me, freeborn Romans, not as a man who is accused, but as the man who saved you in your hour of need. Look at me as the man saved the seat of the gods” he lifted his left arm to point behind him at the Capitol. “And judge me as the gods themselves would judge me, judge my actions with memory of how we struggled on that Hill. Remember that Jupiter came to me on that fateful day and proclaimed me your leader in the fight against our oppressors. Think of that as I stand here today, one man isolated and alone. Think of how I have saved you all. Why, I ask, is it that these men come here and ask me to explain why I believe gold has been stolen from under your eyes by patricians. Why am I the only citizen concerned by the debts that all of the plebeian’s face, while those who stand as my accusers continue to grow their wealth. Were we not all equal on the Capitol as we starved?” he asked the crowd, bringing a small knot of supporters into vocal action, their shouts that he is their leader ringing around the Forum. He stood back and turned towards the platform across from him and crossed his arms. “I stand here accused of wishing to become a king” he shook his head as sections of the crowd groaned audibly at the suggestion. “I saved every man here from the arrogance of the Gauls as they climbed the Tarpeian Rock, and I stand here to save every plebeian from the arrogance of those who have taken Gallic gold for their own use. I stand here, under the eyes of the Capitoline gods, as the man chosen by Jupiter to save the city. If the people wish me to be their champion, to pay the debts of our heroes who have given their lives for their city, can I object? Would I be anything other than a lesser man than that expected of me by Jupiter himself, if I did not help every individual as I helped every man on that night.?” He turned back to the Capitol. “My crime is to love Jupiter, to do as he has asked me to do, to help my fellow citizen. If the senate see their power over plebeians being eroded by this” he turned and raised both arms, “then every man here must agree that he wishes to remain enslaved by debts. There was no wealth on the Capitol during the siege. Each man owned nothing more than the clothes he stood in. Was I condemned then, as I am now, for helping my fellow citizens” grumbles started again in the crowd, people visibly turning angry faces towards the senators. “No, my friends. I was rewarded for my selflessness. I was rewarded for saving the head of Rome, the land where our founders found the severed head which became a symbol of power for every free man here.” He turned back to the crowd and took a deep breath, every head looking up at him. “I ask that the people of Rome do not judge me as an individual, but as Jupiter’s right hand, his instrument for liberty, for freedom for all people across the city and for justice.” He turned back to the senate. And placed his hands on his hips. “Speak your accusations and let Jupiter and the Capitoline gods decide, let the people show their strength as they see that, as it was on the Capitol Hill when we starved for months without food, I have acted selflessly to save every man here.”

  As he finished, his supporters roared agreement, Marcus glaring back at the crowd as some of them surged forwards. A small scuffle broke out as people pushed and shoved, and he saw a helmeted soldier drag a man away, several others following as the crowd swallowed them up in their desire to move closer to the front of the platform.

  ********

  Istros slid through the crowd like a snake, finding small gaps which he, somehow, eased into and continued to move towards the platform. His eyes scanned every man, every woman and every child searching for anyone who might pose a threat. Capitolinus was talking of Jupiter being beside him as he stood on the Capitol Hill and fought back the barbarians, but Istros was intent on finding Auguronos or one of his henchmen and simply ignored everything except the body shapes or sudden movement which would give away the would-be assassins. “There” he said quietly to Crastinus as he spied a hooded figure, the only man in the area with his hood over his head. “Let me get close and pull him backwards, try to clear this space as soon as I grab him” he said, before moving away. Crastinus turned to his men and relayed the order, the crowd being pushed away slowly by the soldiers, who acted steadily and without any violence to ensure that Istros had every chance to get to the assassin.

  Capitolinus turned and placed his hands on his hips as Istros edged up behind the man just as the crowd moved forwards, like a wave crashing onto the shore, and Istros saw the assassin take out a long throwing knife, his plan clear. Acting on impulse he dived at the assassin and rammed his own blade into the nape of the man’s neck with his right hand, grabbing his forehead with his left and pulling him backwards. The throwing knife fell to the floor, several eyes turning in alarm towards the sudden activity. The roar of the crowd hid the sudden scuffle that occurred as Crastinus and his men shoved through to Istros and grabbed the body of the man, still twitching as Istros held it down. A woman screamed but Crastinus calmed her with a stare as he and three of his soldiers hauled the body back through the cheering and shouting crowd.

  **********

  Marcus looked to Javenoli as the cheering began, his frustration evident in the lines on his forehead. Javenoli looked to Cossus and then back to Marcus and shook his head as the nose continued, the shouting crowd cheering for Capitolinus, who was also shouting back into the crowd, his right arm raised high above his head as he pointed to the Temple of Jupiter. A woman screamed as a scuffle broke out, but then seemed to dissipate almost as quickly as it started.

  “We cannot defeat him here, in sight of the Capitol” he called, Marcus leaning forwards to hear. “It is his anchor. We must get him away from here to a place where he cannot use the gods to focus the minds of the people.”

  “But the trial?” Cossus shouted. “We can’t simply call a halt.”

  “Look at them” Marcus said with dismay as he pointed back towards the crowd. “We cannot indict him here, it will cause a riot, just as he wants.”

  Capitolinus was shouting for silence now and turned to the platform as his men shouted to quell the noise of the mob. Marcus caught his eye and the two men spent a moment glaring at each other as if they were the only two people in the Forum before the patron of the plebs called even more loudly and brought people’s attention to himself. “And these men are here today” Marcus heard him shout, though he didn’t catch the beginning of the sentence. A body of men stepped f
orwards, their march almost military as they approached Capitolinus’ position.