2. The Grass Crown

by Colleen McCullough

  Servilia Caepionis died in childbirth the day before Lucius Licinius Crassus Orator and Quintus Mucius Scaevola promulgated a new law about the Italian situation to the members of the Senate, with the result that the Marcus Livius Drusus who dragged himself to the meeting to hear the nature of the bill was in no fit state to lend the matter the attention it warranted. No one in the Drusus household had been prepared; Servilia Caepionis had been very well, her pregnancy proceeding snugly and without incident. So sudden was her labor that even she had felt no warning; within two hours she was dead of a massive haemorrhage no amount of packing and elevation served to staunch. Out of the house when it happened, Drusus rushed back in time to be with her, but she passed from terrible pain to a dreamy, carefree euphoria, and died without knowing that Drusus held her hand, or understanding that she was dying. A merciful end for her but a horrifying one for Drusus, who received from her no words of love, or comfort, or even acknowledgment of his presence. All her years of trying for that elusive child had come to a finish; she just dwindled to a bloodless, oblivious white effigy in a bed saturated with her life force. When she died the child had not so much as entered the birth canal; the doctors and midwives beseeched Drusus to let them cut the baby out of his wife, but he refused. "Let her go still wrapping it round," he said. "Let her have that consolation. If it lived, I couldn't love it." And so he hauled himself to the Curia Hostilia no more than half-alive himself, and took his place among the middle ranks to listen, his priesthood allowing him a position more prominent than his actual senatorial status warranted. His servant situated his folding chair and literally lowered his master down onto it, while those around him murmured their condolences and he nodded, nodded, nodded his thanks, face almost as white as hers had been. Before he was ready for it, he caught sight of Caepio in the back row of the opposite tiers, and managed to go whiter still. Caepio! Who had sent back word when notified of his sister's death that he was leaving Rome immediately after this meeting, and would not in consequence be able to attend the funeral of Servilia Caepionis. Indeed, Drusus's view of proceedings and the House was virtually unimpeded, as he sat near the end of the left-hand tiers, where the great bronze doors of the curia built centuries before by King Tullus Hostilius stood open to permit those crowded in the portico to hear. For this, the consuls decided, must be a fully public meeting. No one save the senators and their single attendants was permitted inside, but a public meeting meant that anyone else could cluster just outside the open doors to listen. At the other end of the chamber, flanked on either side by the three tiers of steps upon which the House placed their folding stools, stood the raised podium of the curule magistrates, in front of it the long wooden bench upon which the ten tribunes of the plebs perched. The beautiful carved ivory curule chairs of the two consuls were positioned at the front of the platform, those belonging to the six praetors behind, and the ivory curule chairs of the two curule aediles behind them again. Those senators permitted to speak because of sheer accumulation of years or curule office occupied the bottom tier on either side, the middle tier went to those who held priesthoods or augurships, or had served as tribunes of the plebs, or were priests of the minor colleges, while the top tier was reserved for the pedarii the backbenchers whose only privilege in the House was to vote. After the prayers and offerings and omens were declared all satisfactory, Lucius Licinius Crassus Orator, the senior of the two consuls, rose to his feet. "Princeps Senatus, Pontifex Maximus, fellow curule magistrates, members of this august body, the House has been talking for some time about the illegal enrollment of Italian nationals as Roman citizens during this present census," he said, a document curled in his left hand. "Though our distinguished colleagues the censors, Marcus Antonius and Lucius Valerius, had expected to see several thousand new names added to the rolls, they did not expect to see very many thousands of new names. But that is what happened. The census in Italy has seen an unprecedented rise in those claiming to be Roman citizens, and testimony has been made to us that most of these new names are those of men of Italian Allied status who have absolutely no right to the Roman citizenship. Testimony has been made to us that the leaders of the Italian nations connived at having their people enroll as Roman citizens virtually en masse. Two names have been put forward: Quintus Poppaedius Silo, leader of the Marsi, and Gaius Papius Mutilus, leader of the Samnites." Fingers snapped imperiously; the consul stopped, bowed toward the middle of the front row on his right. "Gaius Marius, I welcome you back to this House. You have a question?" "I do indeed, Lucius Licinius," said Marius, rising to his feet looking very brown and fit. "These two men, Silo and Mutilus. Are their names on our rolls?" "No, Gaius Marius, they are not." "Then, testimony aside, what evidence do you have?" "Of evidence, none," said Crassus Orator coolly. "I mention their names only because of testimony to the effect that they personally incited the citizens of their nations to apply for enrollment in huge numbers." "Surely then, Lucius Licinius, the testimony to which you refer is entirely suspect?" "Possibly," said Crassus Orator, unruffled. He bowed again, with a great flourish. "If, Gaius Marius, you would permit me to proceed with my speech, I will make all clear in time." Grinning, Marius returned the bow, and sat down. "To proceed then, Conscript Fathers! As Gaius Marius so perceptively observes, testimony unsupported by solid evidence is questionable. It is not the intent of your consuls or your censors to ignore this aspect. However, the man who testified before us is prestigious, and his testimony does tend to confirm our own observations," said Crassus Orator. "Who is this prestigious person?" asked Publius Rutilius Rufus, without rising. "Due to a certain danger involved, he requested that his name not be divulged," said Crassus Orator. "I can tell you, Uncle!" said Drusus loudly. "His name is Quintus Servilius Caepio Wife-beater! He also accused me!" "Marcus Livius, you are out of order," said the consul. "Well, and so I did accuse him! He's as guilty as Silo and Mutilus!" shouted Caepio from the back row. "Quintus Servilius, you are out of order. Sit down." "Not until you add the name of Marcus Livius Drusus to my charge!" shouted Caepio, even louder. "The consuls and the censors have satisfied themselves that Marcus Livius Drusus is not implicated in this business," said Crassus Orator, beginning to look annoyed. "You would be wise as would all pedarii! to remember that this House has not yet accorded you the freedom to speak! Now sit down and keep your tongue where it belongs inside your shut mouth! This House will hear no more from men involved in a personal feud, and this House will pay attention to me!" Silence followed. Crassus Orator listened to it reverently for some moments, then cleared his throat and began again. "For whatever reason and at whoever's instigation there are suddenly far too many names upon our census rolls. The assumption that many men have illegally usurped the citizenship is a fair one to make given the circumstances. It is the intention of your consuls to rectify this situation, not to pursue false trails or apportion blame without evidence. We are interested in one thing only: the knowledge that unless we do something, we are going to be faced with a surplus of citizens all claiming to be members of the thirty-one rural tribes! who will within a generation be able to cast more votes in the tribal elections than we bona fide citizens, and may possibly also be able to influence voting in the Centuriate Classes." "Then I sincerely hope we are going to do something, Lucius Licinius," said Scaurus Princeps Senatus from his seat in the middle of the right-hand front row, next to Gaius Marius. "Quintus Mucius and I have drafted a new law," said Crassus Orator, not taking offense at this particular interruption. "Its intent is to remove all false citizens from the rolls of Rome. It concerns itself with nothing else. It is not an act of expulsion, it will not call for a mass exodus of non-citizens from the city of Rome or from any other center of Romans or Latins within Italy. Its concern is to uncover those who have been entered on the rolls as citizens who are not citizens at all. To effect this, the act proposes that the Italian peninsula be divided into ten parts Umbria, Etruria, Picenum, Latium, Samnium, Campania, Apulia, Lucania, Calabria, and Bruttium. Each of the ten parts w
ill be provided with a special court of enquiry empowered to investigate the citizen status of all those whose names appear on the census for the first time. The act proposes that these quaestiones be staffed by judges rather than juries, and that the judges be members of the Senate of Rome each court president will be of consular status, and he will be assisted by two junior senators. A number of steps are incorporated to serve as guidelines for the courts of enquiry, and each man arraigned before them will have to answer with proof! the questions included within each step of the guidelines. These protocols will be too strict for any false citizen to escape detection, so much we do assure you for the moment. At a later contio meeting we will of course read out the text of the lex Licinia Mucia in full, but I am never of the opinion that the first contio on any bill should mire itself in detailed legalities." Scaurus Princeps Senatus rose to his feet. "If I may, Lucius Licinius, I would like to ask if you propose to set up one of your special quaestiones in the city of Rome herself, and if so, whether this quaestio will function as the one investigating Latium as well as Rome?" Crassus Orator looked solemn. "Rome herself will constitute the eleventh quaestio," he answered. "Latium will be dealt with separately. With regard to Rome, however, I would like to say that the rolls of the city have not revealed any mass declarations of new citizens we believe to be spurious. Despite this, we believe it will be worth setting up a court of enquiry within Rome, as the city probably contains many enrolled citizens who if the enquiries are taken far enough will be proven ineligible." "Thank you, Lucius Licinius," said Scaurus, sitting down. Crassus Orator was now thoroughly put out. All hopes he might have cherished to work up to some of his finer rhetorical periods were now utterly destroyed; what had started out as a speech had turned into a questions-and-answers exercise. Before he could resume his address, Quintus Lutatius Catulus Caesar got up, confirming the senior consul's suspicions that the House was just not in the mood to listen to magnificent speeches. "May I venture a question?" asked Catulus Caesar demurely. Crassus Orator sighed. "Everyone else is, Quintus Lutatius, even those not entitled to speak! Feel free. Do not hesitate. Be my guest. Avail yourself of the opportunity, do!" "Is the lex Licinia Mucia going to prescribe or specify particular penalties, or is punishment going to be left up to the discretion of the judges, working from existing statutes?" "Believe it or not, Quintus Lutatius, I was coming to that!" said Crassus Orator with visibly fraying patience. "The new law specifies definite penalties. First and foremost, all spurious citizens who have declared themselves to be citizens during this last census will incur the full wrath of the courts. A flogging will be administered with the knouted lash. The guilty man's name will be entered upon a list barring him and all his descendants in perpetuity from acquiring the citizenship. A fine of forty thousand sesterces will be levied. If the spurious citizen has taken up residence within any Latin Rights or Roman city, town, or municipality, he and his relations will be deprived of residence and will have to return to the place of his ancestors. In that respect only is this a law of expulsion. Those who do not possess the citizenship but who did not falsify their status will not be affected, they may remain where currently domiciled." “What about those who falsified their status on an earlier census than this last one?" asked Scipio Nasica the elder. "They will not be flogged, Publius Cornelius, nor will they be fined. But they will be entered on the list and they will be expelled from any Latin or Roman center of habitation." "What if a man can't pay the fine?" asked Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus Pontifex Maximus. "Then he will be sold into debt bondage to the State of Rome for a period of not less than seven years." Up clambered Gaius Marius. "May I speak, Lucius Licinius?" Crassus Orator threw his hands in the air. "Oh, why not, Gaius Marius? That is, if you can speak without being interrupted by all the world and his uncle!" Drusus watched Marius walk from the place where his stool sat to the center of the floor. His heart, that organ he had thought to have died inside him when his wife died, was beating fast. Herein lay the only chance. Oh, Gaius Marius, little though I like you as a man, Drusus said within himself, say now what I would say, did I only have the right to speak! For if you do not, no one will. No one. "I can see,'' said Marius strongly,'' that this is a carefully planned piece of legislation. As one would expect from two of our finest legal draftsmen. It requires but one more thing to make it watertight, and that is a clause paying a reward to any man who comes forward as an informant. Yes, an admirable piece of legislation! But is it a just law? Ought we not to concern ourselves with that aspect above all others? And, even more to the point, do we genuinely consider ourselves powerful enough, arrogant enough -dim-witted enough! to administer the penalties this law carries? From the tenor of Lucius Licinius's speech not one of his better ones, I add! there are tens of thousands of these alleged false citizens, scattered from the border of Italian Gaul all the way to Bruttium and Calabria. Men who feel themselves entitled to full participation in the internal affairs and governance of Rome otherwise, why run the risk of making a false declaration of citizenship? Everyone in Italy knows what such a declaration involves if it is discovered. The flogging, the disbarment, the fine though usually all three are not levied upon the same man." He turned from the right side of the House to the left side, and continued. "But now, Conscript Fathers, it seems we are to visit the full force of retribution upon each and every one of these tens of thousands of men and their families! We are to flog them. Fine them more than many of them can afford. Put them upon a blacklist. Evict them from their homes if their homes happen to be situated within a Roman or a Latin place." Down the length of the House he walked to the open doors, and turned there to face both sides. "Tens of thousands, Conscript Fathers! Not one or two or three or four men, but tens of thousands! And families of sons, daughters, wives, mothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, all adding up to tens of thousands more. They will have friends even perhaps have friends among those who do legally possess the Roman citizenship or the Latin Rights. Outside the Roman and Latin towns, their own kind will be in the majority. And we, the senators who are chosen by lot, do you think? to man these boards of enquiry, are going to listen to the evidence, follow the guidelines for the inquisition of those brought before us, and follow the letter of the lex Licinia Mucia in sentencing those discovered spurious. I applaud those among us brave enough to do our duty though I, for one, will be pleading another stroke! Or is the lex Licinia Mucia going to provide for armed detachments of militiamen to be in constant attendance upon each and every one of these quaestiones?' He began to walk slowly down the floor, continuing to speak as he did so. "Is it really such a crime? To want to be a Roman? It is not much of an exaggeration to say that we rule all of the world that matters. We are accorded every respect, we are deferred to when we travel abroad even kings back down when we issue orders. The very least man who can call himself a Roman, albeit a member of the Head Count, is better than any other kind of man. Too poor to own a single slave though he may be, he is still and yet a member of the people who rule the world. It endows him with a precious exclusivity no other word than Roman can bestow. Even as he does the menial work his lack of that single slave dictates, still and yet he can say to himself, 'I am a Roman, I am better than the rest of mankind!' " Almost upon the tribunician bench, he turned to face the open doors. "Here within the bounds of Italy, we dwell cheek by jowl with men and women who are racially akin to us, even racially the same in many instances. Men and women who have fed us troops and tribute for four hundred years at least, who participate with us in our wars as paying partners. Oh yes, from time to time some of them have rebelled, or aided our enemies, or spoken out against our policies. But for those crimes they have already been punished! Under Roman law we cannot punish them all over again. Can they be blamed for wanting to be Roman? That is the question. Not why they want to be Roman, nor what prompted this recent onslaught of false declarations. Can they truly be blamed?" "Yes!" shouted Quintus Servilius Caepio. "Yes! They are our inferiors! Our subjects, not our equals!" "Quintus Servilius, you a
re out of order! Sit down and be silent, or leave this meeting!" thundered Crassus Orator. At a pace which enabled him to preserve physical dignity, Gaius Marius rotated to look about him through a full circle, his face deformed further by a bitter grin. "You think you know what I'm going to say, don't you?" he asked the House. Then he laughed aloud. "Gaius Marius the Italian, you are thinking, is going to recommend Rome forget the lex Licinia Mucia, leave those tens of thousands of extra citizens on the rolls." Up flew the brows. "Well, Conscript Fathers, you're wrong! That is not what I advocate. Like you, I do not believe that our suffrage can be demeaned by allowing men to retain registration who lacked the principles to reject illegal enrollment as Romans. What I advocate is that the lex Licinia Mucia proceed with its courts of enquiry as its eminent engineers have outlined but only up to a certain point. Beyond that point we dare not go further! Every false citizen must be struck from our rolls and ejected from our tribes. That and nothing else. Nothing else! For I give you solemn warning, Conscript Fathers, Quirites listening at the doors, that the moment you inflict penalties upon these spurious citizens that consist of defilement of their bodies, their homes, their purses, their future progeny, you will sow a crop of hatred and revenge the like of which will give pause to the dragon's teeth! You will reap death, blood, impoverishment, and a loathing which will last for millennia to come! Do not condone what the Italians have tried to do. But do not punish them for trying to do it!" Oh, well said, Gaius Marius! thought Drusus, and applauded. Some others applauded too. But most did not, and from outside the doors came rumbles indicating that those who heard in the Forum did not agree with so much clemency. Marcus Aemilius Scaurus got up. "May I speak?" "You may, Leader of the House," said Crassus Orator. Though he and Gaius Marius were the same age, Scaurus Princeps Senatus had not retained the same illusion of youth, despite his symmetrical face. The lines which seamed it ate into the flesh, and his hairless dome was anciently wrinkled too. But his beautiful green eyes were young, keen, healthy, sparkling. And formidably intelligent. His much-admired and much-anecdoted sense of humor was not to the fore today, however, even in the creases at the corners of his mouth; today those corners turned right down. He too strolled across the floor to the doors, but then he turned away from the House to face the crowds outside. "Conscript Fathers of the Senate of Rome, I am your leader, duly reappointed by our present censors. I have been your leader since the year of my consulship, exactly twenty years ago. I am a consular who has been censor. I have led armies and concluded treaties with our enemies, and with those who came asking to be our friends. I am a patrician of the gens Aemilia. But more important by far than any of those things, laudable and prestigious though they may be, I am a Roman! "It sits oddly with me to have to agree with Gaius Marius, who called himself an Italian. But let me tell you over again the things he said at the beginning of his address. Is it really such a crime? To want to be a Roman? To want to be a member of the race which rules all of the world that matters? To want to be a member of the race which can issue orders to kings and see those orders obeyed? Like Gaius Marius, I say it is no crime to want to be a Roman. But where we differ is on the emphasis in that statement. It is no crime to want. It is a crime to do. And I cannot permit anyone hearing Gaius Marius to fall into the trap he has laid. This House is not here today to commiserate with those who want what they do not have. This House is not here today to wrestle with ideals, dreams, hungers, aspirations. We are here today to deal with a reality the illegal usurpation of our Roman citizenship by tens of thousands of men who are not Roman, and therefore not entitled to say they are Roman. Whether they want to be Roman is beside the point. The point is that a great crime has been committed by tens of thousands of men, and we who guard our Roman heritage cannot possibly treat that great crime as something minor deserving no more than a metaphorical slap on the wrist." Now he turned to face the House. "Conscript Fathers, I, the Leader of the House, appeal to you as a genuine Roman to enact this law with every ounce of power and authority you can give it! Once and for all this Italian passion to be Roman must cease, be crushed out of existence. The lex Licinia Mucia must contain the harshest penalties ever put upon our tablets! Not only that! I think we should adopt both of Gaius Marius's suggestions, amend this law to contain them. I say that the first amendment must offer a reward for information leading to the exposure of a false Roman four thousand sesterces, ten percent of the fine. That way our Treasury doesn't have to find a farthing it all comes out of the purses of the guilty. And I say that the second amendment must provide a detachment of armed militia to accompany each and every panel of judges as they go about the business of their courts. The money to pay these temporary soldiers can also be found out of the fines levied. It is therefore with great sincerity that I thank Gaius Marius for his suggestions." No one afterward was ever sure whether this was the conclusion of Scaurus's speech, for Publius Rutilius Rufus was on his feet, crying, "Let me speak! I must speak!," and Scaurus was tired enough to sit down, nodding to the Chair. "He's past it, poor old Scaurus," said Lucius Marcius Philippus to his neighbors on either side. "It's not like him to have to seize upon another man's speech to make one of his own." ''I found nothing to quarrel with in it," said his left-hand neighbor, Lucius Sempronius Asellio. "He's past it," Philippus repeated. "Tace, Lucius Marcius!" said Marcus Herennius, his right-hand neighbor. "I'd like to hear Publius Rutilius." "You would!" snarled Philippus, but said no more. Publius Rutilius Rufus made no attempt to stride about the floor of the House; he simply stood beside his little folding stool and spoke. "Conscript Fathers, Quirites listening at the doors, hear me, I implore you!" He shrugged his shoulders, pulled a face. "I have no real confidence in your good sense, so I do not expect to succeed in turning you away from Marcus Aemilius's opinion, which is the opinion of most here today. However, what I say must be said and must be heard to have been said when the future reveals its prudence and rightness. As the future will, I do assure you." He cleared his throat, then shouted, "Gaius Marius is correct! Nothing must be done beyond taking every false citizen off our rolls and out of our tribes. Though I am aware most of you and I think including me! regard the Italian nationals as a distinct cut below true Romans, I hope we all have sufficient judgment left to understand that this by no means makes barbarians out of the Italian nationals. They are sophisticated, their leading men are extremely well educated, and basically they live the same kinds of lives as we Romans do. Therefore they cannot be treated like barbarians! Their treaties with us go back centuries, their collaborations with us go back centuries. They are our close blood kindred, just as Gaius Marius said." "Well, Gaius Marius's close blood kindred, at any rate," drawled Lucius Marcius Philippus. Rutilius Rufus turned to stare at the ex-praetor, speckled brows lifting. "How perceptive of you to make a distinction," he said sweetly, "between close blood kindred and the sort of kinship forged by money! Now if you hadn't made that distinction, you'd have to stick to Gaius Marius like a suckerfish, wouldn't you, Lucius Marcius? Because where money is concerned, Gaius Marius stands closer to you than your own tata does! For I swear that once you begged more money from Gaius Marius than your own tata ever had to give you! If money were like blood, you too would be the object of Italian slurs, am I not right?" The House roared with laughter, clapped and whistled, while Philippus turned a dull red and tried to disappear. Rutilius Rufus returned to the subject. "Let us look at the penal provisions of the lex Licinia Mucia more seriously, I beg you! How can we flog people with whom we must coexist, upon whom we levy soldiers and money? If certain dissolute members of this House can cast aspersions upon other members of this House as to their blood origins, how different are we from the Italians? That is what I am saying, that is what you must consider. It is a bad father brings up his son on a regimen consisting of nothing save daily beatings when that son grows up he loathes his father, he doesn't love or admire him. If we flog our Italian kindred of this peninsula, we will have to coexist with people who loathe us for our cruelty. If we preven
t their attaining our citizenship, we will have to coexist with people who loathe us for our snobbery. If we impoverish them through outrageous fines, we will have to coexist with people who loathe us for our cupidity. If we evict them from their homes, we will have to coexist with people who loathe us for our callousness. How much loathing does that total? More by far, Conscript Fathers, Quirites, than we can afford to incur from people who live in the same lands we do ourselves." "Put them down even further, then," said Catulus Caesar wearily. "Put them down so far they have no feelings whatsoever left. It is what they deserve for stealing the most precious gift Rome can offer." "Quintus Lutatius, try to understand!" pleaded Rutilius Rufus. "They stole because we would not give! When a man steals what he regards as rightly belonging to him, he does not call it stealing. He calls it repossession." "How can he repossess what wasn't his in the first place?" Rutilius Rufus gave up. "All right, I have tried to make you see the foolishness of inflicting truly frightful penalties upon people among whom we live, who flank our roads, form the majority of the populace in the areas where we site our country villas and have our estates, who quite often farm our lands if we are not modern enough to employ slave-labor. I say no more about the consequences to us of punishing the Italians." "Thank all the gods for that!" sighed Scipio Nasica. "I move now to the amendments suggested by our Princeps Senatus not by Gaius Marius!" said Rutilius Rufus, ignoring this remark. "And may I say, Princeps Senatus, that to take another man's irony and turn it into your own literality is not good rhetoric! If you're not more careful, people will begin to say you're past it. However, I understand it must have been difficult to find moving and powerful words to describe something your heart isn't in am I not right, Marcus Aemilius?" Scaurus said nothing, but had flushed a trifle red. "It is not Roman practice to employ paid informers any more than it is Roman practice to employ bodyguards," said Rutilius Rufus. "If we start to do so under the provisions of the lex Licinia Mucia, we will be demonstrating to our Italian co-dwellers that we fear them. We will be demonstrating to our Italian co-dwellers that the lex Licinia Mucia is not intended to punish wrongdoing, but to crush a potential menace none other than our Italian co-dwellers! In an inverted way, we will be demonstrating to our Italian co-dwellers that we think they can swallow us far more effectively than we have ever been able to swallow them! Such stringent measures and such un-Roman tools as paid informers and bodyguards indicate an enormous fear and dread we are displaying weakness, Conscript Fathers, Quirites, not strength! A man who feels truly secure does not walk about escorted by ex-gladiators, nor glance over his shoulder every few paces. A man who feels truly secure does not offer rewards for information about his enemies." "Rubbish!" said Scaurus Princeps Senatus scornfully. "To employ paid informants is plain common sense. It will lighten the Herculean task before these special courts, which will have to wade through tens of thousands of transgressors. Any tool capable of shortening and lightening the process is desirable! As for the armed escorts, they are also plain common sense. They will discourage demonstrations and prevent riots." "Hear, hear! Hear, hear!" came from every part of the House, sprinkled with scattered applause. Rutilius Rufus shrugged. "I can see I'm talking to ears turned to stone what a pity so few of you can read lips! I will conclude then by saying only one more thing. If we employ paid informers, we will let loose a disease upon our beloved homeland that will enervate it for decades to come. A disease of spies, petty, blackmailers, haunting doubts of friends and even relatives for there are some in every community who will do anything for money am I not right, Lucius Marcius Philippus? We will unleash that shabby brigade which slinks about the corridors of the palaces of foreign kings which always appears out of the woodwork whenever fear rules a people, or repressive legislation is enacted. I beg you, do not unleash this shabby brigade! Let us be what we have always been Romans! Emancipated from fear, above the ploys of foreign kings.'' He sat down. "That is all, Lucius Licinius." No one applauded, though there were stirs and whispers, and Gaius Marius was grinning. And that, thought Marcus Livius Drusus as the House wound up its session, was that. Scaurus Princeps Senatus had clearly won, and Rome would be the loser. How could they listen to Rutilius Rufus with ears turned to stone? Gaius Marius and Rutilius Rufus had spoken eminent good sense good sense so clear it was almost blinding. How had Gaius Marius put it? A harvest of death and blood that would give pause to the dragon's teeth. The trouble is, hardly one of them knows an Italian beyond some business deal or uneasy boundary sharing. They don't even have the faintest idea, thought Drusus sadly, that inside each Italian is a seed of hatred and revenge just waiting to germinate. And I would never have known any of this either, had I not met Quintus Poppaedius Silo upon a battlefield. His brother-in-law Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus was seated on the top tier not far away; he threaded a path down to Drusus, put his hand upon Drusus's shoulder. "Will you walk home with me, Marcus Livius?" Drusus looked up from where he still sat, mouth slightly open, eyes dull. "Go on without me, Marcus Porcius," he said. "I'm very tired, I want to collect my thoughts." He waited until the last of the senators were disappearing through the doors, then signed to his servant to pick up his stool and go home ahead of his master. Drusus walked slowly down to the black and white flagging of the floor. As he left the building, the Curia Hostilia slaves were already beginning to sweep the tiers, pick up a few bits of rubbish; when they were done with their cleaning, they would lock the doors against the encroaching hordes of the Subura just up the road, and go back to the public slaves' quarters behind the three State Houses of the major flaminate priests. Head down, Drusus dragged himself through the ranks of the portico columns, wondering how long it would take Silo and Mutilus to hear of today's events, sure in his heart that the lex Licinia Mucia would go complete with Scaurus's amendments through the process from promulgation to ratification in the prescribed minimum time limit of three market days and two intervals; just seventeen days from now, Rome would have a new law upon its tablets, and all hope of a peaceful reconciliation with the Italian Allied nations would be at an end. When he bumped into Gaius Marius, it was entirely unexpected. And literal. Stumbling backward, the apology died on his lips at the look on Marius's fierce face. Behind Marius lurked Publius Rutilius Rufus. "Walk home with your uncle and me, Marcus Livius, and drink a cup of my excellent wine," said Marius. Not with all the accumulated wisdom of his sixty-two years could Marius have predicted Drusus's reaction to this kindly tendered invitation; the taut dark Livian face already starting to display lines crumpled, tears flooded from beneath the eyelids. Pulling his toga over his head to hide this unmanliness, Drusus wept as if his life was over, while Marius and Rutilius Rufus drew close to him and tried to soothe him, mumbling awkwardly, patting him on the back, clucking and shushing. Then Marius had a bright idea, dug in the sinus of his toga, found his handkerchief, and thrust it below the hem of Drusus's impromptu hood. Some time elapsed before Drusus composed himself, let the toga fall, and turned to face his audience. "My wife died yesterday," he said, hiccoughing. "We know, Marcus Livius," said Marius gently. "I thought I was all right! But this today is too much. I'm sorry I made such an exhibition of myself." "What you need is a long draft of the best Falernian," said Marius, leading the way down the steps. And indeed, a long draft of the best Falernian did much to restore Drusus to some semblance of normality. Marius had drawn an extra chair up to his desk, at which the three men sat, the wine flagon and the water pitcher handy. "Well, we tried," said Rutilius Rufus, sighing. "We may as well not have bothered," rumbled Marius. "I disagree, Gaius Marius," said Drusus. "The meeting was recorded word for word. I saw Quintus Mucius issue the instructions, and the clerks scribbled as busily while you two were talking as they did while Scaurus and Crassus Orator talked. So at some time in the future, when events have shown who is right and who is wrong, someone will read what you said, and posterity will not consider all Romans to be arrogant fools." "I suppose that's some consolation, though I would rather have seen everyone turn away from th
e last clauses of the lex Licinia Mucia," said Rutilius Rufus. "The trouble is, they all live among Italians but they know nothing about Italians!" "Quite so," said Drusus dryly. He put his cup down on the desk and allowed Marius to refill it. "There will be war," he said. "No, not war!" said Rutilius Rufus quickly. "Yes, war. Unless I or someone else can succeed in blocking the ongoing work of the lex Licinia Mucia, and gain universal suffrage for all Italy." Drusus sipped his wine. "On the body of my dead wife," he said, eyes filling with tears he resolutely blinked away, "I swear that I had nothing to do with the false registration of these Italian citizens. But it was done, and I no sooner heard about it than I knew who was responsible. The high leaders of all the Italian nations, not merely my friend Silo and his friend Mutilus. I don't think for one moment that they truly thought they could get away with it. I think it was done in an effort to make Rome see how desperately universal suffrage is needed in Italy. For I tell you, nothing short of it can possibly avoid war!" "They don't have the organization to make war," said Marius. "You might be unpleasantly surprised," said Drusus. "If I am to believe Silo's chance remarks and I think I must they have been talking war for some years. Certainly since Arausio. I have no evidence, simply knowledge of what sort of man Quintus Poppaedius Silo is. But knowing what sort of man he is, I think they are already physically preparing for war. The male children are growing up and they're training them as soon as they reach seventeen. Why should they not? Who can accuse them of anything beyond wanting to be sure their young men are ready against the day Rome wants them? Who can argue with them if they insist the arms and equipment they're gathering are being gathered against the day Rome demands legions of auxiliaries from them?" Marius leaned his elbows on the desk and grunted. “Very true, Marcus Livius. I hope you're wrong. Because it's one thing to fight barbarians or foreigners with Roman legions but if we have to fight the Italians, we're fighting men who are as warlike and Romanly trained as we are ourselves. The Italians would be our most formidable enemies, as they have been in the distant past. Look at how often the Samnites used to beat us! We won in the end but Samnium is only a part of Italy! A war against a united Italy may well kill us." "So I think," said Drusus. "Then we had better start lobbying in earnest for peaceful integration of the Italians within the Roman fold,” said Rutilius Rufus with decision. "If that's what they want, then that's what they must have. I've never been a wholehearted advocate of universal enfranchisement for Italy, but I am a sensible man. As a Roman I may not approve. But as a patriot I must approve. A civil war would ruin us." "You're absolutely sure of what you say?" asked Marius of Drusus, his voice somber. "I am absolutely sure, Gaius Marius." "I think, then, that you should journey to see Quintus Silo and Gaius Mutilus as soon as possible," said Marius, forming ideas aloud. "Try to persuade them and through them, the other Italian leaders that in spite of the lex Licinia Mucia, the door to a general citizenship is not irrevocably closed. If they're already preparing for war, you won't be able to dissuade them from continuing preparations. But you may be able to convince them that war is so horrific a last resort that they would do well to wait. And wait. And wait. In the meantime, we must demonstrate in the Senate and the Comitia that a group of us is determined to see enfranchisement for Italy. And sooner or later, Marcus Livius, we will have to find a tribune of the plebs willing to put his life on the line and legislate to make all Italy Roman." "I will be that tribune of the plebs," said Drusus firmly. "Good! Good! No one will be able to accuse you of being a demagogue, or of wooing the Third and Fourth Classes. You will be well above the usual age for a tribune of the plebs, therefore will present as someone mature, responsible. You are the son of a most conservative censor, and the only liberal tendency you have is your well-known sympathy for the Italians," said Marius, pleased. "But not yet," said Rutilius Rufus strongly. "We must wait, Gaius Marius! We must lobby, we must secure support in every sector of the Roman community first and that is going to take several years. I don't know whether you noticed it, but the crowds outside the Curia Hostilia today proved to me what I have always suspected that opposition to Italian enfranchisement is not limited to the top. It's one of those odd issues where Rome is united from the top all the way down to the capite censi Head Count and where, unless I'm mistaken, the Latin Rights citizens are also on Rome's side." "Exclusivity," said Marius, nodding. "Everyone likes being better than the Italians. I think it's very possible that this sense of superiority is more entrenched among the lower Classes than it is among the elite. We'll have to enlist Lucius Decumius." "Lucius Decumius?" asked Drusus, knitting his brows. "A very low fellow I am acquainted with," said Marius, grinning. "However, he has a great deal of clout in his low way. And as he is utterly devoted to my sister-in-law Aurelia, I shall endeavor to enlist her so she in turn can enlist him." Drusus's frown grew darker. "I doubt you'll have much luck with Aurelia," he said. "Didn't you see her older brother, Lucius Aurelius Cotta, up there on the praetors' part of the platform? He was cheering and clapping with the rest. And so was his uncle, Marcus Aurelius Cotta." "Rest easy, Marcus Livius, she's not nearly as hidebound as her male relatives," said Rutilius Rufus, looking besotted. "That young woman has a mind of her own, and she's tied by marriage to the most unorthodox and radical branch of the Julii Caesares. We will enlist Aurelia, never fear. And, through her, we will also enlist Lucius Decumius." There was a light knock on. the door; Julia floated in, surrounded by the gauziest of linen draperies, purchased on Cos. Like Marius, she looked splendidly brown and fit. "Marcus Livius, my dear fellow," she said, coming to slip her arms about him as she stood behind his chair and leaned her head down to kiss his cheek. "I shan't unman you by being too maudlin, I just want you to know how very sorry I am, and to tell you that there is always a warm welcome for you here." And, so soothing was her presence, so strong her radiated sympathy, that Drusus found himself exquisitely comforted, and felt revived rather than cast down by her condolences. He reached up to take her hand, and kissed it. "I thank you, Julia." She sat in the chair Rutilius Rufus brought for her and accepted a cup of lightly watered wine, absolutely sure of her welcome in this male group, though it must have been obvious to her as she came in that the discussion had been deep and serious. "The lex Licinia Mucia," she said. "Quite right, mel," said Marius, gazing at her adoringly, more in love with her now than he had been when he married her. "However, we've gone as far as we can at the moment. Though I shall need you. I'll talk to you about that later on." "I shall do whatever I can," she said, clasped Drusus on the forearm and shook it, beginning to laugh. "You, Marcus Livius, indirectly broke up our holiday!" "How could I possibly have done that?" asked Drusus, smiling. "Blame me," said Rutilius Rufus with a wicked chuckle. "I do!" said Julia, darting a fierce look at him. "Your uncle, Marcus Livius, wrote to us in Halicarnassus last January and told us that his niece had just been divorced for adultery, having given birth to a red-haired son!" "It's all true," said Drusus, his smile growing. "Yes, but the trouble is, he has another niece Aurelia! And, though you may not know it, there was a little gossip in the family about her friendship with a certain red-haired man who is now serving as senior legate to Titus Didius in Nearer Spain. So when we read your uncle's cryptic comment, my husband assumed he was talking about Aurelia. And I insisted on coming home because I would have offered my life as a bet that Aurelia would not involve herself with Lucius Cornelius Sulla beyond simple friendship. When we got here, I learned that we had been worried about the wrong niece! Publius Rutilius tricked us brilliantly." She laughed again. "I was missing you," said Rutilius Rufus impenitently. "Families," said Drusus, "can be a dreadful nuisance. But I must admit that Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus is a more likable man by far than Quintus Servilius Caepio. And Livia Drusa is happy." "Then all's well," said Julia. "Yes," said Drusus. "All is well."