by Allan Massie
Caesar
Published: 1999
Tags: Historical Novel
Historical Novelttt
* * *
SUMMARY:
Julius Caesar's career, recounted by a Roman general awaiting death for treason. The narrator, one of the conspirators who killed Caesar, attempts to justify the murder on grounds that Caesar was a megalomaniac, with ambitions of being a god. By the author of Augustus.
CAESAR
ALLAN MASSIE
Hodder & Stoughton
LONDON SYDNEY AUCKLAND
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Massie, Allan Caesar I. Title 823.914 [F]
ISBN O-34O-48789-5
Copyright © Allan Massie 1993
First published in Great Britain 1993
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without either prior permission in writing from the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying. In the United Kingdom such licences are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE. The right of Allan Massie to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published by Hodder and Stoughton, a division of Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, Mill Road, Dunton Green, Sevenoaks, Kent TN 13 2.YA. Editorial Office: 47 Bedford Square, London WCIB 3DP.
Photoset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Printed in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn
First, for Alison, as ever, then, for Giles Gordon.
CHRONOLOGY
BC
100 Birth of Caesar.
81 Dictatorship of Sulla.
80 Military service in Asia. Alleged affair with King
Nicomedes IV of Bithynia.
67—66 Forms alliance with Pompey and Crassus.
63 Pontifex Maximus. Consulship of Cicero. Conspiracy
of Catiline.
60 First Triumvirate of Pompey, Crassus and Caesar.
59 Caesar's first consulship. Marriage to Calpurnia,
daughter of L. Calpurnius Piso.
58 Proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, Illyricum and, finally,
Transalpine Gaul. Campaigns against the Helvetii and
Ariovistus.
57 Campaign against the Belgae (Nervii).
56 Further campaigns in Brittany and Normandy. Renewal
of First Triumvirate. Campaign against Veneti.
55 Proconsulship renewed for five years. Crossing of
Rhine. First invasion of Britain.
54 Second invasion of Britain.
53 Second crossing of Rhine. Crassus defeated and killed by Parthians at Carrhae.
52 Revolt of Vercingetorix defeated at Alesia. Disturbances in Rome. Clodius murdered and Pompey elected sole consul.
51 Siege of Uxellodunum. End of Gallic War, and publiccation of Caesar's Commentaries. His Optimate opponents attempt to get him recalled to Rome.
50 Continued efforts by Caesar's enemies to bring him to
trial.
49 Caesar ordered to dismiss his army. Pompey granted the authority of a dictator. Civil war begins in January with crossing of Rubicon. Pompeian forces surrender in Spain. Caesar elected dictator.
48 Second consulship. Pompey defeats Caesar at
Dyrrhachium but is defeated at Pharsalus and murderedin Egypt. Caesar occupies Alexandria.
47 Alexandrian War ends. Caesar defeats Pharnaces at Zela in Asia Minor.
46 Third consulship. Appointed dictator for ten years.
Defeats Pompeians in Africa. Publication of Cicero's
Cato and Caesar's Anti-Cato.
45 Pompeian army defeated at Battle of Munda. End of civil war. Fourth consulship.
44 Becomes Perpetual Dictator and is elected to fifth consulship. Attempts to crown Caesar as King in February. Preparations for Parthian campaign. Caesar murdered
in March.
LIST OF PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
(GAIUS) JULIUS CAESAR
Roman general, statesman and historian; Perpetual Dictator after his defeat of Pompey
His family and their relation to him:
CALPURNIA fourth wife, daughter of Lucius Calpurnius Piso, ally of Pompey -
JULIA JULIA
GAIUS OCTAVIUS THURINUS
daughter, fourth wife of Pompey sister, mother of Octavius
nephew and adoptive son, the future Augustus
His circle:
DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS
LONGINA
GAIUS LONGINUS CASSIUS
MARCUS JUNIUS BRUTUS
Roman general and admiral; Caesar's closest friend and adviser, but also one of his assassins
Decimus Brutus' wife, daughter of
Roman general and praetor; a Pompeian who joined Caesar after the Battle of Pharsalus, but led the plot to assassinate him; brother-in-law of
cousin of Decimus Brutus and nephew of Caesar's enemy, Marcus Porcius Cato, whose daughter he marries; a supporter of Pompey who changed sides after Pharsalus, he was made Governor of Cisalpine Gaul and reluctantly drawn into the assassination plot
SERVILIA
Marcus Brutus' mother, half-sister of Cato, most favoured of Caesar's mistresses
PORCIA Marcus Brutus' second wife, daughter of Marcus Cato and an accomplice in the assassination conspiracy
YOUNG CATO Porcia's brother and one of Caesar's assassins
PUBLIUS SERVILIUS CASCA cousin of Decimus Brutus, a tribune and loyal Caesarean although among Caesar's assassins
LUCIUS CORNELIUS
CINNA married to Pompey's daughter and one of Caesar's assassins
METELLUS CIMBER civil war hero, the banishment of whose brother, Lucius Tillius Cimber, plays a significant part in the assassination of Caesar
GAIUS TREBONIUS politician and tribune, who distinguishes himself in the Battle of Alesia; one of Caesar's assassins
MARCUS ANTONIUS (MARK ANTONY) Roman general and consul, member of the Second Triumvirate
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO consul, orator and writer
GNAEUS CALPURNIUS PISO son of L. Calpurnius Piso (brother-in-law of Caesar), a consul and later Governor of Syria
His rivals:
SEXTUS POMPEIANUS (POMPEY) Roman general and statesman, known as 'the Great One'; fellow Triumvir and later enemy during the civil war; murdered in Egypt
GNAEUS AND SEXTUS POMPEIANUS Pompey's sons, and successors as leaders of his party
MARCUS LICINIUS CRASSUS Roman general, millionaire, fellow Triumvir and later rival, defeated and killed in Parthia
TITUS ATIUS LABIENUS formerly Caesar's most trusted Roman general, later his enemy during the civil war, killed in the Battle of Munda
MARCUS PORCIUS CATO Roman statesman, general and Stoic philosopher; half-brother of Servilia, whom he idolised, and arch-enemy of Caesar
Others:
CLEOPATRA daughter of King Ptolemy XII, who became Queen of Egypt on the death of her young husband-brother, Ptolemy XIII
THEODOTUS Greek scholar and adviser to King Ptolemy XIV, formerly his tutor
PUBLIUS CLODIUS PULCHER aristocratic gang-leader and tribune, friend of Decimus Brutus, murdered by Pompey
CLODIA CAELIUS RUFUS Clodius' notorious sister and lover rejected lover of Clodia, against whom she brings a lawsuit, in the defence of which Cicero destroys her reputation
GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS Roman lyric poet, also a friend of Decimus Brutus, whose heart is broken by Clodia
QUINTUS LIGARIUS successfully defended by Cicero when prosecuted for bearing arms against Caesar, and one of his assa
ssins
MARCUS AEMILIUS –LEPIDUS Caesar's principal deputy, Master of the Horse, and member of Second Triumvirate; married to a daughter of Caesar's mistress, Servilia
GAIUS CILNIUS MAECENAS Roman statesman and patron of Horace and Virgil; Octavius' closest friend and, later, adviser
MARCUS VIPSANIUS AGRIPPA friend and confidant of Octavius, later his greatest general
PUBLIUS CORNELIUS DOLABELLA tribune and consul, married to Cicero's daughter, Tullia
C. SCRIBONIUS CURIO a tribune and Caesar's agent, friend of Decimus Brutus, killed by King Juba in N. Africa
VERCINGETORIX Gallic chieftain and hero, captured by Caesar after the Battle of Alesia and later murdered
ARTIXES guard and companion of Decimus Brutus; the son of his captor, a cousin of Vercingetorix
AULUS GABINIUS legate and Pompey's henchman who became Governor of Syria
APPIUS CLAUDIUS PULCHER the son of Caesar's enemy and, briefly, the lover of Decimus Brutus' wife, Longina
SER SULPICIUS GALBA LUCIUS
MINUCIUS BASILUS conspirators in the plot to assassinate Caesar because of the grudges they bore against him
DIOSIPPUS AND
NICANDER Greek catamites and lovers of Casca.
CHAPTER 1
The river was no wider than a horse could leap. Beyond, on the farther bank, shepherds, angular figures wearing sheepskin cloaks, were gathering their flocks. Evening mist hid the sheep themselves from view; only the upper parts of the shepherds could be seen as the vapour rose from the marshy ground. It was cold. Rain began to fall. I turned away, and, my right knee throbbing - a legacy of our last campaign - hobbled the mile back to camp.
Casca was in his tent, drinking wine heated with nutmeg and cinnamon. He had removed his armour and stood by the table, slack-bellied in his tunic.
"Nothing to see. Nothing to report." "Of course there isn't. Everything is arranged," he said. "I wish I could be as confident. He's made mistakes before now, bad ones. Labienus used to say that 'impetuosity' was the General's greatest defect."
"Yes, and if he'd not been there to restrain him, we'd have been in the soup. Spare me the tune, old fruit. Well, old Lab isn't here now, and good riddance to him."
Labienus, the most experienced of the General's lieutenants, his companion since the first days of the Gallic War, disliked Casca, despised him even, deploring his predilection for boys and wine. Fair enough, if your chosen refrain was 'ancient Roman virtue'. But Casca was my cousin and my closest friend. I knew his weaknesses better than Labienus could, his strengths also. For all his self-indulgence and affectations, he had nerve. His soldiers adored him, finding amusement in the constant presence of Diosippus and Nicander, Greek catamites, scented curly headed effeminates, whom Casca professed to adore. This was nonsense. Casca cared for nobody but himself, with the possible exception of his fat old mother. We were friends, but he would have slit my throat if policy or his own interest required him to do so.
"I left Himself at table. He was pretending to drink deep, and flirting with the child-wife of some Ravenna cit. Rather a juicy piece, certainly a sweeter armful than Calpurnia. But she'll be disappointed, poor slut."
"Yes," I said, "orders are out. He has also issued a declaration that his intentions are honourable and his cause just."
"Spare me the Ciceronian balls. When we fight it will be for Caesar's career and Caesar's skin. And our own. If I can kill a few of my creditors, Rome will be a sweeter place. Do you know what my debts come to? Neither do I, I'm happy to say, though my mother wrote to me on the subject only last week. Not that there will be much action tomorrow. Crossing that ditch which for some reason you thought it necessary to inspect will be merely symbolic. He's already sent a detachment of troops to occupy Rimini. And Antony and Curio arrived there yesterday, having fled Rome disguised as slaves. I should have liked to have seen the gorgeous Antony in that part."
He blew a kiss.
"I suppose he's been waiting for them," I said. "I suppose that's been the cause of the delay."
"You suppose wrong as usual, cousin. The reason has been policy in part, to make the opposition commit itself so publicly to his destruction and disgrace that he can argue he has been forced to move in self-defence."
"And hasn't he?"
"Hasn't he? Perhaps he has. Who can tell, with Caesar, at what moment the play-actor removes his mask? But he has delayed also because he knows that this is the decisive moment of his career. He is a gambler who has staked all. There's no turning back. It's the first step that counts. Now he's got the dice in the box. 'Let them fly high,' he muttered to me this evening."
"Are you nervous?" I said. "They tell me Caesar dreamed last night that he lay with his mother." "Caesar the dreamer," Casca said. "Is there news of Pompey?"
Casca laughed. He thought the great General a great booby, an old woman, and laughed again when I reminded him that some old women like his own mother were very tough. Pompey had boasted that he had only to stamp his foot on the soil of Italy, and legions would spring from the ground. That report, some weeks back, had disturbed Caesar, till Casca said:
"We must cut the ground from under his feet, so that he stamps only the air."
"Are the omens favourable?"
"The omens, my dear, are favourable, as Caesar has commanded."
I retired to my own tent, and lay on my camp-bed, anxious. I knew myself incapable of my cousin's levity. Casca had played the part of the ruined man so long that he knew no other, was incapable of seriousness. My position was different. I was younger in spirit, had much to lose, was justified in dreading the future. In any case, civil war is terrible. For all I knew Pompey could make his boast good.
Night crept on. I was reluctant to extinguish the lamp. My grandfather's stories of the great proscriptions in the wars between Marius and Sulla came between me and sleep. What had Caesar's dream portended? The implication was evident, disturbing, inauspicious. If Rome was his mother, to lie with her was incest. I had nursed the broken head of my friend Clodius, murdered by a gang hired by Pompey. Cicero defended the murderer with his usual dishonest rhetoric. I was at one with Casca in my contempt for the great orator, the self-styled saviour of the city from Catiline, my mother's cousin, and perhaps lover.
I do not think I slept.
Before dawn, there was more than night movement - the ring of harness, the neighing of horses, the stamp of sentries, the susurration of a thousand legionaries. And then, far away, I heard the music, a thin and dancing pipe. I scrambled to my feet, and into my clothes, buckling on armour and seizing my sword. The mist was dense and clinging-wet, but the music drew me towards the river. Others pushed past me, hurrying towards it, soldiers moving in unaccustomed fashion, without orders or method. But for their eagerness, the sense of anticipation which enveloped us, you might have thought they were running away.
A splash told me we were approaching the bank. A horseman brushed past, the jolt of his horse causing me to stumble. But a path opened behind him, and then there was light. It came, like the music, from the further bank, a shaft of light, unnatural, unearthly. My chest heaved. I looked along that tunnel of light, and though I was gazing straight at it, was not blinded.
The piper sat on the far bank of the Rubicon, in Italy.
The music silenced the soldiers. They held back. A centurion near me shouted an order to advance into the stream. No one obeyed. The music floated towards us, and the mist swirled round the piper. Then a legionary cried: "It's the god Pan," and his shout was taken up, echoing along the wavering line, "Pan, Pan, Pan." The young man who had first cried the name threw himself on the ground. Others imitated his action. I kept my gaze on the piper who, without seeming to move, retired, fading into invisibility even as I tried to hold him in view. The music died away with him. There was a long grey silence. Shamefaced on account of their momentary terror, yet strangely exultant, the men scrambled to their feet, advanced on the stream, and crossed over into Italy.
"Some trick of the General's. You can count on that," Casca said. But was it? I have never known. When the incident was mentioned to Caesar, he smiled in that evasive, self-deprecating manner he had, that told you nothing, and yet hinted an enormity.
I remember that dinner in Rimini. Word had come to us that garrisons in the little towns nearby had surrendered, coming over to Caesar with protestations of loyalty. Caesar gathered his staff around him.
"This is not a time for feasting," he said, "but nevertheless I raise my cup of wine in token of my gratitude for your support, and to bear witness to my determination to succeed. We have taken an irrevocable step. When we crossed that stream this morning, we broke the laws of the Republic. You all know why I have done so. My enemies were determined to destroy me. I have acted in defence of my dignity, dearer to me than life itself. But do not allow yourselves to be deceived into thinking that this is a mere personal quarrel. I know indeed that you do not believe that. But I am also aware that in the weeks to come strenuous efforts will be made by friends, relatives and associates to persuade you that it is only that, and therefore unworthy of your support. So let me assert that I stand also in defence of the constitutional rights of the tribunes, and the liberties of the Roman people which my adversaries would subvert. Let me remind you that I offered to lay down my arms if Pompey would do the same. Let me remind you that I offered to surrender all my commands save Cisalpine Gaul and a single legion. Let me remind you that force was used against the tribunes who legitimately cast their veto against the Senate's decree that would have compelled me to disband my army without receiving any assurances of my personal safety. I did not seek this war. It was forced on me by my enemies. They wanted it, not I. I am only glad that it has provided me with the opportunity to number my friends. You here are chief among them, and I thank you with all my heart for your loyalty and courage. Our position is perilous, but we have known danger before. I trust in audacity, and in the justice of my cause."
