Caesar's Women

by Colleen McCullough

  Time then to dicker with Rome.

  Thus it was that at the beginning of February in the year of Caesar's consulship, a deputation of one hundred Alexandrian citizens came to Rome to petition the Senate to confirm the King of Egypt's tenure of the throne.

  The petition was duly presented during February, but an answer was not forthcoming. Frustrated and miserable, the deputation—under orders from Auletes to do whatever was necessary, and stay as long as might be needed— settled down to the grinding task of interviewing dozens of senators and trying to persuade them to help rather than hinder. Naturally the only thing the senators were interested in was money. If enough of it changed hands, enough votes might be secured.

  The leader of the deputation was one Aristarchus, who was also the King's chancellor and leader of the current palace cabal. Egypt was so riddled with bureaucracy that she had been enervated by it for two or three thousand years; it was a habit the new Macedonian aristocracy imported by the first Ptolemy had not been able to break. Instead, the bureaucracy stratified itself in new ways, with the Macedonian stock at the top, those of mixed Egyptian and Macedonian blood in the middle, and the native Egyptians (save for the priests) at the bottom. Further complicated by the fact that the army was Jewish. A wily and subtle man, Aristarchus was the direct descendant of one of the more famous librarians at the Alexandrian Museum, and had been a senior civil servant for long enough to understand how Egypt worked. Since it was no part of the aims of the Egyptian priests to have the country end up being owned by Rome, he had managed to persuade them to augment that portion of Auletes's income left over from paying to run Egypt, so he had vast resources at his fingertips. Vaster, indeed, than he had given Auletes to understand.

  By the time he had been in Rome for a month he divined that seeking votes among the pedarii and senators who would never rise higher than praetor was not the way to get Auletes his decree. He needed some of the consulars—but not the boni. He needed Marcus Crassus, Pompey the Great and Gaius Caesar. But as he arrived at this decision before the existence of the triumvirate was generally known, he failed to go to the right man among those three. He chose Pompey, who was so wealthy he didn't need a few thousand talents of Egyptian gold. So Pompey had simply listened with no expression on his face, and concluded the interview with a vague promise that he would think about it.

  Approaching Crassus was not likely to do any good, even if Crassus's attraction to gold was fabled. It was Crassus who had wanted to annex, and as far as Aristarchus knew he might still want to annex. Which left Gaius Caesar. Whom the Alexandrian decided to approach in the midst of the turmoil over the second agrarian law, and just before Julia married Pompey.

  Caesar was well aware that a Vatinian law passed by the Plebs could endow him with a province, but could not grant him funds to meet any of his expenses. The Senate would dole him out a stipend reduced to bare bones in retaliation for going to the Plebs, and make sure that it was delayed in the Treasury for as long as possible. Not what Caesar wanted at all. Italian Gaul owned a garrison of two legions, and two legions were not enough to do what Caesar fully intended to do. He needed four at least, each up to full strength and properly equipped. But that cost money—money he would never get from the Senate, especially as he couldn't plead a defensive war. Caesar intended to be the aggressor, and that was not Roman or senatorial policy. It was delightful to have fresh provinces incorporated into the empire, but it could happen only as the result of a defensive war like the one Pompey had fought in the East against the kings.

  He had known whereabouts the money to equip his legions was going to come from as soon as the Alexandrian delegation arrived in Rome, but he bided his time. And made his plans, which included the Gadetanian banker Balbus, fully in his confidence.

  When Aristarchus came to see him at the beginning of May, he received the man with great courtesy in the Domus Publica, and conducted him through the more public parts of the building before settling him in the study. Of course Aristarchus admired, but it was not difficult to see that the Domus Publica did not impress the chancellor of Egypt. Small, dark and mundane: the reaction was written all over him despite his charm. Caesar was interested.

  "I can be as obtuse and roundabout as you wish," he said to Aristarchus, “but I imagine that after being in Rome for three months without accomplishing anything, you might appreciate a more direct approach."

  "It is true that I would like to return to Alexandria as soon as possible, Gaius Caesar," said the obviously pure Macedonian Aristarchus, who was fair and blue-eyed. “However, I cannot leave Rome without bearing positive news for the King."

  "Positive news you can have if you agree to my terms," Caesar said crisply. "Would senatorial confirmation of the King's tenure of his throne plus a decree making him Friend and Ally of the Roman People be satisfactory?''

  "I had hoped for no more than the first," said Aristarchus, bracing himself. "To have King Ptolemy Philopator Philadelphus made a Friend and Ally as well is beyond my wildest dreams."

  "Then expand the horizon of your dreams a little, Aristarchus! It can be done:"

  "At a price."

  "Of course."

  "What is the price, Gaius Caesar?"

  "For the first decree confirming tenure of the throne, six thousand gold talents, two thirds of which must be paid before the decree is procured, and the final third one year from now. For the Friend and Ally decree, a further two thousand gold talents payable in a lump sum beforehand," said Caesar, eyes bright and piercing. "The offer is not negotiable. Take it or leave it."

  "You have aspirations to be the richest man in Rome," said Aristarchus, curiously disappointed; he had not read Caesar as a leech.

  "On six thousand talents?" Caesar laughed. "Believe me, chancellor, they wouldn't make me the richest man in Rome! No, some of it will have to go to my friends and allies, Marcus Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. I can obtain the decrees, but not without their support. And one doesn't expect favors from Romans extended to foreigners without hefty recompense. What I do with my share is my business, but I will tell you that I have no desire to settle down in Rome and live the life of Lucullus."

  "Will the decrees be watertight?"

  "Oh, yes. I'll draft them myself."

  "The total price then is eight thousand gold talents, six thousand of which must be paid in advance, two thousand a year from now," said Aristarchus, shrugging. "Very well then, Gaius Caesar, so be it. I agree to your price."

  "All the money is to be paid directly to the bank of Lucius Cornelius Balbus in Gades, in his name," Caesar said, lifting one brow. "He will distribute it in ways I would prefer to keep to myself. I must protect myself, you understand, so no moneys will be paid in my name, or the names of my colleagues."

  "I understand."

  "Very well then, Aristarchus. When Balbus informs me that the transaction is complete, you will have your decrees, and King Ptolemy can forget at last that the previous King of Egypt ever made a will leaving Egypt to Rome."

  "Ye gods!" said Crassus when Caesar informed him of these events some days later. "How much do I get?"

  "A thousand talents."

  "Silver, or gold?"

  "Gold."

  “And Magnus?''

  "The same."

  "Leaving four for you, and two more to come next year?"

  Caesar threw back his head and laughed. "Abandon all hope of the two thousand payable next year, Marcus! Once Aristarchus gets back to Alexandria, that's the end of it. How can we collect without going to war? No, I thought six thousand was a fair price for Auletes to pay for security, and Aristarchus knows it."

  "Four thousand gold talents will equip ten legions."

  "Especially with Balbus doing the equipping. I intend to make him my praefectus fabrum again. As soon as word comes from Gades that the Egyptian money has been deposited there, he'll start for Italian Gaul. Both Lucius Piso and Marcus Crassus—not to mention poor Brutus—will suddenly be earning money from arm
aments."

  "But ten legions, Gaius?"

  "No, no, only two extra to begin with. I'll invest the bulk of the money. This will be a self-funding exercise from start to finish, Marcus. It has to be. He who controls the purse strings controls the enterprise. My time has come, and do you think for one moment that anyone other than I will control this enterprise? The Senate?"

  Caesar got to his feet and lifted his arms toward the ceiling, fists clenched; Crassus suddenly saw how thick the muscles were in those deceptively slender limbs, and felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. The power in the man!

  "The Senate is a nothing! The boni are nothing! Pompeius Magnus is nothing! I am going to go as far as I have to go to become the First Man in Rome for as long as I live! And after I die, I will be called the greatest Roman who ever lived! Nothing and no one will stop me! I swear it by my ancestors, all the way back to Goddess Venus!"

  The arms came down, the fire and the power died. Caesar sat in his chair and looked at his old friend ruefully. "Oh, Marcus," he said, "all I have to do is get through the rest of this year!"

  His mouth was dry. Crassus swallowed. "You will," he said.

  Publius Vatinius convoked the Plebeian Assembly and announced to the Plebs that he would legislate to remove the slur of being a surveyor from Gaius Julius Caesar.

  "Why are we wasting a man like Gaius Caesar on a job which might be suited to the talents of our stargazer Bibulus, but is infinitely beneath a governor and general of Gaius Caesar's caliber? He showed us in Spain what he can do, but that is minute. I want to see him given the chance to sink his teeth into a task worthy of his metal! There's more to governing than making war, and more to generaling than sitting in a command tent. Italian Gaul has not received a decent governor in a decade and more, with the result that the Delmatae, the Liburni, the Iapudes and all the other tribes of Illyricum have made eastern Italian Gaul a very dangerous place for Romans to live in. Not to mention that the administration of Italian Gaul is a disgrace. The assizes are not held on time if they're held at all, and the Latin Rights colonies across the Padus are foundering.

  "I am asking you to give Gaius Caesar the province of Italian Gaul together with Illyricum as of the moment this bill becomes ratified!" cried Vatinius, shrunken legs hidden by his toga, face so ruddy that the tumor on his forehead disappeared. “I further ask that Gaius Caesar be confirmed by this body as proconsul in Italian Gaul and Illyricum until March five years hence! And that the Senate be stripped of any authority to alter one single disposition we make in this Assembly! The Senate has abrogated its right to dole out proconsular provinces because it can find no better job for a man like Gaius Caesar than to survey Italia's traveling livestock routes! Let the stargazer survey mounds of manure, but let Gaius Caesar survey a better prospect!"

  Vatinius's bill had gone before the Plebs and it stayed with the Plebs, contio after contio; Pompey spoke in favor, Crassus spoke in favor, Lucius Cotta spoke in favor—and Lucius Piso spoke in favor.

  "I can't manage to persuade one of our craven tribunes to interpose a veto," said Cato to Bibulus, trembling with anger. "Not even Metellus Scipio, do you believe that? All they answer is that they like living! Like living! Oh, if only I was still a tribune of the plebs! I'd show them!"

  "And you'd be dead, Marcus. The people want it, why I don't know. Except that I think he's their long-odds bet. Pompeius was a proven quantity. Caesar is a gamble. The knights think he's lucky, the superstitious lot!"

  "The worst of it is that you're still stuck with the traveling stock routes. Vatinius was very careful to point out that one of you would be doing that necessary job."

  "And I will do it," Bibulus said loftily.

  "We have to stop him somehow! Is Vettius progressing?"

  Bibulus sighed. "Not as well as I'd hoped. I wish you were more of a natural schemer, Cato, but you aren't. It was a good idea, but Vettius isn't the most promising material to work with."

  "I'll talk to him tomorrow."

  "No, don't!" cried Bibulus, alarmed. "Leave him to me."

  "Pompeius is to speak in the House, I note. Advocating that the House give Caesar everything he wants. Pah!"

  "He won't get the extra legion he wants, so much is sure."

  "Why do I think he will?"

  Bibulus smiled sourly. "Caesar's luck?" he asked.

  "Yes, I don't like that attitude. It makes him look blessed."

  Pompey did speak in favor of Vatinius's bills to give Caesar a magnificent proconsular command, but only to increase the endowment.

  "It has been drawn to my attention," said the Great Man to the senators, "that due to the death of our esteemed consular Quintus Metellus Celer, the province of Gaul-across-the-Alps has not been given a new governor. Gaius Pomptinus continues to hold it in this body's name, apparently to the satisfaction of this body, though not with the approval of Gaius Caesar, or me, or any other proven commander of troops. It pleased you to award a thanksgiving to Pomptinus over our protests, but I say to you now that Pomptinus is not competent to govern Further Gaul. Gaius Caesar is a man of enormous energy and efficiency, as his governorship of Further Spain showed you. What would be a task too big for most men is not big enough for him, any more than it would be for me. I move that this House award Gaius Caesar the governorship of the further Gallic province as well as the nearer, together with its legion. There are many advantages. One governor for these two provinces will be able to move his troops around as they are needed, without his being obliged to distinguish between forces in the two provinces. For three years Further Gaul has been in a state of unrest, and one legion to control those turbulent tribes is ridiculous. But by combining the two provinces under the one governor, Rome will be spared the cost of more legions."

  Cato's hand was waving; Caesar, in the chair, smiled broadly and acknowledged him. "Marcus Porcius Cato, you have the floor."

  "Is that how confident you are, Caesar?" roared Cato. "That you think you can invite me to speak with impunity? Well, it may be so, but at least my protest against this carving up of an empire will go down on our permanent record! How loyally and splendidly the new son-in-law speaks up for his new father-in-law! Is this what Rome has been reduced to, the buying and selling of daughters? Is this how we are to align ourselves politically, by buying or selling a daughter? The father-in-law in this infamous alliance has already used his minion with the wen to secure for himself a proconsulship I and the rest of Rome's true patriots strove with might and main to deny him! Now the son-in-law wants to contribute another province to tata! One man, one province! That is what the mos maiorum says. Conscript Fathers, don't you see the danger? Don't you understand that if you accede to Pompeius's request, you are putting the tyrant in his citadel with your own hands? Don't do it! Don't do it!"

  Pompey had listened looking bored, Caesar with that annoying expression of mild amusement.

  "It makes no difference to me," Pompey said. "I put forward the suggestion for the best of motives. If the Senate of Rome is to retain its traditional right to distribute our provinces to their governors, then it had better do so. You can ignore me, Conscript Fathers. Feel free! But if you do, Publius Vatinius will take the matter to the Plebs, and the Plebs will award Further Gaul to Gaius Caesar. All I'm saying is that you do the job rather than let the Plebs do it. If you award Further Gaul to Gaius Caesar, then you control the award. You can renew the commission each New Year's Day or not, as you please. But if the matter goes to the Plebs, Gaius Caesar's command of Further Gaul will be for five years. Is that what you want? Every time the People or the Plebs passes a law in what used to be the sphere of the Senate, another bit of senatorial power has been nibbled away. I don't care! You decide."

  This was the sort of speech Pompey gave best, plain and unvarnished and the better for being so. The House thought about what he had said, and admitted the truth of it by voting to award the senior consul the province of Further Gaul for one year, from next New Year's Day to the following one,
to be renewed or not at the Senate's pleasure.

  "You fools!" Cato shrieked after the division was over. "You unmitigated fools! A few moments ago he had three legions, now you've given him four! Four legions, three of which are veteran! And what is this Caesar villain going to do with them? Use them to pacify his provinces in the plural? No! He'll use them to march on Italia, to march on Rome, to make himself King of Rome!"

  It was not an unexpected speech, nor for Cato a particularly wounding one; no man present, even among the ranks of the boni, actually believed Cato.

  But Caesar lost his temper, an indication of the tremendous tensions he had been living under for months, released now because he had what he needed.

  He rose to his feet, face flinty, nostrils distended, eyes flashing. "You can yell all you like, Cato!" he thundered. "You can yell until the sky falls in and Rome disappears beneath the waters! Yes, all of you can squeal, bleat, yell, whine, grizzle, criticize, carp, complain! But I don't care! I have what I wanted, and I got it in your teeth! Now sit down and shut up, all of you pathetic little men! I have what I wanted. And if you make me, I will use it to crush your heads!"

  They sat down and they shut up, simmering.

  Whether that protest against what Caesar saw as injustice was the cause, or whether the cause was an accumulation of many insults including a marriage, from that day onward the popularity of the senior consul and his allies began to wane. Public opinion, angry enough at Bibulus's watching the skies to have given Caesar the two Gauls, now swung away until it hovered approvingly before Cato and Bibulus, who were quick to seize the advantage.

  They also managed to buy young Curio, who had been released from his promise to Clodius and thirsted to make life difficult for Caesar. At every opportunity he was back on the rostra or on Castor's platform, satirizing Caesar and his suspect past unmercifully—and in an irresistibly entertaining way. Bibulus too entered the fray by posting witty anecdotes, epigrams, notes and edicts upon (thus adding insult to injury) Caesar's bulletin board in the lower Forum.