Steven Saylor - A Mist of Prophecies

"Gordianus!" he cried. "I haven't see you in months. Not since you last came in with that copy of Pindar that had some water damage and needed a bit of repair."

"Has it been that long? Didius, these are-" I hesitated. What should I call them? "Two friends," I finally said, "Cassandra and Rupa. We're looking to pass through your shop into the Forum."

"Oh, no," said Didius. "Too crowded out there. Too crazy! I've shut the doors and barred them. But if you want to watch, you're welcome to come up to the roof, along with everyone else."

"Everyone else?"

"All my staff. They can't possibly work with this madness going on. And from the roof there's an excellent view of Caelius and Trebonius and their tribunals, or so I'm told. My eyes are too weak to see that far. Come, I'll show you. Hurry along! Who knows what may happen in the next few moments?"

He led us through a storage room and into his shop. The doors and windows were barred, casting the room into darkness. A ladder in the corner led to an upper story. Didius put aside his crutch and led the way. He hobbled a bit, but was surprisingly spry. We emerged in the room where the scribes worked; after the dimness below, the bright light from the tall windows hurt my eyes. I breathed in the smell of fresh parchment and ink.

Didius ascended another ladder. I followed, with Cassandra and Rupa behind me. Through the opening above I could see a patch of sky.

One of the slaves on the rooftop saw Didius hobbling up the ladder and reached down to help him. As we emerged onto the roof, the scribes crowded along the low parapet made way for their master and his guests. As Didius had promised, we had an excellent view of the rival tribunals in the Forum below.

"I see Caelius," I said, "but where's Trebonius? His tribunal's completely empty-no lictors, no clerks… no Trebonius."

"Must have run off," quipped Didius. "I'm not surprised. Caelius's rhetoric against him was scalding hot. He was practically daring the crowd to pull Trebonius off his tribunal and tear him limb from limb. Probably Trebonius had the good sense to beat a hasty retreat while he still could."

I looked down at the massive, seething crowd that surrounded Caelius, who was orating and gesticulating wildly. Above the noise of the mob, I couldn't make out what he was saying.

"What's he going on about?" I asked Didius.

"He's gone the distance."

"What do you mean?"

"Caelius has made his ultimate gambit, or so I should think. It's hard to imagine how he could go any further to pander to the mob. It's because he's about to be arrested. Why hold back?"

"Arrested? How do you know that?"

"I know because yesterday the consul Isauricus came here and asked me to draw up several copies of the Ultimate Decree. That would normally be done by scribes attached to the Senate House, but I suppose Isauricus wanted so many copies drawn up in so short a time that he brought part of the job to me."

"A sensitive commission."

"So Isauricus warned me. I named a steep price and told him I'd keep my mouth shut."

The Ultimate Decree had been invoked by the Senate on only a handful of occasions in my lifetime. It declared a state of emergency and empowered the consuls to use any means necessary to protect the state from immediate danger. Cicero had convinced the Senate to invoke it against Catilina and his so-called conspirators and had used it to justify the execution of unarmed prisoners (one of them being Marc Antony's stepfather-yet another reason for Antony's long-standing hatred of Cicero). More recently Pompey and his faction had invoked the Ultimate Decree against Caesar, goading him to cross the Rubicon. Why would Isauricus want copies of the Ultimate Decree drawn up unless he planned to invoke it? And against whom might he wish to declare it, except Marcus Caelius?

I looked at Didius. "And did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Did you keep your mouth shut?"

Didius cast a glance at Cassandra and Rupa. They were both staring raptly at the spectacle below, but he lowered his voice nonetheless. He shrugged and pointed toward Caelius. "What can I say? I've always liked Caelius. He's commissioned a lot of books from me over the years! Likes to give them to friends as gifts. Slim scrolls of erotic poetry, that sort of thing; impeccable taste. I don't always like his politics, but I like him. This latest campaign of his, carrying on against the bankers and landlords-it's all so much wind, if you ask me. Nothing will come of it, but I still admire his spirit. So I decided to do him a favor. Whispered a discreet word in the right ear. Caelius got the message. I thought we'd all wake today to the news that he had fled the city, but there you see him. I suppose he thinks he can somehow use the moment to his advantage. Maybe he's being clever; but if you ask me, he's cutting it awfully close. You can't say he lacks nerve! But we shall see if he's still alive come nightfall."

"A moment ago you said Caelius had gone the distance. What did you mean?"

"He's talking about new legislation again. No more half measures, he says. The time has come for immediate and complete abolition of all debts. Wipe the ledgers clean! Start over fresh! Can you imagine the chaos that would cause? But there's no shortage of people who like the idea. Look at them out there, swirling around Caelius and chanting his name so loudly you can't even hear him speak. The mob loves him-the way they used to love Clodius and, before him, Catilina."

"And Caesar, not so long ago," I said.

Didius shook his head. "People fear Caesar. But does anyone really love him except his soldiers? Mind you, I don't fault Caesar for refusing to pander to the rabble. A demagogue like Caelius can promise everyone the moon, but if he suddenly found himself really in charge of things, with a treasury to fill and a war to wage and a grain dole to hand out, he'd change his tune overnight."

I nodded toward the crowd below. "What are we seeing down there, Didius? Has Isauricus announced the Ultimate Decree against Caelius?"

"Not yet. The Senate's debating it now. There may be an announcement at any moment. I think Isauricus hoped it would be a surprise so they could take Caelius with no trouble. But now the word's out, and it's too late for that."

"Why today? What prompted Isauricus to take action? Did he know that Caelius was about to announce this plan to abolish debts?"

"Who knows which player blinked first and made the other jump? Something like this was bound to happen; the struggle between Caelius and the other magistrates has been building for months. If you ask me, I think Isauricus is acting now because he happens to have some troops available to him. They arrived outside Rome a few days ago on their way to join Caesar. Isauricus persuaded them to stay for a while. With those troops on hand, he has the muscle to use against Caelius if he needs it, so now's the time for Isauricus to bite a stick and pull out the thorn in his side. If the Senate passes the Ultimate Decree-and who can doubt they will? — Caelius has only a few more hours of freedom, maybe only a few more minutes, so he's cast his final throw of the dice. He's counting on this wild promise of debt abolition to be his Venus Throw, the one play that could turn the game in his favor."

Listening to Didius, I felt the little thrill a man gets when he lets himself imagine that the impossible might actually take place. What if Caelius did succeed in sparking a revolution against Isauricus and Trebonius and the other magistrates left in place by Caesar? What if he upset everyone's expectations by making himself-not Pompey, not Caesar-the new master of Rome? What if a single man, channeling the fury of the Roman mob, could abruptly turn the world upside down, sweeping the rich out of their houses and lifting the poor up in their stead? To do that, eventually Caelius would have to win some legions to his side. It could happen. If Caesar were to be killed and his troops left leaderless, they might be drawn to a charismatic leader with bold ideas, a man like Caelius…