Steven Saylor - Catilina's riddle

Catilina sighed and settled himself more comfortably in the water. 'Marcus Crassus is too great a force to belong to any party, even the Optimates. Crassus is his own party, and so he finds himself at odds with the Optimates as often as not. You're right, Crassus has no sympathy with my plans to restructure the economy of the state, which must be done if the Republic is to survive. But then, Crassus cares not a whit for the survival of the Republic. He would just as soon see it wither and die, so long as the dictator who inevitably follows is named Marcus Crassus. In the meantime, the two of us quite often have occasion to find ourselves allied against the Optimates. And of course Marcus Crassus and I go back a long way, to the days when we both served under Sulla.'

'You mean to say that like Crassus, you also profited from the proscriptions during Sulla's dictatorship, when the property of his enemies was confiscated and put up for auction?'

'Many others did the same. But I never murdered for gain or used the proscriptions to get away with murder — oh, yes, I know the rumours. One has me putting my own brother-in-law on the lists, because my sister couldn't stand him and wanted his head cut off Others say I killed him myself and then had his name inserted in the lists to legalize the crime. As if I would have wanted to see my own sister dishonoured and disinherited!'

His voice took on an angry edge. 'And then there's the wretched He put about by Cicero's brother Quintus last year during the consular campaign, which had me taking part in the murder of the praetor Gratidianus during those years. Poor Gratidianus, chased down by the mob. They broke both his legs, cut off his hands, gouged out his eyes, and then beheaded him. Hideous savagery! I witnessed that atrocity, yes, but I didn't instigate it, as Quintus Cicero claimed, nor did I swagger about Rome carrying Gratidianus's head like a trophy. Even so, only last year some of the Optimates managed to call me to trial for the murder — and I was soundly acquitted, just as I've been acquitted of every single charge they've brought against me over the years.'

'Speaking of heads, your own is turning red as a beet, Catilina. I think the water must be too hot'

Catilina, who in his passion had drawn himself up until his chest was above the water, took a deep breath and sank back into the tub. 'But we were talking about Crassus.. 'He smiled, and I marvelled at how easily he could let go of his bitter tone and restore his good humour. 'Do you know what really cemented our relationship? The scandal of the Vestal Virgins! Fabia and I weren't the only ones brought to trial that spring — Crassus was accused of polluting the Virgo Maxima herself. Do you remember the details? He had been seen in her company so often that that scheming Clodius had no trouble convincing half of Rome to believe the worst. But Crassus's defence was unbeatable: the millionaire was merely pestering the Virgo Maxima over a piece of property that he wanted to buy from her at a bargain — a story so typical of Crassus that no one could disbelieve it! He escaped with his life, and so did I, but both of us took a blow to our reputations — Crassus, because everyone believed he was innocent but greedy, and I, because everyone thought I was guilty but got away with it. After the trial we celebrated together over a few bottles of Falernian wine. Political alliances are not always founded on hard logic, Gordianus. Sometimes they grow out of shared distress.' He looked at me steadily, as if to emphasize his words. 'But I understand you've had your own dealings with Crassus.'

'He called on me to deal with the murder of his cousin down in Baiae,' I said. 'That was nine years ago. The circumstances were quite remarkable, but I'm not at liberty to discuss the details. Suffice to say that Crassus and I parted on less than friendly terms.'‘

Catilina smiled. 'Actually, Crassus has told me most of the story, or his version of it. He wanted certain slaves found guilty of the crime, while you would settle for nothing less than the truth, no matter how disappointing to Crassus's schemes or how personally embarrassing. Believe it or not, he secretly admires your integrity, I think, even if he did resent your, shall we say, inflexible nature. I suppose Crassus himself is rather inflexible, which accounts for your mutual antipathy. But your work for him in Baiae had at least one good outcome. I understand that's how you met your son Meto. Oh, please, don't lower your eyes, Gordianus. I think it's a remarkable thing, to free a young slave boy and then adopt him as your son. I realize it's not a fact you care to advertise, for the boy's sake. But I know the story, and with me you can be frank.'

'I would rather forget that Marcus Crassus was ever Meto's master. Had Crassus had his way, Meto would be long dead. As it was, Crassus sold him to a farmer in Sicily, just to thwart my having him. That he was eventually found, that I freed him and made him my son, is proof that even the richest man in the world can be cheated of his petty revenge.'

Catilina pursed his lips. 'Evidently Crassus didn't tell me the whole story.'

'Because Crassus doesn't know the whole story. But you won't hear it from me.'

'Now it's you who've turned beet-red, Gordianus! Are you ready for the cool plunge?'

like Catilina in his agitation, I had raised myself halfway out of the water. I sighed and settled back into the soothing warmth.

‘You're very protective of the boy, as well you should be,' said Catilina. "These are dangerous times, full of peril. I'm a father, too. I worry constantly about the future of my wife and her daughter. Sometimes I think it would be better to follow your example and withdraw from the world entirely, or as much as a man can. To live in simple obscurity, like Cincinnatus. You know the old story — when the Republic was imperilled, the people called on the farmer Cincinnatus, who laid down his plough, assumed the dictatorship, and saved them all.'

'And when the peril was over, he laid down his dictatorship and went back to his plough.'

'Yes, but the point is that he acted when the occasion called for it. For a man to turn his back on the world entirely is to relinquish his opportunity to shape the world's future. Who can give up that chance, even if his efforts end in failure?'

'Or in utter disaster?'

'No, Gordianus, when I contemplate the world my descendants will live in, I cannot become a hermit, apathetic and ineffectual. And when I think of the shades of my ancestors watching me, I cannot be idle. The founder of my family stood by Aeneas when he first set foot on Italian soil. Perhaps it's my patrician blood that drives me to take the reins — to rip them from the Optimates' hands if I have to!'

He reached out and clutched a fistful of steam, then relaxed his grip and slowly dropped his open hands into the roiling water. The motion took on a vague and unreal aspect in the orange haze, like an actor's gesture seen from afar.

For a while we were both quiet. A slave stepped silently into the room and asked if he should open the valve from the furnace to add fresh hot water. I nodded, and the slave withdrew. A moment later the pipes gurgled and the tub swirled. The mist thickened and the lamp burned lower. In the dense orange haze I could see Catilina's face only as a soft blur.

'Do you want to know a secret, Gordianus?'

Oh, Catilina, I thought, there are many secrets I would like to know, foremost among them the identity of Nemo and how his headless body came to rest in my barn! 'Why not?'

'It's a riddle, actually—'

'Telling a secret and posing a riddle are entirely different things, Catilina. I would like to hear a secret. But tonight I would not care to hear a riddle.'

'Indulge me. Well, then: how can a man lose his head twice?'