Steven Saylor - Catilina's riddle

'Gordianus!' he said in a sweetly chiding tone. 'Difficult as always.'

'What is it you want, Cicero?' 'And so very curt!'

'I'm not an orator, like you. I have to say what I mean.'

'Oh, Gordianus! You must still be very weary after the hard journey down from your beautiful farm. You must feel out of sorts here, away from the fields and the lowing oxen. I know how the rigors of the Forum wear on a man — believe me, I know! — not to mention the ordeal of election day. But this election went rather well, don't you think?'

'For those who won.'

'Today Rome won. If things had gone otherwise, we'd have all been the losers, yourself included.’

'There were plenty of citzens outside the Villa Publica who seemed to think otherwise.'

'Yes, there are riots going on even now in scattered parts of the city; you're wise to have retired early and shuttered your windows. Catilina's supporters crave any excuse to turn to violence and looting.'

'Perhaps they're overcome with hopelessness and frustration.'

'Surely you don't sympathize with that rabble, Gordianus! A clever man like you, and now a man of property, as well? I'm very proud of that, you know, helping you inherit what was rightfully yours. The gods and Lucius Claudius decreed that you should move up in this world, and I was happy to do my part. Most men get what they deserve in this world, in the long run.'

'Do they?'

'Take my brother Quintus, for example. Elected praetor this afternoon, following in my footsteps!' 'How did Rufus fare?’

'He won a praetorship as well, and good for him!' Cicero's smile did not seem entirely insincere. He could afford to be generous. 'And Gaius Julius Caesar?'

Cicero did not smile. 'He, too, won a praetorship. But then, no one can say he didn't earn it, one way or another, though he may be a long time paying off the debt. But you were there, weren't you? I thought I glimpsed you in the crowd.'

'We left early. My son Meto wanted to see the voting. After a while he had seen enough.'

'Ah, the duties of fatherhood. My own son is only two, but already quite an orator! His lungs are stronger than mine!'

'I doubt that, Cicero. But tell me, why are you here? Don't misunderstand, it's not that I'm unhappy to be paid a visit by the consul of Rome, or that I object to having his bodyguard camped outside my door — I'm deeply honoured, of course. But you say there are mobs in the street. Surely the danger—'

'I care nothing about danger. You should know that already, Gordianus. Didn't I defy Sulla himself at the very outset of my career? You were there, you saw how I stood up to his tyranny. Do you think I would allow a disorganized rabble to prevent me from going about my duties as consul? Never!'

'Yet there must be something you fear, to make you wear such heavy armour, to surround yourself with so many bodyguards, everywhere you go.'

'Armour frees a man from fear. As for my bodyguards, they are all fine young men of the equestrian class. They follow me because they love me, as they love Rome. Yes, certainly there is danger. There always is, when a man stands up for what is right — you know that. But a true Roman sets his eyes on his course and is not swayed from it, either by a rabble with sticks and stones or by conspirators with torches and daggers.'

'Evenso, I thought you had deemed it best that you and I shouldn't see each other openly; so Marcus Caelius indicated. Should I take it that your coming here tonight signals an end to our feigned estrangement?'

'Not… exactly,' he said.

'But the crisis, if there ever was a crisis, is over.'

'Not so long as certain parties still threaten the state—'

'But Catilina is finished. You've bested him again. He won't be able to run for consul a third time — he's too much in debt. His allies will desert him now, and so will his friends with money. Two losses in a row mean no more coins left to press into the sweaty palms of the voters. Catilina is finished.'

'You're mistaken, Gordianus. The enemy of Rome is not finished. Not yet.' In Cicero's eyes I saw a predatory gleam. 'What is more dangerous in the woods than a boar, Gordianus?'

'Please, not a riddle, like Catilina!'

'A wounded boar. Today Catilina was wounded, but he's far from finished. His resources are greater than you imagine. His "allies", as you call them, are more dangerous than you know. You're right, after today hell be cut off from the more legitimate sources of finance, but it's steel that he's counting on now, not silver.'

'Cicero, you must not ask me for another favour’ I said wearily. 'Why not? Do you not love the farm I secured for you?' 'Cicero, gratitude can go only so far.'

'I'm not talking about gratitude, Gordianus. I appeal not to your sense of obligation but of self-interest. If Catilina isn't stopped, you're exactly the sort of landowner who stands to suffer most.'

'Cicero—' I shook my head and held up my hand.

'And you love your family, don't you? Think of them, and their future.'

'That's precisely what I am thinking of!' I checked myself and lowered my voice. 'I'm tired of putting them in danger. And I'm very tired of being threatened and intimidated.'

"The threat comes from Catilina.'

'Does it?’

Cicero wrinkled his brow, finally perceiving that while he spoke in vague generalities, I was referring to something quite specific. 'What do you mean?'

'I mean the headless body that was left in my stable when I failed to respond to Caelius's demands quickly enough.'

'Ah, yes, the headless body. Caelius told me you said something about this to him yesterday, but he didn't know what you were talking about, and neither do I. It must have been something thought up by Catilina—'

'But if Catilina was responsible, and Caelius poses as his agent, then why didn't Caelius know about it?'.

‘Because, I suppose…' Cicero frowned.

'Or could it be that Caelius knows things that he doesn't tell you? In that case, how can you really trust him? And if you can't trust him, then neither can I!'

Cicero thought for a long moment before he answered. 'Gordianus, I understand your concern in this matter'—'

'Or perhaps it's Catilina who doesn't trust Caelius. Could that be it? Could it be that Caelius's pretence of loyalty has failed to fool Catilina, who knows that Caelius is your spy, not his? That would mean that Catilina knows that I'm your agent, as well. That puts my family in even graver danger.'

'Clearly, Gordianus, these are deep waters. But there is no way to stay afloat unless you kick! Do nothing and you'll sink — well aU sink! The state is a life raft. I am steering that raft. The rudder has been entrusted to me. Catilina will set fire to it if he isn't stopped, dooming us all. I must do whatever I can to keep it afloat. But I need your help. I am reaching out to pull you aboard, if only you'll give me your hand.'

'What a lovely metaphor. Such fluid rhetoric—'

'Gordianus! You try my patience!' I had angered him at last. I could impugn his courage and satirize his pompous demeanour and he remained aloof, but he would not stand for me to beHtde the mastery of his tongue. 'Whether you like it or not, whether or not you understand its importance, you must continue to do what I ask of you. Catilina is too vicious a threat for me to bow to your apathy.'

'Is he so vicious, really? Under my roof I sometimes thought he seemed more sentimental than seditious.'

'Gordianus, you cannot be so naive!' Suddenly his smile returned. 'Oh, I begin to see the problem. You like Catilina! But of course, we have all liked Catilina at one time or another, everyone has, and eventually, inevitably, to their regret. Ask the shade of his murdered brother-in-law, or the shade of his murdered son, or the miserable families of the young men and women he's corrupted. Before he destroys his victims, Catilina must always make sure that they like him.