R. Peake - Marching With Caesar – Civil War

~ ~ ~ ~

Fortunately, a quiet word to a few key men was all that was needed and while the anger remained, it was muted to little more than a whisper around the fires. A few days later, at the end of April, we received word that Brutus and Cassius, no longer able to bear the pressure of constantly watching their backs and homes, had fled Rome, with Antonius aiding Brutus at least by passing a law that enabled him as urban Praetor to be absent from the city for more than the ten days prescribed by law. Antonius also introduced a law that abolished the office of Dictator, along with a measure that ratified all of Caesar’s acts prior to his death, along with his proposed measures. However, it was on Antonius’ say-so alone as to what Caesar had proposed to do and what he had actually begun implementing, since he had seized Caesar’s private papers immediately after his death. The granting of citizenship to Sicily was one example, so in effect Antonius was every bit as powerful as Caesar in this respect. Oh, he was treading a very careful path and as time passed, and grudgingly I had to admit that Pollio had been right about Antonius, at least as far as what he was doing in the early tumultuous days after the assassination. As difficult a situation as it was, we still had to continue training the men, although we now had nowhere to march to, so we began incorporating day-long marches out into the countryside. Compounding our problems was that we had no idea when or where we would be marching, or who we would be fighting when we got wherever we were going. What all the officers feared was that we would be fighting against Romans again. Still, that did not keep us from training our men to the best of our ability.

~ ~ ~ ~

The next momentous event occurred when word arrived about the contents of Caesar’s will. Once again, I found myself sitting in Pollio’s office, but this time he was more animated than I had seen him in weeks, though not in a good way.

I had barely sat down when he waved yet another scroll in my face. “Do you know what this says?” he demanded. I assured him that I had no idea what it contained. “It’s the contents of Caesar’s will, or at least the most important parts.”

We had been expecting to hear of it for some time before this, so it was not a surprise that we were finally receiving word about it, but what followed was not just very much a surprise, but a huge shock.

“Caesar’s heir is named,” Pollio continued, and I nodded, fully expecting to hear the name Marcus Antonius, since he was really the only logical choice.

I supposed Decimus Brutus was another possibility, but I was sure that his part as one of The Liberators notwithstanding, he was not a likely candidate.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would hear the name that Pollio uttered, and so shocked was I that I made him repeat himself. “You heard me correctly. Gaius Octavius is Caesar’s principal heir. His other nephews Lucius Pinarius and Quintus Pedius get a pittance, at least in terms of proportion, though they'll still be wealthy men, but Caesar named Gaius Octavius not only his main heir, but adopted him as his son as well, so he inherits the name, which in some ways is more important.” Pollio smiled bitterly, “Though I doubt he’ll live long enough to make any use of it.”

I sat there, stunned, thinking that I just needed to learn not to expect anything to make sense so that I was not constantly having my head spin with all that kept happening. “Antonius will kill him,” I blurted the first thing that came into my head, and Pollio nodded in agreement.

“I expect so, and I can’t say that I blame him. I admire….admired,” Pollio amended, “Caesar a great deal, but I think he did a great wrong to Antonius in this. And I think that in naming Octavius as heir, he has guaranteed that Roman will be fighting Roman.”

Asinius Pollio was a good general. He was also a great scholar and a very wise man, one who was usually right about most things. In this, he was more right than he knew.

~ ~ ~ ~

While we were watching events in Rome, it was not as if there were not things going on in Hispania, courtesy of Sextus Pompey, who had managed to flee into the hills to gather together a group of die-hard Pompeians, but he was not much more than a nuisance. However, the fear was not what he could do at that moment, but that if he were allowed to go unchecked, he could gain strength and experience so that at some point in the future he became a formidable opponent. He was still in his teens, and he was smart enough to recruit men from areas that had been Pompeian strongholds for many years. One day I was called to the praetorium to see that there was a new face along with Pollio, and in thinking back, I do not know if I took an instant disliking to the man before he opened his mouth, but if not it was only moments after, when he did start speaking.

“Primus Pilus Pullus, this is Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. He'll be taking over command here, as he has been sent by the Senate to govern the province.”

Pollio’s tone was formal and correct, yet I had been around him long enough to know that he was not happy about this development. I turned to salute Lepidus, who I towered over by several inches, which was not unusual, but Lepidus was as narrow as he was short. He had little muscle on his frame, and a weak chin, which I have always found to be telling about a man’s character.

He returned my salute with what I could only describe as indifference, then turned back to Pollio as if I was not in the room. “As governor and commander of the province, duly appointed by the Senate, I command you to go in pursuit of the rebel Sextus Pompey immediately. In fact, I'm surprised that you haven't done so before this, and it makes me wonder about your loyalty.”

I could feel my mouth drop; this display of rudeness between members of the upper class, particularly in front of a subordinate, was something that I have never witnessed, before or since, but I learned everything I needed to know about Lepidus in that exchange with Pollio.

As for Pollio, his face turned purple with rage, though his voice was controlled, albeit just barely, his words clipped. “I can assure you, Governor, that I am as loyal a man as you'll find. Perhaps if you had spent much time in the field with Caesar, you would have been able to witness my loyalty firsthand, but I understand that Rome and its pleasures are hard to leave behind.”

Now it was Lepidus’ turn to splutter with rage, as he pointed a stubby little finger at Pollio and hissed, “I must remind you that you're speaking to a superior, in every way I might add. My birth and ancestors are impeccable, whereas you're nothing but an upstart and low-born at that.”

And there was the nub of it, why Lepidus’ name and deeds will only be a footnote in history. It was also why I and the other Centurions abandoned him later. As I said, he was a small man in every way, but he thought that he was a great man simply because of who he was and who his ancestors had been. Caesar’s ancestry and bloodline was every bit as illustrious as someone like Lepidus, yet Caesar valued competence and intelligence above all else. He had accomplished more than any man in Roman history because of his farsightedness and open acceptance of men such as Pollio, and in a much smaller sense, myself. Lepidus was blinded to the abilities in others if their birth was not as exalted as his, and I was witnessing firsthand why he was never more than an annoyance and a bit of a joke.

The two noblemen were still ignoring me as they stood nose to nose, but ultimately, Lepidus had the rights of it, no matter how much both Pollio and I might have loathed him for it.

Finally, Pollio relented, while I was dismissed, but as I turned to leave Lepidus had one more nasty surprise in store for me. “Primus Pilus, I'll be inspecting your Legion in one third of a watch. Make them ready, and I expect them to meet my standards.”