Colleen McCullough - 5. Caesar

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After Uxellodunum surrendered, Caesar decided that he would visit all the tribes of Aquitania, the one part of Gaul of the Long-hairs least involved in the war, and therefore the one part of the country still able to field a full complement of warriors. With him he took some of the handless victims of Uxellodunum, as living testimony of Rome's determination to see an end to opposition. His progress was peaceful; the various tribes greeted him with feverish welcomes, averted their eyes from the handless, signed whatever treaties he required, and swore mighty oaths to cleave to Rome forever. On the whole, Caesar was prepared to believe them. For an Arvernian, of all people, had turned Lucterius over to him some days after he marched for Burdigala on the first stage of his tour of Aquitania, an indication that no tribe in Gaul was prepared to shelter one of Vercingetorix's lieutenants. This meant that one of the two defenders of Uxellodunum would walk in Caesar's triumphal parade; the other, Drappes of the Senones, had refused to eat or drink, and died still resolutely opposed to the presence of Rome in Gaul of the Long-hairs. Lucius Caesar came to see his cousin in Tolosa toward the end of October, big with news. "The Senate met at the end of September," he told Caesar, tight-lipped. "I confess I'm disappointed in the senior consul, who I had thought was a more rational man than his junior." "Servius Sulpicius is more rational than Marcus Marcellus, yes, but he's no less determined to see me fall," said Caesar. "What went on?" "The House resolved that on the Kalends of March next year it would discuss your provinces. Marcus Marcellus informed it that the war in Gallia Comata was definitely over, which meant there was absolutely no reason why you should not be stripped of your imperium, your provinces and your army on that date. The new five-year law, he said, had provided a pool of potential governors able to go to replace you immediately. To delay was evidence of senatorial weakness, and quite intolerable. Then he concluded by saying that once and for all, you must be taught that you are the Senate's servant, not its master. At which statement, I gather, there were loud hear-hears from Cato." "They'd have to be loud, since Bibulus is in Syria or on his way there, at least. Go on, Lucius. I can tell from your face that there's worse to come." "Much worse! The House then decreed that if any tribune of the plebs vetoed discussion on your provinces on the Kalends of next March, said veto would be deemed an act of treason. The guilty tribune of the plebs would be arrested and summarily tried." "That's absolutely unconstitutional!" snapped Caesar. "No one can impede a tribune of the plebs in his duty! Or refuse to honor his veto unless there's a Senatus Consultum Ultimum in force. Does this mean that's what the Senate intends to do on the Kalends of next March? Operate under an ultimate decree?" "Perhaps, though that wasn't said." "Is that all?" "No," said Lucius Caesar levelly. "The House passed another decree. That it would reserve for itself the right to decide the date on which your time-expired veterans would be discharged." "Oh, I see! I've generated a 'first,' Lucius, haven't I? Until this moment, in the history of Rome no one has had the right to decide when time-expired soldiers are to finish their service in the legions except their commander-in-chief. I imagine, then, that on the Kalends of next March the Senate will decree that all my veterans are to be discharged forthwith." "It seems that way, Gaius." Caesar looked, thought Lucius, oddly unworried; he even gave a genuine smile. "Do they really think to defeat me with these kinds of measures?" he asked. "Horse piss, Lucius!" He got up from his chair and extended a hand to his cousin. "I thank you for the news, I really do. But enough of it. I feel like stretching my legs among the sacred lakes." But Lucius Caesar wasn't prepared to leave the matter there. He followed Gaius obediently, saying, "What are you going to do to counter the boni?" "Whatever I have to" was all Caesar would say.

The winter dispositions had been made. Gaius Trebonius, Publius Vatinius and Mark Antony took four legions to Nemetocenna of the Atrebates to garrison Belgica; two legions went to the Aedui at Bibracte; two were stationed among the Turoni, on the outskirts of the Carnutes to their west; and two went to the lands of the Lemovices, southwest of the Arverni. No part of Gaul was very far from an army. With Lucius Caesar, Caesar completed a tour of the Province, then went to join Trebonius, Vatiraus and Mark Antony in Nemetocenna for the winter. Halfway through December his army received a welcome and unexpected surprise; he increased the rankers' pay from four hundred and eighty sesterces a year to nine hundred the first time in over a century that a Roman army had experienced a pay rise. In conjunction with it he gave every man a cash bonus, and informed the army that its share of the booty would be larger. "At whose expense?" asked Gaius Trebonius of Publius Vatinius. "The Treasury's? Surely not!" "Definitely not," said Vatinius. "He's scrupulous about the legalities, always. No, it's out of his own purse, his own share." Little crippled Vatinius frowned; he hadn't been present when Caesar got the Senate's answer to his request that he be treated as Pompey had been treated. "I know he's fabulously rich, but he spends prodigiously too. Can he afford this largesse, Trebonius?" "Oh, I think so. He's made twenty thousand talents out of the sale of slaves alone." "Twenty thousand? Jupiter! Crassus was accounted the richest man in Rome, and all he left was seven thousand talents!" "Marcus Crassus bragged of his money, but have you ever heard Pompeius Magnus say how much he's worth?" asked Trebonius. "Why do you think the bankers flock around Caesar these days, anxious to oblige his every whim? Balbus has been his man forever, with Oppius not far behind. They go back to your days, Vatinius. However, men like Atticus are very recent." "Rabirius Postumus owes him a fresh start," said Vatinius. "Yes, but after Caesar began to flourish in Gaul. The German treasure he found among the Atuatuci was fabulous. His share of it will amount to thousands of talents." Trebonius grinned. "And if he runs a bit short, Carnutum's hoards will cease to be sacrosanct. That's in reserve. He's nobody's fool, Caesar. He knows that the next governor of Gallia Comata will seize what's at Carnutum. It's my bet that what's at Carnutum will be gone before the new governor arrives." "My letters from Rome say he's likely to be relieved in ye Gods, where does time go? a little over three months. The Kalends of March are galloping toward him! What will he do then? The moment his imperium is stripped from him, he'll be arraigned in a hundred courts. And he'll go down, Trebonius." "Oh, very likely," said Trebonius placidly. Vatinius was nobody's fool either. "He doesn't intend to let matters go that far, does he?" "No, Vatinius, he doesn't." A silence fell; Vatinius studied the mournful face opposite him, chewing his lip. Their eyes met and held. "Then I'm right," said Vatinius. "He's cemented his bond with his army absolutely." "Absolutely." "And if he has to, he'll march on Rome." "Only if he has to. Caesar's not a natural outlaw; he loves to do everything in suo anno no special or extraordinary commands, ten years between consulships, everything legal. If he does have to march on Rome, Vatinius, it will kill something in him. That's an alternative he knows perfectly well is available, and do you think for one moment that he fears the Senate? Any of them? Including the much-vaunted Pompeius Magnus? No! They'll go down like targets on a practice field before German lancers. He knows it. But he doesn't want it to be that way. He wants his due, but he wants it legally. Marching on Rome is the very end of his tether, and he'll battle the odds right down to the last moment rather than do it. His record is perfect. He wants it to remain so." "He always wanted to be perfect," said Vatinius sadly, and shivered. "Jupiter, Trebonius, what will he do to them if they push him to it?" "I hate to think." "We'd best make offerings that the boni see reason." "I've been making them for months. And I think perhaps the boni would see reason, save for one factor." "Cato," said Vatinius instantly. "Cato," Trebonius echoed. Another silence fell; Vatinius sighed. "Well, I'm his man through thick and thin," he said. "And I." "Who else?" "Decimus. Fabius. Sextius. Antonius. Rebilus. Calenus. Basilus. Plancus. Sulpicius. Lucius Caesar," said Trebonius.. "Not Labienus?" Trebonius shook his head emphatically. "No." "Labienus's choice?" "Caesar's." "Yet he says nothing derogatory about Labienus." "Nor will he. Labienus still hopes to be consul with him, though he knows Caesar doesn't approve of his methods. But nothing is said in the senatorial dispatches, so Labienus hopes. It won't last beyond the final decision. If Caesar marches on Rome, he'll give the boni a gift Titus Labienus." "Oh, Trebonius, pray it doesn't come to civil war!"