Colleen McCullough - 2. The Grass Crown

Gaius Marius died in the hour before dawn, when life is at its ebbing point and dogs and cockerels cry. It was the seventh day of his coma, and the thirteenth day of his seventh consulship. “An unlucky number,'' said Scaevola Pontifex Maximus, shivering and rubbing his hands together. Unlucky for him but lucky for Rome, was the thought in almost every head when he said it. "He must have a public funeral," said Cinna the moment he arrived, this time accompanied by his wife, Annia, and his younger daughter, Cinnilla, who was the wife of the flamen Dialis. But Julia, dry-eyed and calm, shook her head adamantly. "No, Lucius Cinna, there will be no State funeral," she said. "Gaius Marius is wealthy enough to pay for his own funeral expenses. Rome is in no condition to argue about finances. Nor do I want a huge affair. Just the family. And that means I want no word of Gaius Marius's death to leave this house until after his funeral is over." She shuddered, grimaced. "Is there any way we can get rid of those dreadful slaves he enlisted at the last?" she asked. "That was all taken care of six days ago," said Cinna, going red; he never could conceal his discomfort. "Quintus Sertorius paid them off on the Campus Martius and ordered them to leave Rome." "Oh, of course! I forgot for the moment," said the widow. "How kind of Quintus Sertorius to solve our troubles!" No one there knew whether or not she was being ironic. She looked across to her brother, Caesar. "Have you fetched Gaius Marius's will from the Vestals, Gaius Julius?" "I have it here," he said. "Then let it be read. Quintus Mucius, would you do that for us?" she asked of Scaevola. It was a short testament, and turned out to be very recent; Marius had made it, apparently, while he lay with his army to the south of the Janiculum. The bulk of his estate went to his son, Young Marius, with the maximum he could allow left to Julia in her own right. A tenth of the estate he bequeathed to his adopted nephew, Marcus Marius Gratidianus, which meant Gratidianus was suddenly a very wealthy man; the estate of Gaius Marius was enormous. And to Young Caesar he left his German slave, Burgundus, as thanks for all the precious time out of his boyhood Young Caesar had given up to help an old man recover the use of his left side. Now why did you do that, Gaius Marius? asked the boy silently of himself. Not for the reason you say! Perhaps to ensure the cessation of my career should I manage to de-flaminate myself? Is he to kill me when I pursue the public career you do not want me to have? Well, old man, two days from now you'll be ashes. But I will not do what a prudent man ought to do kill the Cimbric lump. He loved you, just as once I loved you. It is a poor reward for love to be done to death be that death of the body or the spirit. So I will keep Burgundus. And make him love me. The flamen Dialis turned to Lucius Decumius. "I am in the way here," he said. "Will you walk home with me?" "You're going? Good!" said Cinna. "Take Cinnilla home for me, would you? She's had enough." The flamen Dialis looked at his seven-year-old flaminica. "Come, Cinnilla," he said, giving her the smile he was well aware worked woman-magic. "Does your cook make good cakes?" Shepherded by Lucius Decumius, the two children emerged into the Clivus Argentarius and walked down the hill toward the Forum Romanum. The sun was risen, but its rays were not yet high enough to illuminate the bottom of the damp gulch wherein lay the whole reason for Rome's being. "Well, look at that! The heads are gone again! I wonder, Lucius Decumius," the flamen Dialis mused as his foot touched the first flagstone at the rim of the Comitia well, "if one sweeps the dead presence out of the place where he died with an ordinary broom, or if one has to use a special broom?" He gave a skip, and reached for his wife's hand. "There's nothing for it, I'm afraid! I shall have to find the books and read them. It would be dreadful to get one iota of the ritual wrong for my benefactor Gaius Marius! If I do nothing else, I must rid us of all of Gaius Marius." Lucius Decumius was moved to prophesy, not because he had the second sight, but because he loved. "You'll be a far greater man than Gaius Marius," he said. "I know," said Young Caesar. "I know, Lucius Decumius, I know!"

FINIS