Colleen McCullough - 2. The Grass Crown

4

Publius Rutilius Rufus was right, all of Rome was buzzing; two and two were cleverly added together and mostly totaled the correct figure, considerably aided by the fact that the youngest of the divorced wife's three children had a thatch of bright red hair and that Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus's hugely rich but vulgar wife, Cuspia, had also served her husband with divorce papers. That inseparable pair, Quintus Servilius Caepio and Marcus Livius Drusus, were now not on speaking terms, though Caepio for one kept insisting it had nothing to do with divorced wives, but was on account of the fact that Drusus had stolen his ring. There were those with sufficient intelligence and sense of rightness who noticed that all the best people were siding with Drusus and his sister. Others of less admirable character like Lucius Marcius Philippus and Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica were siding with Caepio, as were those sycophantic knights who browsed in the same commercial fields as Gnaeus Cuspius Buteo, Cato's wronged wife's father, nicknamed "The Vulture." Then there were those who sided with no one, finding the whole sensation exquisitely funny; among these was Marcus Aemilius Scaurus Princeps Senatus, just beginning to surface again after several years of extreme quietness following the disgrace of his wife's falling in love with Sulla; he felt he could afford to laugh, since young Dalmatica's crush had been unrequited, and she was now beginning to swell with a child Scaurus knew full well could be no one's save his own. Publius Rutilius Rufus was another who laughed, in spite of his position as the adultress's uncle. Yet as things turned out in the end, neither of the guilty participants in the affair suffered the way Marcus Livius Drusus was made to suffer. "Or perhaps it would be better to say," Drusus grumbled to Silo not long after the new consuls entered office, "that, as usual, I seem to wind up being responsible for everybody's baby! If I had all the money which that wretched boor Caepio has cost me over the years in one way or another, I'd be considerably better off! My new brother-in-law, Cato Salonianus, has been left without a feather to fly with he's strapped by dowry payments to Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on behalf of his sister and of course his wife's fortune has been withdrawn, along with the support of her social-climbing father. So not only have I had to pay Lucius Domitius. out, but I am as usual! expected to house my sister, her husband, and her rapidly expanding family she's increasing again!" Though he knew he was offering scant comfort to Drusus, Silo too joined the ranks of those who saw the funny side, and laughed until he hurt. "Oh, Marcus Livius, never was a Roman nobleman abused as you are!" "Stop it," said Drusus, grinning. "I could wish that life or Fortune, or whoever it is treated me with a little more of the respect I deserve. But whatever my life might have been like before Arausio or had there never been an Arausio! is now utterly beyond me. All I know is that I cannot abandon my poor sister and that, though I tried not to, I like my new brother-in-law a great deal better than I liked my old one. Salonianus may be the grandson of a girl born in slavery, but he's a true gentleman nonetheless, and my house is the happier for sheltering him. I even approve of the way he treats Livia Drusa, and I must say he's won my wife over she was inclined to think him quite unacceptable coming from that particular brood, but now she likes him very well." "It pleases me that your poor little sister is happy at last," said Silo. "I always had the feeling she existed in some deep misery, but she concealed her predicament with the will of a true Livius Drusus. However, it's a pity you can't free yourself of pensioners I take it you'll have to finance Salonianus's career?" "Of course," said Drusus, displaying no chagrin. "Luckily my father left me with more money than I can ever spend, so I'm not reduced to penury yet. Think of how annoyed Caepio will be when I push a Cato Salonianus up the cursus honorum!" "Do you mind if I change the subject?" asked Silo abruptly. "Not at all," said Drusus, surprised. "Hopefully the new subject is going to contain a detailed description of your doings over the past few months I haven't seen you in nearly a year, Quintus Poppaedius." "Is it that long?" Silo did some calculations, and nodded. "You're right. Where does time go?" He shrugged. "Nothing very much, actually. My business ventures have benefited, is all." "I don't trust you when you're cagey," said Drusus, delighted to see this friend of his heart. “However, I daresay you have no intention of telling me what you've really been up to, so I won't make it hard for you by pressing. What was the subject you wanted to bring up, then?" "The new consuls," said Silo. "Good ones, for a change," said Drusus happily. "I don't know when we've elected such a solid pair Crassus Orator and Scaevola! I'm expecting great things." "Are you? I wish I could say the same. I'm expecting trouble." "On the Italian front? Why?" "Oh, rumor as yet. I hope unfounded, though somehow I doubt that, Marcus Livius." Silo scowled. "The censors have gone to the consuls with the registers of Roman citizens throughout Italy, and I hear are concerned about the vast number of new names on the rolls. Idiots! One moment they're prating about how their new census methods will reveal many more citizens than the old way did, the next moment they're saying there are too many new citizens!" "So that's why you've not been to Rome in months!" cried Drusus. "Oh, Quintus Poppaedius, I warned you! No, no, please don't lie to me! If you do we can't continue to be friends, and I for one would be the poorer! You doctored the rolls." "Yes." "Quintus Poppaedius, I told you! Oh, what a mess!" For some time Drusus sat with his head in his hands, while Silo, feeling more uncomfortable than he had expected to, sat saying nothing and thinking hard. Finally Drusus lifted his head. "Well, there's no point in repining, I suppose." He got to his feet, shaking his head at Silo in patient exasperation. "You had better go home don't show your face in this city for a long time to come, Quintus Poppaedius. We can't afford to tickle the interest of some particularly bright member of the anti-Italian faction by having you on prominent display. I'll do what I can in the Senate, but unfortunately I'm still a junior, I won't be called upon to speak. Among those who can speak, your friends are going to be few, alas." Silo was standing too. "Marcus Livius, it will come to war," he said. "I'll go home because you're right, someone will start wondering if they see my face. But, if nothing else, this shows there is no peaceful way to gain enfranchisement for Italy." "There is a way. There must be a way," Drusus said. "Now go, Quintus Poppaedius, as unobtrusively as you can. And if you plan to use the Colline Gate, detour around the Forum, please." Drusus himself didn't detour around the Forum; he went straight there, togate and looking for familiar faces. There was no meeting of Senate or Comitia, but a man could be fairly sure of seeing people in the general area of the lower Forum. And luckily the first valuable man Drusus spied was his uncle, Publius Rutilius Rufus, wandering toward the Carinae and his house. "This is one time I could wish Gaius Marius was here," said Drusus as they found a quiet place in the sun just to one side of the ancient Forum trees. "Yes, I'm afraid there won't be much support in the Senate for your Italian friends," said Rutilius Rufus. "I think there could be if only there was a powerful man present to urge a little thought. But with Gaius Marius still away in the east, who is there? Unless, Uncle, you ?" "No," said Rutilius Rufus firmly. "I am sympathetic to the Italian cause, but a power in the Senate I am not. If anything, I've lost auctoritas since my return from Asia Minor the tax-farmers are still screaming for my head. Quintus Mucius they know they can't get, he's too important. But an old and humble consular like me, who never had a famous reputation in the law courts or was a famous orator or led a famous army to victory? No, I haven't enough clout, truly." "So you're saying there's little can be done." "That's what I'm saying, Marcus Livius."