Colleen McCullough - 1. First Man in Rome

"Oh yes, there is!" said Marius grimly when he had deciphered the letter. He drew a sheet of paper toward him and spent considerable time drafting a short letter of his own. Then he sent for Quintus Lutatius Catulus Caesar. Catulus Caesar arrived bubbling with enthusiasm, for the hired courier who had carried Rutilius Rufus's Marius missive had also brought a letter from Metellus Numidicus to Catulus Caesar, and another from Scaurus to Catulus Caesar. It was a disappointment to find Marius already aware of the two-triumph vote; Catulus Caesar had been dwelling rather voluptuously upon seeing Marius's face when he heard. However, that was a minor consideration. The triumph was the triumph. "So I'd like to return to Rome in October, if you don't mind," Catulus Caesar drawled. "I'll celebrate my triumph first, since you as consul can't leave quite so early." "Permission to go is refused," said Marius with cheerful civility. "We'll return to Rome together at the end of November, just as we planned. In fact, I've just sent a letter to the Senate on behalf of both of us. Like to hear it? I won't bore you with my writing I'll read it out to you." He took a small paper from his cluttered table, unfurled it, and read it to Catulus Caesar.

Gaius Marius, consul for the fifth time, thanks the Senate and People of Rome for their concern and consideration in respect of the matter of triumphs for himself and his second-in-command, the proconsul Quintus Lutatius Catulus. I commend the Conscript Fathers for their admirable thrift in decreeing only one triumph each for Rome's generals. However, I am even more concerned than the Conscript Fathers about the punitive cost of this long war. As is Quintus Lutatius. In respect of which, Gaius Marius and Quintus Lutatius Catulus will share one single triumph between them. Let all of Rome witness the accord and amity of the generals as they parade the streets together. Wherefore it is my pleasure to notify you that Gaius Marius and Quintus Lutatius Catulus shall triumph on the Kalends of December. Together. Long live Rome.

Catulus Caesar had gone white. "You're joking!" he said. "I? Joke?" Marius blinked beneath his brows. "Never, Quintus Lutatius!" "I I I refuse to consent!" "You don't have any choice," said Marius sweetly. "They thought they had me beaten, didn't they? Dear old Metellus Numidicus Piggle-wiggle and his friends and your friends! Well, you'll never beat me, any of you." "The Senate has decreed two triumphs, and two triumphs it will be!" said Catulus Caesar, shaking. "Oh, you could insist, Quintus Lutatius. But it won't look good, will it? Take your choice. Either you and I triumph together in the same parade, or you are going to look like one enormous fool. That's it." And that was it. The letter from Marius went to the Senate, and the single triumph was announced for the first day of the month of December. Catulus Caesar was not slow to take his revenge. He wrote to the Senate complaining that the consul Gaius Marius had usurped the prerogatives of the Senate and People of Rome by awarding the full citizenship to a thousand auxiliary soldiers from Camerinum in Picenum right there on the field of Vercellae. He had also exceeded his consular authority, said Catulus Caesar, by announcing that he was founding a colony of Roman veteran legionaries at the small town of Eporedia in Italian Gaul. The letter went on:

Gaius Marius has established this unconstitutional colony in order to lay his hands upon the alluvial gold which is mined from the bed of the Duria Major at Eporedia. The proconsul Quintus Lutatius Catulus also wishes to point out that he won the battle of Vercellae, not Gaius Marius. As proof positive, he tenders thirty-five captured German standards in his keeping, as against a mere two in the keeping of Gaius Marius. As the victor of Vercellae, I claim all the captives taken to be sold into slavery. Gaius Marius is insisting upon taking one third of them.

In answer, Marius circulated Catulus Caesar's letter among the troops of his own army and Catulus Caesar's; it had a laconic appendix from Marius himself attached, to the effect that the proceeds from the sale of Cimbric captives taken after Vercellae to the limit of the one third he had claimed for himself were to be donated to the army of Quintus Lutatius Catulus. His own army, he pointed out, had already been given the proceeds from the sale of the Teutonic slaves after Aquae Sextiae, and he didn't wish Catulus Caesar's army to feel entirely neglected, for he understood that Quintus Lutatius would as was his right be keeping the proceeds from the sale of his two thirds of the Cimbric slaves for himself. Glaucia read out both letters in the Forum in Rome, and the People laughed themselves sick. There could be no doubt in anyone's mind who was the real victor, and who cared more for his troops than for himself. "You'll have to stop this campaign to vilify Gaius Marius," said Scaurus Princeps Senatus to Metellus Numidicus, "or you're going to be slapped about again the next time you go into the Forum. And you'd better write to Quintus Lutatius and tell him the same. Whether we like it or not, Gaius Marius is the First Man in Rome. He won the war against the Germans, and the whole of Rome knows it. He's the popular hero, the popular demigod. Try to bring him down, and the city will unite to bring you down, Quintus Caecilius." "Piss on the People!" said Metellus Numidicus, who was feeling the strain of having to house his sister, Metella Calva, and whichever lowborn lover she fancied. "Look, there are other things we can do," urged Scaurus. "For one thing, you can run for consul again. It's ten years since you were consul, believe it or not! Gaius Marius will be running again, nothing surer. Wouldn't it be wonderful to saddle his sixth consulship with an inimical colleague like yourself?" "Oh, when are we going to rid ourselves of this incurable disease called Gaius Marius?" cried Numidicus in despair. "Hopefully it won't be long," said Scaurus, obviously not despairing. "A year. I doubt it will be more." "Never, more like." "No, no, Quintus Caecilius, you give up too easily! Like Quintus Lutatius, you let your hatred for Gaius Marius rule your head. Think! How much time during all his five eternal consulships has Gaius Marius actually spent in Rome herself?" "A matter of days. What's that to the point?" "It is the whole point, Quintus Caecilius! Gaius Marius is not a great politician, though I do admit he's got a wonderfully sharp brain between his ears. Where Gaius Marius shines is as a soldier and an organizer. I assure you, he's not going to thrive in the Comitia and the Curia when his world shrinks down to nothing else. We won't let him thrive! We'll bait him like a bull, we'll fasten our teeth in his carcass and we won't let go. And we'll bring him down. You wait and see." Scaurus sounded supremely sure. Staring at these welcome vistas Scaurus was opening up, Metellus Numidicus smiled. "Yes, I understand, Marcus Aemilius. Very well, I'll stand for consul." "Good! You'll get in you can't not get in after we bring every ounce of influence we have to bear on the First and Second Classes, no matter how much they love Gaius Marius." "Oh, I can't wait to be his colleague!" Metellus Numidicus drew out his muscles in a secretive stretch. "I'll block him every way I can! His life will be a misery." "I suspect we'll have help from an unexpected quarter too," said Scaurus, looking like a cat. "What quarter?" "Lucius Appuleius Saturninus is going to run for another term as a tribune of the plebs." "That's ghastly news! How can it help us?" Numidicus asked. "No, it's excellent news, Quintus Caecilius, believe me. For when you sink your consular teeth into Gaius Marius's rump, and so do I, and Quintus Lutatius, and half a hundred more, Gaius Marius won't resist enlisting Saturninus to help him. I know Gaius Marius. He can be tried too far, and when that happens, he'll lash out wildly in every direction. Just like a baited bull. He won't be able to resist using Saturninus. And I think Saturninus is probably the worst tool a Gaius Marius could put his hands on. You wait and see!" Scaurus said. "It's his allies will bring our bull Gaius Marius down."