The decurion regarded him darkly.
‘The Eagle is dead,’ he replied.
20
Rome, the Tiber Island, 15 March, four p.m.
Lepidus, barricaded inside army headquarters, was meeting with his chiefs of staff to decide on the best way to proceed when Mark Antony was announced.
Filthy and sweating, dressed in a ragged cloak and looking like a beggar, the only remaining Roman consul was brought before Lepidus.
‘We know everything,’ said Lepidus. ‘I had hoped you would come here. Where have you been until now?’
‘Around. I was hiding. I saw what happened afterwards. Those idiots thought that if they went around shouting, “Freedom!” the people would run to their sides and applaud them as tyrant-killers. Instead, they came close to being murdered themselves when they started ranting against Caesar. They had to turn tail and run back to the Capitol, and as far as I know they’re still there, with the crowd outside calling for their blood. In any case, I’ve understood something important: they don’t know what to do. They don’t have a clue. None of them even started to think of what would happen afterwards. It’s incredible but it’s true.’
‘Fine,’ was Lepidus’s response. ‘The Ninth is camped just outside the city, in full combat order and in a state of alert. All it takes is one order from me and they’ll descend on Rome. We’ll rout them out one by one and-’
Antony raised his hand. ‘We need none of that, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. It would be a grave mistake to use the army. The people would be terrified and the Senate even more so. We’d find ourselves directly in a state of civil war, which is exactly what he strove to end once and for all. We’ll negotiate.’
‘Negotiate? Are you mad?’
‘I’m perfectly lucid and I’m telling you it’s the only sensible way to proceed. The people are completely disoriented and the Senate is panicking. The situation is on the verge of mayhem. We have to take the time to turn things around, in our favour, to fight the spread of terror, blood, despair. We must make Rome understand that Caesar’s legacy is still alive and will be perpetuated. Sending the army into the city would signal that the institutions are no longer capable of governing the state, and that would be a very bad message indeed. I say that tomorrow you have dinner with Brutus and I with Cassius.’
Lepidus listened incredulously as Antony explained exactly what he would ask from Brutus and what he could concede. He continued in a resolute tone, ‘We have to put them at ease, make them believe that we respect their ideals of liberty. More, that we share their ideals. Only when we are sure that the city is on our side will we go ahead with the counter-attack.’
Lepidus thought over Antony’s words in silence as his officers — six military tribunes in full battledress — looked on. At last, he said, ‘How am I to greet my guest, then? “Hail, Brutus, how did it go in the Senate this morning? Lively session, I hear. Do you want to wash your hands?”’
‘This is no joke. If we make it known that the heads of the two opposing political factions are at dinner together, negotiating for the good of the people and the state, the situation will return to normal. Caesar’s legislation will be passed by the Senate — his allocations for the veterans and all the rest. And when the moment comes, we will make our moves. Don’t worry. Our time will come. You tell Brutus that we can share their point of view, at least in part, but that Caesar was our friend and that we have duties that must be performed, duties towards the army and the people. I’ll take care of the rest. Tomorrow I’ll be back and we can start planning our strategy.’
Lepidus nodded. ‘You are the consul. Your authority stands. We’ll do as you say, but if it were up to me-’
‘Fine.’ Antony cut his words short. ‘Send a maniple of legionaries immediately to garrison the Domus Publica. No one who is not a member of the family will be allowed access to Caesar’s body before the funeral. Now, give me some decent clothes and a mounted escort, of at least ten men.’
Lepidus had him accompanied to the officers’ quarters and provided him with what he needed.
Antony left with his escort and headed for the other side of the Tiber, where Caesar’s private villa was located.
He found it abandoned. Even the servants had fled. He crossed the
‘Caesar is dead,’ said Antony. ‘Nothing else matters any more.’
‘What?’ asked Silius incredulously, his eyes wide.
‘He was murdered, this morning at Pompey’s Curia. A plot hatched by Brutus and Cassius. They thought up a pretext to keep me outside. There was nothing I could do.’
Silius dropped his head without managing to say a word. His eyes filled with tears.
‘I loved him too,’ said Antony, ‘regardless of what you may think. Those who killed him will pay, I guarantee that. Go to him now. The time has come to say farewell.’
Silius gave him a bewildered look, his eyes glistening, and made his way slowly towards the door.
Antony left a couple of men from his escort to guard the villa and returned with the rest of the entourage to the other side of the Tiber, bound for home.
Rome, the Capitoline Hill, 15 March, five p.m.
Caius Casca, on guard with several other armed men on the north side of the Capitol, could not believe his eyes when he saw the surviving consul, Mark Antony, walking up the Sacred Way with his sons, preceded by the flag of truce.
Casca ran back uphill to find his brother Publius.
‘Antony is willing to negotiate. He’s at the end of the street and he has his sons with him.’
‘What’s happening?’ asked Brutus as he saw them speaking.
‘Antony is willing to negotiate and has his sons with him,’ repeated Caius Casca. ‘Strange, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Go and see what he wants.’
The two brothers exited on to the north landing and began to make their way down, preceded by a flag of truce as well and by two armed men. They soon found themselves face to face with Antony. He was the first to speak.
‘Each one of us imagined that we were right to do what we did, but we must acknowledge that Rome is now in a state of utter confusion. The city could easily slide back into civil war, a disaster that must be avoided at any cost. The full powers of the republic must be restored, but in order for this to happen, we all have to return to the Senate, call a regular session and discuss how these matters can be dealt with.
‘I hereby propose that the Senate be convened to discuss the future order of the state. We have an entire legion camped outside the walls. We could use military force to decide the issue, but we prefer a rapid return to normality and an end to bloodshed. This very evening, I am expecting Cassius to join me for dinner at my house, and Brutus has been invited by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. As a token and pledge of my good will, I will leave my sons with you.’
Publius turned to his brother. ‘Go and report to the others. I’ll wait for you here.’
Caius Casca nodded and returned to the top of the hill. Every now and then he turned to take in the two little groups halfway up the ramp who faced each other without moving, in total silence. The two boys sat on a little wall to the side and chatted with one another.
Cassius, Marcus and Decimus Brutus, Trebonius and the others accepted the conditions and Caius ran back
