'As soon as Pompey was driven from Italy, Caesar set about reorganizing the Senate here in Rome and deciding whom to place in charge in his absence-Marc Antony, as it turned out. Everyone became a Caesarian overnight once Pompey was gone-but whom could Caesar really trust, and what sort of plots were being hatched against him? It was imperative that he should organize a network of agents to gather information. Some of those agents were already in place. Others had to be recruited. It was I who pointed out to him that his greatest weakness would be in obtaining information from the women of Rome-the wives and mothers and daughters and sisters who had been left behind by both allies and enemies. Such women always know more than they're given credit for, often more than they themselves realize. They know the most secret longings and most fervent loyalties of their men. A casual remark in a letter from a husband could lead to a secret hiding place or a cache of arms or a buried store of gold. But what sort of person could obtain access to so many diverse women and extract whatever valuable information they might possess?
'It was Caesar who hit upon the idea of recruiting an actress to play the part of a mad seeress. I told him that no Roman matron was that gullible and no actress that skillful. He proved me wrong on both counts. He dispatched an agent to Alexandria to find the right actress. Why Alexandria? Because the mime masters there are famous for training their players to perfection, and because it's far enough from Rome that the agent might find a suitable performer who would be unknown here. It was several months before the agent returned from Alexandria, bringing Cassandra with him. They entered the city in a covered litter, and the agent installed her, secretly, in this house.
'Only a few days later, Caesar returned to Rome after securing Spain and Massilia. As soon as he was able to take time from overseeing elections, he met with Cassandra. It was in this very room. I was with him. He said he wanted my opinion of her, but I'm sure he made up his mind before I could say a word.'
'She auditioned for Caesar, like an actress auditioning for a mime show?'
'If you wish to put it that way. She was certainly beautiful; I could see that Caesar was duly impressed, but beauty was not the quality we were looking for. She spoke excellent Latin with only the faintest accent; she was quite a polyglot, you know. But she seemed rather nervous. That was understandable, perhaps, for a young woman meeting Caesar for the first time, but it worried me; this was the person we were counting on to keep a cool head even as she deceived some of the shrewdest women in Rome. Caesar commenced to explain what he wanted from her. She seemed distracted, and increasingly agitated. Suddenly she collapsed to the floor, writhing and foaming at the mouth. The agent had warned us that she suffered from the falling sickness. Caesar at once went to her assistance. He found a leather biting stick on her person and put it between her teeth, then held her until the spell subsided. I could see that he was moved by her suffering-Caesar himself has experienced such fits in the past-but I wondered if such a condition might rob her of her wits and cause her to fail in her mission. I was about to say as much when Cassandra suddenly sprang to her feet, laughing out loud.
'She had been acting, you see. It was all a performance-the nervousness, the fidgeting, the fit. I was furious, at first. Caesar was delighted. She won him over on the spot. If she could fool both of us, then surely she could fool anyone.'
'I don't understand. Did she truly suffer from the falling sickness or not?'
'Oh, yes, she was subject to fits. She suffered more than one, staying in this house. But she had also learned to mimic those fits so convincingly that no one could tell the difference. That skill, among her others-not least her intelligence, for I don't think I've ever met a woman more intelligent than Cassandra-made her ideal for the role Caesar had in mind.
'Before he left for Greece, Caesar briefed her very closely, taking more time with her than with any of his other agents. She learned the name and family history of every important woman in Rome. More than that, she learned everything we could glean about those women's personal habits, their eccentricities and superstitions, their dreams and fears. She took copious notes on wax tablets, but kept them only long enough to memorize every detail. Then she would rub the tablets clean. She kept everything in her head.
'When Caesar was satisfied, she left this house and made her first appearances in the city. It wasn't long before people were talking about the madwoman in the Forum. I remember being at a dinner party and trying not to smile the first time I heard her mentioned. Overnight, everyone seemed to know about the mysterious woman who could see the future, even though no one had any idea who she was or where she came from. It was said that if she stared into a flame, she could induce such visions at will.
'Her method was simple. She would wait until a woman invited her home, or in some cases, practically kidnapped her. Inducements would be offered-money, food, shelter. Soon the lamp would be produced. Cassandra would oblige by staring at the flame, suffering a fit and going into a trance, then uttering cryptic but transparent prophecies based on what she knew about her hostess. Cassandra would tell each woman what that woman wanted to hear. There's no surer way to gain a person's confidence. With Cassandra, they let down their guard. They became naked before her-vulnerable, frightened, ambitious, boastful. They said things they would never have said to anyone else. Many more women consulted her than the handful who came to see her burn. Half the senators' wives in Rome have had Cassandra in their houses.'
I thought of the women I had spoken to. Terentia, Tullia, and the Vestal Fabia had all accepted Cassandra's prophetic powers without question. What bits of information about Cicero and Dolabella, not to mention the inner workings of the Vestal Virgins, had they inadvertently let slip while Cassandra was in their presence?
'What about Fulvia?' I said. 'Cassandra gave Fulvia specific details about Curio's death-the battle in the desert, the fact that he was beheaded. This was before anyone in Rome even knew that Curio was dead.'
'Anyone but Caesar.'
'What do you mean?'
'When the messenger from Africa arrived in Rome, he went directly to Caesar and to no one else. Caesar was distraught, of course. Curio was like a son to him. Caesar had had such great hopes for Curio; that was why he gave him the African command. But as Caesar says, information is like gold: one must spend it wisely. Secretly he met with Cassandra in this room and told her the details. The next morning, from informants in Fulvia's household, we learned that Fulvia intended to call on friends that day, and we determined the route she would take. Cassandra waited along that route. When Fulvia passed by in her litter, Cassandra pitched her voice to sound like a whisper, just loud enough to reach Fulvia's ears. She said-'
I remembered the words that Fulvia had quoted to me, and spoke them back to Calpurnia: ' 'He's dead now. He died fighting. It was a brave death.' '
Calpurnia nodded. 'Exactly. Those were the very words Caesar told her to say. Fulvia stopped, of course. She took Cassandra home with her. And when Cassandra revealed the specific details of Curio's end, which were later confirmed, it seemed like a true vision from the gods. Thus Cassandra won Fulvia's unquestioning trust, along with that of her mother, Sempronia.'
'And meanwhile Caesar kept the news of Curio's death to himself?'
'He swore the messenger to secrecy and told no one, not even Marc Antony-not even me-for two days. Information is gold. By spending that particular nugget of information with the utmost discipline, Caesar bought Fulvia's faith in Cassandra.'
'But Curio died fighting for Caesar. Why send a spy into his widow's house?'
'Why not? We wanted to know the temper of that household and anything those two women might be secretly planning. Don't let her grieving fool you, Gordianus. Fulvia is still madly ambitious. So is Sempronia. Many a time I've told Caesar, 'We have to watch those two, especially the daughter. No matter that she's married to Curio, no matter that Marc Antony's married to his cousin-mark my words, Fulvia has her eye on our Antony, and if those two should ever join forces… beware!' '
I shook my head. 'But for now, Antony remains married to Antonia. She saw through Cassandra's pretense.'
'Yes. With Antonia, Cassandra made a grave miscalculation. She acted on her own initiative, outside her mission for Caesar.'
'Not entirely her own initiative. It was Cytheris who put her up to making a distressing prophecy to Antonia.'
'I know. Cassandra confessed as much to me when I pressed her. She said that Cytheris had known her in Alexandria, and threatened to expose her if she didn't do a favor for her. Cassandra argued that her prophecy to Antonia was only a small matter. I disagreed, and I chastised her quite severely for destroying any chance to build a bond of trust with Antonia. That was stupid of Cassandra, and certainly not a part of Caesar's plan. It was also my
