That was true, I had to acknowledge,although my father, Lucius, now long dead and completely forgotten,was a man in only the barest sense. When Scribonius left later thatnight, I had a better understanding of the relationship betweenyoung Piso and Lucullus, and the very first glimmering of an ideabehind why Agrippa was insistent on choosing the Tribune as mydefender.
"Are you ready to get started?" I asked Pisoafter a moment.
I was relieved to see him answer withouthesitation, by way of pulling out a wax tablet, and saying, "Yes, Ihave some questions already prepared I would like to ask you."
My interview with young Piso lasted thebetter part of a full watch, and I will say that by the time wewere through, I was more impressed with the young Tribune than Ithought I would have been. His questions were probing, and thoroughto the point where it made me feel somewhat uncomfortable, becauseit forced me to fully voice my opinion of Marcus Primus and themanner in which he conducted the campaign. Granted, he was now deadand, more importantly, disgraced, but never far from my mind wasthat he was still a patrician. It was not until the end of hisquestioning, which filled three tablets of notes that I felt thetime was right to bring up the topic that was foremost in mymind.
"Tribune, now that you've finished with yourquestions, I was wondering if I might ask you one or two?"
"Please, Prefect, call me Piso. Tribune isso formal, and since we're going to be spending so much timetogether, it seems pointless to waste some of it on formalities.And I will answer any question you care to ask to the best of myabilities."
We will see about that, I thought grimly,but plunged ahead, as usual ignoring the screaming voice ofcaution.
"I understand that you're friends with theTribune Lucullus, who, as you know, is providing the primary pieceof evidence against me. Why should I believe that your friendshipwon't get in the way with my defense?"
Piso's expression, which had been so openand friendly, changed immediately, his face closing up as allemotion vanished from it.
His tone, however, was not hostile as muchas it was cold. "It's true that Lucullus was my friend,Prefect," he said softly. "But that's no longer the case. In fact,we are far from friends at this moment."
"Ah," I replied as I leaned forward tobetter watch his face for any sign that would indicate he wasdeceiving me in any way. "Might I inquire as to the cause of thisbreach of friendship?"
"You can ask," Piso said stiffly. "But Iwould prefer not to divulge the reason."
I stared at Piso, and I will say that I didso using every bit of my experience in intimidating men and, whilehe did appear uncomfortable, he still said nothing. Moreimportantly, he refused to drop his gaze, despite the fact that Icould easily see the fear in his eyes. That, I had to admitgrudgingly, was not necessarily a bad thing, considering what layahead for both of us. After an uncomfortable silence, I realizedthat I had to soften my approach a bit.
"Piso," I made sure to keep my tone asreasonable and gentle as I could make it, "please understand Idon't mean to pry. At least," I amended, "for the sake of pryingitself. But look at it from my viewpoint. My career, and probablymy life, are in your hands, and the principal piece of evidence isbeing supplied by a man who you admitted was a friend of yours.Now, you say this is no longer the case, and I want to accept youat your word. But," I finished, using a tactic that I had found tobe one of the most effective at moments like this, "if you were inmy boots, wouldn't you want to know as much as possible about thecircumstances of your falling out?"
Piso did not reply immediately, but I couldsee that I had scored a blow for my cause.
Finally, he relented. "Yes, Prefect. If Iwere in your boots, I would want to know exactly why matters standthe way they do between Lucullus and me." Taking a deep breath, hecontinued, "Lucullus and I are no longer friends because of thisvery matter. What he's done is something I can't forgive."
I suppose that it would be nice if I relatedat this point that what motivated Piso to turn on Lucullus was theinjustice being done to me. And while that played a role in theirfalling out, this was just secondary to the primary cause. Perhapswhat is most instructive, at least to me, is that after Piso wasfinished with his explanation, I was not even that surprised.
"Lucullus has always been jealous of me andmy ancestry," he explained. "His blood is simply not as exalted asmine, and it's been something that has bothered him a greatdeal."
"All right, that explains why he might havesome cause for grievance with you, I suppose, but not the other wayaround."
Now Piso had either the grace or the senseto look a bit uncomfortable.
"He's overreaching," the young Tribuneanswered, "and he's also foolish if he thinks that an adoption isgoing to change matters. But he's already mentioned to others thatone thing he's looking forward to is being on an equal footing withme, his best friend. That," he finished indignantly, "will neverhappen." Then, in what I was sure was an afterthought, he added,"Of course, the way in which he's doing it, at the expense of yourcareer, is absolutely the worst part of this, and that in itself isinexcusable."
So there it was, I realized. It had verylittle, if anything, to do with any injustice being perpetratedagainst me and everything to do with another noble jealouslyguarding his place in the pecking order. As disappointing as thatmight have been to me, I also was pragmatic enough to recognizethat I could not be choosy about the motives of anyone who mightprove to be an ally.
"Well, I'm thankful that you have such ahighly developed sense of justice," I said with as much sincerityas I could muster, without throwing up.
Fortunately, he seemed to accept my words atface value, because he positively
