The moment he finished, I could see thatLentulus realized what had just happened.
"Well, that's instructive," Piso agreed,then turned to face the Tribunal as he finished in a louder voice,"It's good to know that men who are tortured aren't very reliablewitnesses."
"Wait! That's not what I meant," Lucullusprotested. "I was referring to a private matter! I wasn't implyingthat this in any way pertained to Marcus Primus!"
"Yes, yes." Piso smiled at him. "Weunderstand quite well. You're saying that a slave under torture isdifferent than a patrician under torture, aren't you?"
When a man is drowning, he cannot afford tobe choosy about whether or not what is thrown to save him is arope, or a snake. Lucullus pounced on this offered lifelineimmediately.
"Yes! That's exactly what I'm saying! Surelyyou can't compare the two!"
"Gnaeus Lucullus." Piso's tone turned almostgentle. "Did you ever meet Marcus Primus?"
"Yes, I met him on several occasions,"Lucullus answered, looking at Piso cautiously, as he shouldhave.
"I never had the pleasure myself," Pisoreplied. "But I assume that he was the model of all that a Romanman of the patrician class should be? He embodied those values andcharacteristics that are thought of so highly, and have made Romeso feared and respected?"
Although it was difficult, I suppressed alaugh at the mental image that Piso had conjured up in my mind.Clearly, Lucullus did know Marcus Primus quite well, because inanswer, he closed his eyes.
"No." He breathed a huge sigh. "Since I havesworn an oath to be truthful to the gods, I cannot say that MarcusPrimus was the kind of man that our ancestors would havevalued."
"Ah." Piso nodded. "Just so. I will confessthat I had heard as much. But Gnaeus Lucullus," Piso once morechanged his tone, now pressing forcefully, "wouldn't his character,or lack thereof, play a major part in the veracity of histestimony? Can you imagine the man you knew undergoing the kind ofphysical torment that you witnessed with your slave?"
"No," Lucullus acknowledged. "No, Ican't."
"If it pleases the Tribunal," Piso announcedsuddenly, "I have no more questions for this witness. I now call onTribune Lucullus."
Tribune Sulpicianus was still sitting there,clearly trying to understand what had just happened, when Lucullusrose and moved to the chair. This time, he had no excuse not toface me, but he looked everywhere except directly at me. Pisowasted no time.
"Tribune Lucullus, it's your testimony thatTitus Pullus, Camp Prefect of the Army of Pannonia," while I wasnot sure why he was bestowing my formal title on me, it seemed tohave some sort of impact on Lucullus, who shifted in his seatuncomfortably, "relayed to you his knowledge that the then-Praetor,Marcus Primus, was conducting an unauthorized campaign in Thrace.Is that correct?"
"Y-yes, it is," Lucullus answered, his gazeshifting down to the floor.
Piso's reaction was to nod, but then hestopped, frowning at the seated Tribune. Tilting his head, heplayed the role of a man trying to recall something perfectly.
"In your testimony earlier today, you saidthat you had more than one conversation with the Prefect about thismatter, did you not?"
Lucullus frowned, I imagine both in anattempt to recollect what he had said, and why Piso thought itnoteworthy.
"I..I suppose so," he finally answered.
Piso was not satisfied.
"You suppose? Again, Tribune, as I remindedGnaeus Lucullus, one of the most respected military men of Rome hashis career at stake here! Do I need to have the record of yourtestimony read back to you?"
"No," Lucullus protested. "I remember it.And to answer your question, yes, we had more than one conversationabout what Marcus Primus was up to."
"Really?" Piso asked in surprise. "You hadseveral conversations with the Prefect."
"I didn't say several," Lucullus shot back,and Piso held up a hand in apology.
"Forgive me, Tribune," Piso replied. "But itwould be accurate that you had more than oneconversation?"
"Yes."
Piso seemed to consider that, then shook hishead.
"For some reason, that doesn't seem right,"he said. Looking down at the table, he moved a couple of waxtablets aside before opening one. "Ah, here it is." Piso held upthe tablet so that the Tribunal could see it clearly.
"This is the transcript of Tribune Lucullus'statement, when he accused Camp Prefect Pullus of knowingly aidingMarcus Primus. This is part of the official evidence."
Not content with showing them, Piso strodeover and held the open tablet in turn before each Tribune,finishing with the Senior Tribune, who nodded his head inacknowledgement that he had seen the tablet before. Or so Iassumed, anyway. Once finished, Piso turned and strode back to ourtable, and when our eyes met, he gave me a wink. That, I believenow, is when I knew that I would emerge from this victorious.Perhaps that is colored by hindsight, but it seems that way to me.Piso wheeled on Lucullus, still holding the tablet.
"Tribune, I'm sorry, but there is adiscrepancy in your testimony."
Lucullus suddenly sat upright, for the firsttime staring in at least my general direction.
"What are you talking about?"
Piso looked down at the tablet, as if he wasreading from it, but I was sure this was artifice.
"In your original written statement, yousaid that you had one, and only one, conversation with PrefectPullus. Yet, today, you said that you talked with him more thanonce." Piso shook his head as he looked directly at Lucullus. "Thatis a problem."
Lucullus' head swiveled to look atSulpicianus who, it must be said, had returned to his miningexpedition and only became aware that all eyes were on him when theSenior Tribune cleared his throat, very loudly. Sitting up, it wasanother time I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing as hishead turned this way and that as he tried to understand what washappening.
"Tribune Sulpicianus." Piso addressed hisadversary in a tone that was almost gentle. "We seem to have adispute about a key point of testimony. If, that is," he turnedback to Lucullus, "you are standing by your statement you made thismorning, that you had more than one conversation with the Prefectabout this matter."
Lucullus' expression reminded me of the ratswe had trapped during the siege of Avaricum to
