Although it was clear that he did not likethe idea, the Senior Tribune relented.
"I suppose that is permissible," he allowed."But just for a moment."
He stared down at Piso. I suppose it wasnatural that our eyes met, and I met his gaze, which seemed tounsettle him. I will say that I had been singularly unimpressedwith the Senior Tribune to this point, but I must also admit that Ihave a bias against men who have not been blessed with a strong jawline. Although I cannot offer anything of an objective nature tosupport my belief, I am of the opinion that men with weak chins arecorrespondingly weak in character. All I can put forward in defenseis that when I look back at all of the men I consider to be greatleaders, all of them had a strong jaw line. I was jerked from myobservation when Piso, taking the Senior Tribune at his word, spunabout and crouched down.
"Prefect, what do you think? At this point,I think we have an even chance at seeing you exonerated."
That is what Piso said; what I heard wasthat my fate was coming down to a flip of a coin, with the oddsbeing just as much against as they were in favor. Those, Ireflected, were not the kind of odds I liked. Glancing over atScribonius and Diocles, I could see they were of a similarmind.
"Is this the best we can do?" I askedPiso.
He considered for a moment, then gave areluctant nod of his head.
"I believe so," he replied. "I think we'vesubstantially damaged the state's case, but I can't think ofanything else to do that might make the odds even better."
"I can." Before I could even speak,Scribonius had spoken.
All eyes turned to him, but he did notflinch.
"Call me as a witness."
I cannot say who made the most noise as theysucked in their breath, me or Diocles, but Piso only lookedconfused.
"I appreciate your loyalty, Fronto," he toldmy friend gently, "but I'm not sure that testimony from a comrade,and one who wasn't there, would do any good."
I grabbed Scribonius by the arm, squeezingit hard as a prelude to let him know what I was willing to do inorder to prevent him from taking this step to harm himself. Ishould have known better; of all the people I could intimidate,Sextus Scribonius was the least likely.
"But I was there," Scribonius told Piso,ignoring my hissed warning to him. "I was there for the first partof the campaign."
Piso looked away from Scribonius to turn hisgaze on me, clearly confused, but his eyes searched my face for thetruth. I suppose he found it there, because he looked over atScribonius, staring at him with a combination of confusion and anunderstanding that my friend could be of help. Finally, Pisorelented.
"Very well, Fronto. If you're sure that youcan help the Prefect, I will have you called as a witness."
"Sextus." I increased the pressure on hisarm, which caused him to wince, but he still looked at me steadily,while we both ignored Piso’s look of confusion at my sudden use ofa different name for a man he had thought was a book dealer."Please. Don't do this. I couldn't live with myself if I thoughtthat you put yourself in danger because of me."
"Titus." My friend gave me a tired smile."It's not always about you. This is as much about me, and the kindof man I want to be, as it is about you."
"Fine words," I snorted, not hiding myderision. "But when you're kneeling next to me waiting for thespatha to take our heads off, I don't want to hear youchanging your tune."
"You really think so little of me?" I couldsee a glint of real anger in my friend's eye. "You think that Idon't know what I'm doing, that I don't know my own heart?" Heshook his head. "I know exactly what choice I'm making. And nobody,not you, not Piso here, is going to stop me from doing what I thinkis right."
How does one answer that? I wondered. I amstill looking for an answer, as all I could do was bow my head indefeat, too overcome to say anything. Piso seemed to understandwhat had transpired, giving us both a nod.
"Very well," he said. "It's decided. Fronto,or whatever his name is, will take the stand."
With that decided, we all turned to face theSenior Tribune as Piso stood to address him.
"Senior Tribune," he said. "I would like tocall a witness for the defense."
The Senior Tribune was clearly surprised,asking, "And who might that be?"
With no more prompting than that, my friendstood up.
"I am the witness, Senior Tribune,"Scribonius said calmly. "My name is Sextus Scribonius, and I was ofthe status of Evocatus and attached to the Army of Pannonia. I canoffer testimony that will prove once and for all that theallegations against Prefect Pullus are false."
Every member of the Tribunal turned to facethe Senior Tribune, while Sulpicianus just seemed lost. On the sideof the prosecution, only Lucullus had the presence of mind to leapup.
"You can't hear his testimony!" he shouted."He's supposed to be dead!"
Because it was the defense calling thewitness, the burden was on us to prove that Scribonius was awitness who had testimony that was relevant to the case. What Irealized very quickly was that, just in order to determine hisstatus, Scribonius was going to expose himself to extreme risk.However, the Senior Tribune could do nothing to stop Piso fromputting Scribonius to questioning in order to establish that factwithout running the serious risk of showing that this Tribunal wasanything but impartial. With that in mind, I studied the SeniorTribune's face closely as he held a whispered conversation with theother members. Although they managed to keep their voices down sothat we could not make out the words, we could easily tell by thetone that there was a fierce debate raging between the fourTribunes as they argued back and forth. It did not surprise me thatit was the Tribune to the right of the Senior Tribune who seemed tobe putting up the biggest fight; what I did not know was what itwas he was arguing for, Scribonius to be
