"No." Scribonius' tone was still quiet, butwas clearly audible.
Sulpicianus, who had been walking in thegeneral direction of Scribonius, suddenly stopped, only thenraising his head to stare in dull surprise at my friend.
"No?" he asked, clearly puzzled.
"No," Scribonius repeated.
Then said nothing more.
"But you did," Sulpicianus exclaimed. "Yousaid that your name was entered in the record at the beginning, butit wasn't at the end! I distinctly remember you saying this!"
"You are mistaken," Scribonius repliedcalmly. "I made no statement to that effect."
Before Sulpicianus could open his mouth tokeep insisting, the Senior Tribune cleared his throat, making mewonder if he would wake up hoarse the next day.
"Tribune Sulpicianus, what EvocatusScribonius says is true," he interjected, his tone akin to the wayI talked to Ocelus when I was trying to soothe him after he hadbeen spooked. "He's not the one who made that statement. That wasTribune Piso who made that statement."
"Oh," Sulpicianus was clearly nonplussedand, in desperation, he looked over to Lentulus for guidance.
Piso saw this and wasted no time.
"Senior Tribune, I must insist thatSulpicianus not look elsewhere for help! He is the Tribune incharge of the prosecution, and if he is unable to conduct itwithout help, then I would ask that now that we've presented ourevidence, no further delays be granted!" Turning to me, he gesturedas he continued, "Hasn't the Prefect been subjected to enoughturmoil? There certainly can't be any doubt about the veracity, orlack of it," he laced these words with a scorn that I saw scoredwith Lucullus, "concerning the testimony offered by TribuneLucullus! It's been shown to be riddled with inconsistencies, andwe have an eyewitness who rebuts every claim he made! What moreproof of innocence is needed?"
The Senior Tribune bore the look of theunhappiest man in Rome. Without answering immediately, he lookedinstead to Sulpicianus, and I could almost see him willing theTribune to make some sort of objection. Sulpicianus did, but hisreply was of the same quality as his opening question toScribonius.
"But he hasn't answered my question. I thinkwe need to find out why there is this discrepancy!"
"What does a clerical error have to do withthe question of the innocence of Prefect Pullus?" Piso immediatelyshot back. If anyone else noticed how nimbly he had sidestepped thematter of Scribonius leaving the campaign by characterizing it asnothing more than an omission by a harried clerk in thePraetorium, I did not see any reaction that would lead me tobelieve they did. "Senior Tribune, if Tribune Sulpicianus can't aska question of any relevance to the question that is the subject ofthis Tribunal, then I must insist again that this proceeding beconcluded!"
"But I haven't asked anything about thatpart yet," Sulpicianus protested. "I'm still waiting for an answerabout how Evocatus Scribonius' name was missing from the finallist."
"Which we've already established has nothingto do with the question at hand." Piso's voice had raised to alevel consistent with a man who is very indignant about something."What we've heard from Evocatus Scribonius is more than enough tocontradict the testimony of Tribune Lucullus. Anything else is apurely administrative matter and needs to be dealt with separately,with the clerks who are charged with the duty of keeping recordsfor the army!"
"Enough! Stop! I've heard enough!"
I know the Senior Tribune was trying toreassert his authority and wanted to sound stern and in control,but he reminded me of a man wailing as he was having a toothextracted. Truthfully, I was as stunned as Sulpicianus, and I couldsee that Scribonius was equally bemused as matters seemed to changein the amount of time it takes to blink your eyes once or twice.Leaning back in his chair, the Senior Tribune rubbed his face as hetried to gather his thoughts. That was when aid came, from the mostunlikely source imaginable.
"I agree with Tribune Piso," the Tribunesitting to the Senior Tribune's right spoke up, at least audiblyenough to be heard by all of us, for the first time. "I think we'veheard enough to render a decision, and whatever this," he waved ahand in clear disgust in the direction of my friend, "matter isabout is outside the bounds of this Tribunal."
I stared at my new ally in open disbelief.Based on everything I had seen in his attitude, posture, anddisdainful glances, I had picked him as my most ardent enemy, orperhaps second next to the Senior Tribune. Everything about himstank in my nostrils, and it was not just the obviously expensiveperfume he wore that competed with the scents of the otherTribunes, Piso included. He exuded privilege, and the arrogancethat comes with it, yet here he was, voicing his support of Piso'sdemand that the Tribunal be concluded. What did not surprise me wasthe poisonous glare the Senior Tribune gave his compatriot, tellingme much in just that look.
"Might I remind you that it's not yourdecision to make," the Senior Tribune replied, his tone icy. "Thatdecision is mine."
"It may be your final decision, butwe all have a say." This came from the Tribune on the opposite sidewho, if I am being honest, looked thoroughly bored through theentire proceeding. "And I agree. It's time we end this."
"So do I," added the Tribune on the end, whohad looked at me like I was a chicken hanging from the rafterwaiting to be cooked when Primus' account of our implied tryst wasbeing read. "We've heard more than enough. And frankly," hesniffed, "I don't care to hear any more about clerical errors thatdon't even involve the matter at hand."
"But I haven't asked my questions yet,"Sulpicianus squeaked.
It was only by accident that I had happenedto look over just in time to see Lentulus give Sulpicianus a hardjab from behind just before the Tribune spoke. It made me wonderwhy this Lentulus seemed to be the only one, besides Sulpicianus,who I excused because of his condition of being an idiot, wanted toprobe more deeply into Scribonius' part in all this.
"Silete!"
I will say that, professionally speaking,the Senior Tribune's bellow was
