“Thank you, Simeon.” He nodded to the servant, who departed, then turned back to me. “This is in the distant past,” he continued. “Pompeius has always loved the adoration of the crowd. Let him sing for it. Though I admit, it pleases me to remember his most recent miscalculation in his courtship for the people’s love.”
“The elephants.”
“Remind me, upon our return, to purchase a pair. I should like to keep them as pets, and as a reminder of that day.”
“May that day arrive swiftly.”
“Come, come, Alexander. Show a little spine. Does not your philosophy require observation? War is part of life. You must see it to understand it. Think of this adventure as my gift to you for the advancement of your studies.”
“I would rather hear about it from the forum crier.”
“At this moment, he is probably detailing the chaos of my departure.”
“Yes, I am sorry to have missed it. I hear it caused quite a stir.”
“You do not know the half of it. But I was pleased to find all in readiness for my comfort at the port, thanks to you. I regret the need to separate you from your son, but you are the only member of my household I would trust for such a task. You’re a good atriensis, old friend. Half my friends would pay seven figures to steal you away for their own houses. I’ve had offers, believe me. Curio won’t do near as well, but it can’t be helped. I need you with me.”
“He’s quite competent. I’m sure he’ll make an excellent replacement.”
“Now don’t pout. It’s only temporary. You are foremost among my slaves, Alexander, and always shall be. You know what that means, don’t you? To do what you have done, you could just as well have governed a good-sized town.”
“When you grant us our freedom, general, I shall find a village and run for mayor.”
“When I give you your freedom, Alexander, I shall be a poorer man by half.”
It was a game we often played, but in thirty years, I had never won a round. My abilities were my curse. Crassus would never release me. But then, maybe Curio would prove to be so efficient, dominus would have no more need of me, and he’d release both me and my family. A faint and ironic hope. “You were about to tell me what happened at the forum,” I said, trying to ignore the intermittent spatter of the agitated waters against the hull.
“As you know, my old friend Marcus Cato had already tried to convince the senate that my candidacy for the consulate was a sham, meant to accumulate more wealth and armies. The man is as blind as Homer. I have no more need of wealth than he has of purple-hemmed togas or parchment for his speeches. As for armies, I already own one; two would be gluttony. Nevertheless, he convinced the senate to withhold its sanction for a war against Parthia. And our noble collection of accountants and lawyers agreed. Why pick a fight, they asked, with a country who has harmed us but little? They missed the point entirely.”
“If the political reasons were relevant, they would be many,” I countered, knowing the darker motives which moved my master. “Orodes seems content to stay within the palace walls at Ctesiphon. And although he is king, his dominion is not much more than a patchwork of loosely confederated states. They do not seem capable of posing much of a threat, even if they should wish to expand their borders. They tried for Armenia, but she is now under Rome’s patronage, and as a client state bent to Rome’s will, Armenia is an effective buffer should the East awaken.”
“Thank you, Alexander. You have made my argument for me. It is for these very reasons that Parthia is ripe for the plucking, and why the senate should have rushed to drape the paludamentum of command about my shoulders. Orodes is newly crowned; wet behind the ears. Our spies say he is completely preoccupied with simply keeping his throne, let alone ruling from it. He cannot possibly mount an adequate defense. We will sweep along the Euphrates like a honed scythe through dry wheat. Rome has many mouths to feed, Alexander. What flows from the breast of war but the milk of tribute, spoils and slaves? Rome is an ever-hungry infant that needs constant suckling. I will see to it, through this conquest, that its growth and health continue undiminished.”
There was no point raising the objection that Rome had existing treaties with Parthia, and that breaking them would weaken the Republic’s integrity throughout its sphere of influence. The light in my master’s eye would brook no argument; it would only be extinguished by his success or, gods forfend, his failure. Politics aside, I had no desire to be whipped, as dominus had threatened. Once a lifetime is sufficient for any man.
“Where was I?”
“Cato.”
“Yes. You would not believe it, but he convinced his co-conniver, that lunatic Ateius to reverse my proconsulship of Syria. Thankfully, his veto was overturned by another more ‘reasonable’ senator, who at this moment is on his way to inspect his new estate in Puteoli.” The general winked. “Occasionally, excessive wealth has its uses, if only to let it flow where it is most needed.”
“Do my ears deceive me? Or did I just hear you define your wealth as ‘excessive’?”
“In the hearing, Alexander, you are not deceived. But in the interpretation, most beguiled. To the casual observer, my wealth may appear…extreme. To me, however, a denarius is but a tool, ten thousand denarii the means to many ends. And as any good carpenter knows, you can build anything if you have the right tools. Now stop trying to goad me to argument, or do you not wish to hear the end of the tale?”
Bowing contritely, I bade him continue.
“I left the senate, gathered my lictors and entourage, and was preparing to leave the city when this vaunted Tribune of the Plebs shows up again. This time Ateius, failing to incite the crowd to detain me, attempts instead to have me arrested!”
“I understand Pompeius intervened on your behalf?”
Crassus’ expression darkened. “It is true, and it rankles deeply that I was forced to accept his assistance. Like it or not, he does have a following, and with his soothing words and paternal smiles, he parted the crowds in the comitium as a liburna under full sail cuts through hospitable seas.
“Why would he aid you? With respect, your enmity is mutual.”
“Why else? To hasten us out of the city and so out of his thinning hair. Our alliance is broken. Both Pompeius and Caesar would like nothing better than to see me fail, or if the gods might grant their secret, special prayers, to find themselves on the speaker’s rostra draped in black and reciting the laudatio funebris in my recently departed honor.
“Are you certain, my lord? Did not Caesar write from Gaul to encourage you?”
“Of course he encourages me! Think on it, Alexander. He believes my failure is fated, because I do not meet the requirement of the Sibylline oracles. I will fail because I am not a king. And when I do, the senate will grant him as many legions as it takes to avenge me; they will withhold nothing from him, including a crown.”
“And so he allows Publius to slip away, to become another martyred hero?”
“I believe that is his thinking, yes.” Crassus tilted his head toward the roiling sky. “Once I counted him an ally and I had thought, a friend. I believed I could take the measure of any man with but a glance, but it shames me to think how blind I was to his true nature. If I could be so wrong about Caesar, who is to say the image I hold of myself is not equally warped and contorted?”
“For that answer, you need only look into the eyes of your wife and sons.”
“My wife, yes.” Crassus' eyes drifted away, then refocused. “You were present the night Caesar became my enemy. Publius must never know. As for Marcus, my eldest, he is an accountant, not a warrior. Let Caesar keep him as quaestor to guard his swelling treasury. The general has little to fear from him, and I frankly, have little use for him in Parthia. He will stay in Gaul to be our ears in Caesar’s camp.