~ ~ ~ ~
“You’re sure about this?”
I looked at Cartufenus, sitting across from me but this time at his desk, in his quarters and not mine. I nodded.
“May I ask why?” His tone was very polite, but I would have answered him regardless.
“Because I don't believe Verres, or his tent mates,” I said simply.
He regarded me with an even gaze, his eyes giving away nothing, then he replied, “While I'm sure that my men will appreciate your sense of justice and will think more kindly of you, I somehow don't think your men will feel the same.”
“I couldn't give a flying fuck what the men think about me,” I snapped, instantly regretting it. Cartufenus’ face flushed, clearly angry, and I made haste to apologize. “I'm sorry, Cartufenus. This has just put my nerves on edge. I meant no disrespect to you.”
He inclined his head, signaling that he accepted my apology.
Folding his arms, he looked thoughtfully down at his desk. “And you plan on taking this matter to Caesar? And to recommend the maximum punishment?”
“Yes.”
For that was the decision that I had reached the night before, and although my anger had cooled, my determination to see this through had not.
“Aren’t you worried that the whole story of our. . difficulties will come to light?”
This was the crux of the matter, at least as far as I was concerned. By making this official, and bringing it to the attention of Caesar, there would undoubtedly be questions asked that would expose the months-old rift between our two Legions.
Indeed, I was very worried about it, but to Cartufenus I just shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about it, and maybe we didn’t do the best thing in keeping this quiet after all.” He was not convinced, so I continued talking. “It’s only a matter of time before there's a really ugly incident, and not one involving just one or two men. There’s going to be a riot, and there'll be no way to hide that. Then where will we be? No, I think it’s better to get it out in the open now while it’s still relatively minor and something that we can handle.”
He did not like it, but I could see that he accepted the sense of what I was saying. His expression sharpened; he had a pair of very bushy, thick eyebrows that when he frowned merged to form one single line of hair, so despite the gravity of the subject, I had to keep from laughing when I saw what looked like two caterpillars crawling towards each other on his forehead.
“Caesar’s no fool; he’ll know that there’s more to the story, and that this just didn’t suddenly flare up.”
The urge to laugh fled from me with his words, the way those sailors had on the Heptastadion.
“I know,” I said soberly. “I'll just have to deal with that if it happens.”
“Oh, it'll happen. I may not know Caesar as well as you do, but I know him well enough. He doesn’t miss a thing.”
With that, our conversation was over and I left to go deal with what was coming next.
~ ~ ~ ~
“You’re going to do what?”
Not surprisingly, the reaction I got from my own Centurions was more vehement than Cartufenus’, with a babble of voices as all the men tried to talk at once. My nerves were already very raw, so I was in no mood to indulge my Centurions in what I considered useless chatter.
“Tacete!”
Even I could feel the walls vibrate from the sound of my voice, and the men instantly obeyed. I waited for a moment, observing the men’s sullen silence, the hostility and anger written plainly on almost every face. Felix looked less angry than puzzled, while Considius looked like he had no idea what we were talking about.
Calmly, I repeated what I had originally said that caused all the excitement. “I said that after investigating the matter, I've determined that Gregarius Immunes Verres stabbed Gregarius Plautus to death without sufficient provocation. While I don't doubt that Plautus said something offensive, I don't think that it warranted the reaction that he got. I therefore intend to take the matter to Caesar and recommend that Verres be punished.”
“But Verres has witnesses that saw the whole thing and corroborated his story,” protested Severus, with several of the others loudly voicing their agreement.
“Yes, and I believe Verres’ tent mates were showing commendable loyalty, but I simply don't believe them. Don’t any of you find it somewhat odd that every witness on Verres’ behalf was from his section? I know men usually spend most of their time with their tent mates; remember, I was in the ranks myself.” As I said this, I thought back to all those nights around the fire with Vibius, Scribonius, Romulus, and Remus.
Seemingly out of nowhere, I felt my chest tighten as my eyes began to burn, forcing me to blink rapidly to keep from shaming myself. Fortunately, the others were too absorbed in their own thoughts to notice.
“But it’s very, very rare that every single man in Verres’ tent section just happened to be present, in the exact same whorehouse, at the exact same time.”
There was not much that anyone could say about this, for they knew what I was saying was true. I suppose it is possible that every single member of a tent section got along with each other so well that they were all good friends and went everywhere, even whoring together, but I had never seen it happen. It certainly had not worked out that way in my tent section, and I thought of Didius, wondering if anyone had caught him cheating and beaten him to death yet.
“Perhaps it was a special occasion.”
All eyes turned towards Favonius, the one who uttered these words. I felt my jaw clench, knowing that whatever he was up to, it was highly unlikely that I would like it.
“Oh?” I laughed, making no attempt to hide my sarcasm. “And what momentous event could prompt something that we all know never happens? Somebody’s birthday, perhaps?”
While my words were meant to unsettle Favonius, they did not seem to have any effect at all.
He merely shrugged and replied quietly, “I don’t know, but I think it might be a good idea to find out.”
I could not tell what he was playing at, which made me nervous, particularly since his idea had merit, at least in the sense of tying up any possible loose ends, but I decided not to press the matter at that time.
“Primus Pilus, with all due respect, I have to say that I vigorously protest your decision and I resent the implication that somehow my men are lying to cover up for one of their comrades.” For the first time I could recall in our short relationship, I seemed to have Cornuficius rattled, his normally blank face clearly angry.
In reply, I feigned surprise as I responded, “I'm not censuring your men in the slightest, Cornuficius. They showed admirable loyalty in trying to protect their tent mate, however misguided that loyalty may have been. And neither am I saying that Plautus was completely blameless, but what I am saying is that while Verres may have had just cause to be angry, he overreacted. He acted in the heat of the moment, which is something I intend to stress to Caesar. It's very likely that Caesar will show clemency; he’s famous for his mercy. You all should know that better than most.”
That was a calculated slap in their collective faces, but I was gambling that the fact that it was true would keep the men from speaking up. I was relieved to see that I was right.
“That's all I have to say on the matter. I'll be making my report to Caesar later today. In the meantime, Verres is confined to quarters; I don't see much point in keeping him in close confinement. As bad as things may be for him inside, I'm fairly sure that the Egyptians will have something much more unpleasant in store for him if he decides to go over the wall.”