~ ~ ~ ~
This was the manner in which we passed the days, but while there was a banquet on the royal barge almost every night, all of us were only invited that one time. I was invited back, just myself, twice more but never at Caesar’s table again, which was fine with me, since it meant I could relax more. Cartufenus and I usually sat together, also fine with me because we enjoyed each other’s company and had more fun. Every so often, the fleet would stop sailing to allow Caesar and Cleopatra to disembark, with the queen wanting to show Caesar one of the local sights, usually a temple or monument. They were always accompanied by one Century at least, depending on how far they were going, along of course with Caesar’s personal bodyguard, while I usually went along. It was during one of these trips that I saw with my very eyes one of the most amazing and awe-inspiring sights in the known world. I am of course referring to those massive structures called the Pyramids, and there are no words to describe them adequately. They are as tall as small mountains, built of huge blocks of stone. Cleopatra was quite knowledgeable in their construction, and of course, Caesar, being the engineering genius that he was, asked innumerable questions and was keenly interested. What I found most astonishing was that as large as these structures are, ultimately they are to hold the remains of one man, even if they were Pharaoh. The other thing that struck me was how old they were; Cleopatra claimed that they were more than a thousand years old, something I still find hard to believe, but it was clear that they are very, very old indeed. Regardless of how old they are, they still remain as the most impressive sight these old eyes have ever seen, even more impressive than Rome itself and all that it has to offer.
~ ~ ~ ~
Caesar and Cleopatra may have been enjoying themselves, but the men were getting bored. After the first few days of watching crocodiles eating cattle, and the huge creatures we called river horses that live in the Nile, even with the double wine ration, the men were running out of diversions. Before a full week had passed, my morning report contained details of fights between the men, or with the crew of the ship they were on. One evening, after our trip to the Pyramids, Felix rowed over to my boat, his face grim. He had barely sipped his wine before he started giving me the bad news.
“Primus Pilus, I don’t really know how to put this,” he began, and I waved him silent.
“Then just say it and don’t worry about how I'll take it. I promise I won't hold it against you.”
I had hoped this would put him at ease, except it did not have the effect I intended. Instead, he did not reply, looking into his wine cup as he seemed to be considering something. I was about to say something but I bit it back, sure that I would make things worse.
“It’s just that what I'm about to tell you is…..awkward,” he said carefully. “It’s awkward because it concerns one of my fellow Centurions, and as much as I've come to admire and respect you, I've still served with these men longer than I have with you.”
He looked at me to gauge my reaction, but I still said nothing, deciding to wait for him to continue. Very briefly, I thought about reminding him of his duty, that he owed his first allegiance to his commanding officer and to the 6th Legion, except I knew things were not always that simple, so I remained silent.
Seeing that I was not going to speak, he sighed. “Very well, you're not going to make this easy are you? It concerns Cornuficius. He's been working on the men, convincing them that they need to put pressure on Caesar to end this. . whatever you want to call it, and go home so we can finish this business once and for all.”
I shook my head, taking a deep drink from my own wine cup. It was always Cornuficius; he was turning out to be more of a pain than Celer ever thought about being.
Felix looked at me, waiting for me to speak. “That would be a huge mistake. You were there when the Spanish Legions threatened to mutiny. In fact that’s why you’re here and they’re not, and I can tell you this.” I leaned forward, pointing my finger at him, something he did not deserve, but I was angry. “The Spanish Legions and the 10th in particular did more for Caesar than the 6th ever has or ever will, and he still sent them home in disgrace. Trying to pressure Caesar is absolutely the worst thing the men could try.”
“I know.” Felix held his hands up in protest, “and I told Cornuficius that, but he won’t listen. Ever since that business with Fuscus, he knows he runs the Cohort. That’s why I came to you.”
“What do you know about what happened with Fuscus?” I asked sharply.
“No more than what everyone knows, that Fuscus ordered the Cohort to leave the tents alone and Cornuficius ignored him. And once he did, the rest of the Centurions followed Cornuficius’ lead. They’re all afraid of him, except Sertorius, but he had been wounded by that point and wasn’t there.”
“The 10th isn't your Cohort,” I pointed out. “So why are you the one to tell me this?”
“It doesn’t matter. They’re part of the 6th, and this is just as much my Legion as it is Cornuficius’ or anyone else. And you’re right; I was there in camp and I saw what Caesar did. I also heard that he ordered the 9th to be decimated before that, and I know that if he would do that to a Legion who marched with him in Gaul, he wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing to us.”
I rubbed my face, trying to think of what to do. For a moment, I thought about going to Caesar, telling him what Cornuficius was up to, and suggesting that the same thing happen to Cornuficius that happened to Verres Rufus. Almost immediately, I rejected the idea, for a number of reasons, not least of which was giving Caesar any indication that I was unable to handle the problem. That meant I would have to handle this on my own, so I sat with Felix, making small talk while I worked on a solution. Cornuficius had to be stopped, one way or another, and I was beginning to come up with an idea on how to make it happen.
~ ~ ~ ~
Fortunately, not only the men of the 6th wanted to go home; Caesar’s generals were anxious to leave as well, they finally prevailed upon Caesar to end his holiday. Turning about two days before my 30th birthday in April, our progress back down the river was much swifter than it had been in the opposite direction, since we were going downstream and we did not stop at every village, town, temple, and monument on the way. Entering the open water, we sailed to Alexandria, bringing Cleopatra and her entire retinue back home, while the men began preparing for what they thought would be a voyage back to Italy, especially once word got out of what was going on back home. Antonius had been making a mess of things, appointing men to posts based on nothing more than his whim at the moment, or how much money they paid him, of course. Payoffs for offices have been part of the system for the gods know how long, but usually there is some minor consideration given to the ability of the men vying for office, yet apparently, this was something that Antonius was not paying any attention to at all. One man in particular, Dolabella, was running rampant and causing much trouble. Also waiting for me personally was word that Gisela had indeed given birth to a baby girl, and she was asking what name should be given to her. After thinking about it, I wrote that I wanted the child called Livia to honor my dead sister. The situation with the Legions was not much better than the political situation in Rome; the men had been sitting in camp on the Campus Martius for the last several months waiting for Caesar to return to make good on his promises, and there was increasing unrest. All in all, there were numerous reasons that Caesar needed to return to Rome. Perhaps that is why he chose to do nothing of the sort and attend to a completely different matter.