“The gods have spoken,” Cimber said, raising his cup anddraining it.
“Then why have you not invited him tonight. so that youcould partake of his wisdom?” Brutus asked.
“Cicero is wise, but he is also old,” Cassius replied. “Itis for young men such as ourselves to plan the future.”
“To plan conspiracies. you mean,” said Brutus.
“Against whom do we conspire?” asked Cassius. raising hiseyebrows in surprise. “Against Caesar’? He is not the power in Rome, thank thegods, yet he is a threat not to be taken lightly. All here are loyal citizensof the republic, merely expressing their concerns about the future. Is thatconspiracy’?”
“Perhaps not,” said Brutus. “Yet it has the flavor of one.”
“Come now, Brutus,” Cassius said, putting his arm aroundhim, “you are among friends. Set aside your worries. There are many flavorshere to tempt you. Such as this excellent Greek wine, for instance.”
Cassius gestured for a slave to pour Brutus another cup. “Letus have no more talk about conspiracies.” He winked. “At least, not fortonight.”
Brutus drained the cup and held it out to be refilled. Thewine was filling him with pleasant warmth. A warmth that seemed to banish thechill of an uncertain future. Yes, indeed, he thought, it was a good night toget drunk.
Capt. Jonathan Travers of the United States Temporal ArmyObserver Corps, alias “Lucius Septimus,” personal secretary and aide to thecommander of the legions, stood outside his tent and gazed out at the troopscamped all around him. The legionaries were relaxing around their cook fires,but there was a tension of anticipation in the air. Each of them knew that inthe morning, they would take part in a historic event that had no precedent.The camp had been situated on the slope of a hill. The entrance gates were onthe downslope and the rear gates were at the crest. The legions had camped outin the open, away from wooded areas that could provide an enemy with an opportunityto make a sudden attack from concealment. The earthworks had been thrown uparound the camp, the soil taken from a twelve-foot-wide ditch dug around themto a depth of nine feet. The earthen wall itself was ten feet high and six feetwide, enough room for defenders to stand on top and hurl their javelins in theevent of an assault. Timber and brush had been used to reinforce the earthworksand the ramparts. When occasion demanded it, wooden towers could be placed atopthe wall, but this was only a temporary camp and there was no need for them.
The camp was laid out in a large rectangle, divided intothree roughly equal parts. These divisions were marked off by two broad “streets”that ran the width of the entire camp. The praetorium was theheadquarters section. where Travers had his tent. It occupied a wide space inthe exact center. Directly behind the praetorium and separated from itby the second of the two main streets, the via quintana, was the quaestorium.It was a similar space situated at the middle of the camp, where hostages,prisoners, booty, forage, and supplies were kept. The praetentura wasthe front section of the camp, separated from headquarte
rs section by the firstof the two main streets, the via principalis. One fourth of the cohortswere encamped there, in tents facing the wall, on either side of the viapraetoria, which was the street leading from the center of the camp tothe front gates. Half the cavalry was camped there too, as well as the archersand the slingers, situated so that they could quickly move out the front gateto form an advance guard in the event of an attack.
The remainder of the cohorts and the cavalry were disposedon either side of the praetorium and in the rear of the camp. Runningaround the entire perimeter, just inside the wall, was a broad street onehundred and twenty feet wide, meant to allow movement for the troops defendingthe walls and to prevent hostile missiles coming over the wall from reachingthe tents. There were smaller streets running lengthwise and widthwisethroughout the camp, separating each cohort from the one beside it. Everythingwas laid out with practiced, logical precision. There was a specific allotmentof space for the tents, the pack animals. the servants, and the stacking ofweapons. The plan never varied from this basic layout. The soldiers were sowell drilled at setting up the camp that they had begun digging thefortifications at noon and the entire task had been completed shortly beforesunset. Each man had worked for one hour before he was relieved, while othertroops formed a protective front to cover the work while details of cavalryscouted the area to provide security. Everything was done with an efficiencyand a precision that an elite 27th-century military unit would have envied, butthen again, these were no ordinary troops. The Romans had fielded some of thefinest armies in all of history and these were the finest troops ever fieldedby Rome, led by the greatest general the republic had ever seen-Gaius JuliusCaesar.
As a career officer in the Observer Crops, Travers wouldspend most of his adult life stationed in this time period, in the 1st centurybefore the birth of Christ. Volunteers for Long Term Observer posts did notreceive antiagathic treatments to retard the aging process. (Had Travers comefrom a family that could have afforded buying those treatments for him at anearly age, he would not have qualified for L.T.O. posting. otherwise how couldhe explain remaining youthful while everyone around him aged normally?) Thehazardous nature of his assignment meant that he could easily lose his life atany time. Few people would have volunteered for such a post. but Travers wasone of a unique group of scholar adventurers who eagerly accepted such risksand hardships in return for the opportunity to spend their lives in intensive,close-up study of important historical figures-observing history as it wasbeing made and safeguarding it. as well.
Though he would be an old man when Travers returned to the27th century, he would not have traded this opportunity for anything. When heclocked back to Plus Time, assuming he survived to complete his tour of duty.Travers would receive his antiagathic treatments. (Though they would not thenbe as effective as they would have been had he received them as a younger man.)They would not return his lost youth, but they would nevertheless extend hislife beyond the normal span. He would be able to retire on a governmentpension, with all of its attendant perks, to either teach or write about hisexperiences. Travers hoped to produce the definitive life of Julius Caesar aswritten by a man who had witnessed most of it firsthand.
The preparations for his assignment had been exhaustive. Qualificationas an L.T.O. placed him among the elite of the Temporal Corps, second only tothe agents of Temporal Intelligence. Only those with the very best educationalbackgrounds were selected and they had to be in peak physical condition, aswell. (Once they graduated from the grueling training course, they were given implantconditioning, programmed through a biochip surgically implanted in the cerebralcortex with the knowledge and the behavior modification patterns that wouldenable them to blend in with the time period and the society within which theywould have to function.) Cosmetic surgery was performed when necessary. Theyhad to look the parts they were to play.
Travers had an outstanding classical education and a giftfor languages. He was fluent in Greek and Latin. but that was not enough. Hehad to be conditioned not only to speak, but to think in Latin and behave as aRoman would. Being well versed in history could also be a liability. It wouldhardly do for him to quote Cicero in casual conversation before Cicero had actuallysaid what he was quoting! The Time Wars had rendered the continuity of historyfragile enough without endangering it further, especially now that insurgentsfrom the parallel universe were seeking to disrupt the timestream. Not only didTravers have to pass as a Roman and survive long enough to complete hisdangerous assignment, he had to be on the alert for temporal anomalies. He alsohad to watch his step, to make sure he did not cause any himself.
It had been necessary for him to have become an expert onthe life and times of Julius Caesar. but even that was not enough. There was noescaping the Principle of Temporal Uncertainty. It was impossible to determine absolutelyany degree of deviation from the original historical scenario because of thelack of total historical documentation. “there was always room for error. Noone could possibly document any historical period down to the most minutedetail. In any given period of time, things had occurred that history had noknowledge of. It was also possible that the mere fact of Travers’ presencecould affect events in some way. Every moment Travers spent in Minus Time wasdangerous. Yet that was part of the intoxicating thrill. To Travers, the riskwas worth it. He already knew more about Julius Caesar than anyone living inhis own time period. With each moment he spent in Minus Time, he was learningmore.
He found Caesar to be brilliant, innovative, an extremelyversatile commander. He was completely fearless and his opponents found himtotally unpredictable. A skillful swordsman and horseman, he often led hislegions on foot, marching like an ordinary soldier rather than riding like ageneral. He lived life at a much faster pace than those around him. Histremendous powers of endurance allowed him to cover over a hundred miles a dayin light carriages, traveling over the worst of roads at twice the pace of theaverage traveler. He often dictated letters and reports to his secretaries enroute, sometimes as many as four or five simultaneously. He also composedscholarly works or poems while he traveled, or worked on his famous Commentaries.in which he dispassionately, even modestly, but clearly with a thought forhistory, chronicled his military campaigns in Gaul.
He possessed great personal charm and a wit that infuriatedhis rivals in Rome when he turned it against them. Yet, for all his gifts, helooked incredibly ordinary. He was tall and very fair, with a broad, scholar’sface and melancholy dark brown eyes. He was also very vain. He kept his face andhead carefully trimmed and often depilated his body hair with tweezers. He hadstarted balding at a very early age and was in the habit of trying to disguiseit by combing what little hair he had forward over his high forehead. Later,when the Senate voted him the privilege of wearing a laurel wreath on alloccasions. he was almost never seen without it. he was somewhat eccentric inhis dress. he had added fringed sleeves to his purple-striped senatorial tunic.an affectation that caused his enemies to refer to him as a woman behind hisback and added fuel to the numerous rumors of his alleged bisexuality. He sufferedfrom bouts of epilepsy, but sought to fight them off with exercise and moderatediet.
His legions loved him. A naturally gifted speaker who had studiedrhetoric in the school of Apollonius of Rhodes, he would often address them inthe field, and always on the eve of any action. speaking to them warmly andwith great emotion, man to men. He always saw to their welfare first and hadforged a unique and powerful bond with his troops. They would have followed himto hell.
In the morning, when they crossed the Rubicon, they wouldfollow Caesar where no commander had ever taken his troops before-to Romeitself. The Senate was alarmed at his successes, terrified of his legions. Theywere well aware of his immense popularity. He had staged gladiatorial shows forthe people and sponsored lavish public banquets. He distributed grain to histroops at the slightest excuse and gifted them with Gallic slaves. He sentslaves and presents to prominent aristocrats, made loans to people who foundthemselves in debt. collected vast amounts of tribute
from conqueredterritories, and sought favor with kings and allied tribes by sending themprisoners or lending them troops, all without even bothering to seekauthorization from the Senate. He helped people with legal difficulties and sympathizedwith those he could not help. It had been reported that he told them, “What youneed is a civil war.”
Even his old ally, Pompey, had grown apprehensive about Caesar.The Ties between the two men had been weakened by the death of Caesar’sdaughter. Julia. who had been Pompey’s wife, and of Crassus, who was killed inParthia. As a newly elected consul, Pompey had become the most powerful man inRome. He saw Caesar as a threat. His legions seemed invincible, their loyaltyto him was absolute.
On his return to Rome. Caesar still faced charges ofirregular conduct from when he had served as consul. He had incurred tremendousdebts and made many promises that would be difficult, if not impossible. tokeep. In his time as governor-general of Gaul. he had acquired a taste forpower, and nobody believed that he would easily give it up. Consequently. as “amatter of public interest.” the Senate had decided that since the Gallic Warshad ended and peace had been restored. Caesar should be relieved of his postbefore his term expired. They had also directed him to disband his legions.Caesar’s response was to march on Rome.
Travers alone knew what would happen when Caesar crossed theRubicon. He would wage a bloody civil war, crush Pompey’s forces, and seizeabsolute power. bringing to an end the days of the republic. His name would becomesynonymous with the title that he would assume-imperator. But on thenight before he was to cross the Rubicon-a phrase that would go down in historyas signifying facing the greatest trial and passing the point of no return-Caesarwas keyed up and nervous.
He always looked for omens and was in the habit of consultingsoothsayers. Word had reached him of a local “oracle: with great spiritualpowers. who was said to have the ability to see into the Future. He had sentfor this oracle and was anxiously awaiting his arrival, he had grown impatientand sent a messenger to Travers. ordering him to have the oracle brought to himas soon as he arrived. And as Travers stood outside the entrance to the praetoriumand waited, he saw the detachment of men that Caesar had sent out approachingdown the via praetoria. With them was a tall and slender figure carryinga staff and dressed in a hooded black cloak.
Travers hurried to meet them. The centurion in charge gavehim a salute.
“You are the oracle?” Travers asked the hooded figure. Hecould not make out the man’s face.
“I am.”