Marching With Caesar-Revolt of the Legions by R. W. Peake

Author:R. W. Peake [Peake, R. W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: R.W. Peake
Published: 2018-01-18T05:00:00+00:00

Dolabella looked better the next morning, though not by much, and despite my feelings for the man generally, I did feel a stab of sympathy. He was older than I was by about seven years, and I knew how much longer it took me to recover from a stretch of hard travel now that I was older. It did relieve us of the need to have a conversation, and it was reminiscent of my journey with Asprenas, who was now accompanying Germanicus on a hard ride back to Ubiorum, or perhaps Mogontiacum, where the miles initially passed in silence. It was when we arrived in the town of Cabillonum, another former stronghold of the Aedui, and we did not turn east to take the road to Vesontio that I was moved to speak to Dolabella.

“Why aren’t we going that way?” I asked Dolabella. “That’s shorter.”

“It is,” he agreed, “but it’s slower. Remember, I’ve spent the last fifteen years traveling all over this side of Our Sea.” He turned and grinned at me, but it was not with his usual sly malice, saying, “You’re going to have to start trusting me at some point, Pullus. It might as well be now.”

I immediately knew there was no arguing this, so I did not try. When we reached Lugdunum, late the first day, we stopped only long enough to switch out our horses, each of us once more taking two spares, and buy some meat pies from a vendor. As an experienced traveler, this was Dolabella’s suggestion, that whenever possible we buy food that was already cooked, and thereby saving the rations we had brought along with us for those times where we could not do so, which we could eat in the saddle. Reaching Vienne after dark, where once more we did not turn east by taking the road to Augusta Praetoria, only then did I begin to have a suspicion about what might be going on.

Turning on Dolabella, I asked suspiciously, “Where exactly are we going?”

“To Siscia, of course!” he answered, but I was not thrown off, and even in the dark, I saw he was refusing to look in my direction.

“By way of where, exactly?” I asked Dolabella.

Sighing, only then did he turn to face me, and he answered evenly, “We’re going all the way down to the coast, then we’re following the coast on the Via Aurelia.”

While I heard him clearly enough, I was not quite believing my ears.

“That means we’re heading to Arelate.”

“Well,” Dolabella answered blandly, “if we plan on taking the Via Aurelia, then yes, we are going through Arelate.”

“But that’s my home.” Even to my ears, I sounded dazed.

“Yes, Pullus, I know that,” Dolabella acknowledged, and only then did he turn to look at me as he finished, “and I think we can probably spare a watch for you to visit your family home.” With a shrug, he added, “We have to stop to rest at some point, and it might as well be there.”

This was

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