Survival by Andrew Frediani

Author:Andrew Frediani [Frediani, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784978884
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 2016-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

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Cicero’s house in Arpino, the birthplace of the great orator, was more modest than Quintus Pedius and Lucius Pinarius had expected. A small, rustic domus, unlike the spectacular villas that the senator had built in Campania and elsewhere on Italian soil after making his fortune and becoming one of the most important men in Rome. However, the two cousins of Octavian realised as soon as they entered the vestibule that Cicero had furnished it luxuriously, with fine statues, frescoes and furnishings worthy of the most luxurious residences of Rome.

Not that they cared. They were there for a very specific and extremely sensitive task, and they wanted to prove themselves worthy of the trust that Octavian had placed in them: all their attention was focused upon meeting the man whose support could be crucial to consolidating the precarious position of their cousin, and so they silently followed the slave who led them to the magistrate's tablinum, both ignoring their surroundings and running over in their heads the instructions they had received from Octavian while exchanging the odd worried look.

They arrived in Cicero’s presence with a certain awe, which the senator’s affable welcome did nothing to diminish. Their host, buried among piles of sheets of papyrus and with a scribe beside him, got up from his desk and came over to meet them, shaking their hands and inviting them to sit down.

“My dear fellows,” said Cicero, “I am honoured that you would undertake the difficult journey from Rome in such dismal times simply to have a word with this old relic of a republic which no longer exists.”

“In fact it was precisely of that we wished to speak to you,” said Quintus Pedius. “That is… of the Republic and its problems,” he added, realising he had expressed himself badly.

“My dear fellows,” Cicero sat down again and shook his head, “we live in difficult times, and after the end of the civil war I thought I had seen it all. But I'm seeing a lot worse now. This is why I prefer to stay on the sidelines, here in the house where I was born, away from the murky machinations that shake Rome.”

“But perhaps, if I may,” said Pinarius, “precisely because there is this state of great confusion and because danger looms over the city, your authority and experience would be of valuable assistance, in the case of you deciding to return to centre stage. Or so, at least, thinks our cousin Octavian, and we cannot but agree.”

Quintus Pedius nodded quickly.

“Ah, Octavian… He's a good lad, truly he is, although his popularity among the people and the legions – and his obstinacy in wanting to pursue those who, rightly or wrongly, believed they were acting for the good of Rome – worries me. And then, this need to emulate Caesar… Isn't having Antony as a threat to democracy enough?”

“I assure you, Cicero, that the young man has no intention of emulating Caesar,” Pinarius hastened to re-assure him. “He simply wants to enforce the rights which the will provides for him, the people and the soldiers.

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