I Am Rome by Santiago Posteguillo

Author:Santiago Posteguillo [Posteguillo, Santiago]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2024-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

XLIV

The President of the Tribunal

Basilica Sempronia, Rome

77 B.C.

The first thing Caesar noticed when he entered the Basilica Sempronia was that the great hall seemed mostly empty. There were only about a dozen people in the audience, including his mother, his wife, and his sisters.

“It doesn’t look like the trial has stirred up much interest,” Caesar murmured as he sat on the solium that had been placed before the prosecution’s table.

Labienus took a seat beside him. “Everyone’s given up the case as a lost cause,” he explained. “And they don’t think…they can’t imagine that…” Labienus didn’t know how to finish the thought without injuring his friend’s pride.

“And no one can imagine, after my sad performance in the divinatio and the murder of my main witnesses, that I could be capable of offering any resistance worth showing up to see,” Caesar said. “Isn’t that so?”

“By Jupiter, it’s not my fault that people think that,” said Labienus, feeling guilty.

“Everyone thinks it,” Caesar said, looking toward the tribunal. “But you’re not to blame. I was clumsy. That’s a fact. Look, Metellus is arriving.”

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius took his place as president in the center of the tribunal, just as he’d done during the divinatio. The rest of the senators looked at him admiringly.

“He has them eating out of his hand,” Labienus said.

“That’s why we have to recuse him,” Caesar said under his breath. “Our friends, those who sympathize with the popular cause, are they outside, as I asked?”

Labienus nodded. “Not all of them agreed to come, but some did, out of loyalty to your uncle, I believe.”

“Yes, I imagine so,” Caesar said, never taking his eyes off the tribunal. “No one has much faith in me. I know that any populares who have come today have only done so because I am Gaius Marius’s nephew, for better or worse. But it doesn’t matter why they’ve come. Listen: as soon as I mention Metellus’s name, go out and tell everyone who it is I am recusing. That will get people’s attention.” He looked around the immense, empty basilica. “I want this room full before my speech is over.”

The praecones, who would assist the tribunal and its president during the course of the trial, were standing now before the tribunal.

“They’re about to begin,” Labienus said.

The praecones looked to the president.

Metellus had managed to keep from opening his mouth during the entire divinatio, but sooner or later he’d have to give orders on how the sessions should be carried out, and that would require him to expose his speech impediment in public, something that made him enormously uncomfortable. He’d spoken privately with the praecones before the start of the reiectio, instructing them on how to give voice to his instructions, since the president of the tribunal could delegate tasks to the praecones and allow them to direct the trial, calling witnesses and giving the floor to the defense or prosecution. So Metellus did not need to say a word, only nodded slightly to announce the start of the session that morning.

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