Imperial Caesar by Rex Warner

Author:Rex Warner [Warner, Rex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 1960-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

Conquest of Italy

I do not think that anyone in ravenna, except for my closest friends, knew what my intentions were. I spent most of the day of January eleventh in public and in the evening entertained a number of guests to dinner. When I left this party I took every precaution to deceive onlookers about the direction in which I intended to go. They saw me drive out of the town by the road leading away from Rimini and may well have conjectured that I was on my way to some assignation with a lady (I have always, when time permitted, found the wives and daughters of these northern Italians most agreeable) rather than taking the first step in a terrible and destructive war. Soon I altered my course and was joined by various officers who had left the town at the same time as I, but by different routes. I took all these measures of secrecy because I wished to occupy Rimini without any opposition at all. I had decided to avoid as far as I possibly could all conflict with my fellow countrymen, to fight only if I must fight and to make it clear to all that I was at any time ready to negotiate on reasonable terms.

So, just before dawn, I and my small party reached the frontier of my province at the river Rubicon. Most of the cohorts were waiting here for me, though some bodies of picked men and centurions had already quietly entered Rimini and were prepared to hold it for us, should this be necessary. At this point I did pause for a short time and reflect deeply. Some of my friends were, I think, surprised at what appeared to them to be my indecision. My mind, however, was already made up. I knew that it was necessary to go forward. And yet I was suddenly overcome by a feeling of horror, as though I were contemplating an act of incest with my own mother. For the glory of Rome and the good government of her people had always been dearer to me than my own life. Yet now I was on the point of invading Roman soil, as Sulla had done — that Sulla whom, of all characters in our history, I most detest. It was true that, unlike Sulla, I had no wish to exterminate my enemies and that, if I were victorious, I should never he revengeful. But, however honorable my intentions and however just my quarrel, I was still bringing war upon my own people. Also, although the consuls, in acting as they had against me, were making improper use of their powers, they were still legally elected consuls and their chosen instrument, Pompey, was a national hero whose name and victories were known in each household of Italy. He, like I, could command affection and, from his veterans, a kind of adoration.

Such is the complex of legality, honor and loyalty in a state that these unjust

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