Our Eternal Curse I (12 page)

Young Gaius was an accomplished
writer and his exquisite words allowed Julia to visualize his journey from the
army camps in the North to the strategic seaport in the center of Hispania’s
east coast.  In her mind’s eye she stood with him on the quay at Saguntam and
watched Gavius walking down a much stressed gangplank.  As though greeting the
fat man herself, Julia watched her future husband shake the hand of Gavius and
greet him with the words,
Welcome to Hispania my dear uncle
. Then just
as it was written on the parchment,
You don’t mind if I call you uncle do
you?

Not at all, but please I would
prefer it if you called me by my name Gavius.

Of course uncle, I will call you
Gavius.  Please follow me I have some of my men here who will carry your
things, do you have much in the way of baggage?

Six trunks they will be ready to
unload shortly they tell me
.

Six?  By the Gods that’s more
trunks than Hannibal carried when he crossed the Alps and he had elephants
.

Julia was delighted by the account
of their instant accord as she imagined them standing in the dry heat of
Hispania.  It was one of those inexplicable things that happen between men from
time to time and Julia instinctively knew that their bond was going to work in
her favor.  She was going to be blatantly choreographing their every move and
their friendship would make her task easier.  Of course Julia felt her usual
shame but simply had no other way of affording her “lions”.

She would have much preferred to
avoid the stress that maneuvering two good men was going to cause her but her
leaving Rome to take care of the logistics herself would alert Sulla and she
was not yet ready for that.  The next best thing to being there was controlling
the men who fate had seconded to do her bidding.  A lot of wine would have to
be consumed in order to dull her feelings of guilt that were now everywhere and
unavoidable.

Even the fat man’s trip to
Hispania was a connivance involving another very good man.  Gaius Marius
unknowingly inspired it when he innocently mentioned that Roman armies only
fight during summer. It was at one of their regular dinners, just like that,
out of the blue.  Julia had instantly realized that the next fighting season
would not commence for another six months and she had grasped the chance to use
her fiancé’s free time productively.  Gavius had been sent to accompany him
simply because she believed that Gaius lacked sufficient interest in
agriculture and would need an added incentive.  Gavius would remind him that he
was pleasing her and as she read the results of her wicked connivances in his
love-filled letters Julia gulped more wine and searched for the mental
tranquility that only alcohol could provide.

As the two puppets traveled
southwards, Gavius repeated the lies he had rehearsed so often with Julia.  He
was a merchant for all kinds of foodstuffs who was fed up with the prices and
poor supply from the East.  He was looking to buy in bulk from Hispania with
the intention of shipping his cargo directly to Rome.

How fortuitous that the joining
of our two families should also provide a profit for us both
, was how Julia had couched it
and reading her words conveyed from the mouth of Gavius to the parchment of
Young Gaius caused both satisfaction and appalling guilt.

The manipulative woman who
controlled these men’s actions could not really be her.  She was simply not
strong enough or even capable of achieving something so intricate and in that
quandary her doubting subconscious found an acceptable answer.  It had been
Marius who came up with the idea really; she was merely carrying out his
instructions and using that fabulous act of denial Julia built an imaginary
amphitheatre from where her mind could deny responsibility as she watched the
Hispanic play unfold.

Traveling the newly repaired
road Julia’s players followed the coast down towards the south which according
to Marius was a place where the weather remained hot all year round.  Following
Julia’s instructions Gavius wrote detailed letters at every opportunity because
she needed to know what was happening as soon as possible in order to discuss
progress with Marius then instruct their actions as situations changed.

Because of his bulk and the heat
of the sun Gavius rode in a covered wagon seconded from the supply divisions of
the army and for peace of mind more than protection Young Gaius also seconded
fifty legionaries and two mounted officers to accompany them on their journey. 
There was no real danger but however hard they tried to calm the fat man he
could not be shaken out of his constant state of terror.  Even when the young
officers told him that their legions had personally been involved in the
suppression of all resistance within the regions they were traveling through,
he could not be convinced.

Despite his cowardly misgivings
Julia was relieved to read that they were never attacked and progress was good
because the Roman army had fixed the roads.  Gaius Marius had explained in
great detail about the engineers who accompany every army in order to move
mountains, cut down forests and span impossible rivers in the interest of
connecting two points by the shortest distance.  Julia understood his
explanation of how the system of making roads as straight as an arrow gave Rome
the ability to deliver an army to any trouble spots in the minimum of time but
more importantly she grasped how this masterstroke of strategic genius was also
going to serve her needs perfectly.

It was pleasing to read that
Gavius was always embellishing the information which Julia wanted Young Gaius
to hear.  Even her imaginary family tree had been rehearsed and their
conversations were conveyed in the scrolls which arrived regularly.  By reading
the information in both of their letters Julia was able to piece together
conversation like the one which began with Gavius saying, “Julia’s father, my
dead brother, would be very proud of her betrothal to you.”

Young Gaius would have asked,
“How did your brother die Gavius?”

Gavius would have replied,
“Killed by the Italians in that horrible war.”

Julia was relieved to see that
her plan was working and everything between them was as it should be.  In
keeping with his script Gavius also asked a number of questions designed to
help Julia understand how Sulla had influenced the Marsic war and using a tack
that fitted with the Marius family ethos, Julia orchestrated another
conversation for Gavius to pursue:

“
The irony is my brother was very much for allowing
the Italian tribes access to Roman citizenship,”

She remembered making Gavius
practice an innocent tone for this one.  She already knew what the reply would
be:

“
I believe that citizenship is the only way myself.”

 “
Yet you fought in the war?”  She had even made
Gavius practice feigning surprise for that one.

 “
I have no choice I am a Roman soldier if Rome tells
me to fight then I must fight.”

“
Even when you disagree with the principle of the
war.”

“
It is the lot of a fighting man; my father was also
opposed you know? He argued in the Senate against war with Italy for many
years.  He believes that Sulla had a great deal to do with the war; my father
thinks that Sulla could have prevented it.”

This was the information Julia
needed and her puppet knew to push gently:

 “
How can that be?”

“
My father has no proof but he believes that Sulla
deliberately played down the abilities of the Italian tribes.”

“
Why would he do that? What could he possibly gain
by the devastation that has happened to us all?”

“
My father believes that Sulla did it for reasons of
greed and his obsession with fame, just like Achilles he wants to be remembered
throughout time as a great warrior.  He also confiscated a great deal of land
from the Italians in the south you know?”

As each conversation was relayed
to Julia the doubts about Sulla’s intentions formed the cornerstone of a plan
that she would use against him when the time was right.  Everything was
becoming clear because she had been in possession of two pieces of information
for some time but only this understanding of his motive connected them
together.

As she read about their arrival
at the first of the Marius estates Julia felt one step closer to her beautiful
“lions”.  The letters were written one week after Gavius arrived in Hispania
but because of the sailing time between Hispania and Rome the events described
on the parchment were already over a month old.  Even though the time lag was
frustrating Julia could feel that things were beginning to come together and
soon she would be able to get her teeth into the business of importation.

According to both of their
letters the overseer of the estate, a man by the name of Quintus, came out to
meet his guests as they arrived in front of his humble home.  Julia read of a
brilliant blue sky full of powdery clouds as they described meeting the
wrinkled old man.

As they all sat eating that
evening they talked of the old days and Young Gaius found out things about his
father that he had never heard before.  As a young Proconsul he had performed
feats of great bravery while leading his army and Julia pieced together the
scene as Quintus told stories of valor late into the night:

“
Your father was the reason Hispania was tamed you
know?” he explained.  “Many Roman peacocks had tried before Gaius Marius but
none of those so-called generals ever succeeded as he did.  He had the most
uncanny ability to turn defense into attack.  As you know all Roman armies
build fortifications at the end of every day to defend themselves while they
sleep but Marius used these wooden fortifications as part of his offensive
strategies.  Instead of leaving our camps to go looking for the enemy he simply
waited for them to find us.”

“
We simply ignored our attackers because they could
not cross the deep trench which surrounded our fortifications, if they tried to
cross we simply killed them with arrows.  The tribes of Hispania were
unsophisticated and ignorant of siege techniques so when the undisciplined
barbarians became bored enough to return to their families we pounced.”

“
At the moment they turned to leave, Marius ordered
us to pour out of our fortifications and attack. It proved such an effective
method that he won Hispania in a few short years.  By and large we have enjoyed
peace since the days of those long distant campaigns.  Thanks to your father we
have not had a serious uprising until this recent one.”

Julia understood how proud this
praise would make Young Gaius feel as she read about his father’s achievements
but it was of little interest to her.

Moving down the scroll Julia
skipped any further niceties until she found more information about the slaves
taken during the fighting.  Julia had sent the subtle suggestion that Young
Gaius buy them all below market price.  She had mentioned, seemingly in
passing, if he paid for the slaves in Hispania the state would save itself the
cost of transporting them back to Rome and the Senators would probably jump at
the chance of saving money.

Julia was now delighted to read
that her suggestion had been acted upon, there were many thousands of slaves
all in very good condition, and they had arrived ahead of time.

Quintus kept five hundred slaves
for himself and sent the rest, with their military escorts, to the homes of his
seven sons.  Each had his own family and they lived in various parts of the
great estate which supported them.

Gavius and Gaius took over two
months to survey the first estate.  Julia was disappointed because this was far
longer than she had expected but they were seriously hampered by the wagon that
had to go everywhere because of Gavius and his six trunks.

There were no Roman roads on the
estate and the soldiers were all fed up with digging the wagon out of riverbeds
and bogs.  Almost every day these poor legionaries would have to work like
donkeys to free the heavy wagon while Gavius just sat there giving instructions
and waiting to be moved.

Gavius was simply too fat to
walk or be trained how to ride a horse.  He conveyed the animosity this caused
among the soldiers in his letters, but what could Julia do?  She had clearly
sent the wrong man for the job but she simply had no one else to send.

In general the condition of the
olive groves and the vineyards was as good as could be expected.  A little
rundown but, considering their lack of help, the families and the few remaining
slaves had maintained them well.  Julia was delighted to learn that each year
the families had been harvesting as many of the grapes from the vineyards,
wheat from the fields and olives from the groves as they could.  Everywhere
Gavius traveled he found barns full of good quality wine, olive oil, wheat and
even milled flour yet there were still vast numbers of olive trees, grape vines
and wheat fields which had not been harvested for years. The potential was
truly enormous.