Claudius the God (12 page)

I wondered what this second message could be.

‘Caesar,’ they answered, ‘we were ordered to tell you that if you do want the monarchy you must accept it as the Senate’s gift and not as the gift of the Guards.’

That made me laugh outright: it was the first time that I had so much as smiled since Caligula’s assassination. I asked, ‘Is that all, or is there a third message in case I don’t like the second?’

‘No, there is nothing more, Caesar,’ they answered humbly.

‘Well,’ I said, still much amused, ‘tell the Senate that I don’t blame them for not wanting another Emperor. The last one somehow lacked the gift of endearing himself to his people. But, on the other hand, the Imperial Guards insist on making me Emperor, and the officers have already sworn their allegiance to me and forced me to accept it - so what can I do? You may carry the Senate my respectful compliments and tell them that I shall do nothing unconstitutional’ - here I looked defiantly at Herod - ‘and that they can, trust me not to deceive them. I acknowledge their authority, but at the same time I must remind them that I am in no position to oppose the wishes of my military advisers.’

So the Protectors were dismissed, and very glad they were to get away alive. Herod said: ‘That was all right, but you would have done much better to have spoken firmly, as I suggested. You are only delaying matters.’

When Herod had gone, the Colonels told me that, they expected me to pay every Guardsman 150 gold pieces as a bounty on my accession, and 500 gold pieces each to the Captains. As to what I should pay the Colonels, I could please myself. ‘Would you be satisfied with ten thousand apiece?’ I joked. We agreed on 2,000, and then they asked me to appoint one of themselves in the place of Caligula’s Commander, who had taken part in the conspiracy and was now apparently attending the meeting of the Senate.

‘Choose whomever you like,’ I said, indifferently.

So they chose the Senior Colonel, who was called Rufrius Pollius. Then I had to go out and make an announcement about the bounty from the tribunal platform and receive ‘the oaths of allegiance from each company of soldiers in turn. I was also asked to announce that the same bounty would be paid to the regiments stationed on the Rhine, in the Balkans, in Syria, in Africa, and in all other parts of the Empire. I was the more willing to do this because I knew that there were arrears of pay owing everywhere, except among the Rhine troops, whom Caligula had paid with the money stolen from the French. The swearing of allegiance took hours, for every man had to repeat the oath, and there were 12,000 of them; and then the City Watchmen came into the camp and insisted on doing the same, and then sailors of the Imperial Navy came crowding up from Ostia. It seemed endless.

When the Senate received my message they adjourned until midnight. The motion for adjournment was made by Sentius and seconded by the senator who had pulled the ring off his finger. As soon as it was voted they hurried out and back to their houses, where they packed up a few belongings and drove out of the City to their country estates: they realized the insecurity of their position. Midnight came and the Senate met, but what a thin House it was. Hardly a hundred members were present, and even these were in a panic. The officers of the City Battalions were present, however, and as soon as proceedings opened, bluntly asked the Senate to give them an Emperor. It was the only hope for the City, they said.

Herod was quite right: the man who first offered himself as Emperor was Vinicius. He seemed to have a few supporters, including his rat-like cousin Vinicianus, but not many, and he was snubbed by the Consuls. They did not even put the motion to the House that the monarchy should be offered to him. As Herod had also foreseen, Asiaticus then came forward as a candidate. But Vinicius rose and asked whether anyone present took the suggestion seriously. A wrangle followed and blows were exchanged. Vinicianus came off with a bloody nose and had to lie down until the flow ceased. The Consuls had difficulty in restoring order. Then news was brought that the Watchmen and Sailors had joined the Guards at the-Camp, and, the swordfighters too (I forgot just now to mention the swordfighters); so Vinicius and Asiaticus both withdrew their candidatures. Nobody else came forward, The meeting broke up into small groups talking anxiously together in whispers. At dawn Cassius Chaerea, Aquila, Lupus, and The Tiger entered. Cassius attempted to speak. He began by referring to the splendid restoration, of the Republic. At this there were angry shouts from the officers of the City Battalions.

‘Forget about the Republic, Cassius. We’ve decided now to, have an Emperor, and if the Consuls don’t give us one pretty soon, and a good one too, that’s the last they’ll see of us. We’ll go to the Camp and join Claudius.’

One of the Consuls said nervously, looking at Cassius for support: ‘No, we’re not quite agreed yet about appointing an Emperor. Our last resolution - carried unanimously - was that the Republic was now restored. Cassius didn’t kill Caligula merely for the sake of a change of Emperors did you, Cassius? - but because he wished to give us back our ancient liberties.’

Cassius sprang to his feet, white with passion, and cried: ‘Romans, I for one refuse to tolerate another Emperor. If another Emperor were appointed I should not hesitate to do to him as I did to Gaius Caligula.’

‘Don’t talk nonsense,’ the City officers told him. ‘There’s no harm in an Emperor, if he’s a good one. We were all very well off under Augustus.’

Cassius said, ‘I’ll give you a good Emperor, then, if you promise to bring me the watchword from him - I’ll give you Eutychus.’ You may remember that Eutychus was one of Caligula’s ‘Scouts’. He was the best charioteer in Rome and drove for the Leek Green faction in the Circus. Cassius was reminding them of the fatigues that Caligula had forced the City troops to do for him, such as building stables for his race-horses and cleaning them out when they were in use, under Eutychus’s fussy and arrogant supervision. ‘I suppose you enjoy going down on your knees and scrubbing the muck from a stable floor at the orders of an Emperor’s favourite charioteer’

One of the Colonels sneered: ‘You talk very big, Cassius, but you’re afraid of Claudius, none the less. Admit it.’

‘I afraid of Claudius?’ Cassius shouted. ‘If the Senate told me to go to the Camp and bring his head back, I’d cheerfully do so I can’t understand you people. It amazes me that after having been ruled for four years by a madman you should be ready to commit the government to an idiot.’

But Cassius could not convince the officers. They left the Senate without another word, assembled their men in the Market Place under the company’ banners and marched out to the Camp to swear allegiance to me. The Senate, or what remained of the Senate, was now left alone and unprotected. Everyone, I am told, began reproaching his neighbours, and all pretence of devotion to the failing Republican cause vanished. If a single man of them had shown himself courageous it would have been something: I should have felt less ashamed of my country. I had long suspected the veracity of certain of the heroic legends of ancient Rome related by the historian Livy, and on hearing of this scene in the Senate I, even began to have doubts about my favourite passage, the one describing the fortitude of the senators of old after the disaster of the River Allia, when the Celts were advancing on the City and all hope of defending the walls was gone. Livy tells how the young men of military age, with their wives and children, withdrew into the Citadel after getting in a store of arms and provisions, resolved to hold out to the last; But the old men, who could be only an encumbrance to the besieged, remained behind’ and awaited death, wearing senatorial robes and seated in chairs of office in the porticoes of their houses, their ivory rods of office grasped firmly in their hands. When I was a boy, old Athenodorus made me memorize all this and I have never forgotten it The halls of the patricians stood open and the invaders gazed with feelings of true awe upon the seated figures in the porticoes, impressed not only by the superhuman magnificence of their apparel and trappings but also by their majestic bearing and the serene expression that their countenances wore: they seemed very Gods. So they stood marvelling, as at so many divine statues, until, as the legend tells, one of them began gently to stroke the beard of a patrician, by name Marcus Papirius - beards in those days were universally worn long - who rose and smote him on the head with his ivory staff. Admiration yielded to passion and Marcus Papirius was the first patrician to meet his death. The rest were butchered, still seated in their chairs.

Certainly Livy was a fine writer. He wrote to persuade men to virtue by his inspiring, though unhistorical, tales of Rome’s greatness in times past. But no, he had not been particularly successful in his persuasions, I reflected.

Even Cassius, Lupus, and The Tiger were quarrelling now. The Tiger swore that, he would rather kill himself than consent to salute me as Emperor and see slavery return.

Cassius said, You don’t mean what you say; and it’s not yet time to talk like that.’

The Tiger shouted angrily: ‘You too, Cassius Chaerea? Are you going to fail us now? You love your life too well, I think. You claim that you planned the whole assassination, but who struck the first-blow - you or I?’

‘I did,’ said Cassius promptly, ‘and I struck him from in front, not from behind. As for loving my life, who but a fool doesn’t? I am certainly not going to lay it down unnecessarily. If I had followed Varus’s example that day in the Teutoburger forest, more than thirty years ago - if I had killed myself because all hope seemed gone, who would have brought the eighty survivors back and held the Germans in play until Tiberius arrived with his army of relief? No, I loved life that day. And now it is quite possible that Claudius will decide, after all, to resign the monarchy. His answer was quite consistent with such an intention: he’s idiot enough for anything, and as nervous as a cat. Until I know definitely that he is not going to do so I shall continue to live.’

By this time the Senate had dissolved, and Cassius, Lupus, and The Tiger were left arguing in the deserted vestibule. When Cassius looked round and saw that they were alone he burst into a cackle of laughter.

‘It’s absurd for us, of all people, to quarrel,’ he said. ‘Tiger, let’s have some breakfast. You too, Lupus! Come on, you Lupus!’

I was having breakfast too, after only an hour or so of uninterrupted sleep, when I was informed that the Consuls and the diehard Republican senators who had attended the midnight meeting had now arrived in Camp to pay their homage to me and offer their congratulations. The Colonels showed their satisfaction with an ironical ‘They have come too early: let them wait.’ Sleeplessness had made me very irritable.. I said that, for my part, I was in no mood to receive them: I liked men who clung courageously to their opinions. I tried to dismiss the senators from my mind and went on eating my breakfast. But Herod, who seemed to be everywhere at once throughout those two eventful days, saved their lives. The Germans, who were drunk and quarrelsome, had caught up their assegais and were on the point of killing them, and they were down on their knees yelling for mercy. The Guards made no attempt to interfere; Herod had to use my name to bring the Germans to their senses. He came into the breakfast-room as soon as he had put the rescued senators into a place of safety and said in a bantering voice: ‘Excuse me, Caesar, but I didn’t expect you to take my advice about stamping on the Senate quite so seriously. You must treat the poor fellows with more gentleness. If any mischief happens to them, where are you going to rake up such a marvellously subservient crew again?’

It was becoming increasingly difficult for me now to sustain my Republican convictions. What a farcical situation - myself, the only true anti-monarchist, forced to act as monarch! On Herod’s advice I summoned the Senate to meet me at the Palace. The officers made no difficulty about my leaving Camp. The whole Guards Division came with me as escort, nine battalions marching ahead of me and three marching in the rear, followed by the rest of my troops, the Palace Guard being in the van. Then a most embarrassing incident occurred. Cassius and The Tiger, having had their breakfast, joined the parade and put themselves at the head of the Palace Guard with Lupus between them. I knew nothing about this myself because the vanguard was far out of sight of my sedan. The Palace Guard,, accustomed to obey Cassius and The Tiger, concluded that they were acting under the orders of Rufrius, the new Guards Commander, though as a matter of fact Rufrius had sent these two a message informing them that they were deprived of their command. The spectators were mystified, and when they understood that the two were acting in deliberate disobedience of orders they made a scandal of it. One of the Protectors of the People came running down the column to inform me what was happening. I did not in the least know what to say or do. But I could not let this act of bravado pass unnoticed: they were defying Rufrius’s order and my authority too.

When we reached the Palace I asked Herod and Vitellius and Rufrius and Messalina (who greeted me with the greatest delight) to consult with me at once as to what action I should take. The troops were drawn up outside the Palace - Cassius, Lupus, and The Tiger still with them, speaking together in loud, confident tones, but shunned by all the other officers. I opened the consultation by remarking that although Caligula had been my nephew and although I had promised his father, my dear brother Germanicus, to care for and protect him, I could not find it in me to blame Cassius for the murder. Caligula had invited assassination in a thousand ways. I said, too, that Cassius had a military record unequalled by that of any other officer in. the Army, and that if I could be sure that he had struck the blow from such lofty, motives as had, for example, animated the second Brutus, I would be very ready to pardon him. But what really had been his motives Rufrius spoke first. ‘Cassius says now that he struck the blow in the name of Liberty, but the fact is that what encouraged him to strike the blow was an injury to his own dignity Caligula’s constant teasing of him by giving him comic and indecent watchwords.’