Athene's Prophecy (Gaius Claudius Scaevola Trilogy) (10 page)

This was ridiculous! Record everything, then show it to nobody to save your life? Wait! She said 'No person'! What did that mean?

"I can see you do not believe this," she remarked. "I shall give you two predictions, and when these come to pass, you will realize that I could not tell you this unless I knew. Soon, Timothy, will introduce you to contraries, and to lodestones. You must find something new with each of these and record them in this journal that you will keep closer to you that anything else in your life. You must record all your findings, and take them as far as you can."

She paused, and Gaius felt that she was trying to work out the effect this was having. He was not going to give her any indication, but his mind was racing. This did not make sense. How could keeping a journal of findings about lodestones have any useful part in his future?

"Slavery is a blight on your civilization . . ." Gaius stared at her. Something was really wrong for the Gods had never criticized mankind's basic urges before, which was in part why he did not believe in Gods. "In a few years you will see a toy that turns a wheel. You must devise a machine based on it that will overcome slavery for it is only by mastering my arts and devising such a machine that you can avert your own enslavement." Now Gaius was really startled. How could anyone predict slavery for a Roman of senatorial class and expect to be taken seriously? "You will make a most revolutionary invention, something which changes the entire way a civilization lives, but you change no-one's life but your own." What? How can that be possible?

"You must search for and discover great truths, to take far further the glory that my Greeks started . . ." Oh yes? "but with them you change nothing . . ." That is remarkably comforting, Gaius thought. ". . . for you are doing this for your own path. When all seems lost, it is only through such wisdom that you can change your own.

"You wish to know your immediate future." Naturally! "Tiberius will soon die . . ." He is rather old. ". . . and with his death your military appointment goes. But do not despair. You must be true to your principles, stand for what you believe . . ." Just what I need. A platitude! ". . . and when you have served Rome and returned a chalice to its rightful owners . . ." A chalice? What could that have to do with anything? ". . . while risking your future, then Gaius Caesar will give you your military appointment." So, she predicts that Little Boots will become
Princeps
. Not a lot of choice, though!

"You will win your battles . . ." Losses are never predicted! "Your legion will be recognized as the most faithful . . ." That's stretching it a bit! ". . . you will walk amongst the Gods . . ." True, to the extent that Augustus set a poor example by becoming declared a God! ". . . and they will treat you with the same humanity as you treat your vanquished." What?? "You will earn a triumph . . ." That's pushing it more than a bit! ". . . then you will return to Rome to find the splendour gone, your great army no more, the fora in ruins, the
Princeps
' palace abandoned, the great marbles broken." What? Gaius' complacency suddenly disappeared. This was impertinent. It was also impossible. How could one receive a triumph if Rome had fallen?

"There must be only two women in your life," Athene smiled in a benevolent fashion. Two? Better than one! Athene then seemed to taunt him. "For you, the first will be the most beautiful woman in the world." She would be, Gaius thought, but the thought still pleased him. "You will ignore her." What? What sort of a prediction was this? "The second will be the most ugly woman in the world." By the Gods, what was this? "You will scoff and taunt her, yet she holds the key to success."

As a stunned Gaius stared at her, she raised two hands and said, "You will face critical choices, when all seems lost. Then you must have faith in my art of logic, and you must have faith in your own ability when you have good reason. You must show compassion to those you conquer, and by showing it you will earn it from others when you need it.

"We must now part. You will learn triumph, and you will learn despair. There are two great moments that you cannot fail to recognize. In the first, there will come a time when you will die if you go north, if you go south, if you east or if you go west. You will recognize it when it comes, and you will know what to do. Much, much later, when you are praised from all sides, will come your greatest battle. You must deny your very family for duty, but then to win you must follow your head and not your orders. You will know that time without doubt. I shall give you one final piece of advice, so that you will believe in me all the sooner. Your Greek will talk about contraries. I tell you that for these, one is real and the other is the absence of or in the opposite direction. Think about what that means, and record your thoughts in your journal.

"Do not speak of this prophecy, but tell all to the ugliest of all, whom you must recruit to help save every human being from a most terrible annihilation. Fulfil this destiny and only then can disaster be averted. Go, prepare well, and, well," she seemed to pause, then she added, "Good luck."

Athene's expression seemed to fade, and as she did so, the temple gradually returned to its dilapidated state. Gaius lay back. The sun was still so warm, his eyelids felt so heavy . . .

When Gaius awoke, the shadows were lengthening. He looked around, but there was no sign of the woman. He went to the back of the altar, but it was all solid stone, with grass growing between the cracks. It looked as if it had not been cleaned for decades.

He shook his head. It had felt so real, but he must have dreamed it all. Goddesses did not wish you luck!

Chapter 6

Timothy was tense for the first lesson. Having been far away from his master, he had become independent and he had been left alone for who would dare bully the property of Tiberius? With such imperial immunity he had become haughty, and, he realized, he had made few friends. Now, whether by accident or by Tiberius' intent, the transfer of ownership had arrived after he had confronted this young upper class Roman to whom he was now beholden. Worse, Tiberius' motives were unclear. While Tiberius had given him away, that did not mean that Tiberius had finished with him. Tiberius had unlimited power, and his use of it was becoming erratic.

Gaius was feeling equally awkward. He may be in control, but in control of what? This could be nothing more than yet another one of Tiberius' jokes, which were becoming increasingly less funny. Now Gaius was responsible for reaching whatever outcome Tiberius had decided, if he had decided. More likely, for whatever outcome he thought should have arisen one day when he had a gut ache.

Then there was . . . his dream? He did not believe in Gods, but . . . Could a dream be that detailed? Surely not! But then again, surely Athene had not visited him? No, being visited by a Goddess was simply not believable. But then again, just in case, it hardly hurt to follow good advice. So here he was, ordered by a Goddess in a dream, and also by a cranky old man who thought he ought to be a God, to learn. He should pay attention!

Timothy began with questions as to what Gaius had already learned. That he knew how to speak Greek and had read several Greek plays was no surprise, nor was the fact that he had had extensive lessons in rhetoric. That Gaius had had lessons in geometry was useful, for while he, Timothy, was not especially interested in mathematics, he would send this young Roman to see Geminus, the greatest living mathematician and astronomer. Geminus would extend him there, and save him, Timothy, from total failure.

"So you want to be a soldier? Then let's give you military problem, a real problem, but I won't tell you whose. Your mission is to take a certain city out in the African desert as quickly as possible. What do you do?"

"Where is this city? I mean, specifically with respect to where I am?"

"You make enquiries," Timothy continued, "and you obtain a most wonderful map. The city is marked due west, at a distance of 240 kilometers. There is a road and you can easily make thirty kilometers per day."

"Provisions?"

"You may carry water and food for twelve days. The city has both food and water."

"Then I take food and water for twelve days and unless I hear that there's a superior force around, I set off."

"For six days, all goes well," Timothy said, "but on the seventh day there is a sand storm, and you cannot see where you are going."

"I camp for the day," Gaius replied. What was the problem?

"The following day the storm is over, and the road is clear."

"I set off towards the city."

"While progress has been according to plan, that evening you notice that the road is becoming sandy and fifteen kilometers a day is probably all you will manage."

"The next morning I continue," a puzzled Gaius replied. "We are nearly there."

"You and your legion die in the desert. There is no city where you think it is."

"What?" Gaius exploded. "That's not fair!"

"Life is not fair," Timothy replied. "I'm a slave and . . ."

"You will be freed. You know that!" Gaius scowled.

"That's not the point!" Timothy was indignant, but he was also frightened. This could be one of those times where doing the right thing got him flogged. "Your privileged birth has given you the right to command, but you also have the responsibility to do it properly. Your ineptitude has just killed a few thousand men who were unlucky enough to be dependent on you. What should you have done?"

"Got a better map?" Gaius asked.

"No! That was as good as it would get."

"Then it's a stupid problem," Gaius said grumpily. "What could I do?"\

"Stop thinking 'I'!" Timothy said harshly. "The Earth doesn't rotate around you! You might care to consider getting help from other people who know far more than you do. First, send out scouts, who carry more supplies and move faster. Then go down to the market place. Find someone who's been there."

"I suppose you're right," Gaius conceded, after a moment. "All I can say is . . ." He stopped in mid-sentence.

"Well?"

"This is a bit on the weak side, but I would have sent out the scouts. That is standard legionary procedure."

"And you know why it is standard procedure?"

"To save people like me who would otherwise forget," Gaius said sheepishly.

"Exactly. Now I have your attention, at least until your natural arrogance takes over again . . ."

"I concede! You're right, if that makes you feel any better."

"It doesn't."

"Then what will?"

"You actually learning something. Anyone can say I'm right. The question is, has it done any good?"

"Tiberius would say you'd have to keep going to find out," Gaius said in a non-conciliatory tone.

"I know," Timothy shrugged, and added without thinking, "One of the prices you pay for being a slave is you have to keep going."

"Then how about getting on with it, and stop feeling sorry for your piece of bad luck, which, I might add, so far has been nowhere nearly as bad as you seem to make out!"

"We'll see," Timothy said. He had to pull himself together, for the boy was right in one way. His life had not been anywhere nearly as bad as it might have been, or might yet be. "So, the goal is to get you to think! What we Greeks prize is logic . . ."

One or two Greeks might, Gaius thought to himself. What most Greeks prized was gold, and the knowledge of how to extract it from unsuspecting visitors.

". . . It enables you to see through what would otherwise delude you, to find the truth. That is what makes a great general, a great philosopher, a great storyteller, a great anything. Who would you say was the greatest general that ever lived?"

"The best at winning battles was Alexander, although nothing lasted."

"That's true," Timothy agreed, "but Alexander may have been equally effective there had he lived. But that's not my point. What I want you to think about was why was Alexander so great? Was he stronger? Did he . . ."

"He was smarter," Gaius interrupted, "and he had a professional army of battle-hardened veterans."

"And who made him so smart?"

"You're going to say, his teacher."

"A successful prediction! His teacher was Aristotle, the greatest scientist and philosopher of all time," Timothy said. "So Alexander was neither a scientist nor a philosopher, but he was a thinker. Now, I shall send you to a teacher of mathematics and astronomy, and we shall cover logic and physics, and also some military campaigns of which I have records. I am going to try to make you think about things of which you have no previous experience, to see if you can be original. Originality was what made Alexander great so be here tomorrow, ready to think."

Chapter 7

"Today," Timothy said in a challenging tone, "I give you two opposite views: I give you physics, and I give you anti-physics."

He stared at Gaius, who sat impassively. "Firstly, anti-physics. For this we turn to Socrates, who put it quite bluntly. Physics are useless, because they do not help the soul." He continued to stare, until finally he said, "Comment please?"

Gaius thought for a minute, then said slowly, to gain more time, "Since you have not taught me what is in physics, I cannot say whether the statement is true or not."

"Is that all you can contribute?"

"I think the statement is also irrelevant," Gaius said. "Food does nothing for the soul, but it could not be described as useless."

"A typically Roman view," Timothy noted. "If it's there, use it."

"Better than the Greek view of, if it's there, contemplate it," Gaius retorted. There was a challenge on Gaius' face, but there was also the hint of a smile.

Timothy stared at him, then finally a smile crossed his face. "Perhaps. Well, let's start at the beginning with Thales, a military engineer who learned to predict eclipses, to measure things better than others had, and, in order for his army to win a battle, to divert a river into the enemy. He believed that everything could be explained without reference to the Gods, by forming general principles based on what we know, and hypotheses for what we do not. He used geometry, which you seem to be so taken with, and proved a theorem in which if a triangle is drawn within a circle that includes the diameter, then the angle opposite the diameter is a right angle." Timothy paused. Where was all this going? Was he wasting his time? It might be a waste, but he had to keep going, because that is what slaves did. "He also began to ask the right questions, such as where did life begin? His opinion was water, which was thus fundamental to life. Comment?"