The Ides of March (33 page)

D
ECIUS
S
CAURUS
– Fictional character. Veteran of the Tenth, he originally served under Caesar but later sided with Pompey’s supporters and took a position with Sergius Quintilianus, for whom he attempted, unsuccessfully, to stop Publius Sextius.

L
UCIUS
C
ALPURNIUS
P
ISO
C
AESONINUS
– Caesar’s father-in-law. A man of consular rank and a refined intellectual, he was responsible for having Caesar’s will opened and read in Antony’s home.

L
UCIUS
M
UNATIUS
P
LANCUS
– A consummate opportunist, Plancus managed to survive all the civil wars unscathed. Consul in 42 BC, the year in which he founded Lyon (Lugdunum), he was Caesar’s friend. Immediately after the assassination he did everything he could to avert the risk of a new civil war. In the years that followed, he sided at times with Octavian, at times with Antony. It was he who proposed in the Senate in 27 BC that Octavian be awarded the title
Augustus
. He was also a man of letters.

L
UCIUS
P
ONTIUS
A
QUILA
– Conspirator. Tribune of the plebs in 45 BC, he was the sole person who refused to stand at Caesar’s passage while celebrating his triumph in Spain. Caesar was furious, and mocked him at length for this act. After the Ides, he became Decimus Brutus’s second-in-command. In 43 BC he was killed during the siege of Modena (Mutina).

L
UCIUS
T
ILLIUS
C
IMBER
– Conspirator. Initially one of Caesar’s supporters, he was the propraetor for Bithynia and Pontus in 44 BC. He played an active role in the conspiracy. On the Ides of March, he signalled to the others by tugging at Caesar’s toga with the excuse of asking that his brother be recalled from exile. He eventually joined up with Cassius at Philippi, where he died.

M
ARCUS
A
EMILIUS
L
EPIDUS
– Born into an illustrious family, he was praetor in 49 BC and proposed the law which named Caesar dictator. He was consul in 46 BC and acted as
magister equitum
(‘commander of the cavalry’) in 45–44 BC. Caesar was invited to dinner at his home the night before the Ides of March, and when the question of what was the best death was raised (perhaps agreed upon beforehand by some of the guests) Caesar replied, in a curiously prophetic way, ‘sudden and unexpected’. After the dictator’s death, at Antony’s suggestion, Lepidus dined with Brutus in an attempt to reach an agreement. After the War of Modena (Mutina) he sided with Antony, joining him and Octavian in the second triumvirate. Octavian’s irresistible rise to power relegated Lepidus to the prestigious but secondary role of
Pontifex Maximus
(High Pontiff), the position he assumed after Caesar’s death.

M
ARCUS
A
NTONIUS
(Mark Antony) – Caesar’s fellow consul in 44 BC. He was born on 14 January, 84 BC, and after a reckless youth he sided with Caesar, to whom he was related, participated in the Gallic War and joined Caesar after he had crossed the Rubicon. After the Battle of Munda in March 45 BC, he was approached by Caius Trebonius and asked to participate in a plot to take Caesar’s life. He refused but never revealed this conversation. During the Lupercalia festival in February 44 BC, all sources agree that he offered Caesar the king’s crown, which was refused. His behaviour remained ambiguous during the Ides of March conspiracy in 44 BC. It was Trebonius who delayed him outside the Senate while the conspirators were murdering Caesar, thus effectively saving Antony’s life. Considered an impulsive, violent and dissolute man, he showed extraordinary political acumen in the hours following Caesar’s death which allowed him to turn the situation around and force the conspirators into a defensive position within days. One year later (April 43 BC) he initiated the War of Modena (Mutina) against Decimus Brutus who was governing Cisalpine Gaul. Defeated, he joined Lepidus in Gaul and from there organized the summit with Octavian that led to the second triumvirate, the elimination of Cicero, his arch enemy, and ultimately the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi. Once Lepidus was out of the picture, he shared dominion of the empire with Octavian, keeping the East for himself and marrying Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Defeated at the Battle of Actium, in Greece, in September 31 BC, he attempted in vain to hold off against Octavian at Alexandria and ended up committing suicide.

M
ARCUS
J
UNIUS
B
RUTUS
– Conspirator. Born into the illustrious
jens Junia
he was thus a direct descendant of Lucius Junius Brutus, who had driven out the last king of Rome and founded the Republic nearly 500 years earlier. Servilia, his mother, was Caesar’s mistress for many years, fostering the rumour that Brutus was Caesar’s natural son. Brutus grew up under the influence of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis who embodied the most conservative current of Roman society. Cato was his uncle and became his father-in-law when he married Cato’s daughter Porcia. In keeping with his Stoic education, Brutus sided with Pompey at Pharsalus. Although he was later pardoned by Caesar and enjoyed a close personal relationship with him, he became the ideological hub of the conspiracy. After the Ides of March, he was forced to flee to the East. In 42 BC he fought at Philippi where he was defeated by the triumvirs and committed suicide. Plutarch says (
Brutus
36) that before the battle he was visited by a frightful ghost who announced his defeat.

M
ARCUS
T
ULLIUS
C
ICERO
– One of the great cultural figures of ancient Rome, famous as an orator. In 63 BC, as consul, he had a central role in the harsh repression of Catiline’s conspiracy. Robbed of a primary role in politics by the first triumvirate, he supported Pompey, albeit without great conviction, and was later pardoned by Caesar. At the time of the plot against Caesar, he maintained an attitude of great prudence, perhaps convinced, at least in part, that the conspirators were unlikely to be capable of restoring the traditional Republican institutions. This fundamental indecisiveness came to the fore again later when he tried to obtain Octavian’s protection. The open hostility he showed towards Antony (who he attacked violently in his
Philippics
) would ultimately prove fatal. In 43 BC he was killed by Antony’s soldiers, and his head and hands were put on public display on the Rostra.

M
ARCUS
T
ULLIUS
T
IRO
– Cicero’s secretary. Once a slave, he had been freed and became one of the orator’s closest associates. A renowned man of letters himself, he published some of Cicero’s works. He is also remembered for having invented a stenography system, the Tironian notes. He outlived the man who had once been his master, dying when he was nearly one hundred years old on a farm that he owned near Pozzuoli (Puteoli).

M
USTELA
– Fictional character. Spy and hit-man for the forces opposing Caesar. An unattractive, dangerous individual, well fitting his nickname ‘
mustela’
or weasel. Fearless and determined, he races against time in a duel to the death with centurion Publius Sextius ‘the Cane’.

N
EBULA
– Fictional character. Spy and informer. The most elusive figure in the novel, he can seemingly melt away into the countryside at will. A man of no face; only his voice identifies him. Yet he plays a central role, because the information he provides is wholly accurate and could save Caesar’s life if it reaches Rome in time.

P
ETRONIUS
– Played such a secondary role in the conspiracy (it is said that he provided the weapons) that he is remembered by historians by his
nomen
only. Perhaps killed at Ephesus by Antony in 41 BC.

P
OPILIUS
L
AENAS
– Elderly senator, friend and confidant of Cicero as evidenced in the letters they exchanged. Both Plutarch and Appian report that on the Ides of March, he approached Brutus and Cassius, urging them to carry out their plan without wasting time, citing the risk that news of the plot might leak.

P
ORCIA
– Wife of Marcus Junius Brutus and daughter of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis. Loyal to conservative Republican ideals, according to Plutarch (
Brutus
13), she was a passionate, proud, intelligent woman who loved her husband. She was aware of the conspiracy.

P
TOLEMY
C
AESAR
– Son of Caesar and Cleopatra. When his mother returned to Egypt after Caesar’s death, she had him recognized as king. After the Battle of Actium and the suicides of Antony and Cleopatra, he was murdered on Octavian’s orders.

P
TOLEMY
X
III
– Son of Ptolemy XII Auletes, he was nominally King of Egypt from 51 to 47 BC. Tradition has it that he was married to Cleopatra, his older sister, and was meant to rule with her. The members of Cleopatra’s court, in particular Achillas, who commanded the Egyptian army and was behind Pompey’s treacherous murder, plotted to bring about the ‘Alexandrian War’ in which Ptolemy took on Caesar and his newly acquired mistress, Cleopatra. He drowned in the Nile during a battle, leaving Cleopatra the sole sovereign of Egypt.

P
UBLIUS
S
ERVILIUS
C
ASCA
– Conspirator. Present at the Lupercalia festival where he acted in an ambiguous way. He was the first to strike Caesar, near the neck. After being defeated at Philippi in 42 BC he committed suicide.

P
UBLIUS
S
EXTIUS
, known as ‘T
HE
C
ANE
’ (B
ACULUS
) – Front-line centurion, fiercely loyal to Caesar. The character is freely inspired by a centurion who actually existed, Publius Sextius Baculus, whose endeavours were so heroic as to be mentioned three times by Caesar in his
De Bello Gallico
. The first passage (II, 25) recounts a severely wounded Baculus standing off against the Nervii tribe who are overwhelming the Twelfth Legion. In the second, Baculus, acting as the senior centurion of the entire legion, is taking part in a war council, consulting with Galba, the legate of the Twelfth, and with military tribune Volusenus, on how to repel an attack on the winter camp (III, 5). Finally (VI, 38), while recovering from his battle wounds, he is fighting off the enemy as they threaten to penetrate the camp. He demonstrates almost super-human willpower and loyalty to his general, willing to face any trial in order to save him, without a moment’s hesitation.

P
ULLUS
(‘Chick’) – Fictional character. He has no mother or father, but was brought up by the army and taught to carry out any number of tasks and services, although there is only one thing he is really good at: running. His inexhaustible energy allows him to run for entire days and nights, light as a feather, even on the roughest, most hostile terrain. This ability proves precious in saving the lives of Vibius and Rufus.

Q
UINTUS
L
IGARIUS
– Conspirator. Famous for Cicero’s eloquent defence of him in the
Pro Quinto Ligario
after he had been accused of treason. How he died is not known, as is true for several of the minor conspirators, but Suetonius (
Caesar
89) claims that none of those who stabbed Caesar lived more than three years after that day, and that none of them died of natural causes.

R
UBRIUS
R
UGA
– Conspirator. A lesser figure in the conspiracy about whom not much is known. The circumstances of his death are also unknown.

R
UFUS
– Fictional character. A young man belonging to the reconnaissance corps (
speculatores
). All of his features give away his Celtic origins: he is tall, blond, his eyes are an iridescent blue. His heart is still torn between the legacy of his ancestors and his Roman soul. Together with his friend Vibius, he races against time to make sure that the precious information he has about the conspiracy makes it to Rome.

S
ERGIUS
Q
UINTILIANUS
– Fictional character. Supporter of Pompey and veteran of Pharsalus, where he lost his son. A man of principle, he is obsessed by the desire for revenge, and plays an important role in preventing the messengers from getting their information through to Rome. His fate is decided in a dramatic final encounter with centurion Publius Sextius.

S
ERVILIA
– Half-sister of Marcio Porcius Cato Uticensis. A woman of extraordinary personality, she was Caesar’s mistress for many years. Suetonius (
Caesar
50) claims that Caesar loved her more than any other woman, to the extent that he gave her, on the occasion of his first consulship (59 BC), the gift of a pearl worth six million
sesturtii
, an enormous amount. From her first marriage with Marcus Brutus, Marcus Junius Brutus was born. She had three daughters with her second husband, Decimus Junius Silanus; as fate would have it, one married Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, another Cassius Longinus, one of the conspirators.

S
ILIUS
S
ALVIDIENUS
– Fictional character. Centurion of the Twelfth Legion, Caesar’s adjutant. Utterly loyal to his commander, he is concerned that Caesar is putting himself at risk and circumspectly collects information with the help of Antistius, hoping to put Caesar on his guard. He begins to suspect Antony, and discovers by chance that he is seeing Cleopatra unbeknownst to Caesar. He and Publius Sextius render Caesar last honours during the funeral ceremony at the
Campus Martius
.

S
URA
– Fictional character. Taciturn mountain guide, he leads Sextius through the sinister Apennine forests one long, snowy night.

T
ITUS
P
OMPONIUS
A
TTICUS
– One of Cicero’s closest friends, his nickname – ‘Atticus’ – referred to the twenty years he spent in Athens when Marius and Sulla were warring. He never entered politics; his dedication to his studies shielded him from the violence of the civil conflict that followed. His sympathies lay with Pompey’s supporters and the Republicans, but only on a personal level. He thus survived the wars between the triumvirs and Caesar’s assassins and the later clash between Antony and Octavian, unscathed. He was a great scholar, expert in a number of disciplines and keeper of one of the most important private libraries of Rome. He wrote a work celebrating his friend Cicero’s consulate and his victory over Catiline. He kept up an intense correspondence with Cicero, which has been preserved. When he fell gravely ill in 32 BC, he refused to take any nourishment and starved himself to death at the age of seventy-eight.