The Dictator (2 page)

As
Dictator
encompasses what was arguably—at least until the convulsions of 1933–45—the most tumultuous era in human history, maps, a glossary and a cast of characters have been provided to assist the reader in navigating Cicero’s sprawling and collapsing world.

—Robert Harris

Kintbury, 8 June 2015

Afranius, Lucius
an ally of Pompey’s from his home region of Picenum; one of Pompey’s army commanders in the war against Mithradates; consul in 60
BC

Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius
Octavian’s closest associate, aged twenty

Ahenobarbus, Lucius Domitius
patrician senator; praetor in 58 
BC
; married to Cato’s sister; a determined enemy of Caesar

Antony, Mark (Marcus Antonius)
renowned as a brave and enterprising soldier under Caesar’s command in Gaul; grandson of a famous orator and consul; stepson of one of the Catiline conspirators executed by Cicero

Atticus, Titus Pomponius
Cicero’s closest friend; an equestrian, an Epicurean, immensely wealthy; brother-in-law to Quintus Cicero, who is married to his sister, Pomponia

Balbus, Lucius Cornelius
wealthy Spaniard originally allied to Pompey and then to Caesar, whose
homme d’affaires
he became in Rome

Bibulus, Marcus Calpurnius
Caesar’s colleague as consul in 59 
BC
, and his staunch opponent

Brutus, Marcus Junius
direct descendant of the Brutus who drove the kings from Rome and established the republic in the sixth century
BC
; son of Servilia, nephew of Cato; the great figurehead of the constitutionalists

Caesar, Gaius Julius
former consul; a member of the “triumvirate” with Pompey and Crassus; governor of three Roman provinces—Nearer and Further Gaul and Bithynia; six years Cicero’s junior; married to Calpurnia, daughter of L. Calpurnius Piso

Calenus, Quintus Fufius
an old crony of Clodius and Antony; a supporter of Caesar and an enemy of Cicero; father-in-law of Pansa

Cassius, Gaius Longinus
senator and able soldier; married to Servilia’s daughter, Junia Tertia, and thus Brutus’s brother-in-law

Cato, Marcus Porcius
half-brother of Servilia; uncle of Brutus; a Stoic and a stern upholder of the traditions of the republic

Cicero, Marcus Tullius Junior
Cicero’s son

Cicero, Quintus Tullius
Cicero’s younger brother; senator and soldier; married to Pomponia, the sister of Atticus; governor of Asia, 61–58
BC

Cicero, Quintus Tullius Junior
Cicero’s nephew

Clodia
daughter of one of the most distinguished families in Rome, the patrician Appii Claudii; the sister of Clodius; the widow of Metellus Celer

Clodius Pulcher, Publius
scion of the leading patrician dynasty, the Appii Claudii; a former brother-in-law of L. Lucullus; the brother of Clodia, with whom he is alleged to have had an incestuous affair; at his trial for sacrilege Cicero gave evidence against him; transferred to the plebs at the instigation of Caesar and elected tribune

Cornutus, Marcus
one of Caesar’s officers, appointed urban praetor in 44
BC

Crassipes, Furius
Tullia’s second husband; a senator; a friend of Crassus

Crassus, Marcus Licinius
former consul; member of the “triumvirate”; brutal suppressor of the slave revolt led by Spartacus; the richest man in Rome; a bitter rival of Pompey

Crassus, Publius
son of Crassus the triumvir; cavalry commander under Caesar in Gaul; an admirer of Cicero

Decimus
properly styled
Brutus, Decimus Junius Albinus,
but not to be confused with
Brutus
(above); brilliant young military commander in Gaul; a protégé of Caesar

Dolabella, Publius Cornelius
Tullia’s third husband; one of Caesar’s closest lieutenants—young, charming, precocious, ambitious, licentious, brutal

Fulvia
wife of Clodius; subsequently married to Mark Antony

Hirtius, Aulus
one of Caesar’s staff officers in Gaul, groomed for a political career; a noted gourmet, a scholar who helped Caesar with his
Commentaries

Horensius Hortalus, Quintus
former consul, for many years the leading advocate at the Roman bar, until displaced by Cicero; a leader of the patrician faction; immensely wealthy; like Cicero, a civilian politician and not a soldier

Isauricus, Publius Servilius Vatia
a patrician, son of one of the grand old men of the Senate, who nevertheless chose to support Caesar; elected praetor in 54
BC

Labienus, Titus
a soldier and former tribune from Pompey’s home region of Picenum; one of Caesar’s ablest commanders in Gaul

Lepidus, Marcus Aemilius
patrician senator, married to a daughter of Servilia; member of the College of Pontiffs

Milo, Titus Annius
a tough street-wise politician, an owner of gladiators

Nepos, Quintus Caecilius Metellus
consul at the time of Cicero’s return from exile

Octavian, Gaius Julius Caesar
Caesar’s great-nephew and heir

Pansa, Gaius Vibius
one of Caesar’s commanders in Gaul

Philippus, Lucius Marcius
consul soon after Cicero’s return from exile; married to Caesar’s niece, Atia, and thus the stepfather of Octavian; owner of a villa next door to Cicero’s on the Bay of Naples

Philotimus
Terentia’s business manager, of questionable honesty

Piso, Lucius Calpurnius
consul at the time of Cicero’s exile, and thus an enemy of Cicero’s; Caesar’s father-in-law

Plancius, Gnaeus
quaestor of Macedonia; his family were friends from the same region of Italy as the Ciceros

Plancus, Lucius Munatius
close lieutenant of Caesar, appointed governor of Further Gaul in 44
BC

Pompey, Gnaeus Magnus
born in the same year as Cicero; for many years the most powerful man in the Roman world; a former consul and victorious general who has already triumphed twice; a member of the “triumvirate” with Caesar and Crassus; married to Caesar’s daughter, Julia

Rufus, Marcus Caelius
Cicero’s former pupil; the youngest senator in Rome—brilliant, ambitious, unreliable

Servilia
ambitious and politically shrewd half-sister of Cato; the long-term mistress of Caesar; the mother of three daughters and a son, Brutus, by her first husband

Servius Sulpicius Rufus
contemporary and old friend of Cicero, famed as one of the greatest legal experts in Rome; married to Postumia, a mistress of Caesar

Spinther, Publius Cornelius Lentulus
consul at the time of Cicero’s return from exile; an enemy of Clodius and friend of Cicero

Terentia
wife of Cicero; ten years younger than her husband, richer and of nobler birth; devoutly religious, poorly educated, with conservative political views; mother of Cicero’s two children, Tullia and Marcus

Tiro
Cicero’s devoted private secretary, a family slave, three years younger than his master, the inventor of a system of shorthand

Tullia
Cicero’s daughter

Vatinius, Publius
a senator and soldier famed for his ugliness; a close ally of Caesar

Part One

Exile

58 bc–47 bc

Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. Quid enim est aetas hominis, nisi ea memoria rerum veterum cum superiorum aetate contexitur?

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?

—Cicero,
Orator
, 46
BC

I remember the cries of Caesar’s war-horns chasing us over the darkened fields of Latium—their yearning, keening howls, like animals in heat—and how when they stopped there was only the slither of our shoes on the icy road and the urgent panting of our breath.

It was not enough for the immortal gods that Cicero should be spat at and reviled by his fellow citizens; not enough that in the middle of the night he be driven from the hearths and altars of his family and ancestors; not enough even that as we fled from Rome on foot he should look back and see his house in flames. To all these torments they deemed it necessary to add one further refinement: that he should be forced to hear his enemy’s army striking camp on the Field of Mars.

Even though he was the oldest of our party Cicero kept up the same fast pace as the rest of us. Not long ago he had held Caesar’s life in the palm of his hand. He could have crushed it as easily as an egg. Now their fortunes led them in entirely opposite directions. While Cicero hurried south to escape his enemies, the architect of his destruction marched north to take command of both provinces of Gaul.

He walked with his head down, not uttering a word and I imagined it was because he was too full of despair to speak. Only at dawn, when we rendezvoused with our horses at Bovillae and were about to embark on the second stage of our escape, did he pause with his foot in the doorway of his carriage and say suddenly, “Do you think we should turn back?”

The question caught me by surprise. “I don’t know,” I said. “I hadn’t considered it.”

“Well, consider it now. Tell me: why are we fleeing Rome?”

“Because of Clodius and his mob.”

“And why is Clodius so powerful?”

“Because he’s a tribune and can pass laws against you.”

“And who made it possible for him to become a tribune?”

I hesitated. “Caesar.”

“Exactly. Caesar. Do you imagine that man’s departure for Gaul at that precise hour was a coincidence? Of course not! He waited till his spies had reported I’d left the city before ordering his army to move. Why? I’d always assumed his advancement of Clodius was to punish me for speaking out against him. But what if his real aim all along was to drive me out of Rome? What scheme requires him to be certain I’ve gone before he can leave too?”