The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough
“I’ll fix you, boy!” he said aloud, and squeezed Julia.
“What was that?” she asked.
“In a few days we’re leaving for Pessinus, you and I and our son,” he said.
She sat up. “Oh, Gaius Marius! Really? How wonderful! Are you sure you want to take us with you?”
“I’m sure, wife. I don’t care a rush what the conventions say. We’re going to be away for two or three years, and that’s too long a time at my age to spend without seeing my wife and son. If I were a younger man, perhaps. And, since I’m journeying as a privatus, there’s no official obstacle to my taking my family along with me.” He chuckled. “I’m footing the bill myself.”
“Oh, Gaius Marius!” She could find nothing else to say.
“We’ll have a look at Athens, Smyrna, Pergamum, Nicomedia, a hundred other places.”
“Tarsus?” she asked eagerly. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to travel the world!”
He still ached, but the sleepiness surged back overwhelmingly. Down went his eyelids; his lower jaw sagged.
For a few more moments Julia chattered on, then ran out of superlatives, and sat hugging her knees happily. She turned to Gaius Marius, smiling tenderly. “Dear love, I don’t suppose... ?” she asked delicately.
Her answer was his first snore. Good wife of twelve years that she was, she shook her head gently, still smiling, and turned him onto his right side.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
Essentially, this book is a one-woman band. I have done my own research, executed the maps and drawings myself and written my own glossary. Whatever flaws and errors the book contains must be laid at my door and no one else’s. However, there are two people I would like to thank by name, most sincerely. The first is Dr. Alanna Nobbs, of Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, who has acted as my classical editor. The second is Miss Sheelah Hidden, who traveled the world in search of source materials and books, talking to many authorities in the field, tracking down the whereabouts of portrait busts, and more. To the many others who shall be nameless due to lack of space, but no less highly regarded because of it, a warm and sincere thank-you also. And thanks to my husband; to my literary agent, Fred Mason; my editor, Carolyn Reidy; Jean Easthope; Joe Nobbs; and the staff.
Rather than append a long scholarly dissertation in defense of my hypotheses, I have chosen to incorporate a minimum of this within the Glossary. For those with sufficient background to be skeptical about my treatment of the relationship between Marius and Sulla during these early years, about the identity of Sulla’s first wife, and about the number of daughters Gaius Julius Caesar Nepos had, I suggest you consult the Julilla entry in the Glossary, wherein you will find my thoughts on these matters. To check the facts about Martha the Syrian’s prophecies concerning Gaius Marius, see Martha in the Glossary. And if you doubt the ancients knew what vintage wines were, look up wine. A discussion about the location of the Forum Piscinum and the Forum Frumentarium can be found under those entries. And so on. The Glossary is as full and accurate as space permits.
No bibliography is appended. First of all, because it is not usual to do so in the case of a novel. But more importantly, any bibliography would run to many pages. One hundred and eighty volumes of the Loeb Classical Library in my possession would be but a small beginning. I will only say, where possible, I have gone to the ancient sources, and have treasured the modern works of many fine historians, including Pauly-Wissowa, Broughton, Syme, Mommsen, Munzer, Scullard, and others. My scholarship will be obvious enough to those qualified to judge, without a bibliography. However, should any reader be interested, he or she may write to me in care of the publisher for a bibliography.
I beg the indulgence of Latinate readers, who will find some Latin words kept in the nominative case when vocative, dative, or other cases are in actual fact correct; and who will find family names, especially in the first half of the book, Anglicized in the plural. This has been done in order to make reading less confusing for what will be a largely non-Latinate audience.
A word about the drawings. I am so tired of people thinking Cleopatra looked like Elizabeth Taylor, Mark Antony like Richard Burton, and so forth, that I decided to supply my readers with genuine Republican Roman faces. Where possible, these are authenticated likenesses; where no such identification has been made, I have chosen an anonymous Republican Roman head of the right age and type, and given it a historical name. In this book, there are nine drawings of persons. Only two are authenticated— Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Of the other seven, Catulus Caesar is based upon an atypical portrait bust of Caesar the Dictator, and Gaius Julius Caesar upon an equally atypical portrait bust of a Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Aurelia is taken from the full-length statue of a crone of impeccably Republican date; though the statue is weatherworn, the lady’s bones bore a strong likeness to those of Caesar the Dictator. Metellus Numidicus, Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, Publius Rutilius Rufus, and the young Quintus Sertorius are based upon anonymous portrait busts of Republican date. That only one woman has been included is due to the dearth of Republican-era female portraits; what few do exist, I have had to ration out, and keep them to illustrate women in whom I can see a likeness to some authenticated Roman man. There are, after all, more books to come!
The next book in the series is tentatively titled The Grass Crown.
For a free preview of The Grass Crown, click here.
GLOSSARY
ABSOLVO The Latin term employed by a jury when voting for acquittal of the accused.
Academic An adherent of Platonic philosophy.
adamas Diamond. The ancients knew it was the hardest substance, and employed it as a cutting tool when they could get hold of it. What diamonds were available came from Scythia and India.
Adriatric Sea Mare Adriaticum. The body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from Illyricum, Macedonia, and Epirus; it was contiguous with the Ionian Sea.
advocate The term generally used by modern scholars to describe a man active in the Roman law courts. “Lawyer” is considered too modern.
aedes A house of the gods which was not considered a temple because it was not used for augury at the time of its consecration. The temple of Vesta, for example, was actually an aedes sacra rather than a full temple.
aedile One of four Roman magistrates with duties confined to the city of Rome. Two were plebeian aediles; two were curule aediles. The plebeian aediles were created first (in 493 B.C.), to assist the tribunes of the plebs in their duties, but more particularly to guard the rights of the plebs in relation to their headquarters, the temple of Ceres. They soon inherited supervision of the city’s buildings as a whole, and archival custody of plebiscites passed in the Plebeian Assembly, together with any senatorial decrees directing the passage of plebiscites. The plebeian aediles were elected by the Plebeian Assembly. Two curule aediles were created (in 367 B.C.) to give the patricians a share in custody of public buildings and archives, but the curule aediles were soon as likely to be plebeians as patricians. The curule aediles were elected by the Assembly of the People. All four from the third century B.C. onward were responsible for care of Rome’s streets, water supply, drains, traffic, public buildings and facilities, markets, weights and measures, games, and the public grain supply. They had the power to fine citizens for infringements of any regulations connected to any of the above, and deposited the moneys in their chests to help fund the games. Aedileship—plebeian or curule—was not a part of the cursus honorum, but because of the games was a valuable way for a praetorian hopeful to accrue popularity.
Aedui A powerful confraternity of Celtic tribes who lived in central Long-haired Gaul. After Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus in 122 and 121 B.C. subjugated their traditional enemies the Arverni, the Aedui became less warlike, steadily more Romanized, and enjoyed Roman patronage.
Aeneas Prince of Dardania, in the Troad. The son of King Anchises and the goddess Venus (Aphrodite), he fled the burning city of Troy (Ilium) w
Aenus River The modern river Inn, in Bavaria.
Aetna Mons Modern Mount Etna. The famous Sicilian volcano was as active in ancient times as it is in modern, but the land around it was extensively used.
Africa In Roman Republican times, the word “Africa” was mostly applied to that part of the northern coast around Carthage—modern Tunisia.
Africa Province The Roman province of Africa, which in the days of Gaius Marius was actually very small— basically, the outthrust of land containing Carthage. The Roman province was surrounded by the much larger Numidia.
ager publicum Land vested in Roman public ownership. Most of it was acquired by right of conquest or taken off its original owners as punishment for disloyalty. This latter was particularly true in the Italian Peninsula. It was leased out by the State (the censors had the duty) in a fashion favoring large estates. The most famous and contentious of all the many pieces of Italian ager publicum was the ager Campanus, land once belonging to the town of Capua, and confiscated by Rome after various Capuan insurrections.
Agger The double rampart and fortifications protecting the city of Rome on its most vulnerable side, along the Campus Esquilinus; the Agger was a part of the Servian Walls.
Alba Longa Near modern Castel Gandolfo. The ancient center of Latium, and the original home of many of Rome’s oldest patrician families, including the Julii. It was attacked and conquered by King Tullus Hostilius of Rome in the seventh century B.C., and razed to the ground. Its citizens were relocated in Rome.
Albis River The modern Elbe, in Germany.
Alexander the Great King of Macedonia, the third to be called Alexander. He was born in 356 B.C., and died aged thirty-three years. When he was twenty years old, he succeeded his father, Philip II, as king, and, haunted by the specter of the Persians, he resolved to render the threat of a Persian invasion of Europe nonexistent for all time. So in 334 B.C. he led an army across the Hellespont with the aim of subduing Persia. His odyssey between this time and his death of a fever in Babylon took him, always victorious, as far as the river Indus in modern Pakistan. His tutor as a boy was Aristotle. As he died without a true successor, his empire did not survive him as a possession of Macedonia, but he seeded many Hellenic kings in the persons of his generals, who divided most of Asia Minor, Egypt, Syria, Media, and Persia between them.
Allies Quite early in the history of the Roman Republic, its magistrates began issuing the title “Friend and Ally of the Roman People” to peoples andIor nations which had assisted Rome in an hour of (usually military) need. In time, all of the Italian Peninsula not enfranchised with full Roman citizenship or on the way to enfranchisement by being given the Latin Rights was deemed to consist of “Allies.” Rome assured military protection and some trade concessions, in return for armed troops supported by the Allies whenever Rome demanded them. Abroad, peoples andIor nations began to earn the title too; the Aedui of Long-haired Gaul and the Kingdom of Bithynia were deemed Allies. When foreign elements entered the picture, the Italian nations were simply called Allies, while the overseas nations used the full title “Friend and Ally of the Roman People.”
Allobroges The confraternity of Celtic tribes which occupied the lands south of Lake Lemanna between the crest of the western Alps and the river Rhodanus, as far south as the river Isara. They loathed Roman penetration into the area, and were obdurate foes of the Romans.
Ambarri A sept or subsection of the confraternity of Celtic tribes known as the Aedui, in central Long-haired Gaul. They lived closer to the Arar (Saone).
Ambrones A sept or subsection of the Germanic people called the Teutones; they perished to the last man at Aquae Sextiae in 102 B.C. (see Teutones).
ambrosia The food of the gods.
Amisia River The modern Ems, in Germany.
Amor Literally, “love.” Because it is also “Roma” spelled backward, the Romans of Republican times commonly believed that “Amor” was Rome’s vital secret name.
amphora, amphorae (pl.) A pottery vessel, bulbous in shape, with a narrow neck and two large handles on the upper part, and a pointed or conical bottom which prevented its being stood upright on level ground. It was used for the bulk (usually maritime) transport of wine or wheat, its pointed bottom enabling it to be fitted easily into the sawdust which filled the ship’s hold or cart’s interior. It then sat upright during the journey, cushioned and protected. The pointed bottom enabled it to be dragged across level ground by a handler with considerable ease in loading and unloading. The usual size of amphora held about 6 American gallons (25 liters).
Anas River The modern river Guadiana, in Spain.
Anatolia Roughly, modern Asian Turkey. It extended from the south coast of the Black Sea (the Euxine) through to the Mediterranean, and from the Aegean Sea in the west to modern Armenia, Iran, and Syria in the east. The Taurus and Antitaurus Mountains made its interior and much of its coastline very rugged. Its climate was. continental.
Ancus Marcius The fourth King of Rome, claimed by the family Marcius (particularly that branch cognominated Rex) as its founder-ancestor; unlikely, since the Marcii were plebeians. Ancus Marcius was said to have colonized Ostia—though there is some doubt whether he did this, or captured the salt pits at the mouth of the Tiber from their Etruscan owners. Rome under his rule flourished. His one lasting public work was the building of the Wooden Bridge, the Pons Sublicius. He died in 617 B.C., leaving sons who did not inherit their father’s throne, a source of later trouble. Anio River The modern Aniene.
Anna Perenna One of the numinous gods native to Rome and owing nothing to Greece (see numen); possessed of neither face nor mythology, Anna Perenna was regarded as female. Her feast was held on the first full moon after the old New Year (March 1), and it was a very happy occasion for everyone in Rome.
Antiocheia, Antioch The capital of Syria and the largest city in that part of the world.
Apennines The range of mountains breaking Italy up into three regions largely isolated from each other: Italian Gaul (northern Italy of the Po Valley), the Adriatic seaboard of the peninsula, and the wider, more fertile plains and valleys of the peninsula’s west coast. The range branched off the Alpes Maritimae in Liguria, crossed the base of the peninsula from west to east, then ran down the full length of the peninsula to Bruttium, opposite Sicily. Its highest peak rose to 9,600 feet (3,000 m).
aqua An aqueduct. In the time of Gaius Marius, there were four such, supplying water to the city of Rome. The oldest was the Aqua Appia (312 B.C.), next was the Aqua Anio Vetus (272 B.C.), then the Aqua Marcia (144 B.C.), and finally the Aqua Tepula ( 125 B.C.). During the Republic, the aqueducts and the water they provided were cared for by water companies hired under contract by the censors.
Aquae Sextiae Modern Aix-en-Provence. A spa town in the Roman province of Gaul-across-the-Alps.
Aquileia A Latin Rights colony seeded in far eastern Italian Gaul to protect the trade routes across the Carnic Alps from Noricum and Illyricum; the date was 181 B.C. Provided soon after with several roads connecting it to Ravenna, Patavium, Verona, and Placentia, it quickly became the most important city at the top of the Adriatic.
aquilifer Presumably a creation of Gaius Marius at the time he gave the legions their silver eagles. The best man in the legion, the aquilifer was chosen to carry the legion’s silver eagle, and was expected to keep it safe from enemy capture. He wore a wolf skin or a lion skin as a mark of his distinction.
Aquitani, Aquitania The lands of southwestern Longhaired Gaul between the Carantonus River and the Pyrenees, and exte
Arar River The modern Saone, in France.
Arausio Modern Orange. A small settlement under Roman influence on the eastern bank of the Rhodanus River, in Gaul-across-the-Alps.
Arduenna The modern forest of the Ardennes, in northern France. In the time of Gaius Marius the Arduenna extended all the way from the Mosa to the Mosella, and was impenetrable.
area Flacciana Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, an important adherent of Gaius Gracchus, was murdered together with two of his sons in 121 B.C. as part of senatorial suppression of Gaius Gracchus’s policies. His lands and all his properties were confiscated postmortem, including his house on the Palatine, which was torn down and the land left neglected. This vacant block, which overlooked the Forum Romanum, was called the area Flacciana. Quintus Lutatius Catulus acquired it in 100 B.C., and used it to build a colonnade in which he installed the standards taken from the Cimbri at Vercellae.
Arelate Modern Aries. A town, possibly founded by the Greeks, in Gaul-across-the-Alps. Situated on the Rhodanus just above its delta, Arelate grew in importance after Gaius Marius built his ship canal.
armillae The wide bracelets, of gold or of silver, which were awarded as prizes for valor to Roman legionaries, centurions, cadets, and military tribunes.
Arnus River The modern Arno. Throughout its course, loop and all, it formed the boundary between Italy proper and Italian Gaul.