Imperium

supporters and sent them away, and received the congratulations of his slaves, he ordered that the couches from the dining room be carried up onto the roof, so that he could dine beneath the open sky, as he had done on that night—so long ago it seemed—when he had first disclosed his ambition to become consul. I was honored to be invited to join the family group, for Cicero was insistent that he would never have achieved his goal without me. For a delirious moment I thought he might be about to award me my freedom and give me that farm right there and then, but he said nothing about it, and it did not seem the appropriate time or setting to bring it up. He was on one couch with Terentia, Quintus was with Pomponia, Tullia was with her fiancé, Frugi, and I reclined with Atticus. I can recall little at my great age of what we ate or drank, or any of that, but I do remember that we each went over our particular memories of the day, and especially of that extraordinary spectacle of the aristocracy voting en masse for Cicero.
    “Tell me, Marcus,” said Atticus, in his worldly way, once plenty of good wine had been consumed, “how did you manage to persuade them? Because, although I know you are a genius with words, these men despised you—absolutely loathed everything you said and stood for. What did you offer them, besides stopping Catilina?”
    “Obviously,” replied Cicero, “I had to promise that I will lead the opposition to Crassus and Caesar and the tribunes when they publish this land reform bill of theirs.”
    “That will be quite a task,” said Quintus.
    “And that is all?” persisted Atticus. (It is my belief, looking back, that he was behaving like a good cross-examiner, and that he knew the answer to the question before he asked it, probably from his friend Hortensius.) “You really agreed to nothing else? Because you were in there for many hours.”
    Cicero winced. “Well, I did have to undertake,” he said reluctantly, “to propose in the Senate, as consul, that Lucullus should be awarded a triumph, and also Quintus Metellus.”
    Now at last I understood why Cicero had seemed so grim and preoccupied when he left his conference with the aristocrats. Quintus put down his plate and regarded him with undisguised horror. “So first they want you to turn the people against you by blocking land reform, and then they demand that you should make an enemy out of Pompey by awarding triumphs to his greatest rivals?”
    “I am afraid, brother,” said Cicero wearily, “that the aristocracy did not acquire their wealth without knowing how to drive a hard bargain. I held out as long as I could.”
    “But why did you agree?”
    “Because I needed to win.”
    “But to win what, exactly?”
    Cicero was silent.
    “Good,” said Terentia, patting her husband’s knee. “I think all those policies are good.”
    “Well, you would!” protested Quintus. “But within weeks of taking office, Marcus will have no supporters left. The people will accuse him of betrayal. The Pompeians will do the same. And the aristocrats will drop him just as soon as he has served his purpose. Who will be left to defend him?”
    “I shall defend you,” said Tullia, but for once no one laughed at her precocious loyalty, and even Cicero could only manage a faint smile. But then he rallied.
    “Really, Quintus,” he said, “you are spoiling the whole evening. Between two extremes there is always a third way. Crassus and Caesar have to be stopped: I can make that case. And when it comes to Lucullus, everyone accepts that he deserves a triumph a hundred times over for what he achieved in the war against Mithradates.”
    “And Metellus?” cut in Quintus.
    “I am sure I shall be able to find something to praise even in Metellus, if you give me sufficient time.”
    “And Pompey?”
    “Pompey, as we all know, is simply a humble servant of the republic,” replied Cicero, with an airy wave of his hand. “More important,” he added, deadpan, “he is not here.”
    There was a pause and then, reluctantly, Quintus started to laugh. “He is not here,” he repeated. “Well, that is true.” After a while, we all laughed; one had to laugh, really.
    “That is better!” Cicero smiled at us. “The art of life is to deal with problems as they arise, rather than destroy one’s spirit by worrying about them too far in advance. Especially tonight.” And then a tear came into his eye. “Do you know who we should drink to? I