Lustrum

say I forged evidence or coerced testimony.'
    It was now the middle of the morning. Incongruously, the house was starting to fill with flowers and greenery in preparation for the annual ceremony of the Good Goddess, over which Terentia was due to preside that night as the wife of the senior magistrate. As slaves carried in baskets of mistletoe, myrtle and winter roses, Cicero issued a decree that the senate should meet that afternoon not in their usual chamber but in the Temple of Concordia, so that the spirit of the goddess of national harmony might guide their deliberations. He also gave orders that a newly completed statue of Jupiter, originally destined for the Capitol, should be put up at once in the forum in front of the rostra. 'I shall surround myself with a bodyguard of deities,' he said to me. 'Because mark my words, by the time this is over, I may well have need of all the protection I can get.'
    The five conspirators were kept under guard in the atrium while Cicero went to his study to question the Gauls. Their testimony was, if anything, even more damning than that of Volturcius, for it turned out that just before leaving Rome, the ambassadors had been taken to the house of Cethegus and shown a stockpile of weapons that were to be distributed when the signal for the massacre was given. I was sent along with Flaccus to make an inventory of this arsenal, which we discovered in the tablinum, stacked in boxes from floor to ceiling. The swords and knives were unused, gleaming and of a curious curved design, with strange carvings on their hilts. Flaccus said they looked foreign-made to him. I rested my thumb on the blade of one sword. Itwas as sharp as a razor, and I thought with a shiver that not only might Cicero's throat have been cut with it, but very probably mine as well.
    By the time I had finished examining the boxes and returned to Cicero's house, it was time to leave for the senate. The downstairs rooms were festooned with sweet-smelling flora, and numerous amphorae of wine were being carried in from the street. Clearly, whatever other mysteries it might entail, the ceremony of the Good Goddess was not abstemious. Terentia drew her husband to one side and embraced him. I could not hear what she said, and nor did I try to, but I did see her take his arm and grip it fiercely. Then we set off, surrounded by legionaries, with each conspirator escorted down to the Temple of Concordia by a man of consular rank. They were all very subdued now; even Cethegus had lost his arrogance. None of us knew what to expect. As we entered the forum, Cicero took Sura by the hand as a mark of respect, but the patrician appeared too dazed by events to notice. I was walking just behind them, carrying the box of letters. What was remarkable was not so much the size of the crowds – needless to say, almost the entire population had flocked to the forum to watch what was going on – but their complete silence.
    The temple was ringed by armed men. The waiting senators looked on in amazement as they saw Cicero leading Sura. Once inside, the conspirators were locked into a small storeroom near the entrance, while Cicero went straight to the makeshift dais where his chair had been placed beneath the statue of Concordia. 'Gentlemen,' he began, 'earlier today, shortly before first light, the gallant praetors Lucius Flaccus and Gaius Pomptinus, acting on my orders, at the head of a large body of armed men, apprehended a group of riders on the Mulvian Bridge heading in the direction of Etruria …' Nobody whispered; nobody evencoughed. It was a silence such as I had never heard before in the senate – fearful, ominous, oppressive. Occasionally I was able to glance up from my note-taking at Caesar and Crassus. Both men were leaning forward in their seats, concentrating on Cicero's every word. 'Thanks to the loyalty of our allies, the envoys of the Gauls, who were appalled by what was proposed, I had already received warning of the treasonous activities of some of our fellow citizens, and was able to take the necessary precautions …'
    When the consul finished his account, which included a description of the plot to set fire to parts of the city and massacre many senators and other prominent figures, there was a kind of collective sigh or groan.
    'The question now arises, gentlemen, of what we are supposed to do with these villains. I propose that as a first step we consider the evidence against the accused, and hear what they have