CHAPTER XXXV

XXXV.

– Never doubt about it: she is trying to overwhelm you openly with all that magnificent

look with which she submits her subjects...and make you understand what she means,

that you are just an insignificant mortal woman who dos not deserve a goddess’

descendant as her partner. What’s worse, the way she does it is showing off the proof

of her fertility.... I just warn you that by the time you must face your fate, you will have

properly arranged your life and contacts.

–Cornelia, my dear Cornelia... This might be the general thinking all around Palatine

Hill, but.... I have always thought that my husband would never be interested in

consolidating his affair with her .Rome would never forgive him for that; in fact, as far

as I know, nobody likes her here. Not even the rabble... do you think my husband

would dare taking such a risk?

Cornelia made an effort to control her hopelessness.

–If he really considers himself Aphrodite’s descendant, he might get attracted to the

idea of settling down in Egypt and controlling all Roman domains from there. Maybe he

would leave Antonius her as his representative consul, just as he has been doing it so

far. Remember Caesar is not wholly supported here. Don’t forget people’s reaction

when they saw that chariot depicting Cato’s suicide during the celebration of your

 

husband’s triumphus and also their opposition to the waste of money these

celebrations meant. The last straw has been the failure of his Lex Sumptuaria.

Nevertheless, in Alexandria he may be seen as the incarnation of a solar goddess from

the Western world. You didn’t see him as a young man, Calpurnia... When he married

my daughter, he had hardly anything in common with this hardened worn-out man, who

crudely war experience has made deeply humble, in spite of all we know. Portia had

told you so, remember. When his first wife still lived, he was convinced that he couldn’t

content himself with having just a simple patrician‘s acceptable career as a military

commander and then at the Senate... Aurelia, you know, after her husband’s untimely

 

death, was the main maker of his meteor-like cursus honorum. I always thought that

her main ambition, that which would justify her existence, was the fact of creating a

great man who could transcend not only his own time but also the years to come.

Remember, she was also a Rutilia through her mother’s line, like your mother herself.

Who knows if, by marrying you to Caesar, she was also fancying that you might also

share his greatness...

–Cornelia... do you know if your father....came to love her?

She looked at me. Not in amazement, but studying how to react.

–Do you think that Lucius Cornelius Sulla and I shared such a degree of complicity that

he could have ever thought of confiding such a thing to me? What’s more, whenever 

she dropped in for a visit, there were some other people around, including my own

mother, Calpurnia...

Her voice had grown impatient.

–Please…. How much longer should you keep on insisting on that? Why on earth must

you have such a deep....interest in this? I can assure you, Calpurnia, that your husband

is no brother of mine. Should I have known anything like that...how could I have given

him my own daughter as his wife? Moreover, he has his father’s tendency to baldness,

like most men from gens Iulia.

–Once... a long time ago... he told me that Sulla himself had foretold him that someone

born from both lineages would be destined to play a crucial role for millions of Roman

citizens by avoiding a terrible catastrophe.... He could obviously be thinking about your

Pompeia.

Cornelia’s dark expression was melting into a dazzling huge smile. She did not add

anything else to my remarks.

 

–I’ll make sure that people I can rely on might distribute the food remainders from

Cleopatra’s feast throughout Subura and perhaps also in some other vici that may be
really needy. Just as your husband has always had the unconditional support of his

native neighbourhood, it’s also good that his wife could have a part of it, as I once told

you, Calpurnia. Many inhabitants of the vici don’t know there is a lady called Calpurnia

 

Piso Caesonina, who is also the Great Man’s legitimate wife...