The Ides of March Read Online Free PDF Page A

code, obviously, and could be read only by the high commander himself.
    Publius Sextius the war hero. The most valiant soldier of the republic. When Caesar had celebrated his Quadruple Triumph in Rome, Publius Sextius had paraded bare-chested to show off his decorations: the ghastly scars that criss-crossed his chest.
    He was the senior centurion of the Twelfth Legion and had survived incredible ordeals. During the campaign in Gaul, in the battle against the Nervii tribe, he had fought on unflaggingly despite numerous wounds, barking out orders, inciting his legion to regroup and launch a counter-attack. The day finished in victory. After the battle, he was moved to a military camp where he could recover from his injuries, but when the camp came under siege, food and supplies were cut off for days on end. Nonetheless, when the enemy succeeded in breaking through the gate, there he was at the entrance to his tent in full armour. What he did next was the stuff of legends. Although he could barely stand, he convinced the others to join him in fighting off the enemy. When he was wounded again in close combat, his men managed to pull him out of the fray and drag him to safety.
    Reduced to skin and bones, more dead than alive, he struggled through a long convalescence, regained his strength and returned to his place in the ranks. It was men such as Publius Sextius who had built the Roman Empire. And there were plenty more like him on both sides of the political divide, separated by their beliefs and by their allegiances during the Civil War.
    Publius Sextius had earned his nickname, ‘the Cane’, because he never parted with the emblem of his rank: the sturdy cane of a grapevine, used to toughen up the young recruits. A man of unshakeable loyalty, he was one of the very few people Caesar knew he could trust blindly. He was indestructible, a man who didn’t know the meaning of fear. The mission he was carrying out must be of exceptional importance, because Caesar asked for news of him constantly. Silius couldn’t help but wonder exactly what was he doing up north. What task had the centurion been entrusted with?
    As Silius followed this train of thought, he realized they’d already reached the doors to the Domus, with the litter following about twenty steps behind them.
    Before entering, Caesar turned towards him and said, ‘Remember, at any hour of the day or night.’
    ‘Of course, commander.’ Silius nodded. ‘At any hour of the day or night.’
    And while Caesar was being welcomed by the gatekeeper, Silius went to his office to check on the commander’s appointments scheduled for that day.
    Just then the storm that had been threatening since dawn finally broke in an explosion of roaring thunder and pelting water. The big square emptied instantly and the marble pavement became as shiny as a mirror under the pouring rain.

3
    Mutinae, a.d. VIII Id. Mart., hora secunda
    Modena, 8 March, seven a.m.
    T HE FOG THAT rose from the rivers, from the earth and from the rain-damp meadows had veiled everything: the fields and the vineyards, the farms scattered through the countryside, the stables and haylofts. Only the tips of the tallest trees emerged – the ancient oaks, elms and maples that had seen Hannibal and his elephants pass this way. Now the bare silent giants watched over the colonized land, which bore the marks of Roman centuriation: the plots were edged by long rows of poplar trees and by boundary stones identified by consecutive numbers and by direction.
    Here and there farmers were at work pruning the grapevines which dripped milky tears, the sap already flowing through their veins in anticipation of the still-mute spring. Towards the west rose the walls of the city, their dank blocks made of grey hewn stone from the Apennines. To the south loomed the snowcovered peak of Mount Summano, a towering pyramid with a blunted top.
    Suddenly a figure materialized in the fog – a man of sturdy build, his head and shoulders