young, lacking seasoning, believe it may be more cheaply bought. How old are you, twenty-seven, twenty-eight?”
“Almost thirty,” Brutus said defensively. “Perhaps the young believe justice must be bought at any price.”
“Well, the thing is, even if you pay the price and make the purchase, you never know till it is beyond undoing whether what you bought is what you expected. The scales are rarely balanced.” Crassus drank. I curse myself as I write these words, but in that moment I feared to be shamed by a rebuke. I could not bring myself to interrupt their conversation.
“Let me tell you a thing or two about justice!” Crassus was unstoppable now. “They say you’ve returned from Cyprus a rich man. You’ve become a practiced and clever moneylender, have you not?” Brutus sipped sparingly at his wine, saying nothing. “Do you owe your fortune to fastidious Cato for employing you there? He would blanch if he learned his nephew, the incorruptible Brutus was a base usurer. 48% interest to those poor people of Salamis. Tut, tut, Brutus. Do not shame yourself further by denial: I have spent a lifetime cultivating loyal clients more numerous than all your sesterces. Oh don’t worry, I don’t give a fig for your illegal gains. Let me tell you whose feet you should be bathing in gratitude: not your uncle’s, nor those of Matinius or Scaptius who fronted for you (I know all that passes in the senate). No, it is to Pompeius, your avowed enemy, that you owe gratitude! Don’t look so incredulous; two years before you put your little scheme to work, it was he who subdued the island and brought it under the aegis of Rome. If not for Pompeius, your uncle would have had nothing to govern and you would have no decent citizens of Salamis to fleece. Where is your justice now? Shall I help you compose a letter of thanks to Magnus? Better still, let us determine his commission. Stone and earth are good for funerals, but nothing buries a feud so durably as silver and gold.”
I gathered my loins and said softly, “Sir, the hour?”
“All right, Alexander. You are a cruel taskmaster. I’m coming.”
Brutus buried his face in his hands. “Oh my,” Crassus said, “I’ve gone too far.”
The young man sniffled. “No. You have gone to the mark. My father’s honor and service were enough to earn him his tribunate. I must let it stand.” He raised his head and smiled meekly; his eyes were neither red nor wet. “Do not hold my actions in contempt, I beg you. Today one must have a full purse to climb the cursus honorum.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine, lad. Stay close to your uncle. He may be misguided, but his honor is unimpeachable. He has some followers in the senate and will find you a place.”
“My uncle does not approve of my being here.” Brutus tore a chunk of bread from a loaf and dipped the end in a bowl of honey.
“I should think not, considering the company you are keeping. Why are you here?”
“I respect Cato’s Stoic beliefs, I do, but I am no ascetic. My uncle would have me in sackcloth, exercising five times a day and eating birdseed. You should taste the wine at his table: it is unfit even for his slaves. To answer your question directly, I am here at Caesar’s bidding. He need but ask and I will see it through.”
“He does not share your politics. He, like myself, stands for a new Rome, a people’s Rome.”
“My friendship is immovable, but I may yet nudge his devotion away from the populares. Rome has had its fill of kings. The senate must remain inviolate to protect us against a return to dictatorship.”
“Truly, your uncle is a greater influence upon you than Caesar. I am more of a pragmatist. There are more citizens than senators. Ironically, of the three of us, Pompeius may be more easily moved. That is, if you don’t conspire to kill him again.”
“The conspiracy was never proved and the charge dismissed! Three years ago.”
Crassus smiled and emptied his cup. “True, yet your name held a place of prominence in the debate.”
“You bait me, sir, but I shall not rise. For if you know this much, you also know that it was Caesar who had my name stricken from the list of conspirators. Another reason for my loyalty.”
“Caesar is nothing if not persuasive. You will never find a more loyal supporter. One does wonder, though. If I