Aurelia || SERIES ROMANA I

Chapter 62 ~ Iudicum capitis

A murmur went through the crowd in the forum and spilled over to the waiting people in the basilica only a few moments later. Sharply, Gaius, who was standing next to her hidden in the shadows, sucked in the air and grasped her hand as if anchoring him in this world. Reassuringly, she drew circles on the back of his hand with her thumb. Curious, the people in front of them began to crane their heads. Each of them wanted to see the accused first, so as not to miss a single moment of this event. When had a praetorian prefect ever had to publicly answer for his deeds in court? Sejanus, Macro's predecessor, had been condemned by the Senate at Tiberius' request.
It was with great difficulty that Aurelia did not allow herself to be infected by the people's sensationalism. For too often she had imagined a Roman trial in the most dazzling colours, translating Cicero's speeches in her room at home or at school. But when she caught a glimpse of Macro among the people, striding proudly and unconcernedly past the jeering, jeering and insulting people, the last vestige of enthusiasm evaporated and gave way to the same nervous tension that Gaius had been radiating for several days as soon as they were alone.
This man, who had just sat down on the defendant's bench, had tried to take away everything she loved. Aurelia would have preferred to skip the trial and pass sentence herself. But Gaius and she had to be wiser. If, like their predecessors, they abused their power and bent the traditions of the Roman people to their own ends, their innumerable opponents, who were only waiting for an opportunity to assert their own family claim to the leadership of the state, would sooner or later use this abuse of power against them.
Slowly, Claudius strode to the centre of the speaker's area in front of the bench of judges, folded his arms, tilted his head and eyed Macro like a lepidopterist would a particularly fascinating butterfly. With a challenging smile on his lips, Macro returned the gaze. Tensely, Aurelia stood on her tiptoes to see better. One by one the audience fell silent. An expectant silence fell over the crowd and Gaius tightened the grip of his hand around hers. By now he had retreated so far into the shadows that he was standing behind her, turning her arm behind her back at an awkward angle. After making sure no one was paying attention to her, she carefully crouched down, twisted in Gaius' grip and straightened so that her clasped hands were in front of her stomach. Immediately, Gaius pulled her closer and pressed a feather-light kiss to the crown of her head before resting his chin on top of hers. Pressed against him like this, Aurelia felt the great tension of his body and wished she could do more for him.
On the speaker's platform, Claudius snorted indignantly and turned to the judges who were watching him with interest.
"Do you see, venerable judges, the insolence of that man there?" asked Claudius his voice quivering with indignation, pointing at the accused with an outstretched arm. His stammering was barely audible and as the people around them began to whisper, Aurelia wished she were further forward in the crowd. The gaze of one of the judges, the youngest, flitted nervously to Macro before returning his attention to Claudius, who continued in his speech.
"This Catilina not only wanted to destroy my family by double treachery, but also to plunge our state into ruin! If you knew, O judges, what plans he has turned over in his mind! Only one would be able to bring the charge against that man there in such a way that there could be no doubt of his greatest guilt. My own skill is but a faint echo of this great man's voice, but may the gods be my witnesses, today his spirit shall find in me a successor. Marcus Tullius Cicero - help me to bring this man, who wanted to bring misfortune to my nephews, my whole family and my state, to his just punishment! Like your Verres, he now wants to abuse our holidays to delay the pronouncement of his sentence so long that no one will remember my speech. His crimes will be forgotten and the danger that still emanates from him will continue to terrorise us. I cannot reconcile this with my conscience. So, I will follow your example and renounce my accusatory speech. Let the evidence speak for itself, as it does for you. You judges must keep in mind that it is not only the people of Rome who have their eyes upon you. For millennia to come, people will remember this trial and judge us all. Do not allow this trial to become the first step towards the destruction of our beloved state. I now call my first witness, my nephew and your princeps, Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus."
A murmur went through the crowd and people turned excitedly towards the largest entrance of the basilica, near which stood one of Gaius' palanquins. How were they to know that Agrippina was behind the curtains? Gaius awoke from his stupor. She squeezed his hand briefly before he broke away from her and strutted past the spectators facing away from him. As he disengaged from the crowd, his hand knocked the tip of his toga from his face in one smooth movement. A new wave of excitement gripped the crowd. Enthusiastically, the person next to them was nudged and pointed at Gaius' magnificent appearance. Aurelia automatically retreated deeper into the shadows when suddenly a voice murmured in her ear, "So far your strategy seems to be working."
Startled, Aurelia winced and sparkled at Vespasian who, like Gaius to the spectators on the speaker's platform, had appeared out of nowhere beside her. Whispering, she wanted to know why he was here with her so suddenly. The corners of Vespasian's mouth twitched.
"Do you really think Clemens would leave Gaius and you unobserved in a crowd for even a second?" asked another familiar voice on her other side. Sabinus had also set up beside her and eyed the people near her sceptically.
"Besides, we wouldn't miss such a spectacle," Vespasian added quietly and then pointed his head back to Gaius, who by now was in the middle of the open space. Claudius and Gaius skilfully performed the rehearsed question-answer game, revealing to those present, bit by bit, all the accusations that had been made against Macro. Macro's defence lawyer, a young advocate, whispered excitedly to his client, who paid no further attention to him. Still with that insolently arrogant smile on his lips, Macro watched the spectacle that Gaius was offering with his uncle. When they had come to an end, the ironic clapping of a pair of hands sounded. Aurelia's eyes narrowed and she would have loved to make her way through the crowd to vent her pregnancy hormone fuelled emotions on Macro. But she would have plenty of time for that later.
Macro's defender glared angrily at his client, then directed a few convoluted questions at Gaius, the answer to which Gaius had already worked out in his testimony with Claudius. Patiently Gaius repeated these passages and the defender swallowed nervously.
"You said that the said whore, whom my client is supposed to have hired to poison you, had already accompanied you to one of the separees," the young lawyer began. "You further stated that you had suddenly changed your mind. - Why did you refuse this woman, who is known as the greatest temptation in Rome?"
Gaius' friendly mask did not slip a blink.
"Not so long ago I would probably have been only too happy to give in to that temptation, as you call it," Gaius replied in a chatty tone and Aurelia's heart tightened as the image of Persia and Gaius immediately formed in her mind.
"Of course, there were the aforementioned signs in the room, such as the yellow toga, that startled me. But even those clues could not have stopped me then. Something else held me back and saved me from that attack. For since I first caught a glimpse of Aurelia Vespasia, no other woman has been able to stir even the tiniest spark of emotion in me. It was she who saved me from my doom"
At these words the blood immediately rushed to Aurelia's cheeks and for a brief moment she caught Gaius looking in her direction. Vespasian at her side chuckled softly and nudged her as if to whisper something in her ear, but the louder whispering and chattering of the bystanders made his comment drown in the crowd. Nervously, Aurelia looked around and her eyes lingered on Macro, who had followed Gaius' gaze and spotted her in the crowd. Despite the distance between them, Aurelia immediately felt that callous coldness that Macro always had. Politely, she nodded to him, and Macro's lips twisted into the hint of a smile. Gaius' further words, the sensationalist crowd, the brothers so different at her side blurred into a single ripple in the background of her consciousness. The slight smile of the man who would have killed her without hesitation on Capri felt frighteningly familiar and, seized by a dark foreboding, Aurelia's body went numb. Immediately, Aurelia put an equanimously polite expression over her features and pushed all the disturbing thoughts aside. Later she would check her theory, now other things were more important.
The thunderous applause of the audience drew her attention back to what was happening in the middle of the basilica where Gaius' questioning had ended. With firm steps he marched up to the witness box and directed his gaze with interest at his uncle, who was just calling Clemens to the stand.