The Isle of the Fell

II - The Optimates

Now Cato was returning to Rome! And so there was Tribune Feuerentes, and he watched.

Who was Feuerentes? He was an agitator! He saw Cato troubled, and so he wished to sew chaos.

Who was Feuerentes? He was a hero! He saw Cato troubled, and so wished to help him!

He was a hero and an agitator. He loved the people and spoke to them, "People! I represent you. The others believe that we are threatening them, that we threaten their great businesses of the new senators of Caesar, but we know better, and we ask them to reconsider what they mean by business. The business as a smith is as legitimate as the businesses of the legates and senators. The business as a chef, as a laborer, as a farmer, is a business, as is the business of the gladiator instructor or the lawyer. I believe this, as it is a fact written in our virtue and our principles, known to all by democracy." So was he, the populist!

He believed in right and wrong! He said he did what was true and just! No one had any problems there.

There were the wicked senators and equestrians! They were chosen by Caesar and the others. They were unjust and they were unruly! Did Caesar choose wrongly? He must have!

What was Caesar doing, commanding everyone, and appointing every one of the senators? He was only doing so temporarily. He must be! 

The other senators were frolicking around in the city; they were abusing their power and desecrating the good and the just laws! They were not the written laws. They were the moral laws of freedom. Still, the old culture of the world was there, and even if Caesar was here, they still were!

The Pope was there! The Basilica was there. But already it was fired upon, and it was taken down! Already was it being carved down! Already was the Pope screaming, and already were the ballistae and the trebuchets outside, and the marble arches and domes were falling and cracking!

So were the legionnaires, and they observed the destruction of the great cathedral of the old age. A group of Italians walked by and yelled at them to stop! What were they doing? How could they destroy the Basilica, and use it not for anything greater than rubble for buildings?

So spoke the legionnaires to them, "Why are you so mad at us? What has any of that over there done for you? They betrayed us, and we decided to destroy them! Every land was destroyed and burned. The languages of the past are dead. Caesar has come and given us new gods and a new language of the old. To embrace this, we must destroy our old traditions and return to the ancient ones. Is any of this not at all obvious to you?"

But the Italians spoke, in Italian, "What you are doing right now, to that city--is sacrilege! It cannot be accepted? Who are you? Where are you from? Why are you so haughty to destroy everything?"

"Stop speaking in Italian. It is bad for Rome. Start speaking in Latin!"

"What? You cannot force us to speak in any language. We speak in Italian, and we shall speak in Italian. You cannot stop us. That is outrageous--it is insane! Listen to me--No, what are you doing?"

The many legionnaires grabbed them by their ears and thrust them down! The citizens were pinned to the ground, and with force, their skin was scraped against the road. They struggled. They could do nothing!

"Say what you told me before, in Latin!"

The Italians whimpered and said nothing, and so the legionnaires spoke, "Why, if you love your Basilica so much, did you agree with everyone else in the whole world to destroy the world? Everything in the past was useless and worthless. There was pleasure, but there was no meaning. There was no struggle, and there was nothing worth living for. We saw this with our eyes, and Caesar saved us. Do you still defend the Basilica? It is brought down! It is useless! And if you still do, you have betrayed what you once believed in. You once cried out for the destruction of the whole world, but now, what are you? A liar and a cheat! Say it! Redeem yourself, say, 'Hail Caesar!'"