Catilina's riddle

Meto stood at the entrance. 'I've come to put on my armour,' he said.

'Here, help me with mine first. It will take only a moment.' Catilina stood and raised his arms while Meto fitted a breastplate around him and tightened it, then attached a long crimson cape. He picked up a gilded helmet with a splendid red plume and placed it on Catilina's head.

'There!' said Catilina, observing his reflection in a burnished plate. 'Don't tell Tongilius I let you dress me; he'll be jealous of the honour.' He took his eyes from the mirror and looked at each of us in turn, a long, steady gaze such as one gives to friends before leaving on a long journey. 'I'll leave you alone now. Don't be long.'

Meto watched him depart, then walked to the cot where his armour lay.

'Meto—'

'Here, Papa, help me. Would you bring my breastplate? Somehow it ended up across the room'

I picked it up and went to him. He lifted his arms. 'Meto—'

'It's simpler than it looks. Line up the leather laces with the buckles and fasten the top pair on either side to begin with.' I did as he said, as if I moved in a dream.

'Forgive me for deceiving you, Papa. I couldn't think of any other way.'

'Meto, we must leave this place at once.' 'But this is where I belong.' 'I'm asking you to come home with me.' 'I decline.'

. 'And if I command you as your father?'

His breastplate fully fastened, Meto drew back and looked at me with an expression at once sad and rebellious. 'But you are not my father’ 'Oh, Meto,' I groaned.

'My father was a slave I never knew, as I was a slave’ 'Until I freed you and adopted you!'

One at a time he put his feet on the cot to fasten his greaves into place. 'Yes, the law calls you my father, and by law you have the right to command me, or even to kill me for disobeying you. But we both know that in the eyes of the gods you're not really my father. I have none of your blood in my veins. I'm not even Roman, but Greek, or some mongrel mixture—'

‘You're my son!'

Then I'm a man as well, a free citizen, and I've made my own choice’

'Meto, think of those who love you. Bethesda, Eco, Diana—' From without we heard a trumpet blast.

"That's the signal for Catilina's speech. I have to be there. You should probably leave now, while you still have time, Papa—' He bit his tongue, as if to take back what he had called me, then quickly finished outfitting himself. When he was done, he looked at himself in the burnished plate and seemed gravely pleased. He turned to face me. 'Well, what do you think?' he said, with a trace of shyness.

You see, you are my son. I thought; why else do you seek my praise? But out loud I snapped at him, 'What does it matter?' He lowered his eyes and his cheeks turned red, and now it was my turn to bite my tongue; it would have been worse if I had told him what I truly thought, for as I looked at him dressed in his gleaming, mismatched armour, what I saw was a little boy outfitted in a make-believe costume, pretending to go to war. The idea that others could look at him and see a real soldier, fit to be killed if they could manage it, sent a chill through my heart.

'I can't miss the speech,' he said, walking quickly past me. I followed him out of the tent and across the camp, to a place where a depression in the rocky hillside formed a natural amphitheatre. We worked our way through the dense crowd until we were close enough to see. There was a blare of trumpets to quiet the crowd, and then Catilina stepped forward, resplendent in his armour and wearing a sombre smile on his face.

'No speech from a commander, no matter how rousing or eloquent, ever made a coward brave, or turned a sluggish army into a keen one, or gave men who had no cause to fight a reason to do so. Yet it is the custom for a commander to give his troops a speech before a battle, and so I will.

'One reason for a speech, I suppose, is that in many armies, most of the soldiers have seldom laid eyes on the man who supposedly leads them, much less have spoken to him or been spoken to by him, and so a speech is thought to establish a certain bond. That justification for a speech does not apply here today, for I doubt there is a single man among you whom I haven't personally greeted and welcomed to the ranks of this army, or with whom I haven't shared some moment of hardship or triumph in this struggle. Yet it is the custom for a commander to give his troops a speech before a battle, and so I will.

'I said before that mere words ca

How peculiar, I thought, for a Roman orator to begin a speech by deriding its importance, to satirize an oration even while orating it, to be unabashedly honest before a crowd of listeners!

Catilina's expression became sombre. 'I will set before you as plainly as I can the prospect we face together, and the stakes for which we fight.

'You know how our allies in Rome have failed us, what a lack of judgment and enterprise was shown by Lentulus and his friends, and how disastrous it has been for themselves and for us. Our present predicament is as obvious to all of you as it is to me. Two enemy armies now bar our way, one between us and Gaul, the other between us and Rome. To remain where we are is impossible, for we have run short of grain and other supplies. Whichever path we decide to take, we must use our swords to cut our way through.

'Therefore I counsel you to be resolute and to summon up whatever measure of courage you have. When you go into battle, remember that riches, honour, glory, and, what is more, your liberty and the future of your country are held in the hand that wields your weapon. If we win, we shall obtain all we need to continue; towns will open their gates to us with thanksgiving and we shall be showered with supplies. New recruits will join us, and we shall grow again in strength and numbers. The tide that flows against us will be turned and will carry us to glory. But if tear causes us to flinch, the whole world will turn against us: no one will shield a man whose own arms have failed to protect him.

'Keep in mind that our adversaries are not impelled by the same necessity as we are, nor by as just a cause. For you and me, country, justice, and liberty are at stake. They, on the other hand, have been ordered into battle to protect a ruling elite for which they can have little love. We have chosen our glorious course; we have endured exile and hardship; we have proclaimed to the world that we will not return to Rome with our heads bowed in shame, willing to live out our lives as the cringing subjects of unworthy rulers. The men we are to face, on the other hand, have already submitted to the yoke of their masters and closed their eyes to any other course. Which of these armies will show the more spirit, I ask you — those whose eyes are meekly cast down or those whose eyes are on the heavens?'

To this question Catilina received a great cheer, and among the other voices Meto's rang in my ears, crying out the name of his commander. The din went on and on. Swords were beaten against shields to produce a deafening clang. The noise died down, only to spring up again in a great roar that covered my arms with gooseflesh. At last Tongilius stepped forward and raised his arms for silence so that Catilina could go on.

He had begun his speech in a dry, sardonic tone, asifby his own brash example he could lend spirit to his men. But I think he was moved by their accolades, for he ended with a quaver in his voice. 'When I think of you, soldiers, and consider what you've already achieved, I have high hopes for victory. Your boldness and valour give me confidence. We will fight upon a plain. To our left are mountains, and to our right is rough, rocky ground. In this confined space, the enemy's superior numbers ca