ANTONY & CLEOPATRA CHAPTER THREE- Page 2

EARLY ONE EVENING as Ben-Lemuel sat down to his meal, the silence was broken with the sound of a galloping horse. As the rider drew near, he hurried to the doorway. Benjamin arrived at about the same moment as his father. They both saw a mounted courier pass by on the street. The rider wore no helmet, and his hair flew in the wind. The horse was lathered with sweat. Ben-Lemuel watched the rider turn in the direction of the governor's house. Not waiting to finish his meal, he took Rebekah's arm and together they hurried down the street. Benjamin kept pace discreetly, lest he attract attention to himself and be sent home.

Word of the arrival of the courier had already swept through this section of the city. Groups of people and individuals could be seen coming from many directions. The crowd in front of the governor's house quickly grew. Each had only one question on his mind: Philippi?! How had the battle gone? Tarsus, Cilicia, all would be affected by its outcome. Would it mark the dawn of peace from the long years of civil war? Or would there be more bloodshed and terror ahead?

Ben-Lemuel and Rebekah moved through the crowd to join their friend Rabbi Eliashib. Few words were spoken between them as they waited before the governor's residence. Tension mounted. Finally a murmur rippled over the crowd as they saw the governor's door swing open. A deathly silence fell as the governor lifted his voice and said, "The final battle at Philippi is over! Antony and Octavian are victorious! The conspirators, Cassius and Brutus are dead!"

"Good!" exclaimed young Benjamin. His youthful voice stood out in a strained silence. Ben-Lemuel shot him a disapproving scowl.

Murmurs ran through the crowd, then sparse applause that quickly died away. No one could greatly cheer the news, or mourn it. They could only seek to understand what it meant to Tarsus. On the one hand, they knew that many of the soldiers who had raped their city were now dead. That seemed good news enough. But the wealth and lands that had taken from Tarsus remained uncertain. They had now surely become the possession of another Roman army. The children who had been abducted by Cassius and Brutus and sold to pay for their campaign, had purchased not victory, but an ignominious defeat. How senseless the past two years of loss now seemed! How utterly empty and senseless!

Rabbi Ben-Lemuel turned to Rebekah and whispered, "I doubt Marcellus lives. I wonder if he got his answer from Cassius before the end?"

The Governor signalled the courier to take the stand to complete his report. Shadows were lengthening, and the cool air from the snow-capped Taurus swept across the crowd.

The courier cried out in loud and distinct syllables, "On the opening day the armies of Brutus drove back Octavian, and captured his camp. Octavian, too ill to fight, remained in his tent, and barely escaped with his life. Mark Antony's army then drove back Cassius, and when Cassius saw he was defeated, he commanded the Tribune Marcellus, who was fighting by his side, to slay him. He refused. The general then turned to his shield-bearer, commanding him to slay him. The man did so and this marked the end of the first day's fighting."

The courier took a drink from a cup of water before continuing. "In preparation for the second battle, Antony reorganized and completely routed the army led by Brutus. Like Cassius, Brutus ordered his shield-bearer to slay him, but the shield-bearer refused. Brutus then nobly took the sword of another and fell on it."

Many of the residents of Tarsus were ignoring these details. Having heard the main outcome they were walking for home to ponder it. The Governor officially dismissed them and bade the courier go inside. Calling out the names of several of the city's prominent citizens in the crowd, including Ben-Lemuel, he asked them join him inside the house for a more detailed briefing. Benjamin waited outside with his mother as his father and Eliashib entered.

Gathered inside, the elders of the city heard the more private details of the battle. The Governor informed them that all of Cilicia and the city of Tarsus had fallen under the Eastern part of the Empire. "Mark Antony," he said, "being the senior member of the Triumvirate, chose to rule the east, leaving Rome to Octavian. What kind of ruler for Tarsus might he prove to be? All I know at present is that I have been asked to stay for now."

To gain additional insight into the character of Antony, he asked the courier to report on his behavior during and after the battle. The courier revealed that as darkness had settled over the battlefield, Antony had moved among the fallen. Seeing Brutus among the dead, he had removed his scarlet cloak. Kneeling down, he had covered Brutus with it. So ended their long friendship. Antony gave money to grant Brutus a funeral in keeping with his rank and dignity. Many of the elders among the Greek and Roman population, applauded this act of nobility. The Jews were conspicuously silent.

Next, the courier related that the sons of some of the most distinguished families in Rome had fought at Philippi with Cassius and Brutus: sons of aristocrats such as Hortensius and Cato, and Quintus Labeo. Each of these had followed the example of their generals, Brutus and Cassius, taking their own lives.

"And what of the Tribune Marcellus?" asked Rabbi Ben-Lemuel, from his place near the front of the room.

"He too, fell on his sword."

He nodded, acknowledging the fact, as the room erupted with applause from a pent up sense of vengeance.