This got a cheer from the crowd, with Caesar’s soldiers cheering loudest. No doubt about it, his election was assured. As soon as the crowd dispersed, Aemilius Paullus came to join us.
“It looks like next year will be an important one, eh, Decius?” he said.
“Lively, anyway. The Senate meetings should be noisy.”
“I take it I can count on your support?”
I sidestepped. “I’m just one voice in the Senate. As praetor, I’ll have no voice in provincial affairs. You need to talk to next year’s tribunes. Caesar’s fortunes lie more with the assemblies than with the Senate.”
“All too true,” Aemilius Paullus grumbled, then he turned to Sallustius. “Have you packed to go yet, Caius Sallustius?”
“Go?”
“Yes, go. I’ve been talking with Appius Claudius Pulcher, and he’s already making his list of men to expel from the Senate when he’s censor next year. Your name is on it.”
“Expel me?” Sallustius cried, aghast. “On what charge?”
“Immorality, it seems.”
“Indeed? Am I so much worse than my colleagues in the Senate?”
“You know that better than I, but Appius doesn’t like you, and it’s going to be a hard year for men he doesn’t like.”
“Of what sort of immoralities is Sallustius accused?” I asked. This was something I just had to hear.
“Let’s see—as tribune last year he is supposed to have taken bribes to prosecute Milo and oppose Cicero, he maintains his residence in a whorehouse, he looted the Ostian treasury during his quaestorship there, he seduced the wives of at least twenty senators, he likewise seduced a Vestal, he has appeared in the Senate staggering drunk, he dishonored certain statues of the gods during the Floralia, he was seen using weapons in the annual brawl over the head of the October Horse, he employed blackmail to send a naval cutter to Cirta to fetch him fresh oysters—”
“I haven’t done half those things!” Sallustius protested.
“Which half?” I asked him.
“This is the basest sort of slander, spread by Caesar’s enemies.”
“It’s enough to get you expelled though,” I told him. “If I were you, I’d talk with Calpurnius Piso. He’s almost certain to be the other censor, and he’s Caesar’s father-in-law to boot. If he’s obstructive enough, he might be able to keep you in.”
“Don’t count on that,” Aemilius advised. “Piso’s wife is one of the ones you’re accused of seducing. And you’re just one of a very long list Appius has drawn up.”
“Who else?” I asked.
“Most prominently, young Curio.”
“A serving tribune?” I said. “What does he hope to accomplish?”
“First, he can make Curio’s life miserable,” Aemilius Paullus pointed out, “even though he can’t take immediate action against him. Second, he’ll be parceling out the public contracts. Curio has many friends and supporters among the wealthy publicani. How many of them do you think will get their contracts granted or renewed under this censorship?”
“That’s a powerful weapon all right,” I acknowledged.
“And,” Aemilius Paullus reminded us, “a tribune must lay down his powers at a specific time—next December to be precise. A censor is under no such obligation. He can stay in office until he judges it to be fulfilled. I think I can predict that Appius will stay in office until he’s dealt with all of next year’s magistrates who have displeased him.”
“Not much chance of keeping my stripe with a quick bribe, then,” Sallustius said. “Well, what one set of censors decree, another can set aside. Maybe I won’t even have to wait that long.”
“How will you accomplish that?” I asked him. Expulsion by the censors usually meant a five-year wait until a more sympathetic pair took office. Then you had to start at the bottom again, getting elected to another quaestorship and serving in that office for a year to qualify for the Senate.
“Appius won’t stay in office any longer than it takes him to do as Aemilius Paullus says. He’ll have no excuse, and he’ll have other things to do. I’ll ask Caesar to get me a quaestorship without going through the elections again. He can get the comitia to grant me one by acclamation. He did it for Marcus Antonius. A year of that and I can resume my seat in the Senate.” In a few seconds Sallustius had figured out a way to extricate himself from a political predicament that might have discouraged a less flexible man. He was not without talent.
“There, you see?” said Aemilius Lepidus Paullus. “Being a friend of Caesar has its advantages.” He lost his smile. “Bribery! As if I would not support Caesar without being bought! The Aemilii and the Julia Caesares have been allies for generations.”