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Back The City Save as PDF
Contents ( 111)
  1. BY ADRIAN GOLDSWORTHY
  2. CONTENTS
  3. MAP
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. I
  6. In the hill country
  7. Nearer the Euphrates
  8. The same night
  9. II
  10. The temporary camp of Legio VIIII Hispana, Fifty-five miles east of Cyrrhus
  11. Fifteen days before the Kalends of March
  12. III
  13. On the training grounds outside Zeugma
  14. Fifth day before the Nones of March
  15. In the house of Simon the merchant, Nicopolis
  16. The next day
  17. IV
  18. The temporary camp of Legio VIIII Hispana
  19. V
  20. Outside Nicopolis
  21. Eleventh day before the Kalends of April
  22. Nicopolis
  23. The same day
  24. VI
  25. On the road to the crossing at Zeugma
  26. Tenth day before the Kalends of April
  27. VII
  28. Zeugma
  29. Seventh day before the Kalends of April
  30. VIII
  31. The camp of VIIII Hispana
  32. One day before the Nones of April
  33. Nicopolis
  34. The same day, late afternoon
  35. IX
  36. Outside Nicopolis
  37. Eighth Day before the Ides of April
  38. X
  39. Near Nicopolis
  40. A little later
  41. XI
  42. In the plain in front of Nicopolis
  43. The Ides of April
  44. Nicopolis
  45. The same night
  46. XII
  47. In front of Nicopolis
  48. Eighteenth day before the Kalends of May First day of the siege
  49. XIII
  50. Outside Nicopolis
  51. Seventeenth day before the Kalends of May Second day of the siege
  52. XIV
  53. Outside Nicopolis
  54. Fifteenth day before the Kalends of May The fourth day of the siege
  55. Nicopolis
  56. The sixth day of the siege
  57. XV
  58. Up country
  59. Thirteenth day before the Kalends of May The eighth day of the siege
  60. XVI
  61. Zeugma
  62. That same night
  63. XVII
  64. The siege lines outside Nicopolis
  65. Eleventh day before the Kalends of May The tenth day of the siege
  66. XVIII
  67. The large camp to the east of Nicopolis
  68. Tenth day before the Kalends of May The eleventh day of the siege
  69. Nicopolis
  70. Late on the fourteenth night of the siege
  71. XIX
  72. Before Nicopolis
  73. Fifth day before the Kalends of April Sixteenth day of the siege
  74. XX
  75. Outside Nicopolis
  76. The Kalends of May The twenty-first day of the siege
  77. XXI
  78. Before Nicopolis
  79. The day before the Nones of May The twenty-sixth day of the siege
  80. Nicopolis
  81. The next day The twenty-seventh day of the siege
  82. XXII
  83. North west of Nicopolis, some miles from the road
  84. Fifth day before the Ides of May The thirty-second day of the siege
  85. XXIII
  86. In front of Nicopolis
  87. The day before the Ides of May The thirty-fifth day of the siege
  88. XXIV
  89. Outside Nicopolis
  90. The Ides of May
  91. The thirty-sixth day of the siege
  92. XXV
  93. The breach in the western wall
  94. XXVI
  95. Outside Nicopolis
  96. Seventeenth day before the Kalends of June The thirty-seventh day of the siege
  97. The prison at Nicopolis
  98. Three days later
  99. The forty-first day of the siege
  100. XXVII
  101. The citadel at Nicopolis
  102. The last hours of the fourteenth day before the Kalends of June
  103. The forty-first day of the siege
  104. XXVIII
  105. Nicopolis
  106. The same night
  107. EPILOGUE
  108. The next morning
  109. HISTORICAL NOTE
  110. GLOSSARY
  111. CAST OF CHARACTERS

‘We do,’ Domitius said. ‘But that doesn’t mean we have to like it all. You know – it’s like army regulations.’

Caecilius laughed, then winced and had to cough. There was a big bandage tied around his chest. ‘My chest hurts when I move suddenly,’ he explained. ‘And my toes are itching like buggery.’

‘Do you want me to scratch them?’

‘Only if you can find out what they did with the foot.’ He hissed with pain. ‘Damned stuff he gave me must be wearing off.’

‘I have wine.’ Domitius lifted a small amphora and poured out a cupful.

‘Any food?’

‘Not much. Everything is getting short.’ He got out some grapes and scraped away the mould on them.

‘We’ve done something right, then… What are you going do when the lads come over the wall next time and nothing stops them?’

‘They’ve tried. Most of them legged it last time. We threw pots down and they thought it was oil so panicked. It wasn’t. There isn’t enough left and they’re saving what they have to cook. It was some root called fenugreek – you mash it up and it turns into a liquid like oil.’

‘Your idea?’

‘No, an old man saw it done at a siege years ago. If it spreads, it makes the ground really slippery. It didn’t, but given the panic, they were well pleased.’

Caecilius stared at him for a while. ‘Can’t make up your mind whether it’s we or them, can you boy?’ His breathing was becoming laboured and noisy. ‘So was it worth it? Running off like that?’

‘I did not see much of a choice.’

‘Huh. Of course there was a choice. You could have lied and walked away.’

‘No, I couldn’t.’

‘Then you’d no business joining the army if you couldn’t lie to senior officers! … Was it worth it?’

‘Was what worth it?’

‘All of this? Deserting, running off here, fighting against your own kind?’

‘I have not really fought,’ Domitius said, and knew that he was lying. ‘Not really. But what else could I have done. This seemed a safe place, some people took me in, and how was I to know a legion was going to swan up out of nowhere and attack.’

‘Damned Romans,’ Caecilius agreed. ‘Was it you behind that mine of theirs?’

‘No, they don’t trust me.’

‘Don’t blame ’em.’

‘Didn’t even tell me about it. I have…’ He stopped even though the urge to boast was strong. He had always wanted Caecilius’ approval, and seen him almost as a second father. ‘In truth I’ve mostly helped them repair ballistae. The family who took me in are in trouble, partly because they had taken me in. I had to protect them any way I could.’

‘A woman?’

Domitius nodded.

Caecilius grinned, winced again and rubbed his chest. ‘At least you’re not quite as stupid as you look… So maybe it is and maybe it isn’t worth it all, but where do you run next? It isn’t going to be long. The legatus is a ponce, but he’s Roman at heart, and you know the Romans don’t give in. This city will fall and soon, so what does that mean for you, and these people?’