“May I question this man?” Julius asked, stepping into the floor as he received permission.

“You witnessed the entire auction?” Julius asked him.

“I did. I was there from the start to the finish.”

“You saw the bill of sale being signed in the name of Antonidus?”

The man hesitated slightly before replying. “I saw the name,” he said. His eyes were nervous and Julius knew he was adding to the truth.

“You glimpsed the document briefly, then?” he pressed.

“No, I saw it clearly,” the man replied more confidently.

“What was the amount the general paid?”

Behind the man, Rufius smiled at the ploy. It would not work, as the witness had been thoroughly prepared for such questions.

“It was one thousand sesterces,” the man returned triumphantly. His smile dropped at a sudden chorus of jeers from the crowd outside the court. Many heads turned toward the mass of plebeians, and Julius saw with the judges that the streets had filled as the trial went on. Every available space was taken and the forum itself was full of people. The magistrates looked at each other and the praetor firmed his mouth in anxiety. Such a large audience increased the dangers of disturbance, and he considered sending a runner to the barracks for more soldiers to keep the peace.

When the crowd was quiet, Julius spoke again.

“In preparation for this case, your honors, I had the house valued. If it was sold this morning, a buyer would be likely to pay in the region of a million sesterces, not a thousand. There is a passage from the Twelve Tables that has a bearing on the matter.”

As he prepared to quote from the ancient script, Rufius raised his eyes in boredom and the witness fidgeted, not yet dismissed.

“‘Property may not pass from vendor to purchaser unless value has been paid,’ ” Julius said loudly. The crowd cheered the point, with a number of conversations breaking out as it was explained to those around them.

“A thousand sesterces for a property worth a million is not ‘value,’ your honors. The sale was a farce of favors, a mockery of an auction. With not even a bill of sale to prove it existed, no legal transaction took place.”

Slowly, Rufius rose. “Caesar will have us believe that any bargain is in breach of the Tables,” he began.

The crowd hooted him and the praetor sent his runner for more soldiers.

“I say again that Caesar attempts to confuse the court with pointless distractions. The witness proves the sale was real. The amount is immaterial. My client is a shrewd bargainer.”