‘That’s hardly a fair comment.’ Cato gestured to a village on the shore. ‘These people are living in the shadows of their ancestors. They are not the same.’ He paused for a moment in reflection. ‘Perhaps one day they will say the same of our ancestors when Rome is little more than a curiosity. When our great monuments are crumbling back into the ground.’

‘Pfft! You talk utter bollocks sometimes, Cato.’ Macro nudged him. ‘You know you do.’ He cleared his throat and then imitated the same hushed and reverential tones of his friend as he continued. ‘Rome is the darling of the gods, brought forth into the world to be a shining beacon of all that is great and best. In the distant future people will stand in front of the gates of Rome and look in wonder on our mighty works and despair . . .’

‘Have you quite finished?’ Cato asked tersely.

Macro sniffed. ‘Give me a moment, I’m sure I might have missed something pretentious I could have said.’

‘Fuck off.’

‘Now that’s spoken like a soldier. Brief, and to the point. Come, forget about all them dusty piles of stone and get into the shade before you start getting even more light-headed, eh?’

Macro slipped back under the awning and sat down. Cato stared at the pyramids for a little longer, but Macro’s words had robbed them of some of their mystique and with a sigh he turned and joined Macro and Hamedes in the shade.

Ten days after the convoy left Alexandria the barges sailed round the final bend in the river before Diospolis Magna just after the sun had fallen behind the arid mountains on the western bank. On the opposite bank towered the pylons of the largest temple complex Cato had ever seen. Tall wooden masts rose from brackets on the carved walls and tattered banners of faded red wafted and flickered in the evening breeze. A tall mud-brick wall surrounded the temple, giving it the appearance of a vast fortress. A stone landing stage stood a short distance from the edge of the river, where a more recent quay constructed from wood lined the bank of the Nile.

‘Karnak,’ Hamedes said with reverence, and then pointed further along the bank to another, far smaller complex. ‘And that’s the temple of Amun. The city lies beyond.’

The captain of the barge sat at the tiller and gently heaved it away from him as he steered in towards the quay. A number of soldiers were standing guard along the quay and on towers erected behind the walls. As the flotilla approached, a party of soldiers emerged from the ornate landing platform and descended the ramp on to the quay to assist with mooring the barges. The crews tossed ropes across the water to them and one by one the barges were hauled in and the ropes fastened to worn wooden cleats lining the quay.