Caesar #5

The senators and others in attendance gasped.

Sulla’s brow furrowed into an angry scowl. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, you insolent boy. Now do as I order and divorce your wife!”

Caesar looked Sulla in the eye, unflinching. “No. You can strip me of my money, I can acquire more of that. You can strip me of my priest hood, it was boring. But you will not strip me of my wife.”

Sulla backhanded Caesar across the face and seethed with anger. Who was this boy who defied the supreme power in Rome, on threat of death, to his face? Sulla soon regained his composure, and spoke. “You are the nephew of Marius, that alone would be grounds enough for killing you. But you are also married to the daughter of one of his allies. How could I consider you anything other than a threat? By allowing you the opportunity to divorce your wife, I am showing you mercy. Will you not take it?”

“No.” Said Caesar, “And I’ll tell you why.”

“Go ahead,” said Sulla. “This should be amusing.”

Caesar cleared his throat, and began to speak. “Take the most powerful man in the world. Take the man who has everything. Then take away the woman he loves, and tell me what is left. Nothing. He is hollow. A wife is the ultimate joy. She fills her husbands stomach when he is hungry, keeps him smiling in his dark hours, and keeps him warm in bed at night. Your wife is this for you, and Cornelia is this for me.”

Sulla raised an eyebrow as Caesar continued.

“All you men here know what I am talking about. If your wife were to suddenly perish, how would you feel? Broken? Empty? Cold? Alone? You may say that you can move on, that there are other women who can do these things just as well as your wife can. That may be true, and it is true that any good wife provides these things. But what of all the little things about her? The things that only she possesses? The way she laughs? The way she smiles? The warmth of her embraces? The soothing words she pours into your ears when you are troubled by aggression? No two women are the same in this. And once she is gone, none who come along after will be like her in these. You men, you senators, do you agree?”

They began to nod their heads to each other, as Caesar spoke more.

“I was troubled by heartache for many weeks after I had to break off my engagement with Cossutia. And I would be lying if I said I do not still sometimes think of her. But looking back, that was not love. We barely interacted at all, and the day I told her we could no longer marry was the first time I had seen her in many a year. Love, real love, comes from seeing each other every day, knowing all the peculiarities of each other, and being able to appreciate the uniqueness of each other. And you, Sulla, you propose for me to simply leave my wife after having grown to know and love her so well. Impossible. To kill a man is sometimes necessary, and sometimes cruel, but always ensures he can no longer feel pain afterwards. In forcing a man to leave his wife however, there is no such mercy. You take away everything that keeps him stable in times of trouble, you take away his reason to come home, and you take away that which keeps him happy. So I say to you Sulla, you may strip me of my goods and possessions, but you will not take away the woman I love!”

At this he finished, and the senators began to clap. Sulla looked at him with a mixture of amazement, anger, and respect. Caesar looked at Sulla and smirked. Sulla laughed. “Okay boy, I’ll humor you. I’ll let you keep your wife. However, I will be watching.” His face grew more serious, as he said. “Be careful you do not arouse my wrath young Caesar, for I see many a Marius in you.”