Caesar’s Women by Colleen McCullough, summary

A comprehensive chronicle of Rome between 68 and 58 BC, it links senatorial squabbles with the domestic lives of influential matrons. The politics of the republic are depicted through the family alliances of Caesar’s mother Aurelia, his mistress Servilia, Pompeius’s second wife Sulla, and his young daughter Julia. The author wrote the novel in the first half of the 1990s on Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean, drawing on thirteen years of research into classical sources, and published it in 1996.

The novel is the fourth in the historical cycle "The Lords of Rome." The plot continues the events of "The First Man in Rome," "The Herbal Crown," and "Fortune’s Favorites," and is followed by "Caesar," "The October Horse," and "Anthony and Cleopatra."

Subura and Secret Bonds

Returning from Spain as quaestor in 68 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar finds his home in mourning for his late wife, Cinnilla. Servilia, the wife of the frail consular Decimus Junius Silanus, meets the patrician at a women’s gathering hosted by his mother, Aurelia. Fifteen-year-old Marcus Junius Brutus falls in love with the landlord’s eight-year-old daughter. Passion flares suddenly. The boy’s mother arranges the engagement and comes to the Rue dei Patricii. Caesar notices the dark down on the matron’s back and makes her his mistress.

Soon the woman realizes that she is pregnant.

Circumstances force the lovers to conceal their affair. Servilia returns to her impotent husband’s bed for the sake of appearances and gives birth to a daughter, Junia Tertia. Little Julia’s future is sealed by a legal contract with Brutus. Caesar forces his partner to agree to a huge dowry of one hundred talents, hoping to earn it by the time of his consulship.

Shadows on the Champ de Mars

It was the year 67. Rome was shaken by a daring pirate raid, which sacked Ostia and captured two praetors and their lictors. The tribune Aulus Gabinius introduced a bold bill in the comitia calling for an extraordinary imperial decree to combat piracy. The Senate’s conservative faction was enraged by the thought of Pompey’s rise once again. Only Caesar openly supported the tribune’s plan.

Powers are handed over to Pompey. Within three months, the Mediterranean Sea is cleared of pirate bases.

The Affair of the Vestals and the Revolt in the East

The young patrician Publius Clodius Pulcher sought glory through scandal. Several years earlier, the youth had attempted to accuse the Vestal Virgins of impiety due to his rivalry with the ferocious Lucius Sergius Catiline for the affections of the priestess Fabia. The court rejected the slander. The disgraced tribune left for the East in 68 BC to join his brother-in-law, Licinius Lucullus.

In the camp near Nisibis, the legionaries are exhausted by the hardships of the endless campaign. Clodius incites Fimbrian veterans to revolt against their commander, spreading rumors of plunder being withheld. The soldiers refuse to obey. His brother-in-law’s frank admission of an incestuous relationship with his sister, Clodilla, finally breaks the aged proconsul. Lucullus dismisses the insolent man.

The journey home ends with capture by pirates and a humiliating ransom of two talents from the Cypriot king. Upon returning, Clodius marries the wealthy Fulvia, granddaughter of Gaius Gracchus.

Brother’s Ashes and Tolosa’s Legacy

In 67 BC, Caepio was sent as quaestor to Pergamon with the treasury. Servilia sent her loyal slave Sinon after him with a vial of poison. The will had long been drawn up. According to the terms of the document, the treasures of Tolosa would go to her son Brutus.

News of Marcus Porcius Cato’s fatal illness reaches him in Thrace. The horseman races through an autumn storm to Aenos, hoping to reach his beloved brother’s deathbed in time. Cato is an hour late. The distraught Stoic throws himself upon the cooling body, howls like a wounded beast, and kisses his half-brother’s cadaverous face. Eight talents of gold are spent on the gray marble of a funerary statue. The ashes are placed in a golden casket. From now on, Servilia’s sixteen-year-old nephew bears the long name of Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus.

Funeral Games and the Great Pontificate

The curule elections of 65 CE arrive. Caesar is awarded the aedileship in partnership with the avaricious Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus. To outshine his rivals, the patrician borrows millions of sesterces from moneylenders and organizes unprecedented spectacles. The forum is covered with purple tents. Three hundred and twenty pairs of gladiators in silver armor clash in the arena, and the newly gilded trophies of Marius rise above the Capitol.

The treasury is emptying at an alarming rate.

The death of the high priest Metellus Pius in 63 AD saved the situation. The tribune Titus Labienus reintroduced popular election of the clergy. Opponents nominated the veterans Catulus and Servilius Isaurianus. On the morning of the vote, the patrician told his mother that he would return as Pontifex Maximus or go into permanent exile due to debt. The support of seventeen tribes brought victory to the thirty-seven-year-old praetor. The family moved into the State House at the foot of the Palatine Hill.

Blood in Tullian

In the autumn of 63, Rome is suffocated by economic stagnation. Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero receives secret information from the mistress of the conspirator Curius about Catiline’s impending rebellion. The Senate passes an emergency decree. Catiline flees to Manlius’ camp near Faesulae.

On the Milvian Bridge, the praetors intercept envoys from the Gallic Allobroges carrying letters from the conspirators. Five of the ringleaders are placed under house arrest. On December 5, the senators gather in the Temple of Concord. Silanus demands the death penalty. Caesar delivers a lengthy speech on the inadmissibility of killing Roman citizens without trial, urging the fathers to limit themselves to life imprisonment in the Italian cities.

In the midst of the argument, a slave hands the Pontiff a note. Cato demands to read the document aloud, hoping to expose his treason. The scribbled note reveals tender confessions from Servilia to her secret lover. The enraged Puritan throws the note back. The shocked senators vote for execution. Cicero personally takes Lentulus Sura to the fetid underground Tullianum, where executioners break the necks of the condemned.

Sacrilege in the State House

In December 62, women gather for the mysteries of the Good Goddess. Pompeia Sulla is the hostess. Men are barred. At the height of the celebration, Aurelia notices a strange harpist in oriental silks, speaking in a deep bass voice. Caesar’s mother tears off her wig and exposes Publius Clodius.

A cry of desecration echoes throughout the Forum.

The sacrilegious man escapes by leaping over the wall. The scandal paralyzes public life. The Pontifex Maximus immediately announces his divorce from Pompeia, declaring during the interrogation that Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion. At the trial, Clodius bribes the jury with his wealthy wife’s money and avoids a harsh sentence.

Triumvirate and wedding in Kariny

Caesar’s governorship of Further Spain brought him victories over the Lusitanians and tons of gold. In the summer of 60 CE, the general faced a choice on the Campus Martius: a triumphal entry or an application for the consulship. His senatorial opponents, led by Cato, blocked his ability to run in absentia. Caesar, without hesitation, disbanded his army, entered the pomerium as a simple citizen, and submitted his application.

Political survival requires strong connections. Pompey the Great unsuccessfully seeks land grants for veterans, while Marcus Licinius Crassus seeks compensation for the losses of the equestrian tax collectors in the province of Asia. Caesar unites long-time enemies into a secret triumvirate. Seventeen-year-old Julia breaks off her engagement to Brutus and marries forty-six-year-old Pompey in May. This unexpected marriage, based on mutual affection, transforms the formidable conqueror of the East into an affectionate homebody.

In 59 BC, Caesar is elected senior consul alongside the stubborn Marcus Bibulus. Any resistance from conservatives is swept aside. When his colleague attempts to disrupt the popular assembly, Pompey’s veterans dump a basket of excrement on Bibulus’s head and break the lictors’ fasces. The junior consul locks himself within his four walls, unsuccessfully declaring days off. The Senate freezes. The Vatinian Law grants Caesar Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum for five years, and the senators, under pressure, add the Transalpine province.

Before leaving, the general formalizes his marriage to Calpurnia, the daughter of Lucius Calpurnius Piso. Clodius joins the plebs through adoption by the young Fonteius and takes a seat on the tribunician bench. The demagogue’s first act is to institute a free distribution of bread, subjugate the artisans’ colleges, and expel Cicero from Rome.

Cato is sent on an honorable mission to Cyprus.

In the spring of 58 BC, the proconsul bids farewell to his loved ones and rushes to join his legions on the Rhone, where the Helvetii have already withdrawn from their camps. In a deserted Rome, women gather in the deserted garden, preparing to plant spring herbs. A fragile peace rests on their patience. Beyond the Alps, the fires of a ten-year war rage.