"From the Proconsul Titus Norbanus to the Senate of Rome, greeting." There were grumbles from those who thought it unfit for young Norbanus to style himself thus without having held the office of consul or even praetor first, but the father silenced them with a glare. He resumed reading.
"Our legions were in the process of subduing the cities along the Nile when word arrived from Alexandria that Hamilcar had withdrawn from Egypt and that the glorious reconquest of Italy and Sicily had begun. At a council of commanders our options were examined and discussed. We are eager to join the offensive, but a return through Carthaginian territory is unfeasible. The attitude of Egypt is uncertain, since we took part in Hamilcar's invasion. The Egyptian army is laughable and no threat to four Roman legions, but the Senate has not indicated a desire for war with Egypt, so we shall be careful not to provoke one.
"Marcus Scipio has tried to order us to Alexandria, but his commission from the Senate was merely to carry out a reconnaissance of Italy and Carthage, so none of us feel constrained to obey him, lacking orders from the Senate. There are those among us who doubt his loyalty.
"South of us lies a primitive wilderness, desert on both sides. Our only course is to march north to the Delta, then eastward, into territory unseen by Romans for more than a century. By the time the Senate receives this missive, we should be in a place called Sinai, said to be desert, but passable since the days of the pharaohs. The land beyond seems to be under some dispute. There is a sometimes-independent state ruled by a king of the Jews, and north of that lies Seleucid Syria, although both of these states are said to be under great pressure from the expanding Parthian Empire. Whatever our fate, we shall continue our reconnaissance and report faithfully to the Senate, in order that Rome's knowledge of the East may be expanded.
"Our plan is to march up the coast until we come to a port where sufficient ships are available to embark for Italy, Sicily or wherever the noble Senate shall order us. Should no such fleet present itself, then we shall march through Cilicia, Pamphilia, Lycia, Asia, Greece, Macedonia and Dalmatia until we reach Italy. We shall show the world that nothing is beyond the capabilities of the legions of Rome.
"I shall send further dispatches at every opportunity. Long live the noble Senate. Long live Rome." Norbanus the elder rolled the papyri and replaced them in the tube, his face glowing with triumph.
A senator leapt to his feat. "He proposes a feat worthy of Xenophon!" Shouts and cheers erupted.
Gabinius stood and gestured for quiet. "Let's cheer the feat when it is accomplished, shall we? Commander Norbanus proposes an extreme course, but anyone can see that his situation calls for such measures. I wish him well, as do we all. Now, we have been concentrating on Sicily, Carthage and the South to the neglect of the great world of the East. I propose we appoint a committee to study the situation there. We have assumed that the Seleucids are still supreme there, as they were when we went into exile. What sort of people are these Parthians who seem to be causing such trouble there? Will we be facing them once we have settled with Carthage?.We must know."
With some routine government work under proposal, the excitement subsided and the Senate got serious. While names for the study board were submitted, everyone talked of the latest news. First war in Sicily, now this! After generations of grinding warfare against the savages of the North, Rome was engaged with the old world once more.
Satisfied that the danger of open violence was past, the princeps joined the two consuls for some serious talk.
"Your son seems to be acquitting himself well," Gabinius said to Norbanus.
"I notice that you gave him the title 'commander,' not 'proconsul,'" Norbanus said.
"I believe it will set a bad example if we let men who have never served in the offices that rightfully confer imperium to hold so lofty a title officially. This situation is unprecedented in our experience and of course certain expedients were called for. Let's not make a practice of it."
"Your boy is not being cheated of anything," the Consul Scipio said. "What any of us would have given for such an opportunity at so young an age, eh? The gods love young Norbanus; that much is clear. If he pulls this off, he'll return to Rome covered with so much glory that the highest offices will fall into his hands like ripe olives. But the princeps is right. Let's not let our young officers think they can bypass the cursus honorum through military glory. Men with successful wars behind them are nothing but a danger to the Republic if they don't know how to govern."
Norbanus waved a hand impatiently. "Let it pass for the moment. What concerns us now is: What's to be done? We can't leave a Roman army out wandering about with no guidance from the Senate, no matter who is in charge."
"Exactly," said his colleague. "We need a means of communication, as we have with our army in Sicily. Granted, the distances between your son's force and us are far greater than with the Sicilian expedition, but it should not be insurmountable. We need fast ships and men to sail them and a knowledge of the ports along the coast between Egypt and Greece."
"We have maps," Gabinius said, "but they are old ones. The ports will be there, but who knows who owns them now? I will take personal charge of the study board. In the meantime, we must all be thinking about how to use our reserve force. Six new legions are due from Noricum any day. Will we send them west, south or east?"
"Too soon to speculate," Norbanus said. "First they must get used to the climate. They can move into the camps down south that the Sicilian expedition left behind. From there they can move in any direction the Senate orders with minimum waste of time."
"Excellent," said the princeps. "An Italian summer is very different from one in Noricum, and it will prepare them for Africa."
The others nodded. An African campaign would be the next step, once Sicily was secured. Carthage had to be destroyed. The gods had ordained that grim task.
With the major questions settled, the Senate meeting broke up and they left the curia, in strict order of precedence: first, the consuls preceded by their lictors, then the princeps senatus, then the senior magistrates, the lower office holders, finally the mass of senators holding no particular office that year.
Gabinius stepped onto the porch of the Curia, feeling once again the exhilaration of serving Rome in the very building erected by the King Tullus Hostilius, from which every great consul and all the senators of old had made laws and sent forth the legions. Brutus and Camillus, and Appius Claudius, the builder of roads and aqueducts, had presided in-this sacred building. Now he, Publius Gabinius, carried on their tradition. As he looked over the city with great satisfaction, he noticed two unusual men standing at the bottom of the steps, gazing up at him. They had the unmistakable aspect of Greeks. One of them was a handsome man of excellent bearing and immaculate dress, the other a scruffy, unkempt fellow dressed no better than a slave but with an arrogant stance and eyes that blazed with intelligence. As Gabinius descended the steps, these two climbed toward him, as if they wished to speak.
Zeno and Izates listened to the noise from within the curia rise and fall. They heard individual speakers shout or project their voices in the manner approved by the teachers of rhetoric, and spoken thus they could understand that the Latin tongue had great force and dignity. Then they jumped aside as a messenger thundered up on horseback, leapt from his mount and ran into the building. Then there were a few minutes of silence followed by cheering.
"Good news, apparently," Izates said.