The Assassination of Caligula

Chapter Seven

The scrolls Caligula had given to Romulus proved most insightful when it came to the thoughts of Germanicus on the subject of his cousin. Only once did the documents refer to Romulus by appellation, other times referring to him as "the beast", "my rival" or "my family's shame." The whole thing was ordered chronologically, going back to Romulus' infancy.

Germanicus wrote how he, at the time thirteen twelvemonths old, had pushed Agrippa, at the time a decade old, armed with a knife into the nursery while Claudius and Herod watched. The three had fled when they heard someone coming and it ended up being Tiberius who rescued Romulus. With his friends and family around him in Claudius' home, Romulus' eyes fell upon his cousin Claudius.

Tossing the scroll to sickly Claudius, Romulus asked: "Is this true or your brother's idea of a joke?"

Claudius only looked at the scroll once. He then looked to Romulus and with a stoic expression he said: "It is true."

Lucius, a man of seventy, glared at Claudius with his blue eyes. Clad in a grey tunic and his muscle having left him, beard and mustache were upon his face, his graying red hair identifying him as having belonged to a Celtic tribe originally. He did not need to know what the subject of the scroll was, all he needed to know was Claudius knew the truth.

"Germanicus tried to have me killed when I was only an infant and you stood by and watched!" Romulus continued to read through the documents. Germanicus had made more bids in his lifetime to remove Romulus, his perceived rival as the future First Citizen. Not long after the death of Romulus' maternal half-brother and adoptive uncle Lucius Caesar, Germanicus wrote that he had personally pushed Romulus into a lake hoping he would drown. Romulus remembered that but had never known who had pushed him. He continued to read and saw that once again Tiberius, who had always hated him throughout his childhood, had been the one to rescue him. "And again, it would seem." Romulus continued reading and learned that Germanicus had made his next move to try and kill him not long after the death of Romulus' maternal half-brother and adoptive uncle Gaius Caesar by personally putting an asp in Romulus' bed. Romulus remembered five and thirty twelvemonths ago, where an asp had been found in the palace garden. Somehow it had found its way out of Romulus' room and into the garden where it had killed a servant. After that, Germanicus waited until Agrippa was disowned. When that time came, Germanicus wracked his brains out trying to figure out a way to destroy his cousin, his perceived rival and did not actually come up with a plan until three twelvemonths later. He poisoned some dates but foolishly chose the first poison he saw rather than researching which was the best to use. The poison he selected was enough to give Romulus and serious and long illness, enough to cause Livia to move her room next to that of her step-grandson and personally took care of him until he recovered.

After that, Germanicus never again tried to kill Romulus. He wrote: "My uncle and adoptive father Tiberius is suspicious of me. His brother my natural father told me I must never let a barbarian lead Rome and as long as the ichor of Augustus flows through the veins of the beast I cannot let my rival live. I will destroy my family's shame one day, when I am First Citizen. He has married that dancing girl Messalina and the thought of them producing offspring fills me with fear. The barbarian yet conquered must never rule Rome, the beast must not produce offspring. I fear he cannot be used. The day Messalina becomes pregnant will be the beginning of the end for her!"

Romulus hurled all of the scrolls at Claudius. "Is this the sort of person your brother truly was, cousin? If so, then gladly will I become a senator and I shall have an agenda of my own: to have disgraceful Germanicus' name erased from publicly memory! Attempts on my own life were enough but threatening Messalina went too far!"