The Isle of the Fell

II - Sulla and Marius

"What am I doing? Why do I breathe? My skin is dry, and my life is pain. If only I could not feel anything!"

"What am I leading? Why do I live? I am a drop of water next to the great ocean. This is the individual, and it is useless. Death to the individual!"

Such were the rantings of Koresh! He was distressed. Such were his nihilistic ponderings! He was concerned. A moment ago, he was told that there were men, but not only men, but thousands of men. So was the Elven messenger, and he interpreted the comments of his archon as that of distress.

"Aye! The great archon is distressed today. He needs to come up with a plan against the new invaders, and so he may say some things that are distressing and strange. Ignore them, for there is no meaning in them but sadness." And so were the comments of the messenger to the other staff, who saw Koresh rise up to the sky, and thought he was small instead of tall.

What was there, that was in Rome? The man calling himself Gaius Julius Caesar, claiming to have been resurrected by the states of the past was triumphant! He had conquered all that was Iberia and Italy, and there was nothing within them that resisted him.

He organized everything; he was the state. What dictator were the people following now? What tyrant was leading their armies? He was not a dictator or a tyrant, for he was legitimate and came from the European Union. 

So was Gaius Tullius Cato, great lover of Europe! He walked the streets. He remembered the fall of the old world. He did not miss it. It was wrong! It was meaningless! There was nothing that was valuable in the old world, yet he did not wear a tunic but wore a suit and a tie. The music in his house was that which was classical, not Roman. What was he but a sympathizer to old Europe? Yet he was chosen as a praetor, and he loved the common people and sympathized with them.

He supported the destruction of the old world, yet celebrated its culture every day! He rolled out banners to support the conquests of Caesar, yet wished for the autonomy and self-governance of the provinces. What was he? Was not he a hypocrite? Were not all the people who supported him, hypocrites? But he said that he was not, and that what he was doing was logical and sensical, for he felt that Caesar was not a destroyer of the old values, but one who would evolve them. The meaninglessness of the old world was not because of the people, but because the old world had failed to become that which was true and just! And so Caesar would satisfy the values of the old world, which the old world could not do, and he would create a realm of many cultures and there would be many liberties. Was not Caesar a tyrant in the past? Was not he, if he really was Caesar, distributing out togas, and teaching the children not to speak their languages, but to know only Latin? What was that? Cato ignored all of it. He spoke French and Spanish to the common people, while in the courts, the senators discussed in Latin. But he believed what he was doing to be right, and he believed that Caesar was doing what Cato believed was right.

Now, Caesar was invading Greece and Turkey. What treasures would he bring back to a united Europe? It would be flowery and peaceful! Men would die, but they would die for a good cause. It was not a war, but one great nation reconnecting with a smaller one. Greece was to be returned to civilization! He watched as the three generals, Caesar, Nepos, and Socius, and wished and dreamed.

Now they came back in great victory! Now they were returning! It had only been two years, and already there was a great victory! Now they came with five thousand prisoners! What were they? They had strangely pale skin, and were skinny and tall. Their hair was long and rough. What were they? There were so many prisoners, and Cato thought they were to be returned, for the war was over, and everything would be peaceful and blissful, and there would be a friendship between Man and this new race.

Now was Cato, and he was upset and speaking his mind in the senate, "Senators! Yesterday I requested to go to Greece to see the results of the conquests. I was denied. They told me that it was irrelevant, that I should stay here. My friends, what is there that I can do here? How can I help anyone there when I am ignorant of them? Most illustrious consulate, under the might of God--of the gods, you have made a great many wise decisions! But now we are fearful, and now we are unsteady. We live in a time of inaction. Send me there, and with my strength and my intelligence, I will do anything I can do."