Climax
Appius met Marc
Antony at the steps of the temple of Saturn. He was a bit nervous for he had an
idea of what Marc was asking of him. He also knew that he had to agree because
he owed Antony a favor for the Lupercalia event in which Antony whipped his wife
to help with her fertility during the race. Marc kept the conversation formal
asking about Appius’s family and about the recent games but as he departed he
slipped a piece of parchment into Appius’s Toga. Appius watched Antony as he walked
across the gravel of the Forum Romanum towards the Regia and waited till he was
out of site to open the note. As Appius read it his suspicions were confirmed.
Hidden from behind
a pillar on the west side of the Basilica lulia Tiro silently watched as Marc
Antony talked with Appius. He strained to hear them but with the loud noises of
the forum at midday it was impossible. He was unsure how to interpret Marc and
Appius’s meeting. It was strangely short and Appius looked too nervous for it
to be a casual conversation with a close friend. Tiro had not noticed Antony
slip Appius a piece of parchment but after Antony had left Appius was clearly
foundling a folded piece of material, and by the look in his eye something he
much wanted to read. Tiro did not have to read the parchment, he new exactly
what it said. He slipped back into the darkness and hurried home.
The next day, as
Tiro expected, Appius appeared in the Vestibule of Cicero’s house for their
weekly conversation. Tiro asked Appius to wait in the Atrium while he summoned
Cicero from his bed quarters. A few moments later Cicero entered with Tiro
behind him welding two glasses of wine. Cicero and Appius cheered each other
too the god Bacchus and took healthy swigs. At this moment Appius quickly reached
deep into his Toga and unsheathed a hidden knife. As he lunged toward Cicero
his stomach clenched up and he let out a ghastly cry as he dropped the blade.
His last thought before he fell head first into Cicero’s Impluvium was the
realization he had been outwitted. He was dead before the water from the splash
hit the ground.
