Eagle in the Snow: A Novel of General Maximus and Rome's Last Stand

“We will crown you in our camp to show the measure of our trust.”

“Do you believe that I will accept?”

He said slowly, “Because you are what you are, we make this offer. If you do not believe me then talk to this man here. He stands high with the Aleman people and I believe he once knew you well in another life. I will wait.” He turned his horse in a flurry of snow and rode off a score of paces to the tree behind him. I signalled Fabianus and Goar to join him.

Julian pushed back his cloak and smiled ironically. “Well?” he said. “It is a great honour.”

“Do you think that I will accept?”

He ignored my question. He said, “You once offered me your villa at Arelate. Do you remember? Does it still stand? Did you ever go back to it?”

I nodded. “It stands. I never went back to it.”

“A pity. It would have been better to die there in the sun than in this bleak and terrible place.” A wolf howled in the distance and the wind whipped at our faces.

I said, “What makes you think that I shall die?”

He said sadly, “If you die it will be because you are—Maximus. For no other reason.”

“That is true of every man.”

“Perhaps.” He leaned forward and patted his horse on the neck. “It is a good offer. You have only a single legion. Which one, I wonder?”

“The Twentieth.”

He flinched. “The gods still make jests then about our small affairs.”

“There is no man but myself who served with them in our time.”

“You love that legion, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Refuse this offer and it would be better that you had sent them to the mines as condemned criminals. They would at least be still alive.”

“I know that.”

We stared at each other. There was a curious expression on his face that I could not understand. I said, “Surely, you knew before this the number of my legion.”

“No.” His reply was emphatic.

I shivered. It was very cold.

“Why do you refuse?” he asked calmly.

“My empire has had more usurping emperors than I can count. Most were murdered; all weakened the empire they thought to strengthen. I shall not add to their number; not in this way.”

“The empire is dying, Maximus. It is weaker than when you were a boy playing on those sandy beaches of Southern Gaul.”

I bit my lip at the memory. I said, “It has recovered before. How many times has the barbarian broken through the frontier and each time men said that Rome was finished? But each time we drove them back and Rome still stands. Rome is. Nothing can alter that. It is her destiny.”

He said, “Perhaps. But perhaps not in the way you think.”

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “I do not know. But we live in a time of great change. Few things last for ever. I should know that.”

The wind blew harder now and the surface snow whirled, like dust, about our horses’ legs.

I looked at him. I said, “You are very thin, Julian.”

“It is only the cold and the lack of food.” He spoke as a man who was used to these things.

I said, “I will offer you something now: an amnesty to you and to your family. Bring them across the river at Bingium and I will give you money to go where you will, to settle where you please. Take it for the sake of old times.”

He said, “Can you strike a rock and bring forth water? I want nothing from you. You gave me enough: the years in the arena, the stigma and the shame. For that I still bear the brand on my ankle to show I was once a slave.” He flung up his head. “Well, I accept it. It was the price I had to pay for what I had done. I understand that now.” He stared down blindly at the snow. He said in a low voice, “You took the life of my high-priest’s daughter and you cannot give it back. From you I want nothing. You cannot throw me a coin and make right what has been wrong. I shall do very well for myself without your aid.”

I said hoarsely, “I understand. I, too, cannot accept your offer. Tell Gunderic that if I were to do so, I would not be the man he wants for his emperor.”

He said, “If you had been that kind of man the offer would not have been made.”

I said, “Did you ever find what you wanted? That purpose that would not break in your hand.”