@paninid An open book showing pages 70 and 71 of ROBERT HARRIS's "CONSPIRATA". Page 70 (left) has the author's name at the top and contains text about Cicero discussing gambling, political maneuvering with Catalus and Isauricus, and monetary bribery involving "twenty million—twenty million". Page 71 (right) has the book title at the top and describes an early-spring sky with "horizontal lines of purple, red, and crimson, like blood seeping through a sodden bandage" and election results where "Isauricus had won four, Catalus six, and Caesar had backed by seven". The left page's verbatim text begins with "deed intending to stand. All the sensible citizens were appalled at the notion, or made ribald jokes and laughed out loud. Still, there was something about it—something breathtaking about the sheer charm of it. I suppose—that even his enemies could not help but admire. 'That fellow is the most phenomenal gambler I have ever encountered,' remarked Cicero. 'Each time he loses, he simply doubles his stake and rolls the dice again. Now I understand why he gave up on Rullus’s bill and the prosecution of Rabirius. He saw that the chief priest was unlikely to recover, calculated the odds, and decided the pontifex maximus was a much better bet than either.' He shook his head in wonder and set about doing what he could to make sure this third gamble also failed. And it would have, but for two things. The first was the incredible stupidity of Catalus and Isauricus. For several weeks, Cicero went back and forth between them, trying vainly to make them see that they could not both stand, that if they did they would split the anti-Caesar vote. But they were proud and irritable old men. They would not yield, or draw lots, or agree on a compromise candidate, and in the end both their names went forward. The other decisive factor was money. It was said that the time that Caesar bribed the tribes with so much cash the coin had to be transported in wheelbarrows. Where had he found it all? Everyone the source must be Crassus. But even Crassus would surely have balked at the twenty million—twenty million—Caesar was rumored to have laid out to the bribery agents. Whatever the truth, by the time the vote was held on the Ides of March, Caesar must have known that defeat would mean his ruin. He could never have repaid such a sum if his career had been checked. All that would have been left to him were humiliation, disgrace, possibly even suicide. That is why I am inclined to believe the famous story that on the morning of the polls he left his little house in Subura to walk to the Field of Mars, he kissed his mother goodbye and announced he would either return as pontifex maximus or not return at all. The voting lasted most of the day, and by one of those ironies which abound in politics, it fell to Cicero, who was once again in March the senior presiding magistrate, to announce the result. The". The right page's verbatim text includes "early-spring sun had fallen behind the Janiculum, and the sky was streaked in horizontal lines of purple, red, and crimson, like blood seeping through a sodden bandage. Cicero read out the returns in a monotone. Of the seventeen tribes polled, Isauricus had won four, Catalus six, and Caesar had backed by seven. It could scarcely have been closer. As Cicero climbed down from the platform, obviously sick to the stomach, the victor flung back his head and raised his arms to the heavens. He looked almost demented with delight—as well he might, for he knew that come what may he would now be pontifex maximus for the time that Caesar bribed the tribes with so much cash the coin had to be transported in wheelbarrows. Where had he found it all? Everyone the source must be Crassus. But even Crassus would surely have balked at the twenty million—twenty million—Caesar was rumored to have laid out to the bribery agents. Whatever the truth, by the time the vote was held on the Ides of March, Caesar must have known that defeat would mean his ruin. He could never have repaid such a sum if his career had been checked. All that would have been left to him were humiliation, disgrace, possibly even suicide. That is why I am inclined to believe the famous story that on the morning of the polls he left his little house in Subura to walk to the Field of Mars, he kissed his mother goodbye and announced he would either return as pontifex maximus or not return at all. The voting lasted most of the day, and by one of those ironies which abound in politics, it fell to Cicero, who was once again in March the senior presiding magistrate, to announce the result. The". The right page's verbatim text includes "early-spring sun had fallen behind the Janiculum, and the sky was streaked in horizontal lines of purple, red, and crimson, like blood seeping through a sodden bandage. Cicero read out the returns in a monotone. Of the seventeen tribes polled, Isauricus had won four, Catalus six, and Caesar had backed by seven. It could scarcely have been closer. As Cicero climbed down from the platform, obviously sick to the stomach, the victor flung back his head and raised his arms to the heavens. He looked almost demented with delight—as well he might, for he knew that come what may he would now be pontifex maximus for life, with a huge state house on the Via Sacra and a voice in the innermost councils of the state. In my opinion, everything that happened subsequently to Caesar stemmed from this amazing victory. That crazy outlay of twenty million was actually the greatest bargain in history: it would buy him the world."

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