Caesar: Escapades in Rome: Historical Stories, #1

By A. David Singh

Destiny is a journey, not a finish-line. A warrior designs his destiny with each step along his path.

 

I have fought pirates on the choppy waters of the Mediterranean Sea. I have wept beside the statue of Alexander, in Hispania. I have risen from defeat at the hands of Pompey, who was once my friend.

 

On the muddy banks of the Rubicon, I have made a difficult decision for a unique problem—just like you might be facing today.

 

But guess what? You don't need a herculean physique to fight the battles of life. And you don't need a famous father or mountains of sestertii. Just like I didn't need them in ancient times to blaze a trail for Roman emperors, you don't need them, even today.

 

All you need is grit—never letting self-doubt crush your spirit, even in the face of overwhelming odds.

 

Journey with me as we battle foes on land, on sea—and in life, at times victorious, at others crying in frustration, but always gaining clarity about our destiny, and striving towards it. Along this road, feel free to pick up skills that made me who I am.

 

Caesar: Escapades in Rome is not a book about Roman history; instead, it is a chronicle of my non-stop adventures through Ancient Rome.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ancient Hound Books
• Release date: Feb 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9780995874572

A. David Singh

A neurosurgeon by profession, A. David Singh operated on brains invaded by tumors, aneurysms, and other vile maladies. Funnily, after turning a couple (or more) gray hair, a rather strange affliction invaded his own brain.  Characters from a parallel universe besieged his brain cells and refused to leave, unless David transcribed their lives on paper. At first, he resisted the assault on his cerebral faculties, but these denizens of the Magical Rome Universe kept prodding his gray cells with their antics, forcing him to write their story. You can enter the Magical Rome Universe through the novel Dead Boy’s Game and The Broken Vow.  Villius, Calpurnia, Julius, Aelius, Gellia, Julia, Fufius Cita, the Heretic Historian, and the Banished Druid welcome you into their magnificent and dangerous world. For more Magic, Adventure and Danger, please visit MagicalRome.com

Book preview

Caesar

Caesar

Escapades in Rome

A. David Singh

Ancient Hound Books

Dedicated to Swati and Puppy

Author’s note

In the eighth century BC, a small town arose on the banks of the Tiber river in central Italy. Two attributes defined its inhabitants: their love for their town, and their love for war.

Accordingly, the warring men first engulfed all of Italy, then swept along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, spreading their dominion over the surrounding lands, for the glory of their homeland—Rome.

By the first century BC, the Roman world stretched from Hispania in the west to Syria in the east, and from Gaul in the north to Africa in the south. There was no stopping this phenomenon called Rome.

In July 100 BC, a boy was born in a poor neighborhood of Rome. He would go on to become one of the most famous, albeit notorious, figures of the ancient world. His name was Gaius Julius Caesar and his tales continue to thrill eager ears long after his footsteps have stopped echoing across the breadth of the Roman world.

The ten stories in this book, some sprinkled with a dash of humor, invite you to embark upon an exhilarating journey. March shoulder to shoulder with Julius Caesar as he rises to become one of the most powerful ancients of all times.

…and now, turn this page and let your escapades begin.

---

A. David Singh

Feb 2016

Pirates of the Mediterranean

Seven burly men crowded around Julius Caesar, taking turns to spit on him. He kept backing away, each step bringing him closer to the edge of the deck. He struggled to keep his balance as the galley pitched beneath his feet. Another step backwards, and he would topple over the edge and into the choppy waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

They can not treat me this way. I will not let them.

His grip tightened around a scroll he had been reading from. You barbarous lot, he said, trying to keep fear out of his voice. He brandished his scroll as if it were a pilum. None among you can appreciate good poetry. Not one.

The men surrounding him guffawed at his reaction to their vulgarity. Curling his lip, Caesar flung the scroll away. It fluttered in the wind, twirling higher and higher, and away from the group of the seafaring hoodlums.

A small, sunburnt man, who appeared to be their leader, swaggered up to Caesar and smirked. It is not the poetry that we don’t appreciate, he said, but the Roman hand that wrote it. The very hand that will part from the body if the mouth does not give up its impudent ways.

The men burst into another fit of raucous laughter.

Pirate scum!

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… the year was 75 BC, winter was setting in, and Julius Caesar was a prisoner aboard a pirate galley. Two weeks earlier he had left the shores of Italy and set sail towards Rhodes, intending to study rhetoric from Apollonius, the Greek. But as his ship neared the coast of Asia, disaster struck. Pirates attacked, hacked his crew to pieces, and set fire to the ship. Caesar was taken as a hostage and held for ransom.

---

As he seethed with humiliation, assessing the imminent threat of his hand getting severed, the pirates continued with their mirth.

Last night, the Roman told us to stop singing as we drank. Ask me why, a pirate said, barely containing his laughter. Because his sleep was getting disturbed.

The men again collapsed in throes of laughter. Their leader, however, did not laugh. He looked sternly at Caesar, then expelled a barrage of pungent air from his mouth.

It is time we discussed your ransom, Roman. He eyed Caesar from head to toe, as if appraising his worth. Twenty talents, he finally said.

Caesar felt a knot in his stomach. Twenty?

Too much, eh, Roman?

Caesar took a step forward, his nostrils flaring. You price my head at twenty talents? A mere twenty?

The laughter around him stopped abruptly. The deck full of pirates fell silent. Their leader stared at Caesar, his mouth hanging open. The only sound was of the waves sloshing steadily against the pirate galley.

Is my hand about to become fish-fodder? Or all of me? He was still too close to the edge. Caesar held his breath. I must not show them I’m afraid.

He thrust his chest out, raising his chin slightly. How dare you set my ransom at twenty talents? Never in my life have I been so insulted. I am worth fifty talents. Not twenty. Fifty! Any less than that is beneath me.

Fifty