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consortium of Roman bankers, chief of whom was Rabirius. However, it seems the Accountant and all his splendid Macedonian public servants had allowed the city finances to get into a shocking state. So Auletes told my friend Rabirius that he would have to earn his money by tidying up both the royal and the public fiscus. Which Rabirius did, working night and day in Macedonian garments he found as repulsive as he did irksome. At the end of a year, Alexandria's moneys were brilliantly organized. But when Rabirius asked for his forty million sesterces, Auletes and your predecessor stripped him as naked as a bird and threw him on a ship bound for Rome. Be thankful for your life, was their message. Rabirius arrived in Rome absolutely penniless. For a banker, Potheinus, a hideous fate.”
    Grey eyes were locked with pale blue; neither man lowered his gaze. But a pulse was beating very fast in Potheinus's neck.
    “Luckily,” Caesar went on blandly, “I was able to assist my friend Rabirius get back on his financial feet, and today he is, with my other friends the Balbi Major and Minor, and Gaius Oppius, a veritable plutocrat of the plutocrats. However, a debt is a debt, and one of the reasons I decided to visit Alexandria concerns that debt. Behold in me, Lord High Chamberlain, Rabirius Postumus's bailiff. Pay back the forty million sesterces at once. In international terms, they amount to one thousand six hundred talents of silver. Strictly speaking, I should demand interest on the sum at my fixed rate of ten percent, but I'm willing to forgo that. The principal will do nicely.”
    “I am not authorized to pay the late king's debts.”
    “No, but the present king is.”
    “The King is a minor.”
    “Which is why I'm applying to you, my dear fellow. Pay up.”
    “I shall need extensive documentation for proof.”
    “My secretary Faberius will be pleased to furnish it.”
    “Is that all, Caesar?” Potheinus asked, getting to his feet.
    “For the moment.” Caesar strolled out with his guest, the personification of courtesy. “Any sign of the Queen yet?”
    “Not a shadow, Caesar.”
    •      •      •
    Theodotus met Potheinus in the main palace, big with news. “Word from Achillas!” he said.
    “I thank Serapis for that! He says?”
    “That the couriers are dead, and that Cleopatra is still in her earth on Mount Casius. Achillas is sure she has no idea of Caesar's presence in Alexandria, though what she's going to make of Achillas's next action is anyone's guess. He's moving twenty thousand foot and ten thousand horse by ship from Pelusium even as I speak. The Etesian winds have begun to blow, so he should be here in two days.” Theodotus chuckled gleefully. “Oh, what I would give to see Caesar's face when Achillas arrives! He says he'll use both harbors, but plans to make camp outside the Moon Gate.” Not a very observant man, he looked at the grim-faced Potheinus in sudden bewilderment. “Aren't you pleased, Potheinus?”
    “Yes, yes, that's not what's bothering me!” Potheinus snapped.
    “I've just seen Caesar, who dunned the royal purse for the money Auletes refused to pay the Roman banker, Rabirius Postumus. The hide! The temerity! After all these years! And I can't ask the Interpreter to pay a private debt of the late king's!”
    “Oh, dear!”
    “Well,” said Potheinus through his teeth, “I'll pay Caesar the money, but he'll rue the day he asked for it!”
    •      •      •
    “Trouble,” said Rufrius to Caesar the next day, the eighth since they had arrived in Alexandria.
    “Of what kind?”
    “Did you collect Rabirius Postumus's debt?”
    “Yes.”
    “Potheinus's agents are telling everybody that you've looted the royal treasury, melted down all the gold plate, and garnished the contents of the granaries for your troops.”
    Caesar burst out laughing. “Things are beginning to come to a boil, Rufrius! My messenger has returned from Queen Cleopatra's