A historical story in the end of the well-known world.
Translation to English of the Galician original language.
FIRST CHAPTER
I
Really, me, Tito Casio, liberate of the family Casio and columnist of the Acta Diurna, I horrified myself before that evening. It was already the last day of the Floral ones, in the calendas of May, but in that incognito earth there were cold and wind. Suddenly, the sky hit against the sea. I heard a roar as if the angry Vulcano hits with its hammer a copper iron or rusty iron. That was as if Jupiter, god of the skies and of the Cosmos, disputes with his unfaithful wife and sister Juno . That made such a grating disgusting metallic noise . I could deduce that the roar came from the horizon. Truly, I saw for the first time as the sun fell in the line of the sea!. The great orange ball disappeared prodigiously in the drain, crawled to the waterfalls that separate the abyss of the world. There, in the border line, infested of horrible creatures, boatman Carionte awaited to cross the souls from the alive ones to the other bank. Any marine would go mad, scared to death due to the mermaids´ metallic song. Jupiter closed the door of our homes. We were in the end of the Earth, in the frontier of the abyss. And then somebody of the company alerted that something in the sea was alive and it was coming toward us. Truly, I had never felt so close the fear since that monster, messenger of the hells, arises uncannily out of the fog. There the animal was, to port, always to port, as if this awaits to charge us or to crawl to the drain. Suddenly, Polifemo left the brave sea and it dove in the bottom again. I would not know how to describe that horrible marine creature, a mixture of gigantic fish, of snake and of newt. As big as a galley trireme and of such a dark color that seemed the most sinister night. That terrible being coming from the Hell threw columns of vapor boiling above their loin. For a moment, his firing look crossed with the horrified company. That encounter with the same angry son from Neptune could only predict misfortune. The gods and the spirits of the homes punished us for our audacity and avarice when crossing Hercules' columns. That brave sea was forbidden to men. "It is the end of the world"! The sun id dying"! The night will be perpetual", some legionaries screamed in the cover. "We will drown all"!, they said horrified . "It is necessary to make a sacrifice to the gods"!, another soldier noticed as if was an old whiner. The rowers ceased the march suddenly and the silence was made in the trireme. Somebody ran to warn to Caesar that took a bathroom of water and oil in the pavilion of official. In that moment, a Greek slave was reading to himsome passages of The Odyssey in which Poseidón discharged its anger against the argonauts. That reading could not be more appropriate and more ironic. It was as if the own Ulises was near us and sights that monster in the brave sea. Hispania Citerior's proconsul ascended to cover and he/she ordered to call to the soldiery. He made them to separate the machines of war so that their men could make a ring. He also ordered to make signs to the rest of the fleet so that reduces the march. Only the gelid marine wind and the strong scent to salt interrupted the attention to Caesar's words. There the Noise was again, the terrifying evening and, to port, the infernal creature. The Bald one had never seen equally. The sky was so red that it seemed a premonition of a bloody battle. "It is the end of the world"!, some legionaries screamed again. The governor that the previous year had occupied the position of maximum pontiff from Rome, showed that little by little he/she went being more skilled as politician than as military. I believe that he was aware of the betrayal that perpetrated in the past I hibernate against the bandits herminios of Lusitania who refused to descend of the mounts and to live in the valley. The murder of women and children in the Mons Herminus maybe made Caesar reflect. That explained The Bald one so offers some generous conditions later in exchange for the rendition of the herminios hidden in the island. What they could make them against our fleet of 600 ships of war! Caesar had friends in Gades and it was able to impress the rebels and to surround them with that armada. Caesar's first expedition to pacify Lusitania depended on conquering two small islands and he wanted to go sure. The first landing was a slaughter in that island. I never saw so many legionaries drowned in the costs of Lusitania to die. I had the honor of interviewing the only survivor, an assault soldier that complained before Caesar that loses their shield. Weeks later we were in that cover. I came closer to write notes of the speech. I never supposed that The Bald one would speak so soon, without at least to sight the enemies. CAESAR: The Senate believed falsely that Hispania was conquered from the wars with the Carthaginian general Hannibal and the victories of the Escipiones. But now the Senate understood the situation and it gave me the imperatum to pacify the whole territory until the incognito earth beyond Lusitania. Some soldiers of the cover bottom complained that it was not heard well. The Bald one continued without elevating the voice: CAESAR: In Gades I see as the Iberian ones they are proud of belonging to a Roman and also Greek colony. Anyone would say that the peninsula is pacified. As governor of Hispania, I made a lot because the descendants of that Carthaginian city have the Roman citizenship. But for they must complete it the law of the Senate. For that reason, I prohibited the sacrifices human, terrible inherited habit of Hannibal. However, we all know that the caligae doesn't step all Iberia. The bandits of the North, hide-and-seek in their forests and mounts, they destroy the crops of our allies, the vacceos. They steal, they plunder and they kill. The glory will be for us. The legions cannot fear anything of an evening. We won't lose the tenth eagle in a fight against Jupiter. Marco - Caesar the name of a veteran soldier that Sertorius fought beside the rebellious general did scream - will you use your sword against the Sun? (TO BE CONTINUED)