The Roman (33 page)

247

�you mean that Claudius has a bad stomach and a weak head. Some day he will have to pay the debt we all have to pay, however much we sacrifice to his genius.� �May it be as if you had never spoken those words aloud,� cried Gallio. �Despite his weaknesses, Claudius has ruled so well that the Senate can safely exalt him to a god after his death, even if it will rouse a certain amount of ridicule. A farsighted man should be quite clear in time who is going to succeed him.� �Nero imperator,� I whispered dreamily. �But Nero is only a boy.� For the first time, this possibility occurred to me. It could not but delight me, for I had been Nero�s friend long before his mother became Claudius� wife. �Don�t be frightened at the thought, Tribune Minutus,� said Gallio. �But to make it known so clearly is dangerous so long as Claudius is alive and breathing. To sort and gather up all the threads of fate and chance would in itself be useful if the same excellent thought occurred in the ruling circles of other provinces. I should have no objection if you went from Ephesus on to Antioch. That�s your old home city. Your father�s freedmen are said to have accumulated great wealth and influence there. You should speak well of Nero, no more. Not a single mention of the future in so many words. Be careful on that point. Those you speak to can draw their own conclusions. In the East there is more calculating political sense than Rome usually gives credit for.� He let me think about this for a moment before continuing. �Of course,� he said, �you will have to pay for your journey yourself, although I shall give you some letters to take for the sake of form so that you can meet the recipients in an intimate way. But what you say, you say of your own free will. Not at my bidding. You are open by nature and still so young that no one will suspect you of political intriguing. Nor is it a question of that, as I hope you realize. But there are exiled Romans who are suffering the agonies of banishment because of Claudius� whims and suspicions. They have friends in Rome. Don�t avoid them, for when Claudius is dead, all exiles will be pardoned, the Jews too. This my brother Seneca has promised, for he himself endured eight years of exile. The Emperor�s stomach trouble you can mention, but never forget to add that it is probably only a matter of

248

harmless vomiting. On the other hand, stomach cancer has similar symptoms. Between ourselves, Agrippina is deeply troubled over Claudius� health. He is a gourmet and won�t stick to a sensible diet. I was forced to conclude that Gallio was drunk on his own wine, since he dared to tell me such things out loud. He must have overestimated my loyalty because he thought that loyalty was an inborn quality in every young Roman. I too have wolf blood in my veins. But he filled my head with seething thoughts and made me brood on other things besides Damaris and Athens. In the end he told me to sleep on the matter in peace and quiet and then sent me home. It was then late in the evening, but nevertheless a crackling fire was burning at the entrance of my house and I could hear the sound of noisy singing from within. I wondered whether Hierex had heard of my arrival and prepared some kind of reception. When I went in I saw a number of people, men and women, just emerging from a meal in my dining room. It was clear that they were all very drunk. One was dancing around with his eyes rolling and another was babbling away in some language I could not understand. Hierex was wandering about as host, kissing all his guests heartily in turn. When he caught sight of me, he was covered in confusion, but quickly regained his composure. �Blessed be your ingoing and your outgoing, my lord Minutus,� he cried. �As you see, we are practicing as best we can at singing holy songs together. On your orders, I have found out about the Jews� new teaching. It fits a simple slave like a glove.� The doorkeeper and the cook sobered up hurriedly from their ecstasy and quickly knelt down in front of me. When Hierex saw me beginning to swell with rage, he hurriedly drew me to one side. �Don�t be angry,� he said. �Everything is in good order. Paul, that stern man, was suddenly despondent for some reason or other, had his hair cut and sailed off to Jerusalem to give an account to the elders there. When he had gone, we Christians began to squabble over which of us was most suited to instruct the others. The Jews quite selfishly consider that they know best about everything, even when it concerns Christ. So I use your house as a meeting place where we uncircumcised people can together

249

practice the new teaching as best we can. We also eat a little better than we did at the communal meals, which always attract a lot of nonpaying poor people. I�m paying for this meal myself. I have that wealthy widow over there on the hook. I�ve made several useful friends among the Christians. It�s by far and away the best secret society I�ve ever belonged to.� �Have you become a Christian and been baptized, done penance and all that, then?� I asked in astonishment. �You commanded me to yourself,� said Hierex defensively. �Without your permission, I should never have joined, for I�m only your slave. But with the Christians I�ve put aside my sinful slave-dress. According to their teaching, we are equals before Christ, you and I. You must be kind to me and I shall serve you to the best of my ability as I always have. When we�ve shaken off the most vainglorious Jews then our society of love will be an adornment to the whole of Corinth.� Next morning Hierex� head had cleared and he was considerably humbler, but his face fell when I told him I must go to Asia and take him with me, as I could not possibly manage such a long journey without a servant. �That�s impossible,� wailed Hierex, tearing his hair. �I�ve only just got a foothold in here and on your account have become involved in all kinds of useful deals. If you are forced to clear off all the balances here and now, then I�m very much afraid you�ll lose a lot of money. Neither can I leave the Christians in the lurch now that Paul has gone and they�re all squabbling. There are widows and orphans who must be protected here. It�s part of the teachings and I�m one of the few in the whole assembly who understands money at all. I�ve heard an interesting story of a master who gave his servants pounds of gold and then asked them to account for how they had increased it. I wouldn�t want to appear an incompetent servant on the day of reckoning.� In my absence Hierex had put on weight and grown very plump. On long troublesome journeys, he would be no use to me. He would do nothing but complain and puff and pant, longing for the comforts of Corinth. �It is the anniversary of my mother�s death quite soon,� I said. �Let us go to the authorities together. I shall give you your freedom so that you can stay in Corinth and look after the house.

250

I realize I should stand to lose if I suddenly sold everything I have acquired here on credit.� �Just what I was thinking of suggesting,� said Hierex eagerly. �It must have been the Christian God who gave me such an excellent idea. I�ve saved quite a sum of money, so I could pay half the redemption tax myself. I�ve already found out from a lawyer in the City Hall what would be a reasonable sum for me. I�ve got so fat, I�m no good for physical labor any longer. I�ve also certain flaws which I�ve managed to hide from you, but which would bring down my price considerably at an auction.� I did not accept his offer, for I thought he would need his savings himself to get started and survive in the avid life of Corinth. So I paid his fee at the City Hall and myself placed the colored freedman�s stave in his hand. At the same time I arranged for authority to be given him to administer my house and property in Corinth. In reality, I was only too pleased to be rid of both him and aJ.1 dreary financial matters. I did not like his lighthearted way of joining the Christians and did not want the responsibility of him, apart from as my freedman. Hierex Lausius went with me to Cenchreae, where I boarded a ship sailing to Ephesus. Once again he thanked me for allowing him to call himself Lausius, which he thought a much grander and worthier name than the modest Minutus. His tears on my departure were, I think, quite genuine, but I imagine he heaved a sigh of relief as the ship pulled away and he was rid of a much too young and unpredictable master.

251

252

BOOK 6

253

Sabina

Troxobores, a brigand chieftain of the mountain people, made the most of the disturbances in Armenia which were occupying the Syrian legions, and sent an experienced expeditionary force into the hinterland of Cilicia and from there swept down to the coast, plundering the ports and dislocating the sea traffic. The old King of Cilicia, Antiochus, was powerless, for his own reinforcements were in Armenia. Finally the Cleitors began to besiege the harbor city of Anemurium itself. On my way from Ephesus to Antioch, I met a division of the Syrian cavalry, commanded by prefect Curtius Severus, hastening to the defense of Anemurium. Under the circumstances, I considered it my duty to join them. We suffered a severe defeat outside the walls of Anemurium, where the terrain was more suited to Troxobores� mountain dwellers than to our cavalry. Severus must take his share of the blame, for he thought he could frighten an inexperienced band of bandits into flight just by having the trumpets sounded and attacking at full gallop, without first finding out about the terrain and the strength of Troxobores� forces. I was wounded in the side, arm and foot. With a rope around my neck and my hands tied behind my back, I was taken up into the brigands� inaccessible mountains. For two years I was kept as a hostage by Troxobores. My father�s freedmen in Antioch would have paid the ransom at any time, but Troxobores was a cunning and aggressive man and preferred to keep a few important Romans as hostages rather than hoard money in his hideouts. The Syrian Proconsul and King Anitiochus belittled this rebellion as much as possible, saying they could crush it with their own forces. They were afraid, with some justification, of Claudius� anger, should he learn the truth. �No amount of gold will buy my life when my back is against the wall,� said Troxobores. �But you, oh Roman knight, I can

254

always crucify you to acquire a handsome escort to the underworld.� He treated us hostages capriciously, sometimes well and sometimes not. He might invite us to his crude banquets, give us food and drink and tearfully and drunkenly call us friends. But afterwards he might shut us in a filthy cave, have the entrance walled up and have us fed through a fist-size hole with the minimum of bread to keep us alive in our own excrement. During this imprisonment, two men took their own lives by opening their veins with sharp stones. My wounds became infected and tormented me. Pus oozed from them and I thought I would die. During those two years, I learned to live in utter degradation, constantly prepared to be tortured or to die. My son Julius, my only son, when you read this after my death, remember that certain ineradicable scars which I bear on my face and which when you were small you thought came from my service in Britain, vain as I was, were not the work of Britons. I received them many years before you were born, in a dark Cilician cave, where I learned patience, and shamefully battered my face against the rough stone wall. Think of that when you so eagerly criticize your miserly, old-fashioned and now dead father. For all the men Troxobores collected around him and trained as warriors during his successful days, he lost just as many after his first defeat. Intoxicated by his success, he made the mistake of becoming involved in field battles and this kind of warfare his ill-disciplined troops could not master. King Antiochus treated his prisoners kindly, released them and sent them up into the mountains to promise mercy to all those who deserted Troxobores. Most of Troxobores� men considered that having collected sufficient loot, they had had enough of the game, and fled back to their villages to spend the rest of their lives as wealthy men, by Cilician standards. Troxobores had these deserters followed and killed, thus causing bad blood between his own tribal friends. Finally, even the men nearest to him tired of his cruelties and whims, and took him prisoner to gain mercy for themselves. This happened just in time, for King Antiochus� army was approaching, slaves were tearing down the walls in front of the cave, and the

255

poles for our execution were on the ground outside. My fellow prisoners asked that Troxobores should be crucified instead of us. But King Antiochus swiftly had him beheaded, to put an end to a painful episode. I and my fellow prisoners parted without regrets, for in the darkness, hunger and misery of the cave, we had become bitterly sick of one another�s company. While they returned to Antioch, I went on board a Roman warship in Anemurium which was going to Ephesus. King Antiochus compensated us generously for the sufferings we had had to endure, in order to keep us quiet. In Ephesus, I was well received by the then Proconsul of Asia, Junius Silanus, who invited me to his country estate outside the city and had his own physician treat me. Silanus was about fifty, rather slow but so unimpeachable in character that Emperor Gaius in his day had described him as a gilded numbskull, because of his incalculable wealth. When I mentioned Agrippina and Nero to Silanus, he forbade me to utter a single word about Claudius� stomach trouble to him. A couple of prominent men had recently been banished from Rome just because they had asked an astrologist about the Emperor�s life-span. After that, the Senate had passed a bill exiling all Chaldaeans. Silanus seemed to think that Agrippina had in some way been responsible for the death of his brother Lucius, just as he thought that Messalina in her day had brought disaster to Appius Silanus by dreaming evil dreams about him. His insane suspiciousness made me angry. �How can you think that of the first lady of Rome?� I said furiously. �Agrippina is a noble woman. Her brother Gaius was Emperor, and she herself is the wife of an Emperor and is descended from the god Augustus.� Silanus smiled stupidly. �Not even the most unimpeachable origins,� he remarked, �seem to protect anyone in Rome any longer. You must remember Domitia Lepida, Nero�s aunt, who brought Nero up out of kindness when Agrippina was banished for open lewdness and high treason. Domitia had always cared for Nero when he suffered from Agrippina�s severity. Quite recently she was condemned to death because she was said to have tried to harm Agrippina by witchcraft