Bruce Macbain - Roman Games: A Plinius Secundus Mystery

Roman Games

A Plinius Secundus Mystery

Bruce Macbain

Poisoned Pen Press

Copyright 2010 by Bruce Macbain

First Edition 2010

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2010923850

ISBN: 9781615952557 Epub

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

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inopia rapax, metu saevus

Need made him rapacious,

Fear made him cruel.

Suetonius, Life of Domitian

Lasciva est nobis pagina, vita proba

My ditties may be dirty,

But my life is oh, so pure!

Martial, Epigrams

Dramatis Personae

The imperial household:

Domitian (Flavius Domitianus), emperor of Rome

Domitia Longina Augusta, the empress

Parthenius, the imperial grand chamberlain

Entellus, the imperial secretary

Earinus, the emperors favorite slave boy

Petronius, the commandant of the Praetorian Guard

Domitilla, the emperors niece

Clemens, the emperors cousin and Domitillas deceased husband

Stephanus, Domitillas steward

Verpas household:

Sextus Ingentius Verpa, a senator and informer

Lucius, Verpas son

Turpia Scortilla, Verpas concubine

Iarbas, Scortillas dwarf

Pollux, Verpas slave bodyguard

Ganymede, a slave pantomime dancer

Phyllis, a slave girl

Plinys household and friends:

Pliny (Gaius Plinius Secundus), a senator and lawyer

Calpurnia, his wife

Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis), a writer of satirical verses

Corellius Rufus, an elderly senator and Plinys mentor

Soranus, Calpurnias physician

Zosimus, Plinys freedman secretary

Others:

Aurelius Fulvus, the city prefect

Valens, a centurion in the City Battalions

Alexandrinus, a priest of Anubis

Nectanebo (Diaulus), an undertaker

Amatia, a visitor from Gaul

Iatrides, Amatias personal physician

Marcus Cocceius Nerva, an elderly senator

Papinius Statius, a poet favored at court

Atilius Regulus, Verpas family lawyer

Chapter One

The sixteenth regnal year of
the emperor titus flavius domitianus caesar augustus
conqueror of germany, conqueror of dacia
consul, censor for life
our lord and god

The eleventh day before the Kalends of Germanicus
[formerly September].
The sixth hour of the day. The island of Pandateria in the Bay of Naples.

A brassy sun beat down on the barren rock that for six weeks and four days had been Flavia Domitillas prison. She hurried along the path that wound down from the house to the black volcanic beach and, squinting into the sun, searched the haze for sign of a fishing boat coming over from Pontia. But the youth was here before her and was already waiting at the waters edge. He gave a low whistle.

She glanced up over her shoulder to the white-washed cottage, far from the harbor, where she lived under the eye of her jailers. They dozed through the noonday heat. She reached into her bosom for the small packet wrapped in a square of silk cut from the hem of her gown. Her jailers would not allow her writing materials, but Flavia Domitilla had been very clever. She had trimmed scraps of papyrus from a volume of poetry which she had brought with her into exile, and by wetting the edges and pressing them together she had made two half-sheets large enough to print a message in tiny script using lamp black mixed with water for ink.

The letter marked with an Sthis one, it curls like a snake, you see? Think of the sss of a snake. Deliver it to Stephanussstephanusmy house-steward. Our villa is on the Via Appia at the third milestone. Ask for the house of Flavius Clemens, my husband, I meanwas my husband. After youve done that, then deliver the letter marked with a V to SextusIngentiusVerpa. She pronounced the name slowly to the youth, as though she were speaking to an idiot. Look how the V is shaped like your hand when you raise it to say vale to your friends; the same soundvale, Verpa. He lives in Rome, in a big house with red columns near the east end of the Circus Flaminius. Anyone can show you. Give it to no one but him, you understand?

The boy nodded.

And when youve delivered both letters, come back here and describe Verpa to me exactly so that I know you havent cheated me and I will give you the other pearl earring.

She neednt have given up her pearl earrings, which were worth more than all the fish this boy could catch in a year. To help a cruelly imprisoned lady, to see Rome and go inside a rich mans house, the youth would have done it for nothing.

He extended a brown and muscular arm to take the packet from her. This man Verpa, hes your kinsman? Your friend?

Not exactly. I need his help.

My father wants to know how long Ill be away.

Seven, eight days if you have to walk the whole way from Naples, but I expect youll get a ride in some ladys coach, a good-looking boy like you.

He flashed her a white-toothed smile: If the ladys as beautiful as you, I wont mind.

Off with you.

She turned and went up the path again, thinking it not the least of her miseries that the grand-daughter of the Deified Vespasian and the niece of Emperor Domitian must suffer the impudence of a peasant. As beautiful as you? Her mirror told her how this furnace of an island was already ravaging her beauty. Fear etched its mark upon her too. Fear of withering and dying here, forgotten and alone. Fear that the emperor, who had ordered her husband strangled, might turn his wrath on their helpless children, too. Did he have them now? What would that monster not sink to?

Ingentius Verpa, the informer, had denounced her and her husband to Domitian on charges of atheism and following Jewish practices. Atheism meant refusing to worship the gods of the official state religion, with the emperor and his deified forebears among them. And an attraction to Judaism was tantamount to sedition. Even after the crushing of the revolt, hatred of the Romans still smoldered in Judaea. Not even kindred bloodshe, Clemens, and the emperor were all of the Flavian clanhad sufficed to save them. After all, an emperor who believes himself to be a god is bound to resent atheism!

She sat down in the shade of her doorway and the goats came up to nuzzle her. She wasnt as brave as the other God-fearers. She was ready to bargain for her freedom and her childrens lives with the one thing of any value she still had. And Verpa would help her because there was profit in it. If she must betray her friends, she thought, where else should she turn for help but to her enemy?

She fell on her knees then and prayed to the One God to forgive her for what shea weak and sinful daughter of Evewas about to do.

* * *

The seventh day before the Kalends of Germanicus.
The eleventh hour of the day. Rome.

Verpa set the letter down, barked at a slave to bring him chilled wine, wiped his lips with a thick hand and wiped the hand on his thigh. Though the sun had sunk below the housetops, still the heat was insufferable; the fountains that leapt and splashed in his spacious garden did nothing to relieve it. He took a sip of wine and returned to the letter.