Ruth Downie - Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire

MEDICUS

MEDICUS

A Novel of the Roman Empire

RUTH DOWNIE

BLOOMSBURY

Copyright 2006 by Ruth Downie

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address Bloomsbury USA, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York
Distributed to the trade by Macmillan

All papers used by Bloomsbury USA are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in well-managed forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS:

Downie, Ruth, 1955 Medicus : a novel of the Roman Empire / Ruth Downie.1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
1. RomeHistoryEmpire, 30 B.C.476 A.D.Fiction. I. Title.

PR6104.O94M44 2006
823'.92dc22
2006013179

Originally published in the United Kingdom in 2006 by Michael Joseph, a division of Penguin Group UK
First published in the United States by Bloomsbury USA in 2006 This paperback edition published in 2008

eISBN: 978-1-59691-427-8

3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Typeset by Westchester Book Group
Printed in the United States of America by Quebecor World Fairfield

To Andy, with love

A NOVEL

IN WHICH our hero will be...

baffled by

Tilla, a slave

Merula, a bar owner

Quintus Antonius Vindex, a recruit

a family of native Britons

alarmed by

Bassus, Merula's security guard

Stichus, another of Merula's security guards

a woman with chins

Secundus, a builder

Elegantina, a lady wrestler

assaulted by

a soup bowl

a senior centurion

a trowel

a fire

amused by

Rutilia the Elder

Rutilia the Younger, her sister

followed by

a dog

Albanus, a clerk

a barber's son

surrounded by

the Twentieth Legion, Valiant and Victorious

patients

women

mice

tempted by

Chloe, one of Merula's girls

sworn at by

Daphne, another of Merula's girls

avoided by

a barber's mother-in-law

harangued by

(in his memory) Claudia, his ex-wife

(in person) a signaler's girlfriend

(in letters) Lucius, his brother

annoyed by

Valens, a colleague

Claudius Innocens, a businessman

Priscus, an administrator

a civilian liaison officer

Justinus the whistler

a brothel-keeper on the Dock road

ignored by

his stepmother

his half sisters

informed by

a mortuary assistant's assistant

Decimus, a hospital porter

a barber

a barber's wife

Lucco, Merula's kitchen slave

Lucius Curtius Silvanus, a slave trader

mothered by

Cassia, his sister-in-law

Centurion Rutilius's wife

moved to sympathy by

Saufeia, one of Merula's girls

Asellina, one of Merula's girls

the signaler

Phryne, a slave

Tadius, a house slave

and ruled by

the Emperor Trajan

the Emperor Hadrian

O diva ...
serves iturum Caesarem in ultimos
orbis Britannos.

Oh Goddess,
safeguard Caesar as he sets off for the remotest
regions of the EarthBritain.
Horace

S OMEONE HAD WASHED the mud off the body, but as Gaius Petreius Ruso unwrapped the sheet, there was still a distinct smell of river water. The assistant wrinkled his nose as he approached with the record tablet and the measuring stick he had been sent to fetch.

"So," said Ruso, flipping the tablet open. "What's the usual procedure here for unidentified bodies?"

The man hesitated. "I don't know, sir. The mortuary assistant's on leave."

"So who are you?"

"The assistant's assistant, sir." The man was staring at the corpse.

"But you have attended a postmortem before?"

Without taking his eyes off the body, the man shook his head. "Are they all like that, sir?"

Ruso, who had started work before it was light, stifled a yawn. "Not where I come from."

The description should come first. Facts before speculation. Except that in this case much of the description was speculation as well.

Female, aged... He spent some time frowning over that one. Finally he settled on approximately 1825 years. Average weight. Height...five feet one inch. At least that was fairly accurate. Hair: red, scant. That too, although it might not be very helpful if no one had ever seen her before without a wig. Clothing: none found. So no help there, then.

Three teeth missing, but not in places that were obvious. Someone would need to know her very well indeed to give a positive identification from that.

Ruso glanced up. "Did you go over to HQ for me?"

"I told them we'd got a body and you'd send the details over later, sir."

"Did you ask about missing persons?"

"Yes, sir. There aren't any."

"Hm." This did not bode well. Ruso continued working his way down the body, making notes as he went. Moments later his search was rewarded. "Ah. Good!"

"Sir?"

Ruso pointed to what he had found. "If somebody turns up looking for her in a month's time," he explained, "we'll be able to tell them who we buried." He recorded Strawberry birthmark approximately half an inch long on inside of upper right thigh, eight inches above the knee, and sketched the shape.

When he had completed the description, Ruso scratched one ear and gazed down at the pale figure laid out on the table. He was better acquainted than he wished to be with the dead, but this one was difficult.The water had interfered with all the signals he had learned to look for. There was no settling of the blood to indicate the position in which the body had been left, presumably because it had rolled over on the current. The limbs were flexible, so that meant... what? Men who died in the stress of battle often froze and then relaxed again much faster than was normal. So if the woman had been frightened or struggling... On the other hand, how would the aftermath of death be affected by cold water? He scratched his ear again and yawned, trying to think what he could usefully write on the report that would not cause more distress and confusion to the relatives.

Finally he settled on Time of death: uncertain, estimated at least 2 days before discovery and gave his reasons.

He glanced up at the assistant's assistant again. "Can you write legibly?"

"Yes, sir."

He handed the tablet and stylus across the body

"Place of death," he dictated, then corrected himself. "No, put Location of body."

The man laid the tablet on the end of the table, hunched over it, and repeated, "Location... of... body" as he scraped with awkward but determined obedience.

"Found five hundred paces downstream from the pier, in marshes on the north bank," said Ruso, wishing he had carried on writing himself.

"F... found... five hundred..." muttered the man, suddenly breaking off in midsentence to look up and say, "She could have drowned a long way upstream and come down the river, sir. But then, she might have gone in farther along and come up on the tide."

"Pardon?" Ruso blinked, taken aback by this sudden display of initiative.

Moments later it was apparent that although this soldier knew nothing about hospital administration and very little about writing, he had devoted his spare time to learning everything there was to know about the local fishing. The assistant's assistant's detailed description of all possible points of waterborne departure that could end in an arrival in the marshes on the north bank of the River Dee left Ruso baffled, but one thing was clear. In a land where coastlines shifted in and out and rivers flowed backward twice a day, anything that floated could end up a very long way from where it fell into the water.