Marcus Aurelius Betrayed (18 page)

“We must discuss price with the owner,” said Artemisia.

“He will be here tomorrow,
domina
,” the clerk replied. “Whatever time is convenient for you.”

“The 3
^rd
hour of the morning,” interjected Severus. “We can be here then.”

“Then I will make sure he will be here at that time.”

They left the shop. “We’ll come back tomorrow morning,” he told Artemisia. “With Vulso and a squad of the Urban Cohort.”

Now Severus also had a smile that said he had Jupiter by the balls. Or at least Isarion.

XXVIII

ISARION IS QUESTIONED AND CLAUDIUS CELER IS FOUND

“H
ow is Isarion?” asked Severus at the 5
^th
hour the next morning.

“Shaking like a leaf,” answered Vulso, “and I didn’t even threaten him --- much.”

“Good. Bring him up from the basement to my chambers. I’ll talk to him here.”

Isarion was brought up to Severus’ chambers in the Forum of Augustus by Vulso and dumped into a chair. He was a thin, wiry man, with pinched cheeks and very little hair. He cringed from Severus and Vulso with haunted eyes. He still wore the elegant linen tunic he had on when arrested, though it was by now somewhat rumpled.

Severus pulled up a chair and placed it directly in front of Isarion. Vulso sat on a stool on Severus’ left, with an opaque smile that Isarion probably read as malevolent.

“Now,” began Severus, “I know you are involved with books stolen from the Library of Alexandria,
particularly the
Wisdom of Ben Sira
which we recovered from one of your henchmen.”

Isarion began to protest.

Severus held up a hand to silence him. “Don’t bother to deny it. Because I also know about the fake antiques you are selling in your store in Alexandria and probably selling here in Rome as well. Do you know what that means for a foreigner in Rome? It could be the lions or the panthers or the bears. Vulso, have we had an expert check every item in ‘The Golden Ibis’ here in Rome?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, Isarion, we may hold off on that or we may not, depending on how cooperative you are. So first I want to know how you got that library book?”

Isarion was turning green. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it.

“I’m waiting,” said Severus mildly.

“I…, I…” was all Isarion could manage.

“I’m still waiting, but I’m not going to wait much longer.” His voice became harsher. Vulso’s smile turned from arguably to unarguably malevolent.

Isarion began shaking again. But he managed an answer. “I got it from Philogenes, the librarian.”

“And how did that happen?”

“I paid him for it. He took it from the Library.”

“The other books as well?”

“Yes.”

“And where is Philogenes now?”

“He’s dead.”

“Who killed him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who killed him?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Who killed him?”

“Serpentinus.”

“You mean the Prefect’s aide? One of the guests at the orgy?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know that?”

“Secundus told me. The Prefect’s stepson. He was directing the thefts. I had to pay him part of the profits. He told me there would be no more books because Philogenes wanted to stop. He didn’t want to do it any more and he was going to confess to the Keeper of the Books. So he said he had Serpentinus silence Philogenes, forever.”

“Who else was involved in this?”

“Petamon, the Isis priest. He was working with Secundus, using his temple to fence stolen books.”

“Just stolen books?”

Isarion looked pale.

“Just stolen books?” repeated Severus with a greater edge to his voice.

Isarion looked paler.

“Do I have to ask everything three times?” Severus’ voice was now threatening.

“Maybe he distributed fake antiques too,” he admitted wanly.

“Was the Prefect involved in any of this, the stolen books, the fake antiques?”

“Calvus? I don’t know. I only sold him real antiques. It was Secundus. He ran things. He told me what to do. And he had Serpentinus kill Philogenes and then he put poison in the Prefect’s cup.”

“Who did?”

“Secundus did it himself. To keep the Prefect from finding out what he was doing. What else could have happened? Who else could have tried to kill the Prefect?”

“What about you?”

“Me?” he practically shouted in distress. “The Prefect was my best customer. Why ever would I want him dead? It couldn’t have been me. It wasn’t me. Don’t think that. It had to be Secundus. It must have been him.”

“Are you just guessing about this? Do you have any evidence?”

“Evidence? What evidence could I have? No one told me anything. I just think it was Secundus. That’s all. He ran everything. It must have been him.”

Just then someone knocked on the door and court clerk Proculus came in and whispered something into Severus’ ear.

Severus got up, motioned to Vulso to come along and told Proculus to keep Isarion here, with a guard in the room with him. He walked out, with Vulso behind him.

“What’s going on?” asked Vulso.

“It’s Claudius Celer. The Praetorians found him and have brought him here. Right now he’s in the next room. So let’s go talk to him.”

The Praetorian Tribune Cornelius was outside the room with a big smile on his face. “It worked judge. We bribed someone. And it didn’t cost that much either. Just one gold aureus, 100 sesterces. He was living only a few streets away from his old home, so we just picked him up. He gave us no trouble either. And you’ll be very interested in what he has to say.”

“Good work, Cornelius,” replied Severus.

Severus and Vulso entered the room. Claudius Celer was seated on a chair and looked up expectantly. He was
a rather large man, bald with a rounded face, thick lips and puffed out cheeks. He wore a plain brown tunic.

“I’m Marcus Flavius Severus, judge of the Court of the Urban Prefect and this is Caius Vulso, Centurion of the Urban Cohort. We’ve been looking all over for you.”

“I’m glad you found me. I can’t take this anymore.”

“What can’t you take? Why were you in hiding? Why did you leave Alexandria? Why didn’t you show up at your job with the Imperial Post in Rome? Why did you change your address?”

“I can answer all those questions quite simply. I was scared. I left Alexandria because I was scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“That he was going to kill me. Just like he killed Pudens.”

“Who is he? Who killed Pudens? Why was he killed?”

“For what he found. He was an inspector of the Imperial Post in Alexandria, as you must know. And one day he told me he came across a letter to the Prefect’s stepson, Secundus, from the personal aide to an army general on the Persian front, Avidius Cassius. Pudens didn’t show me the letter but he told me about it. He thought the letter was suspicious. The letter quoted Avidius Cassius calling Marcus Aurelius ‘a philosophizing old woman’ and Lucius Verus ‘a freak of extravagance’. Pudens feared there might be a plot brewing against the Emperors, Lucius Verus at the Persian front and Marcus Aurelius in Rome. But Pudens wasn’t sure and didn’t know what to do about it. He was cautious. Should he warn Secundus off? And that’s why he was killed. Secundus did it, he must have put poison in a cup at the orgy and saw to it that Pudens drank it. That’s why
I fled. Maybe he knew Pudens told me about the conspiracy. So now I’m telling you and I’m off the hook. I should have told you before but I didn’t trust any one, not any one.”

“How did Pudens happen to read this letter?” asked Severus. “It was sealed, wasn’t it. And private.”

Celer shrugged and said simply, “At the Imperial Post letters from generals in command of legions, as well as aides to generals in command of legions, are not always private.”

Severus and Vulso left the room.

“It looks like Secundus is in a lot of trouble,” said Vulso wryly. “According to Isarion he tried to poison the Prefect to prevent him from learning about his stolen book ring from Philogenes. According to Celer he also poisoned Pudens to prevent him from telling the Prefect about a plot to kill the Emperors. They both can’t be right, can they?”

“No, they can’t. Someone put poison in the Prefect’s cup, either intending to kill the Prefect or to kill Pudens. It couldn’t have been intended to kill them both. We have to figure out which one.

“But this information is important. First, it may provide a motive for Secundus to poison the Prefect. We’ve been assuming that he had no motive because his interest would be in keeping Calvus alive at least until his adoption from stepson to son. But suppose Pudens told Calvus about the letter to Secundus from the Persian front. And suppose there was a confrontation between Calvus and Secundus. And suppose Calvus threatened not just to postpone an adoption, but to disown him, to disinherit him because of his betrayal of the Emperors. What then?”

“If that’s so,” added Vulso, “if Secundus had a motive to kill Calvus, then maybe Serpentinus did too. After all, Serpentinus may have been on the Prefect’s staff, but even the Prefect told us that he was doing jobs for Secundus. And now Isarion tells us Serpentinus was ordered by Secundus to kill Philogenes. So maybe Serpentinus was actually doing Secundus’ bidding, not the Prefect’s.”

“You’re right about that, Vulso. And, of course, it also provides a motive for Secundus to kill Pudens. And maybe not only for Secundus. So what we now want to find out is what the Prefect learned from Pudens and what he told Secundus. Remember Calvus told us that Pudens made a report to him before the orgy – that’s why he was at the Prefect’s home in the first place. Calvus told us he didn’t remember what that report was about, something trivial he claimed. But now we have to wonder.”

Severus then sat down and composed a letter to the Emperor. He reported in detail what Celer had told him.

The next day, while Severus was briefing his staff, Flaccus, Vulso, Straton and Proculus, about what Isarion and Celer had told him, a messenger from the palace arrived in Severus’ chambers and handed him a tablet from the Emperor. Severus opened it and read it.

M. Aurelius Antoninus, Emperor, to M. Flavius Severus, greetings:

Your report has been discussed with my
consilium
. I am informed and you should know that the Prefect of Egypt, M. Annius Calvus, has booked passage from Alexandria to Rome on the
merchant ship
Isis
. The ship should have sailed from Alexandria two days ago and should arrive in Ostia 14 days from today at the earliest.

Accompanying him in his entourage are his son Secundus, his personal aide Serpentinus, his personal Isis priest Petamon, a scholar from the Library of Alexandria named Philogenes, a concubine named Aurora and 27 slaves.

You will be best able to consider and determine what is proper to be done.

Then Severus read it aloud. “Philogenes?” exclaimed several at once. Flaccus articulated the surprise first. “Weren’t you just telling us that according to Isarion Philogenes is dead? Murdered by Serpentinus by order of Secundus, he said.”

“That’s what he told us.”

“But apparently he’s really alive. So where has he been all this time?” asked Vulso. “Was he hiding from us? And why is he showing up now all of a sudden?”

“And isn’t Aurora the red-haired courtesan who was on the Prefect’s couch at the orgy?” added Flaccus.

“That was her name.”

“Also Secundus is referred to as the Prefect’s son, not his stepson,” noticed Proculus, “so it looks like his adoption has been legally finalized.”

“It also seems that most of the guests at the orgy are here” observed Straton, “except for Pudens who is dead. Even Isarion is in Rome, though we have him in our custody.”

“So what’s going on?” asked Vulso, “what are they up to?”

“A good question,” replied Severus. He stood up and began pacing the floor, his hands behind his back, his head tilted forward. Everyone else became silent, waiting, just waiting. They had seen him go into these reveries before, thinking things out.

After a while Severus stood up straight, a smile on his face, a gleam in his eyes. “They all must be coming to Rome for Secundus’ trial before the Emperor,” he said. “And I think they’re going to stick to their claim that Secundus is innocent of judicial murder on the grounds that the slave Ganymede tried to poison the Prefect.”

“But,” interjected Proculus, “we know that’s untrue. We even have them on record, don’t we? The Isis priest Petamon, for instance. You got him to write out a statement saying he didn’t see anything. And Aurora told you and Flaccus that Ganymede was never near the Prefect’s couch. We even have the false affidavit of Philogenes that Vulso found in Secundus’ apartment.”

“They’ll retract it all,” suggested Severus. “Petamon is here to say I pressured him to write that affidavit and that now he remembers Ganymede being at the Prefect’s couch. Aurora is here to say she also now remembers Ganymede at the Prefect’s couch. Philogenes will probably say the same thing and that the affidavit Vulso found partially complete in Secundus’ rooms is really his. Serpentinus will also finger Ganymede. The Prefect may say we framed Secundus,
that I have a grudge against him. What else can they be up to? They will try to put us on trial.”

“Then what do we do?” asked Straton.

“We have to be ready for them and their lies. We have at least 14 days before their ship is due to arrive and a hearing date is not yet set. We will have to demolish their case and, if necessary, destroy them in court.”

“How can we do that?” asked Flaccus.

“We’ll think of something,” replied Severus, whose smile indicated that he already had.

XXIX

SEVERUS PREPARES FOR AN APPEAL TO THE EMPEROR AND ATTENDS A LECTURE

T
he next days were devoted to preparations.

The first order of business was to research the specific law and procedure on
appellatio
to the Emperor’s court. Severus, Flaccus and Proculus spent two days in law libraries, reading manuals and also asking practicing lawyers about it.

“All rulers, of whatever country, including our own” said Severus somewhat didactically, when they were gathered in his chambers to discuss the matter, “hold court and personally rule on petitions of their subjects. This is an essential part of ruling. Of course, not every case can come before the Emperor, there are simply too many petitioners. So permission must first be granted to entertain an
appellatio
. If it is granted, there are different procedures for different circumstances. Primarily, though, there are two – one when there has already been a decision by a court and the other when there hasn’t, when the matter comes to the Emperor in the first instance.