Marcus Aurelius Betrayed (22 page)

Artemisia was prepared with a story. Her name would not be Artemisia since she had met the Prefect in Alexandria when she and Severus had had dinner with him, so if Aurora should happen to mention the name Artemisia to him, he might become suspicious. No, she would be Elektra, one of her favorite names, but she would still be from Athens on the principle that convincing liars should stick close to the truth.

Artemisia hadn’t yet decided what approach she would make to Aurora. As she was mulling over plausible openings to conversation, she was saved the trouble
when Aurora swam up to her and in hesitant Latin asked if she spoke Greek.

“I’m from Athens,” replied Artemisia in Greek. “My name is Elektra.”

“I’m Aurora, from Alexandria.”

“I’ve been to Alexandria. A beautiful city.”

“When were you there?”

“A few years ago,” Artemisia lied.

“Are you visiting Rome?”

“No, I’ve lived here for years.” Artemisia began to spin out her made-up story. “Actually my husband and the children live well outside Rome,”-- this to avoid having to invite Aurora to her home -- “but I’m visiting friends who live nearby to do some shopping in the City.”

And so the conversation continued quite fluidly between them, as Artemisia and Aurora seemed to hit it off, conversing almost as old friends from the start.

After a while, Aurora said. “Elektra, I don’t know anyone in Rome and I need a friend. I feel I can trust you.”

“Yes, let’s be friends,” replied Artemisia, “but first we should get to know each other, right, Aurora?” Artemisia had a pang of feeling bad about herself for her deception. Nevertheless, she continued to play her role. “Come, let’s leave here and I’ll show you around the City. You can help me do some shopping and I can show you places you might be interested in. We can talk on the way, have lunch at a good taverna, and become acquainted.”

“I would love that,” replied Aurora.

They left the pool for the changing rooms, passing by the gym where women in scant two piece gym suits were exercising with weights or throwing balls around.
Aurora quickly changed into her simple Greek style tunic and waited outside the dressing room with her slave. Artemisia took more time in donning her more copious Roman stola with the help of two slaves she had brought with her. Her delay was deliberate and when Aurora was out of the room, she told one of her slaves, Galatea, to go on ahead into the center of the City. She was to go into Eunice’s shoe store on the Vicus Sandalarius, to Myron’s jewelry workshop on the Argiletum and into the nearby “Ostrich and Mullet Taverna”. She was to tell the proprietor at each place that when Artemisia came in, they were to recognize her, of course, but to address her only as Elektra. No mention of the name Artemisia was to be made. They should make sure the staff knew to do the same. Then Galatea hurried off.

Artemisia finished dressing and took Aurora by the hand and led her out of the
balneum
. “Let’s walk down the Clivus Suburanus to the center of the City. We can go to the Argiletum and to the Vicus Sandalarius. These are some of the most interesting streets in Rome with lots of shops of every variety. Then we’ll have lunch at my favorite taverna.”

“Sounds wonderful,” replied Aurora. “I’m so glad to have met you, Elektra.”

“And I you,” replied Artemisia. They strolled down the crowded Clivus Suburanus which skirted the Subura. “The Subura,” Artemisia told Aurora, “is the City’s most vibrant and notorious section. It’s teeming with apartment houses mingled with every kind of night life and every kind of shop, restaurant, and place of entertainment you can imagine. The great Caius Julius Caesar once lived here when he was young and the Emperor Nero and his cronies used to come here at night incognito
for a wild time. It caters to all classes, high and low. The Subura is a hubbub of activity, night and day.”

With their slaves trailing behind them, Artemisia continued to point out various sights of interest, but also kept up an active personal conversation, which Aurora was eager to take part in.

“So as we are to be friends,” said Artemisia, “tell me about yourself. What is your life like in Alexandria? And why are you in Rome?”

“It’s not a long story. I was one of six children but my family was desperately poor and I was very beautiful. I was sold into a house for
hetairai
at the age of 8. It was an exclusive establishment, it’s true, and they paid my parents a high price for me. I grew up trained in all the arts necessary to please men. I play the cithara and flute well. I sing. I dance. I have been taught classics and can converse with learned men about literature and philosophy and, of course, I can make love with skill and faked passion. I made a lot of money for the House of Selene and was able to buy my freedom with my share of what I brought in.”

Artemisia was both sympathetic and complimentary. Sympathetic about Aurora’s fate as a child about which she could do nothing, and complimentary about her struggle out of slavery as an adult.

“Yes, I am technically free,” continued Aurora, “but in many ways I am still a slave, a plaything, passed from one man to another. Right now I am someone’s concubine and I don’t even like him.

“But what about you, Elektra? Tell me about yourself.”

“I grew up in Athens, as I mentioned. My father is a professor of philosophy there, a leading Platonist.
He raised me and my brothers and sisters according to Plato’s ideas for a Guardian of his ideal State. Since Plato thought there should be female Guardians as well as male Guardians, my father followed Plato’s idea that male and female Guardians had to be trained and educated the same way. So I was brought up like a Greek boy, not a Greek girl. I was taught philosophy and other skills and subjects Plato considered necessary, like music and geometry. Therefore I too play the cithara and flute and I’m very knowledgeable about philosophy and literature. My education was aimed not to please men, but to please philosophy, but perhaps it makes no difference. It’s the education that counts.”

“Perhaps I saw something of that in your face even at the pool,” said Aurora. “I think that’s why I was drawn to you.”

“And I see the same thing in you,” Artemisia replied honestly. But now her deception was becoming unpleasant to her because she was beginning to like Aurora as a friend. Maybe, Artemisia thought to herself, she could find a way to help Aurora, rather than betray her.

They had a nice time together, talking, sightseeing, getting to know each other and after lunch went their separate ways for an afternoon siesta. They agreed to meet the next morning at the
balneum
for another day together. Though Aurora had more than once expressed friendship for and trust in Artemisia, she still was somewhat wary of confiding in her, which was, perhaps, only natural in view of the short time they knew each other.

While Artemisia was with Aurora, Straton, dressed in a neat white tunic, was ready to represent himself as a slave working on the Palatine and privy to information,
or at least gossip, from the imperial household. He went to the temple of Isis for the morning services. His role as slave in the imperial household was not exactly unfamiliar to Straton. As a child that’s exactly what he had been during the reign of Hadrian. He had been freed at Hadrian’s death, 27-years ago now, but he remembered that time, mostly with bitterness when he thought about it, which wasn’t often.

His task at the temple of Isis was carried out swiftly and successfully. He joined the crowd waiting for the morning dressing and feeding of the statue of the goddess and told the people standing around him in a confidential tone that he had just come from the Palatine and just heard, reliably, that Calvus had been replaced as Prefect of Egypt by someone named Titus Tatianus. And not only was Calvus out as Prefect, but he was also in disgrace and about to be sent to a sort of exile in the north of Britannia for the winter.

His news spread like wildfire from person to person. Straton could even see it spread as the crowd became more animated in a visibly wider circle around him. He also saw someone run up to the priest who was about to officiate at the ceremony and saw the priest listen to what he was being told and his face show surprise. Then the priest turned and ran back behind the curtain separating the crowd from the inner sanctum.

Straton took the opportunity to elbow his way out of the crowd before the ceremony started. He had better things to do than watch any more of what he considered to be superstitious Egyptian drivel.

XXXV

A TRIAL DATE IS SET AND ARTEMISIA MEETS AURORA AGAIN

T
he next day all parties received the 5-day notice of trial from the Palatine. Announcements of the upcoming
appellatio
would also be placed in the Daily Acts on the newsboards in the Old Forum. This would naturally draw members of the general public to attend in addition to the interested parties and their clients, friends and hangers-on.

Judge Severus and his aides considered the publicity a good sign since the nature of the case, an
honestior
charged with the judicial murder of a slave through incompetence and brutality, would naturally draw the sympathy of the general public toward the victim and turn its antipathy against the accused. But whatever the proclivities of the audience, Severus was preparing to destroy any defense Secundus might make.

The parties were also informed that the trial would be held in a garden on the Palatine Hill. This was not an unusual venue for an imperial court. Emperors were accustomed to hold court wherever they were, both at
home and abroad. When in Rome, Emperors not only heard cases on the Palatine itself, but also from Tribunals set up in forums, in parks and gardens and in other public places. This sometimes had unexpected advantages, as when Emperor Claudius, holding court in a forum, was enticed by smells of cooking by priests in a nearby temple, and suspended a trial to join them for lunch. But public appearances were not always so congenial. On another occasion while holding court in the Old Forum Claudius was assailed by an angry mob complaining of rising wheat prices and had to be hustled out of harm’s way by the Praetorian Guard.

It was the obligation of all Emperors to dispense justice and salutary for them to do it in public, both for the good of the regime and for them personally. Failure to hear petitions, render justice and make legal rulings would condemn an Emperor in the eyes of the populace. It was his job, as much as defending the country from foreign enemies.

Moreover, court held in private aroused suspicion and resentment. The time Claudius held a secret trial in his bedroom was badly received by Rome’s legal community and by the people, when they learned about it. So the regular auditorium at the palace set aside for the imperial court was also open to the public when the Emperor was hearing cases there.

Marcus Aurelius was particularly conscientious about his judicial role and spent what some considered an inordinate time in hearing cases, sometimes even sitting at night or spending extra days in careful consideration of the evidence and legal arguments. He was also noted for his preference for mild penalties and presumptions in favor of the disadvantaged in society, especially minors, orphans and slaves.

The same day, Artemisia and Aurora met again at the
balneum
. They spent the morning together, had lunch and established a growing congeniality, friendship and trust. After lunch they again parted and also agreed to get together the next day. But Artemisia had yet to learn anything relating to the trial from Aurora and time was running out. The trial was only a few days away. As for Aurora, she was both growing closer to Artemisia and becoming more tense. Artemisia was certain the imminence of the trial was preying on her mind.

On the next day, after the
balneum
, Artemisia told Aurora she would take her first to a jewelry workshop where she had to pick up a pendant “they’re working on for my daughter.” They strolled into the Argiletum, their slaves trailing behind them, and went to Myron’s jewelry workshop.

Myron was a wizened old man, bowed over, but vigorous nonetheless. He greeted Artemisia as Elektra, without so much as a grin, and told her the pendant for her daughter was ready. He instructed a slave to bring it out and while waiting took the opportunity to show Artemisia and Aurora his wares. Lapis lazuli, amethyst, jasper, carnelian and various other stones were set out on tables, some for inspection by customers, while others were having designs worked into them by the shop’s craftsmen as customers watched.

“Beautiful workmanship,” commented Aurora, as she inspected some engraved stones.

“We can make any design you like and engrave stones for rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, whatever you want.”

Aurora kept on coming back to a beautiful piece of amethyst that was blank, waiting for an engraving.

“Amethysts,” said Myron, “are special stones. Not only are they beautiful but they have magical properties, as indeed do almost all stones.”

He reached for a scroll on a table behind him. “Do you know Pliny’s
Natural History
on the nature of stones? Naturally we keep it on hand. Here, let me tell you what Pliny says about amethysts.”

Myron rolled out the scroll to the place he had in mind. “I’ll translate it into Greek for you, Aurora. It says that if amethysts are inscribed with the names of the Sun and Moon and are worn hanging from the neck along with baboon hair and swallow feathers they are protection against spells.” Both Artemisia and Aurora began to laugh. Myron continued. “However amethysts are used, they will assist people who are about to approach a king as suppliants and they also keep off hail and locusts if used along with special incantations.” Both women kept smiling. “I’ll grant you,” said Myron, “that Pliny notes the same claims are made for emeralds and that he thinks whoever makes these claims must have contempt for the intelligence of men.”

“Maybe so,” said Aurora. “But if by any chance they help suppliants who approach a king, I would like an amethyst stone as a good luck charm. Do you have something like that?”