The Hadrian Enigma - A Forbidden History (56 page)

“
The Bithynian
favorite
is dead, and his two closest companions too have disappeared,” Scorilo continued. “We are commanded to locate the
ephebe
Lysias and the woman Thais of Cyrene by order of Praetorian Tribune Lucius Macedo.”

“
Have you considered they may have departed the camp and found voyage on a Nile boat to Memphis or Thebes, Decurion Scorilo?” Julianus enquired with no little impatience.

Scorilo’s face darkened. His eyes darted backwards and forwards between Clarus and the
quaestor
in a manner Suetonius could not interpret.

“
My lords, this camp has been sealed against entry and exit,” the decurion rumbled in his Germanic accent. “All boundaries are secured. This has been so for twenty-four hours, some hours before the last sighting of the pair. I believe they still remain within the camp, probably hiding in fear of their lives.”

“
I see,” Julianus concluded the conversation ambiguously. “Thank you Decurion Scorilo for coming to our aid. It seems it has not been necessary, the attackers have fled. However I hope you will assign extra Watch around this complex to protect Caesar’s horses and grooms against further assault. As a 
quaestor
I can provide you with the necessary document in my own hand and seal.”

“
No need, Lord
Quaestor
. I will have the necessary troops assigned immediately.”

Suetonius was moved to interrupt because his memory had suddenly clinched a query.

“
Decurion Scorilo, I am Suetonius Tranquillus, Caesar’s
Special Inspector
of the circumstances surrounding the death of the youth Antinous. I have a question to ask you,” the biographer raised.

“
At your service.”

“
Tell me, Decurion, do you or your colleagues know anything about the young man’s drowning? Is there gossip among the Guard about what befell the emperor’s companion? Do any of you know something about this tragedy?” Suetonius asked formally with a quiet nod aside to his scribe.

Strabon’s move with stylus on a tablet caused Scorilo to hesitate at this double surprise. He realized he was subject of a formal interrogation with an equally formal written recording.

“
Why, Special Inspector, I was on Guard duty the day and night of Antinous’s death. I was a captain of the Watch attending to security for the protection of Caesar. I was assigned to a banquet at the Imperial Household. It was a celebration of the arrival of Senator Lucius Commodus at the encampment,” the German stated.

“
You attended all evening and night?” Suetonius queried further as Strabon scribbled.

“
From before sunset until very late, to just before dawn, sir,” Scorilo assured the group. He was apprehensive at the surprise questioning.

“
You are certain of that, Decurion Scorilo?” Suetonius labored the point.

“
Yes, Special Inspector. It was my roster duty for the day.”

“
Thank you, Decurion. Before you depart please tell us for the record your status, origin, age, and other identifying information,” the biographer outlined as Strabon’s stylus continued. Scorilo gathered himself for his response. This was unexpected.

“
My lords, I am Scorilo of the
Bastarnae Celts
,” he began in the guttural tones of a former German tribesman. “I do not know my age or place of birth. I am a decurion in the service of Great Caesar’s special Horse Guard. I have been an officer of the Guard for ten years. Before being pressed to enter Caesar’s service I fought under Caesar’s command as an auxiliary to the Legions at Pannonia and Moesia in the wars against the
Sarmatii
and
Roxolani
. Caesar admired my fighting skills and recommended me for duty in his special Guard. That’s all I have to offer, my lords.”

“
It is enough, Decurion Scorilo. But your tattoos, do they have meaning?” Suetonius probed further. “Explain them.”

The Horse Guard was thoughtful for a moment.

“
Special Inspector,” he replied, “I received my tattoos early in my life. They are mementos of warfare between The Bastarnae and other tribes in my youth. They tell of victories I achieved against my enemies. We of The Bastarnae treasure our tattoos and the heroism they proclaim. They tell the quality of a man.”

“
Very good, Decurion. You may depart,” Suetonius concluded.

Scorilo snapped to attention, saluted, and departed as his men rejoined him from their fruitless search. Suetonius turned to Julianus and Clarus.

“
Who are The Bastarnae?” he asked. “Septicius Clarus, you served in those wars, you know these things. Besides, you know something of Scorilo?”

“
Scorilo was already known to me at the time of Trajan’s campaign twenty-five years ago. He was very young,” the senator responded. “
The Bastarnae
are one of the dozens of Germanic and Dacian tribes who are scattered all over Europa beyond the defensive
limes
. Scorilo was such a one, and a good fighter too. They are tenacious, the Germans, they don’t let go.”

Suetonius turned to Julianus.

“
Did this officer share in the celebration for Commodus you attended, as he said? Was he a guest or a member of the Guard?”

“
I have no recollection of him there at all,” the former Master of the Hunt confided. “Perhaps I had too much wine to notice? I didn’t note who the guards were. They’re often invisible to me. Marcus might remember? He was there too.”

All eyes turned to the wounded equerry.

“
I have no memory either. My recall is that Praetorians were the watch for that occasion, not Germans.”

“
Damon, you said you think the arrow head is German?” the jurist and
quaestor
queried. “Scorilo believes it to be Nubian. Do you agree now?”

The horse doctor scratched his head in uncertainty.

“
Well, a man of the Guard must surely know weapons better than a humble friend of horseflesh,” Damon offered. “But the arrow head which pierced Marcus’s foot was too well shaped and cast to be of Nubian origin, and it’s quality bronze.”

“
Scorilo further says the intruders who killed the steward last night at Antinous’s apartments were Nubians too,” Suetonius added.

Julianus interjected with an offer.

“
Well let’s find out, gentlemen. I have someone who can advise us on this very matter. We’ll retire to my private courtyard to hear. Come this way ---”

CHAPTER 25

B
eyond Salvius Julianus’s tent chambers beside the horse pavilion lay a gardened terrace open to the late afternoon sky and its rising breeze. The space was furnished with several dining couches, chairs, and low tables accompanied by boxes of Egyptian greenery and busts on pedestals of well-regarded legalists of Rome.

“
You have until an hour before the next dawn to resolve your enquiries, gentlemen. That’s about fourteen hour’s time. Ask of me what you will, and then I will show you something which will be of great value to your investigation,” the jurist stated. The investigation team immediately showed increased interest.

“
Well, we’ll begin by taking your testimony, lord
Quaestor
,” Suetonius asked formally while waving the scroll of authority to view, “with your cooperation. Strabon will record your words so we have a transcript of all interviews in accordance with Caesar’s commission.”

“
A formal deposition, with my identity noted? I see. Well to save us time, gentlemen, I am Lucius Publius Salvius Julianus Aemilianus, Senator at Rome, lawyer by profession. I was born at Hadrumetum in the second year of Caesar Trajan, so I am thirty years of age. I studied law of the Sabidian School at Rome under Javolenus Priscus.

I have been appointed
quaestor
by Caesar Hadrian to review the Praetor’s Edicts of Roman Law. I am traveling in Egypt within Caesar’s Household in anticipation of advising the
Princeps
on judicial matters relating to the establishment of new settlements in this province. I have a wife at Rome and two children, both girls. What else do you wish to know?”

Strabon’s stylus was in full flutter.

“
What is your understanding of the death of the Imperial Favorite, Antinous of Bithynia?”

Julianus paused thoughtfully before responding.

“
I am deeply saddened by his passing. He was a worthy Companion of the Hunt, and he brought light to all who shared his company. He possessed admirable Hellene aspirations, yet to be fully realized. They are now no more. The young man will be sorely missed, at least among his many friends at Court,” the
quaestor
confided.

“
Do you believe he also had enemies?”

“
Not many, I’d say, not many. But whether they had anything to do with the drowning is beyond me,” Julianus clarified. “I don’t intend to denounce any individual without clear evidence. Besides,
cui bono
? Who benefits? If I was to delate anyone at all it would possibly be the young Bithynian himself.”

“
Antinous himself!” Clarus gasped. “How so, Julianus?”

“
Well, there were facets of the young man’s character which may well have led him in unhappy directions,” the jurist offered. “His sense of honor, his virtue, his noble principles, his Greek
arête
, could well have led him to risks others might think twice about.”

“
Do you have an example?”

“
Yes. Antinous possessed a refined sense of obligation. Perhaps it’s a Greek thing,” the huntsman supposed. “A favor performed for him obliged he return the favor in kind. Now we know the ethic of mutual obligation is an admirable lubricant to interaction among equals, yet in exchanges between unequals it may become onerous to those who are lesser equipped.

Antinous, to his credit, aimed always to respond to favors with parity. He was in no man’s debt. Nevertheless, the lad was not Great Caesar and didn’t possess the powers or resources to respond to his
erastes
’ gestures in like or kind.

If Hadrian offered his Favorite some gesture of regard, it was not always easy for the younger man to match a return gesture, despite his eagerness to do so. Perhaps Caesar felt the gestures of the boudoir, or even simple companionship, were sufficient recompense? However there was one particular occasion where a reciprocal gesture would have been problematic for the Bithynian.”

“
And what was that?” Suetonius asked.

“
It was the recent lion hunt in the western desert beyond Alexandria. It occurred almost two months ago.

The previous week Hadrian had announced to his inner circle while visiting Alexander’s tomb in the centre of that city how the time had arrived for Caesar and Antinous to relinquish their respective roles as
erastes
and
eromenos
. Antinous must surely have known the relationship was overdue for dissolution, public decency demanded it. For the thing to have continued would have had people talking. Yet Antinous was obviously thunderstruck by the announcement.

Then a week later a team of the Companions including Antinous, Lysias, and myself were summoned by Caesar to join him in hunting a feral lion, a giant man-eater, which had been terrorizing villages and farmers on the desert road beyond Siwa Oasis. It had killed several farm workers and quite a few animals. It had shut down travel on the road.

The beast was old and dying, but Hadrian wished to show the fickle citizens of Alexandria how his sheer presence provided security in the Roman way against nature’s wildness. Because of its age the brute was to be killed, not captured for arena games.

Well, to cut a long story short, Caesar himself courageously spearheaded the attack at its lair, but his first strike seemed to miss its mark.

I assure you, Hadrian rarely misses a kill. Very, very rarely indeed, gentlemen. To my eye, Hadrian intentionally missed the strike so that the second in line, our brave young
ephebe
, could make his play.

An enraged old lion is not an easy target, and to miss a strike can be fatal. The lion had sufficient energy to anticipate its next attacker, Antinous. It brought down the lad’s charger. The horse fell on top of its rider to hurt and imperil Antious pinioned underneath. If Hadrian hadn’t circled swiftly for a third strike, which was his intended strategy I suspect, I think neither Antinous nor his horse would have survived.

The lion was destroyed by Caesar’s decisive javelin strike. But for some moments our hearts were in our mouths,” Julianus recollected.

“
How does this meet your comment about
reciprocal gesture
?” Clarus asked.

“
Well, having earlier informed the Bithynian how their relationship must expire, and having so obviously saved the boy and his horse from the lion, Antinous was then caught in his obligation conundrum. To be saved from death by Great Caesar is no small matter. Such a debt is enormous.

Despite the sporty bonhomie of the hunt, Hadrian is no ordinary man, even to his chosen Favorite. And Caesar made sure Antinous knew it that night around the desert campfires shared by the hunt team. I perceived a degree of reluctance in Hadrian’s manner about the dissolution of the relationship, as though he was of two minds about it.

I suspect this situation put thoughts in the young man’s mind, if I’m not mistaken, thoughts which may have led to his demise,” the
quaestor
concluded