Germanicus

33

'The guy was a traitor,' I said when I finally got Perilla alone.

'What?'

'Germanicus was engaged in active treason against the emperor.'

'Marcus, Germanicus was Tiberius's named successor! Why should he commit treason?'

I poured myself a fresh cup of Chian. 'Why I'm not absolutely certain about yet. But he was planning to knock the Wart off his perch sure as eggs is eggs.'

'All right.' Perilla sat back and folded her arms. 'Prove it.'

I leaned over and kissed her. 'Okay. Only I'll start at the end, because that's what set me off. Your little fluffy pal Acutia's point about Egypt. No one above the rank of knight's been allowed in Egypt without the emperor's permission since Augustus, right? Especially members of the imperial family.'

'Correct.'

'Why not?'

'Because Egypt supplies most of Rome's grain. Technically whoever holds Egypt, and Alexandria especially, could starve the city in a month.'

'Yeah. And by that time the city mob, who are no respecters of persons where the corn dole's threatened, would have the emperor strung up from the nearest architrave. So who's the blue eyed boy who goes swanning off to Egypt for a winter break after he's settled the hash of the Parthians?'

'Corvinus, he might've had permission!'

'Like hell he did.'

'But he went as a tourist! A cruise up the Nile isn't treason!'

'Sure. But there was a corn shortage in Alex that winter and Germanicus opened the granaries to the mob. Simple tourists don't have that sort of clout, or if they do they're politic enough not to use it in case it gets misconstrued. Added to which if you believe the stories the guy swapped his toga for the duration for a Greek mantle. No self-respecting Roman's done that since Africanus two hundred years back, and he was half Greek anyway.'

'Now stop it! You're twisting things!' Perilla was staring at me. 'If the emperor had been aware of the famine he'd have authorised opening the granaries himself. And Scipio Africanus wasn't even part Greek.'

I grinned. 'Okay, so forget the mantle. But it sure as hell made an impression on the locals. And you take my point about the corn.'

'No. I don't. Just because Germanicus acted humanely to relieve a food shortage — '

'Perilla, be realistic! We're talking basic economics here. Egyptian corn's Rome's life blood, and we don't give it away for the asking. Not to nobody. Right or wrong we've got our own priorities.'

She ignored me. 'If he had shown the least sign of improper conduct — real improper conduct — in Egypt I might be inclined to believe this theory of yours, but he didn't. He simply used his own initiative and if he erred he erred from the best motives. Now tell me what happened at your interview with the governor. That's far more important at present.'

'Uh-uh.' I shook my head. 'No it isn't. Maybe it doesn't even matter any more.'

'Marcus, you might not mind being given five days to leave a province before you're frog-marched to the boat but I do. Perhaps if I see the governor myself, or maybe Vibius Marsus, I can-'

'It wouldn't do any good. Believe me. You've met Lamia. You think he's the kind of guy to give way to a pair of batting eyelashes?'

No.' She sighed. 'Perhaps not. All right, then, let's go back to your theory. Suppose we forget the corn issue and you tell me why you think the simple fact of Germanicus's taking a holiday in a politically incorrect province should make him a traitor.'

'Okay.' I sat back and cradled my wine cup. 'Like I said that's just the end point in a series. Let's start with Germany six years back. You remember what happened then?'

'Of course. After Augustus died the northern legions mutinied. Or some of them did.'

'Right. There were two outbreaks, one in Pannonia, one in Germany itself. Drusus put down the first, Germanicus was responsible for dealing with the second.'

'You're not saying, I hope, that Germanicus engineered the mutinies?'

I shook my head. 'No, it isn't as simple as that. They were spontaneous, and I don't think at that point betraying the Wart had even occurred to the guy. In fact I doubt if left to himself he'd ever have really made the grade in the treachery stakes. Unless he was a lot more devious than I give him credit for.'

Perilla groaned. 'Corvinus, be sensible! One minute you're claiming that Germanicus was a traitor and then you say the man didn't have the capacity for treason. Don't you see any inconsistency there?'

'No, I don't. Left to himself, I said.'

'But-!'

'Just bear with me, okay? Gaius Secundus told me about the Rhine mutiny back at Rome. Drusus waded in and had the whole thing sewn up inside a month while Germanicus screwed around on the sidelines tut-tutting like a sixty year old virgin and appealing to the squaddies' better natures. Finally the senior officers had to take matters into their own hands. Now what does that tell you?'

'Nothing whatsoever.'

'Jupiter!' I closed my eyes. 'Perilla, it's obvious. The mutineers were on to a loser from the start, but far as the rank-and-file were concerned Germanicus came out smelling of roses. The real hard men were Drusus in Pannonia, the officers of the German army who did the dirty work, and the Wart himself. Especially the Wart. Roman squaddies may have the moral standards of Ostian brothel keepers, but they like to believe that they're sensitive souls and they don't forget their enemies. Or their friends. Germanicus was on their side, he was an okay guy saddled by the emperor with a dirty job not of his choosing. Am I making sense or do I have to draw you a picture?'

'You're saying,' she said slowly, 'that Germanicus ended up with the legions' sympathy. Whereas Tiberius and Drusus didn't.'

'Right.' I nodded. 'And that's the key to the whole business. Sympathy and popularity. Whether Germanicus acted consciously or whether he was the simple-minded idealist he seemed I don't know. The main thing was he had something else going for him as well. Or rather someone.'

She had it now. 'Agrippina.'

'Yeah. It was her and young Gaius Caligula who were largely responsible for changing the soldiers' minds and ending the mutiny. More, she's army to the bone, and squaddies appreciate that.' I took a swallow of wine. 'So. The mutiny was put down. What happened next?'

'Germanicus led the troops against the tribes on the other side of the Rhine.'

'Right. And whatever the political ins and outs were, as far as the lads on the ground were concerned he went further and did more than any other general since his father. Only the Wart pulled him back before he'd finished the campaign. Result?'

'Germanicus left Germany a hero to the troops. And again Tiberius was cast as the villain.' Perilla was looking thoughtful. 'Corvinus, I'm afraid you're beginning to make sense.'

'Good.' I took another swig of wine. 'Okay. So now we come to the eastern trip. The Wart sends our blue eyed boy east. The first place he goes is Pannonia. Why would he do that?'

'Drusus is there. And Germanicus has despatches from the emperor.'

'Yeah. Both true. Anything else? Remember we're assuming the guy's a rotten apple. Or that he's planning to be. Think army.'

'Pannonia has the biggest concentration of legions between-' Perilla caught her breath, then finished more slowly: 'Between the Rhine and Syria.'

'Correct. And the next legionary base down is Egypt. Where Germanicus later chooses to spend his winter holiday. Am I still making sense?'

'Yes.' She was frowning. 'Yes, you are. Very much so. Go on, please.'

'Secundus told me one of the things Germanicus did in Pannonia was to review the troops. Maybe there was nothing more to it than that but I think there was. The army's a tight family, especially along the Rhine and Danube frontier. A lot of the Pannonian squaddies would know Germanicus, by reputation at least. The officers, too. Especially the junior ones and the NCOs, and they're the ones that count. A personal visit would be something they'd appreciate.'

'You think he was canvassing for support?'

'Maybe not overtly, but the guy had charm and he would've used it. Like he did in Egypt. Sympathy and popularity, remember?'

She was definitely with me now. 'The Greek tour fits too. And the visit to Actium. Most of the client-kings come from the old Greek families who supported Antony in the civil war. It'd be a reminder to them that he was Mark Antony's grandson as well as an adopted Caesar, wouldn't it?'

'Yeah.' I paused with my hand on the wine jug. Antony's grandson. That was an angle I hadn't thought of. 'Well done, lady.'

She was right, of course, and it fitted. Even after fifty years, to the Greek-speaking half of the empire Antony was still a hero because together with the Greek queen Cleopatra he'd led them against Octavian's Rome. The fight off Actium had been Greece's last stand, and even although Antony had been beaten the Asian Greeks had never forgotten him. I remembered what Orosius had said about them not finding Romans sympathetic. They'd liked Germanicus, though. They'd liked him a lot. He'd made sure of that. And not just Greeks, either. To the native Egyptians Cleopatra was still their greatest queen ever. And an interest in the local culture, expressed by a trip down the Nile to look at the monuments, would go down a bomb with them. Added to which they had even less cause than the Alexandrian Greeks to be grateful to Rome, because all we meant to them was oppression and taxes. Shit. It worked. It all fitted together like the bits of a mosaic…

'Marcus?' Perilla was looking at me.

'The bastard had it all sewn up,' I said quietly. 'He and Agrippina were popular with the senate and the mob in Rome, far more popular than the Wart and Livia. He had the northern legions in his pocket, maybe even the Pannonian ones. He'd only have to lift his little finger and the whole Greek east including the Alexandrians who sent the corn ships and the Egyptians who grew the corn would've been behind him. Only he had to have Syria too, because if he wanted to play Antony in a rematch against the Wart's Octavian Syria's four legions were too important for him to ignore. Meanwhile, Tiberius's hands were tied because the guy hadn't made a single overtly treasonable move. And he wouldn't, either. Not until he'd got all the sympathy and support he needed and he was good and ready to use it, by which time it'd be all over bar the shouting.'

I swallowed half the wine at a gulp. Perilla was sitting very still.

'So,' she said. 'What happened in Syria?'