Nero

30

I think even Cassius would've hesitated if he'd known what the execution of those four hundred slaves would mean in the long run, and not only for the Senate. Eleven months later, a gentleman named Antistius Sosianus gave Lucius the opening he needed by reciting verses satirising him at a dinner party.

The verses were pure doggerel, and if they'd been written before the Pedanius incident I think Lucius would've ignored them as he'd already done others; like many artists he was so sure of his own talent that anyone who refused to recognise it was beneath contempt. However, he decided to use the situation to send a clear message to the Senate. Through a sympathetic intermediary, Sosianus was charged with treason.

The Senate were shocked. When Lucius had come to power he had promised to end the treason trials which had scarred Claudius's reign and were a notorious money-spinner for professional informers. A throwaway line or an ill-advised joke blown up out of all proportion could result in death or exile, and most of the victims were senators or their narrow-striper relatives. The very thought that the emperor might reintroduce them sent a cold draught up more than one patrician back-passage. I was a bit worried myself.

'But, Titus, it's a lovely plan!' Lucius insisted when I called in at the palace accidentally-on-purpose to test the wind on behalf of some broad-striper friends. 'A bit of fear's good for them. It's what they understand. Besides, they don't appreciate how lucky they are having me in charge, they really don't.'

We were walking in the palace gardens. Lucius stopped occasionally to pick a spray of evergreen for the garland he was plaiting.

'You lived through some of the trials yourself.' I tried to keep the tone light. 'Do you really want all that nonsense back again? Inoffensive old buffers put to death just because they wear a purple cloak to a party?'

'Of course not! Don't be silly.' He frowned at a peacock cut from the centre of a boxwood hedge. 'I just want them to see that things could be a lot worse if I were that way inclined. Besides, Sosianus is a smarmy little bugger. Rome would be better off without him.'

I felt cold. 'You'll let the Senate execute him?' Technically, the penalty for treason was death. 'Just for a bit of bad poetry?'

'Oh, no.' He giggled. 'I'm not a monster, darling, you should know that by now. They'll want to, of course, because I shall be terribly upset and angry, and the sycophantic bastards will assume I'm as callous as they are. I'll step in at the last moment and show them how a proper civilised person behaves.' He set the garland on his head and tilted it over one ear. 'It's a salutary reminder, Titus, that's all. And the poor hack can spend his exile polishing up his iambics.'

In the event Lucius didn't have to intervene, which I'm afraid was partly my fault, although I never told him: he never could resist the grand theatrical gesture. The case went exactly as he'd said it would. The consul-elect, a prime crawler named Marullus, demanded the death penalty, and he would have got it if I hadn't already told old Thrasea Paetus — one of the few decent members of the Senate — what Lucius's real feelings were. As a result, Sosianus escaped with exile.

Although Sosianus's trial frankly bordered on farce, six months later Lucius made a decision that had much more immediate — and far-reaching — consequences.

I found out about it on a routine visit to the palace to make the final arrangements for the Spring Festival party Lucius had asked me to organise. As usual his secretary showed me in to the private suite. On the guest couch to the emperor's right, chewing his way through a hot-house peach, was a man I'd been trying to avoid for over two years.

'Titus! Come in, my dear!' Lucius was beaming. 'Meet the new Commander of Praetorians!'

'Joint commander.' Tigellinus set the peach down and gave me a slow, not very pleasant smile. 'With Faenius Rufus.'

'What's happened to Burrus?' A silly question but I was shaken. Burrus commanded the Praetorians. Tigellinus had been in charge of the City Watch since Lucius had brought him to Rome the year before, but from that to Guards Commander was a huge step.

'He's dead. He died last night.' Lucius was still smiling. 'That lump in his throat finally did for him. So sad. Titus, sit down, dear, you look quite pale.'

It felt like someone had sandbagged me from behind. I reached for a chair. I'd known Burrus had been suffering for the past few months from a growth in his windpipe, but he'd seemed a permanent fixture. Now, suddenly, he was gone. It was like an amputation.

'Rufus is only a sop to the Senate,' Lucius was saying. 'He doesn't really count, he's a useless old buffer at the best of times. Tiggy'll be in charge, really. Won't that be nice?'

'Very,' I said. Tigellinus was watching me with dark, amused eyes. 'I'm sorry about Burrus. I didn't even know he was dying.'

'Nor did I, darling.' Lucius made a throwaway gesture. 'Still, it was quick at the end. One moment here, the next a bag of old bones. Comes to us all in time. I must write a poem for him.'

'Speaking of bags of old bones, Petronius' — Tigellinus pulled a grape from the bunch in the fruit bowl beside him — 'how's your pal Seneca these days?'

Something cold touched my spine. 'I don't know. I haven't seen him recently.'

'We'll have to have a talk soon, the pair of us. That's right, isn't it, Nero?' His eyes shifted momentarily from mine as he tossed the grape in the air and caught it neatly in his mouth. He chewed and spat the pips into his palm.

'If you must, love. Although why you should want to is a total mystery to me. Old Grizzle-guts is hardly a barrel of laughs.' Lucius frowned. 'And speaking of that, Titus, you don't seem to be terribly taken with my new appointment.'

'I'm sorry?' I was still watching Tigellinus, who was selecting another grape.

'Thrilled. Delighted. Over the moon. Ravished.' Tigellinus chuckled. 'At the idea of Tiggy taking over the Guards, darling.'

'Of course I am.' I tried to smile, although it wasn't easy with those black eyes boring into me. 'I was just a little surprised to hear about Burrus. My heartiest congratulations, Tigellinus.'

'Thank you.'

The emperor watched our stiff exchange with amused interest.

'Ask me why,' he said.

'Why what?'

'Why Tigellinus.' He got up from his couch, moved over to the one Tigellinus was occupying and sat on its edge. 'You're dying to know, really. Aren't you?'

'I don't have to ask why. I think it's an excellent idea.'

'No you don't, my dear.' Lucius's fingers had embedded themselves to the knuckles in the other man's hair, and he was flexing them against the scalp as if Tigellinus were a monstrous cat. 'You disapprove, and you're curious. Be honest.'

The black eyes were still staring into mine. 'Very well,' I said. 'Why Tigellinus?'

'Because he's efficient. Because he's been an excellent Watch Commander and because he'll make an even better Commander of Praetorians. Does that satisfy you?'

'No.' I was watching the fingers. They had moved down to the nape of the neck. Tigellinus's smile widened, and he stretched. His joints cracked.

'It's true. All of it.'

'Perhaps. But these aren't the main reasons.'

'No, they aren't.' The index finger brushed the dark hairs gently upwards. 'All right. Try this, then. I like him. We get on well together. He has a sense of humour. He knows how to enjoy himself. His…carnality amuses and excites me. Right, my dear?'

Tigellinus arched his muscular back without answering. He was almost purring.

'I'm afraid that doesn't fit either,' I said; the dark eyes still hadn't wavered, and I was finding their effect hypnotic. 'Whoever commands the Guards holds one of the most important political military posts in the empire. You're careful over those. You wouldn't give one to someone because he happened to be a friend.'

Lucius smiled. 'Oh, well done! Quite right, I wouldn't. Or not just because of that, anyway.' His hand travelled the length of Tigellinus's spine and rested at its base. 'Shall we tell him, my dear?'

'Go ahead,' Tigellinus said. He hadn't moved or acknowledged the presence of the emperor's hand in any way.

Lucius went back to his own couch and lay down.

'Tiggy's an ex-slave, Titus,' he said. 'He's been a bad boy all his life, he's clawed his way to the top of the heap and he has no time for convention or morality. He's a natural survivor with only one interest. Gaius Ofonius Tigellinus. Am I right, Tiggy?'

Tigellinus smiled. 'On the nail. But there's a but.'

'Of course, dear. I'm sorry.' Lucius turned back to me. 'He's also completely loyal to me, because I can give him everything he wants and without me he's nothing. Yes, Tiggy?'

Tigellinus nodded. 'Yes.'

He meant it, I could see. The man was no fool. My mouth felt dry. 'You still haven't quite answered the question,' I said. 'Why Tigellinus?'

'Haven't I?' Lucius frowned. 'Oh, but Titus, the answer's obvious! Tiggy's perfect because the Senate will absolutely loathe him. What other reason would I have?'

I said nothing. He was right, of course. If Burrus had been a provincial at least his family were respectable and he was what Arruntius would call a 'sound fellow'. With Arruntius and his cronies — which meant a good two-thirds of the Senate — Tigellinus would be as popular as a rotten squid in a barrel of Baian oysters.

'They have asked for it, after all,' Lucius went on, his voice reasonable. 'They've been asking for it for years, the po-faced Roman bastards. And Tiggy's just what they deserve. Aren't you, Tiggy?'

Tigellinus smiled and lowered his eyelids.

'Don't be modest, darling, of course you are!' Lucius stretched out his hand in front of him, fingers spread as if they were gripping something. His voice was soft and razor-edged. 'So I'm going to take him like this, Titus, and I'm going to ram him up their bloody Roman arses as far as he'll go. Do you understand me now, dear?'

'Yes,' I said; I was shaking. 'I understand. Thank you.'

'Don't mention it, Petronius.' Tigellinus said with a smile. 'In fact, don't mention it at all. To anyone.'

'That's right.' Lucius settled back. 'It's our little secret. And now, what did you want to see me about, darling?'

Hesitantly, I started to explain my ideas for the up-and-coming Spring Festival; but my heart wasn't in it. Somehow organising parties didn't seem quite so vital any more.