Ovid

16

We watched Harpale limp back towards the house.

'Perilla,’ I said, ‘what the fuck is going on?'

'You're supposed to be the expert. You tell me.' She sounded a bit jaundiced, but I noticed she hadn't mentioned the language. Maybe it was my bad influence.

'Oh. Yeah. Sure.' My winecup was looking empty so I topped it up. 'Okay, so what do we know? First of all Silanus never touched Julia. The whole adultery story was a lie from start to finish, a cover-up by Augustus for something else. Okay?'

'Go on.'

'But to make it plausible someone had to take the rap, and Silanus was the lucky winner, either because the bastard volunteered at a price or because someone twisted his little arm half way up his back. Right?'

'Yes, Corvinus. Or so it would seem.'

I may not be an intellectual giant but I know when someone's taking the piss; and that last remark was straight out of the blunt half of a Socratic dialogue. I looked at Perilla suspiciously. Not the trace of a smile. Maybe the lady had a sense of humour after all.

'Yeah Right. Anyway,' I went on, 'whatever reward was offered or pressure applied the guy was promised that he'd get off lightly, and he did. He wasn't formally exiled, but all the same Augustus encouraged him to take an extended trip abroad. And just for the show of things he banned him from any future political career. That might sound pretty dire for a political whizz-kid but Lover Boy Silanus hadn't any real interest in politics so he wasn't unduly concerned.'

'It also meant that he wouldn't be in Rome to face embarrassing questions.'

'Right. On the plus side, to compensate for this his brother, who is a political whizz-kid, gets Julia's daughter, a marriage tie with the ruling family, and all the extra political clout that goes with it.'

'Even although Julia herself was disgraced?'

'Even then. Augustus wasn't vindictive. None of the family were penalised when their mother was exiled. Quite the reverse.'

'But if as Harpale said the elder Julia was innocent too — '

'Yeah, okay.' I frowned. 'If Harpale's right that opens up a whole new can of worms, but we'll need more than a slave's word for it. We'll need some hard evidence.'

'If it exists.'

'Don't worry. I'll dig. There's a guy I can ask about that, a friend of my grandfather's. He's retired now, lives outside the city off the Appian Way. Leave it for the moment. We've got enough headaches to be going on with.' I poured some more wine and sipped it. 'So. If there was no adultery then why was our sweet little Julia exiled? From what Harpale tells us Silanus seems to've been involved more with Paullus. And Paullus was chopped for treason, so it's reasonable to assume the other two — Julia and Silanus — were in on the same scam.'

'What was Paullus's crime exactly? Do you know?'

'Search me. A plot against Augustus, obviously. That's something else we have to find out.'

'And you think Julia was involved?'

'Yeah, why not? She was guilty of something, certainly. If the adultery charge was only a cover then treason's as good a crime as any. Let's say she and Paullus were working as a husband-and-wife team and they got caught. Paullus was chopped but Julia, as Augustus's grandchild, was let off with exile.'

'So why weren't they both charged with treason? Why bother with adultery at all?'

'Perilla, I'm telling you. Julia was the emperor's granddaughter. You think Augustus would be willing to admit there was treason in the family?'

She nodded. 'Fair enough. You're probably right.'

'Sure I'm right.'

'Don't get smug. What about Silanus? You haven't mentioned him. Where does he fit in?'

'He was involved in the conspiracy too, like I said. That was obvious from what Harpale told us. If I'm right it was Silanus who blew the whole thing to Augustus. Maybe he got cold feet, maybe he just decided the game was up and he'd better save his own neck by turning informer. Either would explain why he got off so lightly, why he was so ready to admit to the fake adultery charge, and why he was given that under-the-counter reward of his.'

'And the man with the ring?'

'Ah, now.' I raised my winecup. Jupiter, this stuff was good! My brain was purring away like one of those fancy machines the Greeks come up with now and again for telling the time or counting votes. 'Our fourth conspirator. He gets the starring role. Why should anyone take their ring off when they go visiting?'

'Because it was distinctive?'

'Give me more.'

'A gold ring would show that the man was a noble.'

True enough. Only nobles had the right to wear gold rings. That was one of these stupid rules my father could've been responsible for.

'Yeah, but anyone on calling terms with Paullus wouldn't be the type to lug fishboxes in the market, would he? Still, nobles are ten a penny. It has to be more than just any gold ring.' I held out my own right hand. 'Notice anything?'

Like all narrow- and broad-stripers I was wearing a heavy seal-ring for documents. Perilla sat back.

'Corvinus, that's brilliant!’ she said. ‘The ring would have his crest on. And if he was well-known, or from a very prominent family…'

'The crest would give his name away even if his face was covered. Right.' I sipped my wine. 'Ten gets you twenty our fourth conspirator was a pretty important guy.'

'He could have changed rings, surely. Left his own at home and worn a different one.'

'Sure he could have. But he didn't. Why go to these lengths? And who worries what a slave sees? Or rather doesn't see?'

'You think that's why my stepfather was exiled? Because he saw the man and recognised him?'

'It's possible. And if he knew there was some funny business going on and didn't report it-'

I stopped. Perilla was frowning.

'No,' she said. 'No, I'm sorry, but that doesn't make sense. I'll allow you the rest, but not my stepfather's exile. Augustus had no need to be unduly harsh. After all, the plot had already failed. Paullus was executed, Julia was exiled, Silanus went abroad.' She waved her hand. 'End of story.'

I set the winecup down. 'Yeah. End of story. So what happened to the guy with the ring? Our fourth conspirator? Why wasn't he arrested with the others?'

Perilla opened her mouth and shut it. I'd never seen her at a loss for words. It was quite something, and I owed it all to the Caecuban. Maybe I could get old Marcia to let me have a flask of the stuff.

'I'll tell you what happened to him.' I was enjoying this. 'Nothing. Zero. Zilch. He disappears out of the picture. No execution, no exile, no nothing. Not so much as a footnote.'

'Perhaps they just never caught him.'

'Perhaps they didn't want to catch him.'

Perilla stared. 'Why shouldn't they want to catch him?'

Clever women can be incredibly thick sometimes. But then Perilla hadn't grown up like I had in the murky world of power politics. I explained.

'Look. Silanus was the group stool-pigeon, right? He peached to Augustus. Now if Silanus knew who our fourth man was — which he must have done — the guy didn't have a hope in hell of avoiding prosecution. So if he wasn't prosecuted — which he wasn't — it means that the authorities knew who he was already.'

'But if they knew who he was, then-'

I laid it on the line.

'Sure they knew. Because our fourth man was involved in the conspiracy with their unofficial blessing.'

'You mean he was the emperor's agent?'

'Right. It was Augustus's classic ploy. Don't wait for a conspiracy to come to a head, infiltrate it and destroy it from the inside before it gets going. Our fourth conspirator could've been Augustus's man from the start.'

'Then he can't've been the reason for my stepfather's exile.'

That stopped me. 'Why the hell not?'

This time it was Perilla's turn to be patient. 'Because my stepfather said he'd seen something and failed to report it. If he only meant that he knew who your fourth conspirator was, and Augustus knew the man's name already, then surely it wouldn't matter very much?'

'Unless the fact that Ovid hadn't told him rubbed Augustus up the wrong way.'

'But you said Augustus wasn't vindictive. Punishing my stepfather with exile for something that happened by accident and hardly mattered in the end…well, I'd say that showed a fair degree of vindictiveness, wouldn't you?'

'Don't forget Ovid wasn't family like his daughter Julia's kids. And Augustus didn't like the poor bastard, either.'

'It's still completely out of proportion.'

'Yeah.' I swallowed the last of my wine and emptied the flagon into the cup. 'Okay. Maybe we're still missing something.'

'Of course there is another possibility,' Perilla said.

I frowned. The wine was finally getting to me. 'What's that?'

'That the fourth man was someone really important. Too important to risk charging.'

'You got anyone in mind, lady? The guy would have to be pretty big to rank above the emperor's granddaughter.'

'How about Tiberius? Would he qualify?'

I stared at her in numb shock. 'Oh, no. Not the emperor. It couldn't be the emperor.'

'Why not?'

Why not? How the hell could she be so calm about an idea like that?

'Because…' I began; and that was as far as I got.

Shit. Why not? I tried frantically to think of reasons. None of them worked. What was worse, everything that had happened in the last few days made perfect sense. If the Wart had been our fourth conspirator in the days when he'd been a not-so-humble commoner and he knew I was busy ferreting around in that particular closet then you could count my chances of seeing another birthday on the fingers of one foot.

'Oh, hell!' I whispered. 'Oh, hell and damnation!'

'It would make sense, wouldn't it?' Perilla said.

I didn't answer. I couldn't. But she was right, dead right. Of course it would make sense. Ten years before, the Wart had been the empire's foremost general. He had powers second only to Augustus's own, and although the old man hadn't actually named him as such he was the only realistic candidate for the succession. Paullus and Julia would've welcomed him into their cosy little conspiracy with open arms. It would've meant giving him the purple, sure, but the chance would've been too good to miss. Paullus would've had his work cut out getting the support he'd need for the top job anyway. As an imperial candidate he wouldn't be all that convincing; but as the man responsible for the new emperor's elevation he'd have his feet firmly on the bottom step of the throne. New bosses are very grateful people…

'Corvinus? I asked you a question. Don't you think it would make sense?'

'Hmm?' Absently I swallowed the wine in my cup and reached for the jug. It was empty. Well, maybe she was right. Maybe I did drink too much. 'Yeah, it'd make sense. But would it be worth Tiberius's while? After all, the emperor was into his seventies. And the Wart was set to succeed anyway.'

'Only so long as Augustus had no alternative.'

Right again. Tiberius was never exactly the blue-eyed boy with Augustus. He'd spent years being shifted around from the wings to centre stage and back, from star billing to supporting role. The only reason he'd got to be emperor at all was that there was no one else around at the time to do the job. Maybe he'd just got tired of being the permanent second choice. Maybe he just decided he couldn't wait any longer…

'Or maybe he was playing it both ends against the middle.' I didn't realise I'd spoken the words aloud until I noticed Perilla was staring at me.

'What was that?'

The Caecuban was working again. 'Maybe the Wart wanted to have it both ways. When Paullus propositions him he lies on his back and opens his legs. Then he runs and tells Augustus he's been raped. He can't lose, right? If the conspiracy comes off then Augustus is dead meat and he's the new emperor. If not and things aren't going too well then he can go back to the emperor and say, "Look, I've broken up your latest gang of troublemakers for you. See how loyal I am? I could've been emperor myself but I put your interests and Rome's first. Now how about a bigger share of the action?" In the event that's what happened. Maybe he didn't feel it was worth the risk, especially with Silanus doing his political tap-dance on the sidelines. So he pulled the plug on the conspiracy and bowed out gracefully.'

'And my stepfather?'

'Like I said, Ovid found out that Tiberius was involved. If he'd reported it to Augustus he would've simply been told that everything was under control and warned to keep his mouth shut. But he didn't. He didn't tell anyone. And where would that leave him with the emperor?'

Perilla leaned her chin on her hand.

'Augustus wouldn't be sure whose side Ovid was on,' she said. 'In effect he was giving his tacit support to the conspirators.'

'Right. Also, once everything was over and Tiberius had slid out from under Ovid would be an embarrassment. Or a potential embarrassment. Augustus had to make sure he wouldn't open his mouth too far, even by accident. It wouldn't do the emperor's street cred much good if the news got out that the second man in Rome had tried to knock him off the wall, would it? Ovid had to be disappeared, fast. The Black Sea was as good a place as any, short of slitting his throat. And maybe even Augustus had a conscience.'

'It would explain something else too.'

'What's that?'

'Why Tiberius didn't allow him back when Augustus was dead.'

I nodded. 'Yeah. That's right. He could still open his mouth. And Tiberius was never a poetry-lover. He's a soldier first and foremost. In fact — '

I stopped. Stopped dead.

'What's wrong?'

'Shit.'

'Corvinus! Will you tell me what's wrong? Please.'

I didn't know whether to break down and sob with relief or howl with disappointment.

'Our fourth conspirator. Whoever he is, he isn't Tiberius.'

'What are you talking about? We've just spent ten minutes working out how — '

'I don't care. The fourth man can't've been the Wart. He was out of Rome at the time, on campaign in Illyricum.'

Silence.

'Are you sure?'

'Sure I'm sure.' I put my head in my hands. 'My father was the governor.'

'Ah.' Perilla was quiet for a long time. Then she said: 'In that case your comment was quite justified.'

I looked up at her. 'What comment was that?'

'Shit.'

A surprising lady, Perilla.