Ovid

26

It was late when I got back, so I had the coachman drop me off at Perilla's.

We turned in early, as soon as I'd made my report. She was worried at first about the sword-slice along my ribs, but at Pomponius's insistence I'd had the wound looked at on the way and it wasn't too bad. Certainly not bad enough to cramp my style after a two days' absence.

'It must be all that fresh air, Marcus,' she said after we'd finished. 'Either that or being ambushed agrees with you.'

'It's the oyster stew. Pertinax insisted I have three helpings.'

I could feel her laughing. 'Pig!'

'Pigs don't eat oysters.'

'Anyway, they'd've worn off by now.'

'Not Baian ones. They're the best in the world.'

Her arms tightened round me, and she kissed the side of my neck.

'I love you,' she said.

'Uh-huh.'

We lay quiet for a long time.

'Perilla,' I said. 'I've had a thought.'

'Hmmm?'

'About the Paullus plot. Maybe…'

She groaned. 'Not now, Marcus! Please!'

'You don't want to hear it?'

'You haven't got a single ounce of romance in you. Did you know that?'

'I'm just exhausted. I think better when I'm exhausted.'

She smiled up at me. 'Very well. So what's this great thought of yours?'

'No. If you don't want to hear, you don't want to hear.'

'Corvinus…'

'Okay. Okay,' I said hastily. 'You're sure?'

'I'm sure.'

'Fine.' I turned over and lay on my back, hands behind my head. 'We're assuming the plot was against Augustus, right?'

'Of course. Who else could it be against?'

'The empress.'

Perilla lifted herself on her elbow and stared down at me.

'Livia?'

'Why not? If she was systematically knocking off the Julians you'd expect them to turn sooner or later. They wouldn't just lie back and take it.'

'Corvinus, that is silly!'

'No it isn't. Listen. Say the main aim was to put the skids under Livia. Gaius and Lucius are already dead, but the elder Julia and Postumus are both sitting on their islands twiddling their thumbs. So what would happen if someone sprung them and smuggled them off somewhere Livia couldn't get at them?'

Perilla sighed. 'Absolutely nothing.'

Wrong answer.

'Why the hell not?'

'Because Augustus may not have liked the idea of Tiberius as a successor, but by this time he didn't have much choice. Even if he knew that Livia was manipulating things, which I personally doubt.'

I shook my head. 'You're missing the point. Livia had got away with it so far either because she operated an under-the-counter scam or because she used Augustus to do her dirty work for her. The poor guy had no choice but to play the patsy because she'd cancelled all his other options.'

Perilla turned over on her side.

'I've changed my mind,' she said. 'Could we leave this for the morning please?'

'No, listen.' I tugged at the blanket. 'The only way the Julians could fight back was to change the rules. If they could find a sympathetic military commander on one of the frontiers and manage to get to him then they'd be home free where Livia couldn't touch them.'

Perilla groaned. 'Corvinus, come on! You know perfectly well that the emperor controls military appointments. Commanders have to be loyal before they're chosen. Completely loyal. And even if one wasn't he'd be cutting his own throat to take in political escapees. Now let's leave this, please. You may not need your sleep, but I do.'

She pulled the blanket over her head. I pulled it off her.

'Okay,' I said. 'But there's another angle we haven't thought of. That Augustus knew about the plot from the beginning.'

The eyes opened. Perilla sat up.

'But we know he did! Silanus was the emperor's agent!'

'From the beginning, I said. Not when it'd already been set up. Maybe Augustus knew about it right from the start.'

'I'm sorry. I don't understand.'

'Look.' I pulled myself up and leaned my back against the headboard. 'We're assuming the plot was directed against Livia, right?'

'Fair enough.'

'Augustus knows she had his grandsons Gaius and Lucius murdered. He knows she fixed it so he was persuaded to exile his daughter Julia and Postumus. He knows all this, but like you said he can't do a thing about it. It's too late, he's hamstrung. Livia's won, and and all he has left is the Wart.'

'But why does he go along with her? He's still the emperor.'

'Okay, so Augustus has Livia arrested. He goes to the Senate, denounces her as a murderess and traitor, reverses the sentences on Julia and Postumus and sends the Wart off to pick his boils in Corsica. What happens then?'

She was frowning.

'He'd destroy his own credibility completely.'

'Yeah. Right. And in the end what would he be left with? Livia exiled or dead. The Wart disgraced, maybe even in armed revolt. Postumus too young for real power. Oh, sure, he'd have the satisfaction of knowing that justice had been done, but he'd've pulled up the beans with the weeds pretty thoroughly.'

'But if Augustus wanted to stop Livia he wouldn't have done it that way.'

'So how would he have done it?'

'Not openly. He would have — ' Perilla stopped. Her jaw sagged and I knew the point had gone home.

'That's right. He'd've acted secretly, set up a conspiracy of his own.'

'For heaven's sake! That's crazy!'

'No, it fits. Look. Julia and her grandfather come to an arrangement. Augustus can't do anything directly, but he promises her and Paullus his support. He'll turn a blind eye to the Julian "conspiracy" while it's in preparation, and he'll help them in the final stages.'

'Help them how?'

'I told you. By making sure they have somewhere to go. Somewhere they'll be safe and give him room to breathe at the same time, maybe work out some way of making things up to them.' My brain was racing. 'Perilla, that explains our fourth conspirator! Remember we said whoever it was would have to be pretty powerful to give them the clout they needed for the thing to work? What if the fourth conspirator was Augustus himself?'

'Oh, for Juno's sake!'

'You think that's too far-fetched? Okay, so maybe our guy isn't Augustus in person. But he's someone who could stand as his accredited rep. One of the big legionary commanders, say, or the soon-to-be commanders. Even a military governor. Maybe someone like-'

I stopped.

'Someone like who?'

'Someone like Quinctilius Varus,' I said quietly.

'Marcus, I repeat. This is crazy.'

I shook my head. 'No it isn't. Varus would be perfect, and the timing's right. He's the emperor's man, he's even married to Augustus's grand-niece. With him on the team the Julians will have somewhere to go, because when Paullus springs the others Augustus will already have given Varus Germany.'

Perilla was holding her head in her hands as if it would burst.

'All right,' she said. 'So if the conspiracy had the emperor's secret support then why did he destroy it?'

'Because he was forced to. Because he had to cut his losses and get out of the game. Because someone peached to Livia.'

'Someone? Like who?'

'Our original stool-pigeon, of course. Junius Silanus.'

'That is nonsense! You told me that Augustus rewarded Silanus. Would he have done that if the man had doublecrossed him?'

'Sure he would. Even if it meant sacrificing Julia. He didn't have any choice. He had to cut himself off from the conspiracy completely, which meant siding with the guy who betrayed it. Maybe Silanus's silence was part of the deal.'

Perilla had turned onto her side.

'Look, I'm tired and this is complicated,' she said. 'Perhaps it'll all sound better in the morning.'

I ignored her. 'There's another thing. We already have a German connection. The dead guy with the tattoo on his wrist served in a German legion.'

'Tell me tomorrow,' she murmured.

'But in that case who sent him and his mates, and why? Livia? The Wart? Someone else?'

There was no answer; and when I looked Perilla was asleep.

Varus to Himself

Arminius and I have kept in touch, of course, through Ceionius's good offices. I was right to use him. The man is a natural conspirator. Our partnership has been a profitable one for all parties: for Arminius, for myself and, potentially, for Rome. Under the guise of fulfilling my military obligations I have managed in this campaigning season to draw the teeth of his private enemies among the German chieftains; with the result that he is well on his way to the pre-eminence which is our aim.

The last stage of the plan is the most difficult of all. The first part is over. As agreed, I have allowed myself and my army to be drawn off our line of march towards the Teutoburg. On the fringes of the forest, Arminius will attack us in full force. I will order a withdrawal, and Arminius will claim to have inflicted a defeat and proved himself to his allies beyond a doubt. My army will be intact, and I will lead it back to the Rhine. The Germans will give the credit to Arminius and spill more beer at the victory feast than they did blood in the battle. Germans love a winner, and a Roman 'defeat', no matter how token, will do more to unite the tribes under Arminius's aegis than a hundred speeches.

Naturally there will be questions asked in Rome. My defence will be unanswerable: that I reassessed the situation and the risks and decided reluctantly to abandon the advance. I will be criticised, but not overly blamed. Then I will withdraw quietly from public life (my old carcass, after all, can have very few years left in it) and enjoy the rewards of a career tarnished only slightly at its close. Arminius's gold will be a great solace to me in my misfortune. I wish him well, and every success.

Tomorrow we should enter the Teutoburg proper. My scouts report no hostile forces so far, yet the 'battle' cannot be far off — half a day's march, at most. It cannot come too soon for me — the weather is worsening and these German forests are terrible places, even when one does not believe in what superstitious natives call the Waldgespenst. Let us hope that Arminius does not keep us waiting long.

The night is cold, and I can hear the rain battering on the roof and walls of my tent. I have told Agron to warm me some wine. Perhaps it will help me sleep.