Ovid

44

But the day wasn't over yet. When I got home Bathyllus met me in the lobby.

'You have a visitor, sir,' he said quietly.

'Yeah?' I stripped off my cloak and my mantle and handed them to him. 'Who's that?'

'I took the liberty of showing him into your study. I thought perhaps you would prefer to talk in private.'

The study door was closed. As I opened it, the man inside turned…

Asprenas.

My hand had reached for the dagger at my left wrist before I remembered that I wasn't carrying it. You don't, usually, on visits to the palace. Asprenas had caught the movement. He smiled and shook his head.

'No, Corvinus,' he said. 'You're quite safe from me now, especially since you've chosen to handle this thing sensibly. It's over. And if I'd wanted to kill you I would hardly choose your own house to do it in.'

Without taking my eyes from him I half-turned.

'Bathyllus! Some wine. I'll talk to you later.' Then, to Asprenas, 'You're not welcome here. Get out. Now.'

He pulled up a chair and sat down.

'Don't blame the slave,’ he said. ‘I twisted his arm.'

'He should've known better.' I sat down myself, far enough away for safety. Also I didn't want to breathe the same air as him any more than I could help.

'You've just come from your interview with the empress.'

'Yeah.'

'And she told you that our intention was to humiliate Varus and through him the emperor.'

I nodded.

'I thought she might. By the way, I'm glad you chose Livia and not Tiberius. It relieves me of my obligations.'

I gripped the arms of my chair, hard, to stop my hands shaking with disgust.

'So what do you want, Asprenas?' I said. 'Tell me, then get the fuck out of my house.'

He smiled. 'I don't want anything. I have everything I need, thank you. But I thought perhaps you deserved congratulations. And, perhaps, some final clarification.'

'What sort of clarification? If it's about what you did to Varus you can save your breath.'

'That's precisely what it's about.' He leaned back in his chair, completely at his ease. 'Admissions first. Yes, I arranged things on Livia's behalf with Arminius. Yes, I forged the letter we showed you. That ought not to have been necessary, but my uncle persistently and categorically refused to incriminate himself in writing. And yes, of course I was wholly responsible for the attacks on yourself and for the Lady Rufia's kidnapping. These last the empress knew nothing about, although she would have approved if she had. However I cannot leave you with the impression that Livia is totally innocent- I mean innocent of fifteen thousand deaths. I'm not that altruistic.'

There was a knock at the door: Bathyllus with the wine. I sent him away.

Asprenas leaned forward. 'Corvinus, do you honestly think that Livia didn't know what Arminius intended to do? Yes, trouble in Germany would have damaged Augustus. But Livia wasn't interested in simple damage. She wanted to destroy him.'

I couldn't believe this.

'You're saying that Livia intended a massacre from the start?'

Asprenas was smiling.

'Of course she did. I had my orders before I left Rome. Not the details, of course, simply the broad outline. Arminius, too, although he was acting for himself just as much as for Livia.'

'You're wrong. Not even Livia is that much of a bitch.'

He stared at me. 'Think, boy! Isn't it obvious? She had to do something because her position was becoming desperate. Augustus had woken up to the fact that he was being manipulated. Postumus was still alive and a growing threat. Augustus had to be destroyed while her influence over him still held good.'

'So why didn't she poison the guy, like the rest of his family? Don't tell me she had scruples.'

'She couldn't. Augustus still hadn't formally recognised Tiberius as his successor. She had to smash the emperor's confidence in himself and make certain that it was Tiberius that he turned to. You can see that, can't you, Corvinus?'

I remembered the stories of how Augustus had reacted when the news of the massacre had reached Rome; how he had woken in the night, screaming.

'Quinctilius Varus, give me back my legions!'

'Yeah,' I said. 'I can see that.'

'So you believe me?'

'I don't know.' I shook my head dully. 'I don't know any more.'

He got up. 'You believe me. You have to, because it's the truth.'

'You want to swear that?'

His eyebrows rose in surprise. 'If you wish.'

'Would it mean much if you did?'

'Not a lot; but I will if you insist.'

I felt my gorge rise. 'Get out of my house, Asprenas. Get out now.'

He shrugged and turned, then paused, his hand on the doorknob.

'I'm glad I didn't succeed in killing you,’ he said. ‘I'm not a killer. Not in cold blood, anyway. Once was enough.'

'Once?' I said — and then remembered Davus, lying with his throat slit under a pile of grain. So that had been Asprenas himself. I was surprised he'd told me.

'Oh, by the way,' Asprenas was still smiling, and completely relaxed, 'there aren't many of us who know about the Varus affair, and we're a privileged group. The empress has to keep us sweet. She hasn't much influence with her son these days but she can still manage a favour or two. You're on your way up, young man.'

My fists clenched; but I couldn't've so much as touched the bastard.

'I'm not interested in politics,' I said. 'Not your sort, anyway.'

'It's your duty. You owe it to the state. Just remember I told you.'

The door closed quietly behind him. After he had gone I had the bath slaves scrub me until my flesh was raw. Then I got drunk.