Enemies of the Empire

Chapter Five

It was getting extremely dark by now, and I could hear the creaking sounds of carts and shouts and movement in the more distant streets. Like any garrison town, Venta obviously did not permit wheeled traffic within the walls in daylight hours. Here, from what I was learning of the place, the free movement of legionary troops was even more important than it was elsewhere.

However, in the narrow lane of shuttered shops where I now found myself nothing stirred at all. No donkey carts or lurching wagons here. Even the apartments on the upper floors showed little light — only an occasional guttering candle at a window space or the dull glow of a cooking brazier within. There was an eerie quiet, and I felt uneasy, as if the street had eyes, and unseen spies were keeping watch on me. In fact, when I reached the corner where the dyer’s was, and saw the tiny, shadowed alleyway-cum-drain that I had come through earlier, I baulked at walking down it on my own. Instead I decided to keep on along the slightly wider lane in the direction of the nearest sounds. I could hear raised voices, just a street or so away.

Even if that route did not take me to the forum, I told myself, at least there would be someone I could ask, and once I had collected Promptillius I could quickly make my way back to the mansio and bed. Of course, I had some qualms about the reception I might receive, both from the owners of the voices ahead and from the soldiers at the mansio gate, but anything was preferable to walking on alone down these dark, sinister and unfamiliar streets. A massive building loomed up to my right. I recognised the public baths I’d heard about, though they were now closed and shuttered for the night. It seemed a shell of hollow emptiness. The walls threw menacing shadows, patches of deeper blackness in the darkened street. I hurried past. I hardly dared admit, even to myself, how welcome the prospect of the military inn — light and warmth and a nice straw mattress safely under guard — had suddenly become.

I heard a noise behind me — a rustle, followed by a creak. I whirled round, but there was nothing there. In the end I hurried on, growing more uneasy with every step I took. Several times again I thought I heard a stealthy footfall at my back, but when I turned my head there was only the darkness and the shadowed street, though once I did catch a hasty scuttling sound and what sounded like the stealthy scrape of steel, as if someone nearby had drawn a sword.

This was more menacing than any visible pursuer would have been, and I found myself walking more quickly all the time until I was nearly at a run, but the footsteps seemed to be even closer now and I was almost completely out of breath. I was relieved to see a human form ahead — a trader with a burning torch, whipping and cursing at his donkey, which had stopped dead in the middle of the narrow street and was clearly disinclined to move, although it was blocking up the passageway. I halted, of necessity — and I heard the following footsteps falter too. Taking advantage of the momentary respite, I dodged past the swearing donkey man and his four-legged obstacle, and hurried round the corner out of sight.

I had turned into what was obviously a more major thoroughfare and I hid there in a shadowed doorway for what seemed an age, panting, leaning on the wall and listening to the thudding of my heart. I kept a sharp eye on the way I’d come as well. However, no one came down the alley after me and after a few moments I began to feel rather foolish for giving way to fear. For the first time I stepped into the roadway where I now found myself and began to look about me trying to take rational stock of my surroundings.

Everything seemed to be quite normal here. An ordinary street, paved and guttered, and grooved by passing wheels, fronted by shuttered workshops, town houses, flats and temple entrances, like any major street in any Roman town.

There were lights here too — oil lamps and tapers in the window spaces of the apartments overhead, and two great lighted torches flaming on the wall outside a tavern opposite, making two pools of brightness on the paving stones, and illuminating the faces of a group of youngish men who now lurched, laughing and arguing, from the door. Wealthy Silurians, from the look of them. They were drunk and noisy and belligerent, and I had no doubt that these were the authors of the shouts which I had heard from several blocks away.

Boisterous revellers bursting from a tavern are not companions I would generally choose, especially as three had clearly imbibed far too much cheap wine, but after the eerie silence of the streets tonight that torchlight drew me as it would a moth, and their rough oaths and guffaws were like sweet music, better than the plaint of any Roman lute.

I hurried in the direction of the light, intending to ask these noisy newcomers which way the forum lay. As I approached them it became clear what they were arguing about.

‘And I tell you, that myrmillo was a fix. There’s no way he could have dodged the net and trident for so long and then all at once gone over like a stone and dropped his dagger on the floor like that, so that his opponent had him pinned down helplessly. And the way the arena judges looked the other way, it was preposterous! Pity they weren’t fighting to the death. I thought they might have done today, but no — only a flogging for the useless ones, as usual. I’d cheerfully have given the signal to have them cut his throat.’ The speaker was a stout red-haired young man, and obviously well-to-do — even in this light I could see that he was dressed in an expensive woollen cloak secured with an elaborate jewelled clasp. He spoke with the careful diction of the drunk.

The smaller of his two companions laughed. He was a thin, pale, dark-haired youth with a fawning expression and what looked like a rash of spots round his mouth. Certainly there was no hint of beard — the boy might have been fifteen or so, at most, but he obviously hoped to sound like a sophisticate. He said in a tone of exaggerated boredom, ‘Well, what do you expect? The whole contest was only got up at the last moment, in honour of that Roman magistrate. I can’t imagine he was very thrilled. The preliminary show — the comic mock-fighters and the wooden sword brigade — were better entertainment than the troop itself. Then only four proper fights before the light got bad. And did you see the introductory parade? Pathetic costumes — scarcely a plume or precious stone in sight. And as for the heralds and the trumpeters! Wherever did the patron get these people from? I only hope that civic feast he’s hosting now is better organised.’

The other two ignored him. ‘Now listen here, Aurissimus,’ said the stoutest member of the trio, seizing the young man who had spoken first and pushing him against the doorpost. ‘Don’t think you’re going to get away with this. I know you and your wretched arguments and I’m not having it. We had a fair wager, and it stands, whatever you thought about the fight. You backed the confounded heavies and I backed the lights, and I’ve got more than a thousand witnesses that my net man won.’

His victim struggled, but with the obstinacy only to be found in wine, he was protesting still. ‘Only because the fish-helmet fell down at his feet deliberately. I don’t call that a contest, I call that a cursed sham. Be reasonable. I tell you what. Double or quits the next time. What do you say to that?’

‘We had a bet, confound you. Pay up, or I’ll have to beat it out of you.’

‘How can I reach my purse, if you don’t let me go?’ the other muttered thickly, and then, as his companion grudgingly released him, ‘They don’t nickname you Cupidus, the grasping one, for nothing, do they?’ He gave his neck a rueful rub.

‘At least I don’t earn my name for having flapping ears, listening to all the gossip in town,’ Cupidus said, jeering in return. ‘You owe me three denarii, Big-ears! Pay up, or we shall see if you are a better fighter than your fish man was!’

Aurissimus ‘Big-ears’ was still arguing. ‘By rights I owe you nothing, except a hiding in the street.’

Cupidus clenched both his fists at this, and I was beginning to think that I was going to witness another contest of my own, when suddenly the third man noticed me. He tugged at his companions. All argument was forgotten instantly, and the three men turned as one to stare at me.

‘Well, well,’ said Cupidus, and with a sneering swagger he took a step towards me. ‘What have we got here? A stranger? Where have you sprung from? What are you doing here, alone and after dark?’ His tone was mocking. ‘Come to buy my friends and me a drink, have you?’

Nothing had been further from my thoughts but all at once it seemed a good idea. I did not fancy a dispute with three drunken men. Any one of them I might have tackled, even at my age, but combined and linking arms across the causeway as they now were, all at once they were formidable. They were all well dressed, well spoken and clearly affluent — the sort of people who can bribe town guards — and obviously they were looking for a fight.

That would have been alarming in itself. I had heard tales of bands of wealthy, drunken youths like this roaming city streets after dark, fighting, causing damage, and terrorising passing townspeople. It was a problem which had started long ago, in Rome — the Emperor Nero was said to have led such a gang himself — and though he and the fashion were both long dead by now, there were still corners of the Empire where such things survived. Perhaps Venta was one of them. But there was a still more worrying possibility. I remembered what I had already learned, that areas of the town were unofficially controlled by rival family groups, and I wondered if I’d encountered one of them.

Wisdom seemed to lie in a peaceable response. ‘I saw that there was a tavern over here,’ I said, as cheerfully and casually as I could, deciding that the presence of the inn afforded me a reasonable excuse for being in the vicinity. ‘I should be more than happy to provide a mug of wine, if you will tell me which way the forum is.’

Big-ears looked stonily at me. ‘The forum, eh? Now why would you want the forum at this time of night?’

These men were wealthy, but not citizens, at least not law-abiding toga-wearing ones. It was clear from their talk that they’d been at some form of public games — a gladiatorial contest thrown together in Marcus’s honour, by the sound of it — held in some amphitheatre in the town. If I had been invited to accompany my patron tonight, no doubt I would have been required to endure that quintessentially Roman spectacle as well.

But if these youths were not invited guests (and their presence at the tavern suggested that they weren’t) they must have bought tickets for the privilege. Not hostile to all things Roman, then. A moment’s reflection suggested that my best hope was to give them some version of the truth.

I tried my most winning smile again, and said in the best Latin that I could produce, ‘I left my slave outside the pastry shop there, with strict instructions that he was to wait for me. I’m a visitor from Glevum, just here for the day. I went off looking for silver cloak clasps for my wife, and now it seems that I have lost my way.’

If I was hoping to impress them, I had failed. Cupidus gave another scornful laugh. ‘You left your slave behind? A likely tale! Whoever left a servant standing by and went walking after dark in a strange town without a bodyguard? Come on! You’ll tell me next that you’re a citizen and the town guard will worry if you’re set upon.’ He took a lurching step forward and thrust his flushed face close to mine. I could smell the cheap wine and vomit on his breath.

I didn’t like the tone of this at all. ‘I am a citizen, in fact,’ I said. ‘I understand that you’ve been at the games. In that case you’ll have seen the visiting magistrate who was guest of honour there. His name is Marcus Aurelius Septimus and he comes from Glevum, over to the east. I’m a member of his party. I came here with him and I’m staying at the mansio tonight.’

Cupidus put a heavy hand against my chest and pushed me roughly up against the wall. It seemed to be his favourite form of argument. ‘You think I’m blind and stupid, Tunic-face? If you’re a citizen, how come you’re dressed like this? And why weren’t you with him at the games as well? You just heard us gossiping and made this story up.’ He gave me another brutal shove. ‘You’re a low-born nobody — that’s what you are. A liar and probably a thief.’

‘He’s worse than that, Cupidus,’ said the spotty boy. ‘He’s a spy. I saw where he came from, when I came out just now — just to relieve myself, that’s all; it wasn’t that I’d drunk too much and had to get some air — anyway, I saw him. He came down that alleyway and was hiding in that doorway over there. Straight from the baths quarter of town.’

Cupidus grabbed the neck of my tunic and forced my head and shoulders back against the wall. Drink had given him uncommon strength. ‘Is that so, my friend? A confounded bath-side spy, are we? Well, we know what to do with spies. The same thing as your ancestors once did to mine — may their spirits never sleep in peace.’ He laughed. ‘That makes you sweat with fear, does it? The thought of having your private parts cut off and stuffed into your mouth?’

It was enough to strike terror into my bones. Such things have been reported in the past — and these youths were so buoyed up with drink that any atrocity was possible. But I have had dealings with would-be torturers before, and I knew that often those who talk most act least, and that to show panic was to play into their hands.

Somehow I forced myself to say, as calmly as I could, ‘I doubt my ancestors did anything to yours. I have no connection with this area. I came from Glevum, as I told you earlier, but I was born a freeman and a Celtic chief, hundreds of miles from here, far off in the south. I was captured and sold as a slave, and on my master’s death was freed and bequeathed the rank of citizen. I told you, I came here with the Roman magistrate. I am no part of any local feud. Look at me. Do I even look like one of you?’

Spotty-face had plucked up courage now, and he joined in the taunts. ‘What’s that supposed to prove? I haven’t got red hair either, nor the stocky build. My mother was from another tribe.’ He turned to Cupidus. ‘Of course the man’s a spy. Why else would he be setting out to hide?’

Cupidus sneered at me. ‘We’ll see if you tell another story when we get you back and let the tribal elders question you. They fought alongside the Romans and they’ve learned a trick or two. They know how to make a man confess the truth.’

‘And so do I!’ Spotty-face had drawn a wicked-looking dagger from underneath his cloak. Carrying such arms in the street is a capital offence, even in more peaceful areas: here, with all the local problems I had heard about, the law was likely be ferociously enforced, but this boy did not look as if he cared. This was clearly an ancient weapon — and a deadly one, judging by the nicks along the glittering blade, and the fine carved sheath which he’d revealed at his belt, its writhing serpent clearly visible in the flickering red glow of the tavern torch. It was a tribal dagger, to be reckoned with. He handled it as if he were not at ease with it himself, though he brandished the blade with relish, right before my eyes, carving elaborate patterns in the air.

I flinched, despite myself — such novices are more dangerous than practised criminals, who at least have some idea of what they’re doing.

‘Come on,’ Spotty-face said eagerly. ‘We’ll question him ourselves.’ He turned to me. ‘Let’s have the truth from you, before I make you disappear the way my uncle did.’

I was about to protest weakly that what I had told them was the truth, when Big-ears suddenly spoke up. ‘Drop it, Laxus. Don’t let’s be hasty here. He might be right. I did hear that the Roman magistrate put in at the mansio and left a number of his party there. I suppose it is just possible that this man is one of them. Certainly he isn’t local, from his voice. I’ve never set eyes on him before.’ Spotty-face looked at him contemptuously, but he hurried on. ‘Suppose he is what he says he is, and the important Roman is his patron? Do you want to bring the wrath of the authorities down on your head? After all the money that your father spent on seeking civil office and trying to attract the attention of the provincial imperial power — even packed your seven brothers off to join the legions, just so that they’d all earn citizenship at the end. What do you suppose he would say, if you threw all that away and offended an important magistrate? Do you no good to be your mother’s favourite then — he’d cut off your peculium and leave you penniless. You’d be lucky to escape from army life yourself. And me, as well, since I consort with you. So, you do what you like. I want no part of it.’

Cupidus had not let go of me. ‘The man’s a spy,’ he said. ‘You heard what Laxus said. He came from down the bath-house way and lurked — you know what those barbarians are like. Spies everywhere. Just look at him. Does he look like a Roman citizen to you?’ He banged my head against the wall to emphasise the point. ‘What do you propose? We let him go? Our families would be delighted about that! They’d cut off more than your peculium then!’ His voice was slurred but he was in control enough to give me another sharp tap against the wall.

A little more of this treatment and I would be as fuddled as they were, though Big-ears, at least, seemed to be capable of sober thought. I said — as clearly as I could with Cupidus leaning heavily on my chest and crushing me against the stonework — ‘Well, there’s one easy way to check. Take me to the forum and we’ll find my slave.’

There was a pause. You could almost hear the workings of their minds. Then, very slowly, Cupidus let me go. ‘Very well,’ he said. ‘But no tricks, you understand. You lead the way and we’ll be right behind. And if you’re lying, Jove have mercy on you. .’

‘’Cause we won’t,’ both the others chorused, as if this was some kind of motto between the three of them.

I was still a little shaken from events, but I did have the wit to point out that I still did not know which way the forum lay — that this was, after all, what I had asked them in the first place.

‘Round that corner to the left and then straight on,’ Big-ears said, gesturing impatiently. ‘The pastry shop is on the outside of the forum buildings, to the left again — let’s hope that slave of yours is waiting there.’

So I had virtually been round the market in a square, I thought. I set off, as slowly as I dared, trying to buy a little time and think through the evening’s extraordinary events, though I was uncomfortably aware of the still drunken trio at my heels.

Venta was a town of many secrets, it appeared. First Plautus had appeared, although he was supposed to be dead and buried. Then Lyra, apparently, had set spies on me, and Lupus from the thermopolium had told me that, under the outward appearance of Roman civic rule, the town was virtually in the grip of rival local gangs. One, clearly, was the so-called ‘bath-side’ group, and — in trying to escape from them — I had stumbled into the hands of my inebriated friends, who evidently regarded the latter as mortal enemies.

Perhaps I could use that fact to my advantage here. ‘You might be interested to know that I think one of your bath-side friends was following me earlier,’ I said, slackening my pace to speak to them. ‘That’s why I was hiding in the door, to try to throw him off. I wonder why they were on my tail. Thought that I was an associate of yours, perhaps.’

Cupidus was clearly unimpressed. He gave me an unfriendly shove. ‘Keep walking, friend.’ He was still flushed with drink and his face was wreathed in an unlovely leer.

I had no choice but to comply. We were back in the commercial quarter now, and here and there men ran about with flaming links while small ox carts unloaded charcoal, wood and oil into half-shuttered shops, but at a prod from Laxus’s dagger I edged past without a word. I gave up all thought of reasoning with my captors and walked in silence, while they whispered taunts and jeers, until the dark bulk of the forum loomed up in front of us. It was deserted now. The colonnaded buildings which enclosed the forum square, and the massive outline of the basilica at the further end, were mere dark silhouettes against the sky.

I stood there blinking stupidly, almost unable to believe my eyes. I hardly needed Cupidus to come up behind and murmur unpleasantly into my ear: ‘There’s your pastry shop. Where’s this famous slave?’