Master and God

7

Tiberius Decius Gracilis was posted to Rome for Domitian’s new Praetorian unit. The incoming emperor felt the need to show his importance by raising the number protecting him from nine to ten cohorts. It brought almost a thousand extra Guards onto the complement, including ten centurions. Gracilis had been a centurion for a number of years, rising to primipilus, ‘first-spear’, or chief centurion in a legion. It was a venerated post, dedicated to ensuring continuity and discipline. These officers did much more than nurture continuity, so the character of any legion owed much to the individual strengths and prejudices of its primipilus. Wielding such power could make a man seriously corrupt, though by the time anyone reached first-spear in a Roman legion, he had learned how to get away with almost anything. Oddly, some of these heroes were surprisingly straight.

It went without saying that where centurions were traditionally reckoned to be bastards, chief centurions were the bloodiest bastards of all, a role they much enjoyed.

It was a one-year post. Afterwards, the holder was entitled to take his retirement, leaving with an enhanced discharge grant and an impressive detail for the mason to chip onto his memorial stone. Yet most wanted to stay as long as possible in their army life, which offered so much simple joy and prestige. They applied to be chief centurions of further legions, taking along increasingly colourful reputations and the elaborate investment portfolios they had put together from their rewards as the army’s super-bastards.

Gracilis arrived at the Praetorian Camp with his decorations in a casket he had designed himself; first-spears adored fancy equipment. Special luggage enhanced their status, if greater status were needed. His box had neat, removable cloth-lined trays for his nine gold phalerae, the heavy round breastplate badges that soldiers who cared about such things jealously collected, and cedarwood inserts to hold his other awards: all his little spears and torcs and honorary bracelets, together with diplomas listing citations. When Gracilis stowed the box in his newly allocated officer’s suite, he gave it a casual kick into position as if the baubles meant little to him. However, he then instructed his servant that nobody else was to touch that casket or he would personally remove their balls with his dagger, barbecue those stinking items with rosemary, and eat them.

The servant, who had looked after Gracilis for years, smiled politely.

The centurion chewed a thumbnail. His expression was that of an overseer as he checked that a crucified thief had been nailed up straight. ‘Or I may decide on marjoram — if that’s not too girlie.’

Nobody — that is, nobody who wanted to keep his spleen intact — would call Decius Gracilis girlie.

He was sturdy, short-legged, short-armed, shrewd and competent. At forty-five, he weighed two hundred and ten pounds naked and barefoot, with a body he was still proud to own. By descent he was Spanish, though born in Northern Italy. His heavily tanned face had wide-set eyes, which gave him a startled, boyish look, and eyebrows which, despite his thinning grey hair, were still brown. In the last year of Vespasian’s reign he had been promoted out of the XX Valeria Victrix in Britain (one of the utterly glorious legions that defeated Queen Boudicca) to be first-spear of the IX Hispana (glorious for the same heroic reason), which had happened to be his grandfather’s legion, as it once served in their home province. Under the Emperor Titus, Gracilis moved on, far across Europe to Moesia, where he served in the I Italica at Novae, staring across the Danube in case the barbarians did something stupid, then further upriver to the V Macedonica at Oescus; he had been expected to shift even deeper into the interior to the VII Claudii at Viminacium, but he had heard a rumour about a new Guards cohort so applied himself to the challenge of obtaining a transfer. He got his wish; now he was here. He had never been to Rome before yet stalked the streets like a man who thought Rome should be glad to have him.

The new cohort’s formation allowed him to skip the vigiles and Urbans to enter directly at the top. Like others, he had volunteered to take a demotion to ordinary centurion to secure this Praetorian post. Though he would have denied being arrogant, Gracilis believed he would soon move up a notch again to his rightful rank as primipilus. All the Guards centurions thought that of themselves, though he might actually achieve it.

Once assigned to a cohort, a vital task was to appoint his assistant, his beneficarius. There was always pressure to look at those who had been selected for promotion to centurion but who were awaiting a vacancy. Gracilis had no particular beef against such hopefuls since he had been one himself once, but he was an individual who took his time. He looked around. Picking his beneficarius was highly personal; by definition the two men had to get along. It was also one of the favours centurions could bestow, part of their much-loved power.

When he noticed a soldier he already knew, the decision made itself. Gracilis remembered Gaius Vinius. Back in the Twentieth, he had liked this legionary’s talent and attitude. The centurion believed he never had favourites, but he had known the young man’s father, Marcus Rubella, in the army years before so naturally he took an interest in his colleague’s son. He had nurtured the recruit, seeing him grow in a couple of years from a casual lad to a highly professional soldier. When, after his wounding, Vinius lay all night unconscious in the sanatorium, Gracilis had watched over him obsessively, alternately raging at the Ordovices and yelling abuse at the surgeon. He knew that if Vinius died, he would have to write and explain to his old friend. Since both men thought saving idiot tribunes’ lives was an insult to the gods, this would not have been easy.

When Vinius came round, it was Gracilis who told him, as considerately as possible, that he had lost his right eye and his good looks.

They were reunited in Rome on the Praetorian Campus, an enormous parade ground that sprawled between the barracks and the city walls. Gracilis was there knocking his cohort into shape with what he believed was a light hand and the men regarded as unnatural punishment. They were all tough, yet Gracilis had them whimpering. There had been rebellious mutters, comparing his treatment to that of Nero’s intractable general, Corbulo, who took troops who needed hardening up to an icy boot camp in remote Armenia, where several died of exposure and harsh treatment…

Vinius and a few comrades had been watching. They were standing on the edge of the parade ground, letting the straining bunch of new boys know by means of ‘helpful’ comments that their performance did not impress. Vinius had now achieved his own acceptance, so he could enjoy handing out this welcome to newcomers. His scars had faded, but his battered face, once so handsome, was instantly recognisable; he in turn quickly remembered his one-time centurion. When Gracilis concluded the exercise, he called Vinius over.

Formality was needed in public but once off duty they retired to the privacy of one of many bars near the camp. These were serious places where a capacity for hard drinking was the entry ticket, yet landlords knew they had to keep order or they would be closed down. The whole point of bringing the Praetorians all together in one place, back under the Emperor Tiberius, had been to impose more discipline than when they were originally billeted throughout the city and caused havoc. Guards were now discouraged from mingling with civilians. They had their own social venues. If members of the public accidentally wandered in they were served and no one bothered them, but the atmosphere soon persuaded them to drink up and leave.

Gracilis and Vinius settled down. Gracilis bought the first round, claiming seniority. They caught up on news. For the centurion this merely consisted of listing his appointments. Vinius had more to say, explaining his sudden move to the Guards and his regret at leaving the vigiles. ‘I really miss being an enquirer. I’m just a face in the ranks now.’

‘Investigators work without much supervision?’ This mattered. A centurion’s assistant would have to know his thoughts before he had them, and act on his own initiative.

‘Complete independence. I loved it,’ answered Vinius ruefully.

‘Were you any good?’

‘Shaping up.’

‘What was involved?’

‘Monitoring undesirables — prostitutes, religious fanatics, philosophers, astrologers. I investigated pilfering at the baths. Crimes in the Forum, domestic disturbances, knife fights in bars, mad dogs, street ambushes at night… On a good day,’ he reminisced, ‘I’d have some charming young lady trip in to report a home burglary.’

‘I can’t remember — are you single?’ Gracilis noticed Vinius wore a gold ring, but that could mark the equestrian rank he had acquired from his father.

A distinct shadow crossed the soldier’s scarred face. Vinius was polishing off a bowl of olives, not greedily but throwing them into his mouth with a relentless action that disguised emotion. ‘My wife died — the city epidemic. Our child too.’

Gracilis could not fully interpret the expression Vinius wore. Arruntia and their young daughter had died very recently. Vinius was still suffering a lot of family blame. One of his aunts, speaking for them all, had attacked him bluntly for not making a home visit when his dependants were sick. His last contact with Arruntia had been a typical blazing row. The next time he showed his face was at the funeral.

Losing his family had plunged him into guilt and despair. However, other women were disturbingly eager to console him. Foremost was a smart and sassy young matron called Pollia, supposedly his wife’s best friend. She had left her husband so was free to cosy up to the widower; she explained that immediate remarriage was the best way for Vinius to regain his equilibrium. He fell for it. His aunts were disgusted, though Pollia, a subtle operator, made him feel this was expected by everyone.

I give it two months! said her mother.

They lived with Pollia’s mother. Too late, Gaius saw this as a mistake. Guilt over his dead wife was expressing itself as lust (which had to be modified because of poor sound proofing in the mother’s apartment). Sex attracted him, but sex with Pollia never seemed a complete foundation for thirty years of mild debate over whether he liked carrots or how many relatives to invite for Saturnalia — family life as his aunts had drilled him to expect it. He and Pollia were not soulmates. He was glad he could flee to the camp.

Pollia had a child, not previously mentioned. Fortunately, Vinius took to the little boy.

He had made up his mind to be a better father this time.

Don’t bet on it! sniffed his aunts.

He outlined the situation to Gracilis; he even admitted he had been hustled: ‘I discovered the Praetorian salary and big bonuses make us a great catch.’

Decius Gracilis had never married. There was no idealised young girl left behind in his birthplace whom he mourned in his cups; no smelly little bundle he had visited in a native hut in Britain or Moesia, promising to regularise the arrangement once he became a veteran; no scandalous affair with a commander’s wife. It was possible his interest in Vinius had a suppressed homosexual element, though if so the centurion himself failed to recognise it and Vinius, whose attributes were clear, had never felt threatened. ‘Does this marriage mean you keep trying to wangle home leave?’

Vinius grinned. ‘No, sir; I manage to avoid domestication.’ Excellent. The centurion mentally dismissed the wife, not giving her another thought for all the rest of their service together. How Vinius would elude Pollia had yet to emerge.

The olive dish was empty and Vinius pushed it away across the table; they went through a brief mime querying whether to order another but deciding to stay as they were. Gracilis plucked at a still unfinished saucer of shellfish. Vinius signalled to a waiter for another round of drinks, his turn. They were emptying beakers at a steady pace, nothing excessive but no holding back. It indicated their complete off-duty relaxation and let Vinius forget his personal life.

He looked as if he felt better for talking. Gracilis supposed Vinius had just needed a few drinks.

‘So…’ Here came the inevitable question from Gracilis. A new Praetorian wanted to evaluate their Emperor. ‘He’s been in for a year. What’s he like?’

Vinius glanced around before he answered. They were seated on benches in a small internal courtyard, beneath a pergola vine. Sparrows minded their own business as they hopped after crumbs. Other customers were taken up with their own conversation and none were sitting too close. But Gracilis noticed the look and approved.

Vinius took his time answering: ‘Well — he’s not Titus.’

Gracilis cocked his head, unfazed. ‘A complete bastard? Well, we like a challenge.’

‘I think he’ll give us that.’

‘You’ve been up close?’

‘Comes with the job, sir.’

‘So is he your magic sponsor?’ This complication had to be factored in before Gracilis definitely invited Vinius to work with him.

‘I bloody well hope not. I know when I may have caught his eye, but nothing definite was ever said. I like to keep my head below the parapet.’

Good lad! ‘So does he talk to his Guards?’

‘No.’

‘Does he talk to you?’

‘No.’ Vinius preferred to forget their odd moment on the Capitol after the fire.

‘Thank you, Mars!.. I might have been worried about you, young man.’

‘I would be anxious myself! But he doesn’t talk to anybody. If there is a problem, it’s that he keeps his own company — too much, some say. He locks himself away. He goes for long walks, alone. Nobody knows what to make of him — and if you ask me, he does it all on purpose; he likes creating anxiety.’

‘Does protecting him get awkward?’

‘No.’ Vinius considered the question further, but stuck with his initial assessment. ‘No, he accepts protection.’

‘Is he concerned about his safety?’

‘Very much.’

‘Well that helps!’ Gracilis took a deep swallow of his wine. He was thinking. In the opinion of the other ranks, chief centurions did not bother with thought. He, like most centurions, saw himself as different, more astute, more intense, thoroughly commendable.

He reckoned Vinius had spotted being assessed. Vinius had changed since Britain. He had become fatalistic. There was a hard edge to him. That could do no harm. The world was hard.

A waiter brought new wine. Gracilis watched Vinius pour, steadying the flagon’s neck on the rim of the beaker instead of holding it above as most people thought good-mannered. Noticing his stare, Vinius explained that after losing his eye he could no longer focus length. Generally he managed. His one-eyed field of vision was almost as wide as it would be with two; only objects on his far right required him to turn his head. But, he freely told Gracilis, he was apt to tip liquor all over the table, even when sober, and he loathed going down steps.

‘Does it affect your weapon-handling?’

‘No, sir.’ The Guards would have rejected him otherwise; rightly so. ‘Well, to be honest, I’m lousy with a javelin and I couldn’t set a catapult, but at least I know my weakness. Hand-to-hand is fine. I function.’

With that cleared up, Gracilis continued to gnaw at the subject of Domitian. ‘So what’s the new boy done so far? What’s his style?’

‘Besides forming an extra Guards cohort? He caused a flurry by deciding he requires twenty-four lictors.’ Lictors were the attendants who walked ahead of a great man to let everyone know he was coming. They carried a bundle of rods, to symbolise an official’s right to impose punishments, sometimes with axes to indicate his power to execute. They cleared a passage through the crowds, though were not allowed to disturb Roman matrons — something those doughty women always reckoned a fair return for their obligation to be noble, virtuous, fertile and decorous.

The norm was twelve lictors for a consul; six for a lesser magistrate; one for a Vestal Virgin. It had been twelve for an emperor — in keeping with the original myth that an emperor was simply a leading citizen, albeit for life. Demanding twenty-four raised eyebrows.

‘Let him. Who would want to guard a no-account?’ shrugged Gracilis, unmoved. ‘ He knows his place in the cosmos now, by all means: I hear he really throws himself into using his power of life and death!’

Vinius paused, warily. ‘Yes, he had a cull. Men who had been too closely associated with Vespasian or Titus were rapidly removed.’

‘Exile?’

‘No; a short march to Hades.’

‘Well that stops plotting.’

‘And it sends warnings. The Flavians are not soft. Vespasian used to boast that he put no man to death after becoming emperor, but that was a technicality; in reality he used Titus for the dirty work.’

Gracilis said, ‘I gather Titus was never the cuddly lambkin people now choose to believe?’

‘Not in those days. Almost his last act before his father died was to invite Caecina to dinner, then signal a Guard and have him killed when he got up to leave.’

‘Caecina?’

‘The tale was that Caecina and a colleague called Marcellus were plotting to kill Vespasian — though he was seventy, so why bother? More likely they posed a future threat to Titus. Marcellus was to go on trial, but he gave up and cut his throat.’ Gracilis winced at the method. ‘An autographed speech that Caecina “planned to make to the Guards” was “discovered”, to justify the execution, if you believe it.’

‘Do you, Vinius?’

‘No. Who carefully signs draft notes — especially if they’re treason? Besides, Titus was, by his own account, a clever forger… Make your own deductions. At least Caecina went out on a full stomach,’ said Vinius in a dry tone. ‘Titus gave great banquets, by all accounts.’

Gracilis belched demurely.

The centurion continued his questions. Vinius liked his attitude: professional interest as a Guard, not leering after scandal or construing political science. With a soldier he trusted, Gracilis was diligently building a picture of the man they had to protect. He wanted to understand the Emperor, and the situation surrounding him.

Vinius offered: ‘Talking of executions, head of his hit-list was Flavius Sabinus.’

‘Cousin?’

‘Top cousin. He out-ranked Domitian at a family dinner table.’

‘Tricky situation?’

Vinius snorted. ‘For Sabinus.’

As the elder son of Vespasian’s elder brother, this Sabinus had been the most senior member of the Flavian clan. Initially, his position looked secure. He was appointed consul in Domitian’s first year, continuing the Flavian tradition of surrounding themselves with relatives. But Sabinus had already offended Domitian by having his household retainers dressed in white, which was imperial livery; Domitian had darkly implied the world was not big enough for both of them.

‘So when his consulship ended, Sabinus was executed.’

‘The heir presumptive? Just like that?’

Vinius croaked, ‘It didn’t exactly help him look harmless when a herald at the Games accidentally announced Sabinus as not consul but emperor.’

‘In Domitian’s presence?’ Gracilis winced.

‘Let’s be realistic. The herald probably got a reward for giving him a reason to lop the cousin.’

Gracilis pursed his lips. ‘Do doctors hand out diarrhoea pills in the palace?’

‘Are the rest shit scared? Too right.’ Vinius smiled, then continued in a neutral voice, ‘I haven’t heard anyone else say this, but I think it was significant that the Emperor had just lost his young son. Maybe his cousin openly presumed too much after the boy’s death. The other problem was — and you may think, still is — Sabinus was married to Titus’ daughter, Julia.’

‘She a threat?’

‘No signs so far, but she could theoretically become a figurehead for devotees of Titus.’

‘Even if she’s loyal?’ Gracilis grimly added Julia to his list of Praetorian concerns.

‘Julia must be ten years younger than the Emperor,’ said Vinius. ‘But I believe they were brought up together. Vespasian had offered her in marriage to Domitian for dynastic reasons, but Julia was a child and he was in love with Domitia Longina. Julia’s later marriage to Sabinus was equally political.’ Vinius sounded cynical, though it was not obvious whether he disapproved of how noblewomen were shunted into bed with their cousins or if he had come to despise marriage in general.

‘They had children?’

‘Luckily for the children, no. “ Oh precious nephew, sweet innocent niece, come and sit on Uncle’s knee — let Rome’s great leader wrap his friendly hands around your little rival throats… ”’

Gracilis sent Vinius a reproving look, but pressed on. ‘What’s he like with the Senate?’

‘Ignores them as much as possible.’

‘Vespasian and Titus at least paid lip service.’

‘Domitian doesn’t bother.’

‘Advisers? Any powers behind the throne that we need to watch?’

Vinius took a deep swallow of his wine as a punctuation mark. His tone was dry. ‘There is an ad hoc council of amici, Caesar’s Friends.’

Gracilis picked up on his scepticism. ‘How does that work?’

‘About twenty advisers. He summons them periodically to watch him announce decisions. Every man is bloody scared stiff. They tremble and burble admiringly. So much for the venerated Roman system,’ said Vinius. ‘Surely the whole point is for a man’s private circle to tell him what nobody else dares say?’

Gracilis pulled a face. ‘So who is his confidante? The Empress?’ A powerful empress could be a nightmare for imperial bodyguards.

Domitia’s role seemed merely ceremonial, her influence of no concern. Vinius dismissed the suggestion.

They next discussed how Domitian treated the imperial bureaucracy, those influential freedmen running the palace with whom the Guards had to liaise. ‘He kept the most loyal of his father’s private associates, but the palace staff — whom you could say really wield administrative power — were comprehensively weeded.’ Vinius gave examples: ‘He started with Classicus, who had been close to Titus. Classicus was in charge of Titus’ personal finances plus, as chamberlain, he spent a lot of time in the Emperor’s presence, and controlled access. He was swiftly chopped. Also pensioned off was Tiberius Julius, who ran the public funds — there were rumours of embezzlement, possibly trumped up to get rid of him — along with anyone else who seemed too significant in the previous administration, or whose face simply didn’t fit.’

‘Ditching staff-in-post is a good rule,’ said Gracilis approvingly. ‘Shake them up. Put in your own. Make them grateful.’ That’s why I’m looking at you, Gaius Vinius…

‘To his credit, he takes care with appointments. Demotion or promotion, he vets every one. If scribes don’t meet his standards, the duds don’t linger. And we are talking about a huge complement, Gracilis. There are scores of staff in the secretariats.’ They both grimaced. ‘He’s into everything as well. The bureaucrats hate his interference — though it’s a dilemma because this could be a good time for them if they want to be associated with a big programme of work. Titus left a full Treasury and if Domitian has inherited their father’s way with making money, funds won’t be a problem. But he demands details; he won’t let the secretaries move on anything until he gives personal approval.’

‘So what’s your overall assessment?’

Vinius had thoroughly warmed up and had answers ready: ‘He wants to be the new Augustus. People are calling him the new Nero, but they can’t see further than his youth and his love for the arts.’

‘We have to attend a lot of recitals?’

‘Afraid so! But he also loves gladiators.’

‘And long term? Is he ambitious?’

‘As Hades.’

‘I like it!’ Ambitious emperors were good news for troops. ‘So he’s thirty,’ murmured Gracilis. ‘Are we going a long way with him?’

‘Well, bodily, he does not impress — ’ Vinius, a fit man in a physical profession, was frank. ‘Mentally, I’d say he packs power. No question about his intelligence — or his determination. He has the will, he should make his mark. He’s rebuilding the city, revamping the currency, re-establishing old-fashioned morals…’

‘Jupiter! What does that mean?’

‘As Pontifex Maximus he cleaned up the Vestal Virgins-’

‘ Cleaned them up? The most revered women in Rome? What did they do? Let the sacred flame go out once too often?’

‘All very sad,’ murmured Vinius, with a trace of disrespect. ‘Brought to trial for taking lovers. Varronilla, and the Oculata sisters…’

‘Half the establishment! Found guilty?’

‘Their affairs were blatant. But to demonstrate his mercy, our leader stopped short of the traditional burial alive. They were allowed to choose how they died.’

‘A delicate touch!’

‘Feather light. Other than that, reforming morals means restating the Augustan marriage laws. Everyone should have at least three children, preferably by fathers who can be identified; widows have to remarry smartish; and the spoilsport has outlawed adultery.’ Cautious again, Vinius dropped his voice: ‘No doubt with the usual proviso that everyone else has to give up their private fun, but not the Emperor.’

‘So what’s his private fun?’ Past Caesars who indulged themselves had had disgusting habits. Gracilis acquired the anxious look of a man with no sexual history himself, fearing the worst.

‘Founding new cultural festivals,’ replied the soldier gravely. ‘Our leader is a married man, who is famously infatuated with his wife — a general’s daughter, who may even be faithful to him — well, if Domitia Longina has any sense she’ll bloody well make sure she is.’

Only when the centurion thought this subject safely disposed of did Gaius Vinius revive it mischievously, saying that nonetheless Domitian’s anterooms were packed with throngs of pretty boy eunuchs, scantily-clad imperial playthings who called themselves cup-bearers.

Decius Gracilis understood this was a tease. He swallowed his prudery. ‘Convenient. If the catamites are half naked, we don’t have to search them for concealed weapons.’

‘No, we can see straightaway whether the buggers are carrying.. Sorry, sir; “buggers” was ill-chosen, in context.’

They both cleared their throats.

By this point, Decius Gracilis felt the conversation showed the right meeting of minds. Without more ado, he made the offer of becoming his beneficarius.

Encouraged by drink, Gaius Vinius was still amused by a mental picture of the upright centurion forced to overcome his natural distaste and frisk oriental eunuchs… He accepted straightaway.