Masters of Rome (50 page)

‘You are, Princeps; and you will remain so if you act like one.'

‘Are you sure?'

‘Yes! Now sign that bitch's death warrant.' He thrust the scroll in Claudius' face.

Vespasian sensed that it was as much as Narcissus could do to restrain himself from striking the quivering wreck of a man.

Claudius eased the scroll away. ‘All right, I will.'

Narcissus heaved a sigh of relief.

‘But not here,' Claudius continued, pushing himself up from the bed. ‘I shall do it in Rome.'

‘But why wait, Princeps?'

‘I want to be taken to the Praetorian camp; I want them to watch me sign it so that they know the sorrow that it causes me but realise that I have no choice.'

‘But, Princeps—'

Claudius raised his hand. ‘No, Narcissus; you have already overstepped the mark, we'll have no more. I will sign it there.' He looked down at the two whores, suddenly distracted. ‘We'll leave as soon as I've … er … got over the shock of the situation.'

‘Yes, Princeps.'

Pallas stepped forward, unrolling a parchment upon which was written out an Imperial Decree. ‘Princeps, as you are aware there are two problems in this issue: the first one you have just dealt with in a forthright manner; may I suggest you deal with the second in the same vein? The problem of Silius being consul can, I believe, be solved by you signing this Imperial Decree, now. Vespasian will deliver it to his brother, who, as an ex-consul, has the right to speak first in a session; and with a decree from you in his hand, no one will gainsay him.'

Claudius took the scroll and read it, his mouth moving silently with the words. After a short while his slimed face broke into a smile. ‘Yes, yes; it's what I wanted anyway.' He took it to his desk,
signed it and put his seal to the signature before handing it back to Pallas. ‘Thank you, Pallas.'

Pallas added a handwritten note before rolling up the decree and passing it to Vespasian. ‘Get this to Sabinus, watch the session and then come and report to us, on the road between here and Rome, as soon as the second vote has been taken.'

‘The second vote? What'll that be?'

‘Immensely satisfying.'

Vespasian found Sabinus waiting on the steps of the Senate House with Gaius. Sweat ran freely down Vespasian's face, for he had walked as fast as dignity would allow, with Magnus, Cassandros and Tigran clearing the way for him, from the Porta Ostiensis where they had left Sextus and Marius in charge of their horses. ‘Wait for me here, Magnus.'

‘Well?' Sabinus asked as Vespasian mounted the steps.

Vespasian handed him the Imperial Decree. ‘Here it is; read it out before any other business is discussed. There's also a note in there for you.'

Sabinus unrolled the scroll, perused it quickly and then looked at Pallas' note; a broad smile of satisfaction crept over his face. ‘It would seem that I'm not only paying off my debt but I am also to do Pallas a favour for which he will reward me handsomely.'

‘What with, dear boy?' Gaius asked, interested, as always, in any patronage offered the family.

‘Moesia.'

‘A province with two legions! That shows great favour.'

‘With the added financial incentive of Macedonia and Thracia.'

Gaius rubbed his hands together. ‘That's enough to secure your finances for a long time.'

‘As well as further my military ambitions.' Still beaming, Sabinus turned and made his way up the steps.

‘What has he to do?' Gaius asked Vespasian as they followed.

‘I don't know, Uncle; but if Pallas has offered him so much it must involve being conspicuous.'

‘I hope that's not the case, dear boy.' Gaius grimaced. ‘Nothing but the animosity and jealousy of others ever came from being conspicuous.'

Gaius Silius turned from the altar and presented the assembled Senate with the unblemished livers of two geese; gifts to Rome's guardian god. ‘Jupiter Optimus Maximus favours us; the day is auspicious for the business of the city.'

The senators sat down on their folding stools, murmuring gratitude to the Junior Consul for conducting the sacrifice as he threw the livers into the altar's fire and wiped his hands.

‘He's got no idea just how auspicious it really is,' Sabinus whispered, the broad grin still on his face.

Silius walked forward to his curule chair and sat with exaggerated dignity.

The Senior Consul, Lucius Vitellius the younger, waited for him to finally settle. ‘Gaius Silius wishes to address the house.'

‘My thanks, colleague. Conscript Fathers, I appear before you for the first time as consul since being inaugurated yesterday to that most prestigious position. However, since my induction—'

‘Senior Consul,' Sabinus interrupted, standing and brandishing the scroll, ‘I have here an Imperial Decree that I've been charged by the Emperor to read to you in his regrettable absence.'

The Senior Consul did not hide his puzzlement. ‘Why has it been given to you to read out and not sent to the Consuls or the Father of the House?'

‘It's not my place to question the Emperor's motives. All I know is that he has entrusted this task to me as a man of consular rank.'

‘Then the ex-Consul should read it to us.'

Sabinus stepped out into the middle of the floor, holding the decree in both hands. ‘“I, Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, out of respect for the ways of our ancestors do decree that from this day on, the day before the calends of October in the year beginning with the Consuls Aulus Vitellius Veteris and Lucius Vipstanus Messalla Poplicola, that all consuls at their inauguration should swear the ancient oath that they
shall always strive to prevent the return of the King.” Would the Senate now vote to ratify this law?'

The Senior Consul hastily called for a vote on this latest, seemingly innocuous, piece of legal pedantry; it was passed unanimously.

Sabinus looked at Silius once the vote had passed; he remained unmoved by the development. ‘It would seem, Conscript Fathers, that this was made law by our learned Emperor the day before Gaius Silius took his oath, therefore the oath he took was not complete.' Sabinus walked forward and handed the decree to the Senior Consul.

Lucius Vitellius glanced at the seal and date and then at his junior colleague next to him. ‘I agree; it looks as if you have not completed your oath, Silius.'

‘A formality,' Silius replied, waving a dismissive hand, smiling imperiously and getting to his feet. ‘I shall swear the line immediately.'

‘Would that it were so simple,' Sabinus said as Silius headed for the altar, ‘but as we all know if there is a fault in any ceremony then it is void and the whole process has to start again from the beginning. The fact that you were willing to swear the extra line just now means that you acknowledge that your oath isn't complete, does it not, Silius?'

Silius turned, his face betraying the first vestiges of concern. ‘What of it? We shall just start the inauguration again now.'

‘Of course we will; but first of all the correct sacrifices have to be made so that we know whether the day is auspicious.'

‘I've just pronounced it auspicious.'

‘You did, but only a consul can do that and you are not yet a consul.'

The full implication of this hit Gaius Silius and his handsome face froze as Sabinus tilted his head and looked at him with raised eyebrows and an innocent expression.

‘It would seem that the party that you co-hosted last night in the Gardens of Lucullus to celebrate your inauguration was a bit previous, was it not? It was to celebrate your inauguration, was it not?'

‘I … er … yes, of course it was.'

Sabinus looked around the house for senators he had seen the previous evening. ‘Juncus Vergilianus, you were there, I know; was it a party to celebrate Silius' consulship, or non-consulship as it plainly is now?'

‘As far as I was aware,' Virgilianus replied hesitantly.

‘As far as you were aware? Hmm. What about you, Plautius Lateranus? Was it anything more than what Silius says it was? Perhaps your enthusiastic participation was mainly because you were still celebrating your uncle's Ovation fifteen months later?'

Lateranus squirmed in his seat but said nothing.

Sabinus rounded on an effete young man. ‘And you, Suillius Caesoninus? What were you aware of whilst you spent the evening on your knees either facing – as it were – your partners or backing onto them? No, there is no need to answer as I'm sure that you had absolutely no idea what was going on.' Sabinus raised his arm and pointed at a young senator. ‘But you, Vettius Valens, you knew exactly what the party was because I heard you when you climbed that apricot tree; I heard you say that there was a storm coming that would strike the Emperor. I heard you say that as we snatched the two whores that you were with; yes, Vettius, we took Cleopatra and Calpurnia to the Emperor. They told him what the celebration was really for, Vettius; what do you think they said?'

Vettius looked in panic at Silius who slumped in his chair, not meeting his eyes.

‘Admitting the truth now, Vettius, might help you later. What did the whores say?'

Vettius hung his head and then drew a breath. ‘They told the Emperor that the party was to celebrate the marriage of Silius to Messalina.'

Silence was complete as if the senators hearing this for the first time were straining their ears in an effort to perceive a different answer: one that they could believe. But it never came and gradually it dawned on the senators that what Vettius had said was, indeed, the truth.

A chill ran through their ranks.

The Senior Consul had visibly paled as he addressed his ex-colleague. ‘You've married the Empress! To what purpose? To live privately with her or …?' The last question was left unspoken but all knew its content.

Silius drew himself up to answer but Sabinus interjected. ‘There is no question of Messalina living privately, is there, Silius? No, Conscript Fathers, this is a direct challenge to the Emperor's position; in her arrogance she thought that she could force you to choose between the rightful successor to Augustus and her. Yes, her; not this well-sculpted, prize figure of Roman manhood that we see before us. He was just to be her route to ultimate power. You see, Silius, the gods bless very few with both beauty and brains and unfortunately for you, you're not one of them; you would have been dead the moment that you stepped down from the consulship having got Messalina what she wanted.'

Vespasian enjoyed the look on Silius' face as the truth of Sabinus' words sank in.

Sabinus, too, was evidently enjoying himself. ‘This puppet, Conscript Fathers, was about to give a speech before I took the floor. Would you like to summarise for the House what you were going to say, Silius, or would you prefer that I do it?'

Silius jumped to his feet. ‘You have no idea what I planned to say.'

‘Try me.'

‘I was going to say that I propose that in future all senatorial documents should be written incorporating the three new letters that the Emperor wishes to add to the alphabet.'

Sabinus smiled with exaggerated patience. ‘No, Silius, that's a lie.' He looked at Pallas' handwritten note. ‘You were going to inform the Senate that you were now the husband of the Empress and as consul you would call for a vote to depose the Emperor and appoint Messalina as regent to his son Britannicus in his place. You were going to reassure the Conscript Fathers that they need fear nothing from the Guard as the most senior officers had been bought and then you were going to produce a list; where is that list, Silius?'

Silius' right hand moved involuntarily a fraction towards the fold in his toga. ‘What list?'

‘The list of every man here who has, in the past, slept with your new wife. But no matter.' Sabinus turned to address the whole Senate. ‘Conscript Fathers, with this list he was going to blackmail you. Not to be too indelicate, I believe that the majority of you would not enjoy the prospect of that list ending up in the Emperor's hands if he were to be finally persuaded of Messalina's infidelity.' Again he glanced at Pallas' note. ‘However, I am instructed to offer you this: there will be an amnesty for everyone who has defiled the Emperor's bed now that Messalina has seen fit to officially leave it. A small fee will be charged for this, negotiable through me on a case by case basis.'

At that, Vettius Valens leapt to his feet and sprinted from the chamber.

‘Let him go; Messalina will hear the news soon enough anyway. Conscript Fathers, I move that rather than restart Silius' inauguration we should take advantage of his non-consular status and vote on whether or not he should be escorted by me to the Praetorian camp to await the Emperor's judgement. Who would prefer to debate that motion? Or perhaps you would all prefer to carry on with the ceremony, vote to depose Claudius – trusting that the Guard have no objections – and then have Messalina, whose character is no secret, rule Rome as regent to a child who won't achieve manhood for seven years, by which time her claws will be in all of us?' Sabinus looked up and down the lines of Rome's élite, before adding, ‘Those of us still left alive, that is.'

Sabinus walked back to his seat as the Senate erupted in competitive indignation at the treatment of their beloved Emperor by his harpy of a wife and a nonentity, a man who had only just been raised to the Senate and had never even served as a quaestor, let alone consul. Silius stood, watching them in silence as a condemned man would watch the approach of his executioner.

‘That's got them going,' Gaius observed as Sabinus sat back down. ‘It's also made you very conspicuous, dear boy, especially
if you're going to be naming the amount that each man has to pay for an amnesty.'

Sabinus smiled as Lucius Vitellius finally managed to get himself heard and seconded the motion. ‘They'll have forgotten about it by the time I'm back in Rome.'