The Hadrian Enigma - A Forbidden History (53 page)

“
Are you able to make contact with our deceased, Antinous, to enquire his view of his passing from his own lips, woman?” Clarus interposed provocatively.

“
Not at this time, my lord,” was the shrewd reply. “His shade is on its long journey to its final rest. Even nine days barely begins the adventure.”

“
Then can you
look into Time
, madam, and see what occurred to the boy two days ago?” Suetonius added even more provocatively.

“
Not without his shade’s cooperation,” was the plausible if eluding reply. Suetonius had again heard a fortunate omission from a professed seer.

“
Yet you believe he will reach from the grave, milady?”

“
Possibly, when he is ready. I will await the signals,” she offered generously.

The group of four looked upon the haughty figure with wavering confidence.

“
Where were you, madam, on the day of the boy’s death?” Suetonius proceeded.

“
I have barely departed the precincts of
The Alexandros
since the barque’s assembly here on the day of our arrival last week. There is nothing in this remote place to interest me.”

“
Do you realize, madam, how many of the natives of this part of Egypt are claiming the death of Antinous will induce a miracle?” Suetonius stated. “They say he’s a sacrifice to their gods, and that the river flowing beneath us here will flood to its desired height next season because of his death?”

“
I too have heard that said,” she responded.

“
Some say the priests of Amun may have engineered this event? Do you believe these Egyptian wizards are capable of such a crime?” Clarus probed. “In fact, we’ve been told the priest known as Pachrates of Memphis may have had a role in such a conspiracy.”

Perenna remained seated in a pensive mood for some moments.

“
I am not aware of such a conspiracy, sirs,” she replied, “and I do not know the gifts of this priest Pachrates. But I’ve come to learn how in this odd land conspiracy abounds and deceit is commonplace. It is true the priests of the Old Religion here are eager to regain their influence with
Pharaoh
and have their temple lands restored to them. I’m sure they’ll stop at nothing to achieve their goals.”

“
But would killing Great Caesar’s consort be a suitable gesture? Surely this would seem a risky enterprise likely to deeply offend their
Pharaoh
, not appease him?” Suetonius asked.

“
Only, gentlemen, if the crime was ascribed to them,” the woman with the white painted features assured. “Perhaps the perpetrators, if this indeed is what has occurred, have performed some masterly magic in covering their tracks?”

“
What advantage would provoke them to such daring?” Clarus interjected. “
Cui bono
, who benefits?”

Perenna smiled limply.

“
Perhaps the drowning sacrifice of such a lofty yet disposable member of the Court would give Great Caesar reason to declare this place the appropriate site for
Hadrianopolis
, his new city in Middle Egypt? I am sure you have heard of this project?” Perenna proposed. “Such a sacrifice sanctifies this place in the eyes of the natives, which gives it enhanced value.” She continued in a conspiratorial vein.

“
And if
Hadrianopolis
was established here at the east bank opposite the stamping ground of Amun’s opponent sects at Hermopolis, then the priests of Amun here would greatly benefit from Caesar’s new city. Pachrates has been at Caesar’s side on the planning of the project for months. He may have recommended the efficacy of such an sacrifice?”

“
Do you suggest Hadrian was party to a conspiracy to kill the Bithynian?! Do you accuse Caesar of murder?!” Clarus uttered with a rising flush.

“
Indeed no. Great Caesar need have no knowledge of such a plot,” she offered calmly.

Both Suetonius and Clarus sensed this unconventional woman was toying with them.

“
Once again, where were you at the time of the boy’s death?” Clarus demanded.

“
As I have said, gentlemen, on the night of the young man’s death I was secure in my chamber here at
The Alexandros
performing preliminary rites for the Festival of Isis. Isis is celebrated at Rome too. Isis has become a feature of our cult as much as it has with all women of the Empire,” she replied. “We too honor Isis and the resurrection of Osiris. Our rites are lengthy.”

“
Do you have witnesses to this, my lady?” Suetonius enquired. “We’ve been told your protector, the Prefect Governor, was enjoying his pleasures elsewhere that night.”

Anna Perenna thoughtfully considered her response.

“
Indeed, gentlemen, I possess witnesses. My assigned bodyguard was on my watch at
The Alexandros
throughout the night,” she offered.

“
And those officers were …?” Clarus asked.

“
The captain of my guard can vouchsafe for me, gentlemen. He is known to you. The Alexandrian Praetorian, Centurion Quintus Urbicus of Numidia,” she responded. “I am told he and his patrol have since been allocated to your service?”

“
They have indeed, madam,” Clarus confirmed.

“
Then you will know he is a witness of the highest credibility.”

Suetonius offered a new thought.

“
Madam, you say Antinous was a 
lofty yet disposable member of the Court.
In what way was the young man
disposable
?” the Special Inspector asked.

“
Why, as charming as the lad may have been, his usefulness to Caesar had expired. He knew this himself, too. He was no longer Caesar’s closest intimate. At least, this is what he told me,” Perenna confided. “It was one of the issues for him seeking my services.”

“
He told you this? What other issues were there?” Suetonius queried.

“
Well, his future was one. There was his other relationship. And Caesar’s health too. There were several things of great concern to him,” she revealed.

The group of four were startled.

“
His other relationship?!
We are under the impression the boy was utterly faithful to his long-term
erastes
?”

“
Gentlemen, since Caesar put the fellow aside at Alexandria many weeks ago the lad has found solace in another’s bosom. Surely you appreciate he was attractive to many at Court? There is no shortage of suitors,” she responded breezily.

“
Who? Who?” Clarus demanded.

“
I’m afraid he didn’t reveal a name to me, sirs,” she said. “But I can imagine it would be easily expected of so appealing a fellow.”

“
What too do you mean by
Caesar’s health
?” Suetonius queried.

“
There are many at Court who express concern about Hadrian’s coughing bouts. They are no longer a mere nuisance to him. They are known to draw blood from his chest,” Perenna stated confidently. “His young consort was troubled by this circumstance and hoped someone such as I would have a herb or decoction to treat such ailments. But this is a physician’s art, not a priestess of Anna Perenna. We concentrate on fertility, romance, beauty, and divination, not sickness.”

“
Tell me, madam, you use your name objectively in the third person? Why is this so?” Suetonius queried.

The tall woman faced him blankly for a few moments. She cleared her throat before responding while Suetonius looked intently at the brightly colored gem upon a finger of her right hand. He felt the gemstone reminded him of something or someone. It was familiar.

“
The name Anna Perenna, good sirs, is as much a title as a personal name. All senior priestesses of the cult of Anna Perenna are named
Anna Perenna. I 
am Anna Perenna at Alexandria. My teacher and leader at Rome is Anna Perenna at Rome. Two others are elsewhere in the Empire,” the pockmarked matron clarified pertly. “But each of us is guided by the invocation ‘
for leave to live in and through the year to our liking
’. It is our motto.”

She returned to silence.

“
Then you have a previous name and family after all? Before you became Anna Perenna, that is?”

“
No that I recall, sir. Since childhood I have always been
Anna
to my priestly community at Rome. I have been raised to receive and enact the hallowed duties of an
Anna Perenna
,” she explained. “The priestesses adopt orphans and out-of-wedlock infants of good family to train them in this manner, unless they prove unsuitable to the task. I was eminently suitable.”

“
Then you cannot throw any light at all on the death of the Bithynian, madam?” Suetonius now finalized his line of questioning.

“
Not I, Inspector. Perhaps the wizard Pachrates can cast such light as you may require,” she offered. A sense of remoteness appeared in her eyes. She continued.

“
I am told we have been instructed by Caesar to attend the reception platform before his chambers an hour ahead of dawn on tomorrow’s Third Day?

The third day of The Isia begins the days of celebration, the day when Osiris is restored to life in Isis’s arms after his journey in the Underworld. Seth and evil are defeated. Life is restored to this land and its
Pharaoh
. It is an
apotheosis
. Caesar is assembling his key advisors and colleagues for this dawn’s arrival.”

“
Life is restored to its Pharaoh, did you say?” Suetonius queried.

“
This is what these people believe in this land,” Perenna claimed.

“
We too are obliged to attend the dawn assembly,” Clarus interjected, “so we’d better get a move on with our interviews. Time is passing.”

Suetonius was reluctant to depart. He was not entirely satisfied with the woman’s testimony. He also wondered where he had previously seen a striking ring similar to the one on the priestess’s hand.

CHAPTER 23

“
W
ell what do we make of her?” Suetonius asked the others. “She’s a very cool lady, despite the afflictions beneath the pastes and the
kohl
.?”

The biographer scanned his three companions for a response. They had alighted from a gondola ferrying their return to shore from
The Alexandros
.

The runabout to the Governor’s barque was an elegant vessel whose single sail was emblazoned with the Governor’s symbol of an Alexandrine eight-pointed golden star upon a field of sky blue. A wharf patrol in similar colors carefully recorded the group of four’s return from
The Alexandros.
Their return was inscribed in the patrol’s papyrus list of movements to-and-fro from the riverside jetty. Suetonius noted this clerical diligence, but had other things on his mind.

“
Surisca, my dear, from a woman’s perspective do you have an opinion of this
Grandmother of Time
?”

The Syri entertainer held her own counsel momentarily.

“
Well, what did you think?” he pressured again. “Don’t be shy, my dear, we’ve come to value your views.”

“
This lady is a dissembler, Master. She is lying to you, I’d say,” Surisca quietly offered.

“
Lying? A liar? In what way, Surisca? What makes you think so?”

“
It’s my intuition, Master. A woman senses these things. She often knows when another woman is hiding a truth,” was the young woman’s reply. “There’s something amiss with the Lady Priestess in my view, my lords.”

Clarus and Suetonius paused in suspended agreement to the statement. Strabon now interrupted.

“
I agree, gentlemen. I don’t know why I believe so, but as I notated her words I sensed she was holding something back. It was in the tone in her voice. It was a feigned confidence. I have listened intently to many voices in my time and can often detect fraud.”

“
What sort of thing, I wonder?” Suetonius asked. “We can’t judge a woman merely on the tone of her voice.”

Surisca again raised her hand to speak.

“
Were you aware of the blood, Masters?” she asked.

“
Blood?
Blood!? What blood?” Clarus yelped.

“
If I’m not mistaken, my lords, there were droplets of blood or something similar oozing from the
amphora
up on the wall niche. They were leaking through a fine crack in the clay lip and dripping down the timbers behind. Perhaps it was some other dark fluid such as wine or
garam
sauce?” she proposed.

“
Did anyone else notice a fluid?” Suetonius asked. “I certainly didn’t, though I did notice a thin dark line running down the hull. You sense it was blood, was it? My eyes aren’t what they once were.”

“
But what would a respectable Roman priestess companion of the Prefect Governor be doing with a jug of blood in her workshop?” Clarus asked. “Is the juice of life a component of her priestly
pharmacopeia,
or does she store the gore of her daily divination victims for sanctification? Theurgists are known to harvest and hoard many odd materials. But stored blood goes off very speedily. It gels and rots. It smells very badly very quickly, like an arena’s sands or a charnel house. It’s not a pleasing odor, I assure you.”

“
But not if it was relatively fresh,” Suetonius said. “Yet the jar seemed to be enshrined in some way? It was being
venerated
by the Governor’s consort. It was being
adored
with a votive lamp and a talisman or two.”