John Roberts - Under Vesuvius
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- Название:Under Vesuvius
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"No. They were desert men, simple warriors. Since they died in the morning, they must be cremated by nightfall and their ashes returned to their families in Numidia."
"I wish I had the firewood concession in this district," Marcus said. "With all the funerals lately, I'd be rich as Crassus."
11
When Gelon arrived the next morning our interview was unproductive.
"Patron?" he said.
"Yes. Patron, partner, hospes, what have you. In order to practice business in Italy, he must have had one. You mean you were never introduced?" I was seated in the impluvium that morning. Since the town house was three stories high, this formed a veritable well, with the dining room, master bedroom, entrance hall, and so forth opening off the central collonaae, the upper floors for storage and the household staff. It was bright and airy, with a beautiful fountain and many potted plants. But I was too frustrated to appreciate its charms.
"Not to my knowledge. If he had one, I am sure it was purely as a matter of convenience. No one was ever introduced to me as such."
"You mean he never mentioned that he had a patron, one who no
doubt demanded a percentage of his profits? This is a grave oversight in an otherwise exemplary man of business."
Gelon jerked his head sideways, the Numidian equivalent of a shrug. "Nonetheless, he never spoke of such a person to me."
Marcus awaited nearby. I caught his eye and nodded. Silently he left the house, bound for the municipal archive.
Hermes' report was likewise unproductive. "This town's gates haven't been guarded since the rebellion of Spartacus more than twenty years ago," he said. "You should see the hinges. They're solid with rust. They couldn't get the gates shut if the Parthians invaded. Nobody keeps track of who enters or leaves the town at any hour. They don't want to do anything that might slow down business."
"Somehow this doesn't surprise me," I said. "Cato sounds like a wiser man by the minute."
An hour later Marcus returned, smiling so sunnily that I knew he had bad news to report. "The archivist was of no use at all."
"Gaeto's registration has to be on record there," I said. "Have you forgotten how to bribe a public slave? It's a simple transaction involving money."
"Oh, he was happy to be of assistance," Marcus protested. "You know how boring his job must be. It seems that the relevant documents are no longer there."
"Misplaced?" I suggested. In Rome, the archive slaves kept the filing system deliberately chaotic, so that only they could find anything. You had to bribe them generously if you wanted them to find anything for you.
"No, the archive is in impeccable order. They use the Alexandrian system, with the ends of the scrolls painted in various colors by category, and each category arranged by alpha-beta-gamma, so that any document can be found in seconds. He walked right to where it was supposed to be, but it wasn't among the registrations of alien merchants. And we quickly saw that it wasn't misfiled among other documents. It's just gone."
I kneaded the bridge of my long, Metellan nose. "My day is a shambles and it's not even mid-morning yet. I suppose the slave has no idea who might have appropriated this document?"
"He says he's only been there a year. It might have been taken any time before that."
"Or," Hermes said, "somebody might have gone there yesterday and bribed him to turn it over. He would hardly court a severe flogging by admitting it."
"Everyone here has something to hide," I said, "and the favorite thing to conceal seems to be any connection to Gaeto the Numidian."
This left me with one possible source of information: the grieving widow. Just after mid-morning I was at her front door, accompanied by my lictors. The janitor admitted us and Jocasta received me in the atrium.
"Official business today?" she asked.
"It isn't a court day," I told her, "but I have some informal questions I'd like to ask."
"Then please come this way." As I followed her within the house I admired the way she moved. She had a walk that was both graceful and provocative; its sway emphasized by her long, red hair, which was tied back that morning in a tail that hung down as far as her very shapely buttocks. These and her long legs were clearly delineated by the gown she wore; one of those sheer, close-pleated Greek garments you see in Greek vase paintings, not as shameless as the Coan cloth dresses but extremely bold by stodgier Roman standards. In fact, she was in full Greek regalia that morning, with armlets banding her bare upper arms, her hairstyle and her cosmetics-everything as Greek as Homer.
Instead of the irjipluvium, this time she led me to a small library that opened off the'collonacle. 'l scanned the titles in the honeycomb racks lining three walls. Her taste seemed to run to Greek playwrights and poets, no historians or philosophers. I had the impression that now, free of her husband, Jocasta was detaching herself from all things Numidian and Roman, reverting to her pure Greek heritage.
We took seats at a small table, and a slave set watered wine and a plate of fruit between us. I took a sip and, the amenities now taken care of, got down to the matter at hand.
"Jocasta, you've told me that when your husband was away from Italy, you handled all his business dealings."
"Yes, I told you that," she agreed.
"So you dealt with all his business associates?"
"I believe I did."
"Then you must know Gaeto's citizen partner."
She didn't pause a beat. "Oh, yes. It was a man named Gratius Glabrio." Just because she didn't pause didn't mean that she was not lying, of course.
"Glabrio? Is he a citizen of Baiae? Of Cumae or Stabiae or Pompeii, by any chance?"
"Oh, no. He lives in Verona. It will be days before he even knows that Gaeto is dead."
"Which would account for his absence from the funeral. Have you any idea why there is no record of the affiliation in the local archive? It is required by law."
"I've no idea at all. The partnership was established when my husband first set up business in Italy. That was several years before we were married. I've never met the man personally, although just last year I sent him his percentage of the year's profits."
Another dead end. Verona was nearly as far from Baiae as it was possible to go and still be on the Italian peninsula. By the time I could prove or disprove the existence of this Gratius Glabrio I would already have, hopefully, solved this case. And by that time Gelon might well have been tried, condemned, and executed for a murder I did not believe he had committed.
"You make much of Gaeto's outcast status," I said, "yet you are a woman of education and refinement. If I may be so personal, how does one of your breeding end up married to a Numidian slaver?"
"Haven't you guessed?" she said with a sultry tilt of her head. "Gaeto bought me."
"You were a slave?"
"Nothing quite as crude as that. I am from Athens. Like my mother and grandmother before me, I was raised to be a hetaera."
This explained much. Most Romans think that a hetaera is just a high-class whore, but the truth is more complex. The word means "companion," and they are just that: women raised from childhood to be fit companions for well-bred men. To this end they are educated far beyond the usual level allowed women. They must be able to converse knowl-edgeably and with wit on a wide range of subjects: politics, history, art, and so forth. They learn music and poetry and, of course, a great many sexual refinements.
It just goes to show you that not all Greek men are pederastic boy humpers. Some of them actually desire the companionship of intelligent, educated women and are willing to pay very high fees for the privilege.
"Gaeto was just a wealthy merchant in need of a refined wife for his Italian home. My mother named a price, and he paid it without haggling. The status of rich man's wife is not a bad one for one of my heritage. Of course, at the time I didn't know what his business was, nor about the other wife in Numidia. Still, it wasn't a bad arrangement. Amid great luxury I set about applying some polish to my new husband and I think you will agree I was successful in this."
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