Steven Saylor - A murder on the Appian way

"How did it happen?"

"I think you know how it's done, Papa."

"You know what I mean!"

"Is she absolutely certain about… her condition?"

"She seems to be. So was Bethesda, after she questioned her."

"When did it happen, Papa? The first time, I mean… assuming there was more than one occasion…"

"Do you remember the day the contio turned into a riot, and Belbo was killed, and the next day you and I decided to merge our households? You brought your bodyguards along with you, and gave me Davus to replace Belbo. Apparently, that very first night he was under my roof-"

"Oh, no!"

"Yes! What in Hades are you smiling at?"

"Am I? Well, it's just — at least, Davus wasn't my slave any longer when it happened, technically. Thank the gods for that. I'd given him to you, to be your personal bodyguard."

"So you're saying none of this is your concern?"

"No, Papa, that's not what I meant. I'm concerned, of course. But deciding what to do with Davus is entirely up to you."

"Thank you very much!"

The serving boy made a fortuitous appearance to refill our cups.

"He saved my life that day, you know," I said. "What's that?"

"The riot, the massacre in the Forum. When Milo and Caelius escaped dressed up like slaves. I came very close to being killed myself. It was Davus who plucked me out of the crowd. He's no coward, that's for sure."

"I'll say. It takes a brave man to fiddle with his master's daughter right under his roof, and on his first day in the house. What could he have been thinking?"

"What was he thinking with, you mean. Not with his head! Diana claims it's not his fault, of course."

"I think some of it must be his fault, Papa."

"I know what she means, and so do you. She says that she was the one who… initiated the matter."

"You make it sound like a legal contract! She may have 'initiated' it, but he was the one who should have refused. I told you Diana was starting to have an eye for young men. I told you it was time for her to marry."

"An eye for young men…" I nodded. "You'll have to admit, Davus is just what they like. Big as Hercules. Handsome as Apollo."

"And as stupid as an ox. An ox in rut, at that! Where in Hades is that serving boy? Do you feel like doing some gambling, Papa?"

I had to laugh out loud. "Eco, I feel like I've been doing nothing but gambling for months now. I think I'd like to stop gambling for awhile!"

"And just drink!"

"Exactly, Just drink!"

The serving boy arrived. We complained that the tavern's cups were absurdly small. He made a face to show that he had heard this before.

"So Diana is absolutely certain?" said Eco. His speech was beginning to slur.

"Yes. I didn't inquire for the precise details, Eco, but it's been over three months since the two of them met, and Bethesda says that Diana's schedule is considerably more reliable than the Roman calendar-"

"No leap-months!" For some reason Eco found this hilarious. I waited for him to finish cackling. "Anyway, it's all a great mess."

"So you mean, all the time Davus was with us on the Appian Way-"

"He was thinking about Diana, no doubt! Just as you were missing Menenia, and I…"

"And afterwards, when we were abducted, and he was thrown from his horse and then came to his senses and went back to the house — "

"Yes, Eco. The two of them were under the same roof every day, all day, and can you believe that Bethesda never noticed? Of course,

Bethesda was distraught over the two of us, and busy managing Pompey's guards and trying to keep the household running. Diana was probably her least worry."

"Still, how could Bethesda not have smelled something brewing? I think what this means, Papa, is that Diana has proved herself to be more clever and conniving than her mother!"

"Actually, I think I knew that already. Yes, Diana outwitted Bethesda. She hid her trysts with Davus — "

"All those days we were gone… and all the days we've been back!"

"Please, Eco, I don't want to think about it. And she also managed to hide her condition from Bethesda, which was quite a feat. Of course, that couldn't go on forever. All this time, she's been growing more and more miserable — "

"And Davus has been acting like the treasury slave caught with his hand in the coffer… so to speak."

"Yes, I could tell he was guilty of something. It's a terrible betrayal, isn't it? He was supposed to be guarding me and my family, and instead…"

"Papa, Davus is a man. And Diana, like it or not, is a woman."

"Davus is my slave, and Diana is my daughter!"

"Meto was a slave, before you adopted him. And Bethesda was a slave, before you set her free and married her."

"But Eco was only a little boy, and Bethesda was carrying Diana. What was I to do, have my daughter born a slave?"

"You could set Davus free. Make him a citizen. Then he could — "

"Out of the question! Reward him for what he's done?"

"Then the only alternative, short of putting him to death, is to sell him, preferably to a new master somewhere far, far away. Or you could sell him to the galleys or mines if you really wanted to punish him; he's young and strong enough that he'd probably survive a few years of that Most men would have had him beaten senseless and put in chains the moment they found out, and done something almost as bad if not worse to the daughter involved. In the old days, a good father would have had both parties put to death on the spot and never have blinked an eye — "

"Eco, stop! Oh, all this smoke is giving me a headache. I don't want to think about it any more. Look, isn't that…?" I peered through the orange reek of hazy lamplight "Over there in the corner — it is! Who would have thought it?"

I got up and walked, not entirely in a straight line, across the room. Sitting alone in the corner was Tiro.

"Exercising your rights as a freedman to go out drinking and whoring in the middle of the night?" I said. "Surely Cicero wouldn't approve."

Tiro looked up at me bleakly but didn't speak.

"The atmosphere in this place can hardly be good for your health," I said. "And this wine would rot anybody's stomach. Is there room on that bench for me?"

"I can't stop you from sitting wherever you want, citizen."

"Tiro, let's have no hard feelings between you and me." I put my arm around him.

"Gordianus, you're drunk."

"And you will be, too, soon enough. Do you come here often?"

He finally smiled a bit. "Every now and then. Sometimes I just have to get away. And sometimes…" I saw that he was looking at one of the women for sale.

"Tiro, you dog. Are you telling me that you have a secret life that Cicero wouldn't approve of?"

"Why not? He's done things behind my back that I don't approve of, hasn't he? Gordianus, if I had known at the time, if there had been any way for me to stop it — "

"No, Tiro, not another word about that. Not tonight! I have too much else on my mind that I'm trying to forget." I summoned the serving boy to refill Tiro's cup. "I couldn't believe your master's performance today."

"He's not my master any longer. You know that."

"Sorry; habit. What in Hades was wrong with him? He seemed so sure of himself last night, so confident. He was pure Cicero. I wanted to strangle him!"

"When you saw him, yes. But he's been up and down for days now. Giddy and sure of himself one moment, blind with despair the next. You have no idea how this crisis weighed on him. How many friends deserted him over Milo. How shabbily Pompey and Caesar have been treating him. You know his Achilles' heel, his digestion; he's hardly been able to eat a thing for days. He wakes up in the middle of the night with cramps. It's been a terrible ordeal, a crushing burden. What he allowed Milo to do to you — I know you said not to speak of it, but I have to — that was out of character for him, and you know it. Just as out of character as what happened today. Thank the gods it's over, at least!"