Steven Saylor - Catilina's riddle

V

The next morning Marcus Caelius was up before I was. I found him in front of the stable, fully dressed and readying his mount for the ride back to Rome. His bodyguards emerged from within, rubbing their eyes and brushing straw from their hair. The sun was not quite above Mount Argentum, and the world was lit by a thin blue light. A trail of mist hovered over the stream and crept into the low places. From Publius Claudius's farm to the west, a faraway cock began to crow.

'Weren't you able to sleep, Caelius?'

'Quite well, thank you.'

'The bed was too hard, wasn't it? I knew it would be. And the room was too stuffy.' 'No…'

'Alas, as you've seen for yourself, my home is wholly unsuitable for distinguished guests.'

Caelius caught my meaning and smiled. "They say that Catilina is like a good general; he can eat and sleep under any conditions. Your accommodations will be more than adequate.'

'I still haven't said yes, Caelius.'

'I thought you had.'

'I'll need to consider it'

'Which is the same as saying no. Time presses, Gordianus.'

'Then no,' I snapped, suddenly tired of bantering with him.

He clucked his tongue. ‘You'll change your mind as soon as I'm gone. Send a messenger to me.' He mounted his horse and ordered his bodyguards to get ready.

Bethesda emerged from the house, dressed in a long-sleeved stola

with her hair down. The black and silver strands cascaded in splendid waves down her back, and there was a dreamy look in her eyes, for which I felt partly responsible.

'Surely, Marcus Caelius, you're not leaving us without eating first?' She positively purred. 'I had planned something special for breakfast.'

'I prefer to start a long ride on an empty stomach. I've looted some bread and fruit from your larder, for the road.' He turned his steed around a few times while his bodyguards mounted their horses.

'Wait a moment,' I said. 'I'll ride with you as far as the Cassian Way.'

As we set out, the sun crested the mountain and lit up the world, casting long shadows behind us. Birds began to sing. We passed by vineyards on one side and a mowed field of hay on the other. Caelius breathed in deeply. 'Ah, Gordianus, the smell of a country morning! I see why you prefer it to the city. Yet the city does not cease to exist, merely because you turn your back on it. Neither do a man's obligations.'

'You are nothing if not persistent, Caelius,' I said, shaking my head ruefully. 'Did you learn that trait from Cicero, or from Catilina?'

'A little from both, I think. There's something else I learned from Catilina: a riddle. You must like riddles, Gordianus, being so adept at solving mysteries. Do you want to hear it?'

I shrugged.

'It's a little riddle that Catilina likes to pose to his friends. He told it on the night of the blood oath. " I see two bodies ," he said. " One is thin and wasted, but has a great head. The other body is big and strong — but it has no head at all" ' He laughed quietly.

I shifted uneasily on my mount. 'What is the point?'

Caelius gave me his heavy-lidded look. 'But it's a riddle, Gordianus! You must figure out the answer for yourself. I tell you what: when you dispatch your messenger to me, use a code. If you'll play host to.Catilina, if your answer is yes, then say: "The body without a head." But if no, then say: "The head without a body." But don't wait long; once set in motion, events will move very swiftly.'

"They always do,' I said, reining in my horse. We had reached the Cassian Way. Caelius waved to me, then with his men turned onto the stone-paved surface and gathered speed. For a moment I watched their capes fluttering behind them like pennants, then turned back towards the house, more uncertain and apprehensive than ever.

* * *

I was in my library that afternoon, sketching fanciful plans for the water mill, when Aratus announced that Congrio and his assistants had returned.

'Good, show them in. I want to see them. Privately.'

Aratus narrowed his eyes and withdrew. A few moments later Congrio and the kitchen slaves entered. I put aside my tablet and stylus and gestured for them to shut the door.

'Well, Congrio, how did things go with the Claudii?'

'Quite well, Master. I'm sure you'll receive no complaints about our service. Claudia gave me this note to give to you.' He handed me a rolled scrap of parchment sealed with wax on which Claudia had impressed her ring. Her seal, I noticed, was an abbreviation of her name, with the letter C enclosing a smaller A. It was clearly her own seal, neither inherited from her father nor taken from a husband, but invented by herself. This was unusual for a Roman matron, but Claudia was an unusually independent woman. I broke the seal and unrolled the letter.

To Gordianus:

Greetings, neighbour, and my gratitude for the loan of your slaves. They have comported themselves admirably, most especially your chief of the kitchen, Congrio, who has lost none of his skill since the days when he served my cousin Lucius. I am doubly grateful because my own head cook fell ill in the midst of preparations, whereupon Congrio proved to be not merely a great help but utterly essential; I should have been distraught and desperate without him. I will remember this when calculating the favour I owe you.

On a different subject, and confidentially, I want you to know that I did my best to put in a good word for you in the family council. We Claudii are a stubborn and opinionated bunch, and I cannot say that I immediately swayed anyone towards a more moderate view, but I think I made a start. Anyway, I did what I could. It was a beginning.

Thank you again for the generous loan. Consider this your promissory note, and call upon me some day to repay it. I remain your grateful neighbour,

Claudia

I rolled the letter and tied it with a ribbon, then saw that Congrio was watching me with his head quizzically cocked. 'She was quite impressed with you’1 said, at which Congrio let out a pent-up breath and smiled sweetly.

'A good woman’ he said. 'A demanding mistress, but she genuinely appreciates a man's skills’

'You obeyed my orders regarding your own discretion?'

'We were discreet, Master. I regret that I can't say the same for other men's slaves’

'What do you mean?'

"The visiting Claudii brought along their own slaves, and the most natural place for slaves to congregate is the kitchen. I did my best to shoo them out whenever the place became too crowded, but there was always a throng, and the orgy of gossip never stopped. I took no part in it, of course, but above the clanging of pots and pans I kept my ears open, as you instructed'

‘What did you hear?'

'Most of it was of no interest at all — which slaves had risen or fallen in their master's favour… fabricated stories about amorous adventures when journeying with their masters to Rome… obscene tales about illicit unions between field slaves and serving girls behind the wine press… rude comments about one another's anatomy — just the sort of trivial filth that you'd expect, and with which I would never consider polluting my master's ears’

'Was there anything at all of interest?'

'Perhaps. There were some rude insults aimed in my own general direction. Slaves often take on the colours of their masters, as you no doubt have noticed, and when there is hostility between masters it may be echoed between their slaves. Quite a few of the slaves, knowing I served Lucius Claudius long and faithfully, took crude jabs at me; these took the nature of bemoaning what they called my sad decline in the world, having now to serve a master — pardon me, Master, these are their exact words and it pains me to repeat them — having now to serve a master "so far below" the last. I answered them with stony silence, of course, which they merely seemed to find amusing. The point is that such phrases could hardly have originated from the lips of slaves; rather, slaves pick up such phrases from their masters.'