Steven Saylor - Catilina's riddle

I brought cheese, bread, and apples. Claudia brought honey cakes and wine, and the greatest delicacy of all: a jug of fresh water. I told her that the honey cakes were sweet and the wine delicious, but that it was the fresh water from her well that ravished my palate.

'Has it grown that serious, your shortage?' she said.

'Yes. We're able to collect some water from the trickle in the stream; once the silt settles, it's good enough to drink, but there's hardly enough to quench the thirst of every slave and animal. Then there's a tiny spring that comes out of the ridge. That, too, is low; an urn placed under it is only half full by the end of the day. So to water the stronger animals we still use the well, though it loosens their bowels. Fortunately, there are still a few tall urns of water that were drawn before the well was polluted — I've set them aside as if they were filled with silver. And there's plenty of wine, but sometimes a man must have water to drink.'

'I suppose the well water is good enough for washing,' said Claudia.

'Aratus advises against it. Still, we use it sparingly with sponges and strigils. The well is low anyway, thanks to the lack of rain. Instead of immersing herself in a hot tub of water, Bethesda dabs herself with scented oils. She's normally as fastidious as a cat; unable to preen, she pouts. I'm afraid we've all become rather tawdry. This tunic I'm wearing could use a good washing.'

'Alas, I wish I could spare you more water myself, but my own well is dangerously low, or so my foreman says. Enjoy the water I've brought — drink up, and see if it won't make you drunk,' she laughed. 'Where is young Meto, by the way?'

'Busy, I suppose. He preferred not to come.'

'Oh, but I haven't seen him in so long; hardly at all since his birthday. Well, I won't press you about it,' she said, reading the look on my face. "Though I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he's less than happy here. I've told you before that you belong in the city, and the same is even truer for Meto. Not everyone was meant to be a farmer, especially when the city can offer such a full, rich life. Ah, but I said I wouldn't press the matter, and here I am giving unsolicited advice like the bossiest Roman matron who ever lived!'

We ate for a while in silence. It was a magnificent autumn day, the air crisp, the sky cloudless. The landscape below us was arrayed with subtle shades of ochre, grey, and evergreen. Slender plumes of smoke from the farms all around, from bread ovens and burning piles of leaves, rose straight into the air like white pillars. From the valley below, the lowing of the animals and the calling of slaves carried across the crystalline air.

'Was there ever such a day as this in the city?' I said quiedy.

'You have a point there,' said Claudia, who looked down on the scene with a placid smile. 'But your messenger said that you had something to show me.'

'So I do, as soon as we've finished eating.'

'I'm done,' she said, popping her plump fingers into her mouth to clean the morsels of honey cake. "Though you mustn't leave your apple half-eaten.'

'We have more apples than we can eat.'

'But it's such a waste!'

I laughed. 'I shall feed it to the pigs on our way down.'

'Down?'

'To the stream'

'Oh, Gordianus — are you going to show me the water mill?' She wore a strange expression. 'I am'

'I've seen you building it, you know. I can't help but notice it whenever I'm up here on the ridge. The building is quite handsome.'

I shrugged. 'It was made from bits of other buildings. It's no temple, but I suppose it doesn't pain the eye to look at it.' 'It's charming!'

'Perhaps. More important is what's inside. The mechanism actually works.'

‘Then it's finished?'

'As finished as it can be, without a stream to move it'

We rose from our respective stumps and gathered up the slim remains of our meal. I glanced towards the Cassian Way, as I always did whenever I was leaving the ridgetop. I noticed two horsemen coming up from the south. There was nothing remarkable in that, but even so, I felt a bit uneasy as we stepped down the path, and I kept glancing towards the road even after the brush and trees had blocked it from view.

Claudia was quite impressed; indeed, her enthusiasm was so extreme as to appear a bit forced, especially considering that she seemed to have no understanding of the mechanism at all. She asked the purpose of this gear and that shaft in such a way that it was clear that no explanation would suffice. When I summoned slaves to push the wheel and set the grinding blocks in motion, she gave a start and her smile cracked. 'Oh, dear!' she said. 'Like horrible, huge, gnashing teeth! like being in a Titan's jaw!' Deep down she did not like the mill very much, I thought, and she felt uncomfortable being near it. I ascribed this to her class and its deep conservatism, which distrusts all innovations, whether social or mechanical. Her cousin Publius had put it quite eloquently when I had told him that the mill could be to his benefit: 'What would I want it for? I have slaves to grind my meal!' I had hoped Claudia would be more receptive, but in some ways she was no different from her cousins.

The gears were in full motion when a voice called out, 'Magnificent, Papa!'

I turned and saw Eco standing in the doorway, with Belbo behind him — the two riders I had seen on the highway.

I laughed in happy surprise and stepped forward to embrace Eco. Meanwhile the slaves ceased their labour and the gears ground slowly to a halt Claudia smiled crookedly, then jumped as one of the gears made a loud popping noise.

'It's nothing,' I said, but the only way to calm her was to get her out of the mill house. I ushered everyone out of the door and onto the rocky stream bank. Eco wanted to see the mechanism demonstrated again, but I nodded discreetly towards Claudia to indicate that we should defer to our guest 'Perhaps later,' I said. 'Drive the slaves too hard and one of them is likely to injure himself'

'But how did you solve the problems you were having? Don't tell me: inspiration came to you in a dream! Just as it has so many times when you've been faced with a mystery that seemed to have no answer.'

'Not this time. As a matter of fact, a mutual acquaintance suggested the solution.'

'An acquaintance?'

'An occasional guest.' I indicated Claudia with a twitch of my jaw.

'Ah!' Eco understood the need for secrecy and nodded. 'That man from the city.'

'The very one. But we mustn't ignore today's guest,' I said. Eco acknowledged Claudia with a bow of his head.

'Oh, Eco, how lovely to see you,' crooned Claudia. Our brief conversation had given her time to recover her composure. 'What news from the city?'

'Actually…' Eco looked uncertain. I could tell in a glance that news from the city was precisely the reason he had come to visit me, but what he had to say was not for other ears. He blinked and I saw that he had quickly calculated how much he could say without saying too much. 'Actually, that's why I'm here. The atmosphere has been tense and unsettled in Rome all summer — as I suppose you must already know.'

'Oh, yes, my cousins have been predicting trouble ever since the election,' said Claudia.

"Then your cousins could find work as soothsayers,' said Eco. It was a facetious comment, but Claudia was not amused. The mill had set her on edge.

'There's talk in the city of armed revolution,' he went on. 'Cicero has got the Senate to vote him emergency powers — what they call the Extreme Decree in Defence of the State.'

'Ah, yes, the decree our ancestors created sixty years ago to get rid of that rabble-rouser Gaius Gracchus,' said Claudia with a bit of relish.

I nodded gravely. 'Gaius Gracchus was killed by a mob in the street while the laws against murder were temporarily suspended. Is that what they're planning for Catilina?'