Richard Blake - The Curse of Babylon

‘I find it useful to reinforce what I’ve learned,’ I said cautiously, ‘by instructing others. Rado is a most enthusiastic student.’

She sniffed and stepped back to look at me. ‘I don’t think you’ll be rolling in sand for the next few days,’ she said, the hint of a gloat in her voice.

She looked round. ‘Come, Eboric,’ she said, all imperial of a sudden. ‘It’s time I showed you how to cut roses so they don’t wilt within a day.’ With a tiny bow to me, he padded after her, a look of happy eagerness on his face.

As hath unto us been oldenly divulged by Homer of glorious repute. ., reason reinforced by readings of Holy Writ. ., the charms of correct diction set fire to in the breasts of all them what was correctly inteached. .

I let my eyes skim over the three sheets of sewn parchment contained in the scroll. Because of its bearer, there could be no doubt this time who’d been showing off to his secretaries. ‘What’s the message?’ I asked.

Leander stared down at the tiled floor. ‘My Lord Nicetas instructs me to demand safe return of his daughter, Antonia,’ he said. ‘He specifies that she is to be released at once, so that medical assistance can be procured in the event that her belly is already filled with yellow-headed trash.’ He looked up. ‘My Lord will be aware that these are not my own words,’ he said, biting his lip.

I kept my face still and forbidding. ‘Tell Nicetas,’ I replied, ‘that I don’t know what he’s talking about. Any other message?’

Leander shuffled nervously. ‘I am further instructed to say that, if you are disinclined to hand the girl over, you may keep her on condition that you send back with me an object that does not require any name or description.’

I let the scroll close on itself and leaned back in my chair. Such a pity none of this was in writing. ‘Tell Nicetas again,’ I said, ‘that I don’t know what he’s talking about.’

‘Then my final instructions,’ Leander whispered, ‘are that you should attend on My Lord Nicetas to explain yourself in person.’

I smiled coldly. ‘Can’t do that,’ I said. ‘Following two sudden deaths, I’ve been advised to put my entire household into quarantine.’ I looked over at the water clock. ‘The quarantine will start the moment you’re out in the street. If he pleases, your master can check this with the Prefect’s local deputy.’ I got up. ‘I’m sure Nicetas wouldn’t want to see me while I might be dripping contagion from every pore,’ I added helpfully. ‘He’s already a martyr to those legs of his.’ I led the way to the door of my office. I pulled it open and waved into the gloom of the corridor. ‘Now, you can’t wish to stay longer than you must in a house of sickness. Please allow my steward to lead you back to the main gate.’

Leander stopped beside the statue of Polyphemus. I thought he was about to ask about his salary. Instead: ‘Please give my regards to the Lady Antonia,’ he said with a scared look at the headless victim. ‘But tell her that the Lord Nicetas is really angry. There’s nothing I can do this time to calm him down.’

Once he was gone, Antonia came out from behind the screen. ‘I was hoping Daddy would keep up some show of decency,’ she said.

I overlooked the hurt tone in her voice. ‘And I was hoping the letter I sent yesterday would keep him quiet a few days longer,’ I said. It was only Sunday. There were days and days to go before the earliest time when Heraclius might return. We’d have to see how long I could keep the quarantine excuse going.

I opened the door and stepped out on to the balcony. Church services were over, and the Triumphal Way was crowded again. After the heat and silence of my office, it was good to stand looking into the breeze. I went closer to the stone balustrade and waited for Leander to come into sight. After wondering if I’d missed him, I saw him pass into the middle of the street and scurry across to the cover of the far colonnade. Another moment, and Simon stepped into the sunlight. He was followed by an agitated poet and some of the usual big men. Ignoring the shouts of various carrying slaves, they stood talking together in the middle of the street. Simon looked up suddenly. Our eyes met. He shaded his eyes to get a better look at me. I waited till he must be able to see me again, then smiled and gave a little bow. He continued looking at me. A man bumped into him, and was grabbed and pushed into the dust by one of the heavies. Still looking up at me, Simon didn’t seem to notice. He was still there when I decided I’d had enough.

I stepped back, wincing from the sunburn as I bumped into Antonia. ‘Best not show yourself,’ I said. ‘Everyone knows you’re in here. But we can play by the rules a little longer.’

‘What will happen next?’ she asked. I stepped back inside. I’d put on a very light silk tunic. Even in this, however, any movement was enough to remind me I had no skin on my shoulders. ‘Do you suppose he’ll lay a formal complaint with the Prefect?’

‘That would be the next step,’ I said. ‘The Prefect will then send his bailiffs over to demand your surrender. Of course, I won’t let them in. But we’ll have a counter narrative to our own to beat down when the Emperor gets back. It can be said that we’re scandalously shacked up together, and are justifying the breach of your father’s authority with a pack of lies about treason. Let’s hope Nicetas is as indecisive in this matter as in everything else. He can’t be sure how little evidence we have.’

There was a knock at the door. Theodore came in. After a loving glance at Antonia, he turned to me. ‘Samo has crushed a finger,’ he said, ‘but begs to inform you that he’s shut off the external water supply.’ He opened and closed his mouth, possibly wondering what question he could ask.

‘Give him my thanks and sympathies,’ I said. I looked at the boy. No harm in explaining things to him. ‘We are to regard ourselves, until further notice, as under siege,’ I said. ‘Our own cisterns are full enough to last a month of normal use. We don’t want to risk contamination from outside.’

He leaned against the wall. ‘You mean poison?’ he asked with a scared look at both of us.

‘Yes, poison,’ I said — ‘poison or some other pollution.’ I smiled and brightened my voice. ‘However, since we’re under siege, there will be a break from my normal duties. That means I can spend more time with you in the library on your Latin and History. We’ll start work again on Tacitus after lunch.’ A resigned look on his face, he bowed.

I thought of the nice opium ointment I’d borrowed off Priscus. Would it be too great a loss of dignity, I wondered, if I asked Antonia to apply some to my back?

Thus, having, in a reign of three years, nine months, and twenty-eight days, lived as a tyrant, Caligula discovered, by sharp experience, that he was not, after all, a god.

Theodore let the aged papyrus roll close on itself. He rubbed his eyes and sat back from the hunched position in which he liked to read. ‘The sentence structure is very complex,’ he said apologetically.

I looked about the main room in the library. So many books I’d gathered about me, all looking neatly back at me from their appointed spaces in the book racks. So many dear friends. So many guides. I cleared my throat. ‘Good Latin,’ I explained once more, ‘is far more complex than good Greek. I think also it’s always been more removed from the spoken language. But if you can put Tacitus so well into Greek, I don’t think you’ll have trouble with any of the recent authors.’ I thought of the theological section in one of the smaller rooms. It was a while since I’d been required to dip into those muddy pools. Their chief problem, though, in either language was callous inhumanity or a prolix reasoning from absurd premises. The illiteracies of the Latin writers were mostly their importing of words and constructions from Greek. None of this should trouble Theodore.