Robert Fabbri: The Alexandrian Embassy

Magnus’ mind was reeling as they came out into the Forum Romanum where Cassandros and Tigran were forced to begin using their staves to clear a passage through the morning crowds. ‘You mean that Tatianus tells the Prefect about every shipment he brings in?’

‘Of course not; how could we trust him? No, that would be a silly idea; he’s completely unaware of our interest in him. Much simpler just to find out who’s in his pay and then threaten nasty mishaps to their loved ones if they so much as forget one item that comes through. At the moment Tatianus seems to be using a certain Urban Cohort centurion who’s part of the Capena Gate detail.’

‘Who happens to be on duty on the Ides.’

‘Ah! So that’s when your shipment is coming in, is it?’

‘Now, I didn’t say that I had purchased anything, sir. I just said … well. I didn’t really say anything, did I?’

‘No matter, Magnus; but you can be sure that the Urban Prefect will know about anything illegal that does come through the Capena Gate tomorrow within an hour of its arrival. Then he has only to watch who comes and goes from Tatianus’ house to have an idea as to where the shipment is destined.’

‘Pluto’s slack sack!’ Magnus realised the seriousness of his position should he take possession of his order. ‘And then depending on what it is he will act accordingly; is that how it goes?’

‘Very much like that, Magnus.’

‘So if I were to go to his house soon after a very illicit item comes in, I could expect a visit from the Urban Cohorts and have some serious explaining to do.’

‘Precisely; and even I would find it hard to assist you in that situation. Has that helped you?’

‘Thank you, sir; that is interesting. Naturally I’ll keep this to myself.’

‘Magnus, the day that either of us betrays a confidence will, I’m sure, be the last day of our very mutually beneficial relationship.’

They stopped at the base of the Senate House steps and Gaius bade farewell to the majority of his clients as all around other senators did likewise. He then gave instructions to the few clients he had asked to remain behind concerning the lobbying favours he needed them to carry out for him that morning in the Forum. Once he had dismissed them he turned his attention back to Magnus. ‘Vespasian will be in contact when he returns to the city, probably tomorrow, provided Caligula doesn’t decide to dispense his bizarre forms of imperial justice at every town along the Appian Way. Hopefully he can persuade the Emperor to see the Alexandrian embassy soon and then we can hustle them onto a ship in Ostia and be done with them. Keep Philo out of trouble until then.’

Magnus grimaced at the thought of at least a couple of days with Philo. ‘I’ll do my best, sir. Where will I find them?’

‘Ah, didn’t I tell you that? Well, the delegates are all staying at a villa in the Gardens of Lemia just outside the Esquiline Gate.’

‘And Philo?’

Gaius nodded towards the base of the Capitoline Hill. ‘He’s in there.’

‘What, in the Tullianum?’

‘Yes, although he’s not in the cell, he’s with the gaolers. The Urban Prefect had no option but to imprison him until he could find someone who would be able to restrain him from spitting at every statue of our gods he passes. As you’ve met him, and his family is, to a great extent, in yours and Vespasian’s debt, that someone appears to be you.’

‘It’s an outrage!’ Philo was quite clear on this point; it was the fourth time he had made it to Magnus, growing more vehement on each occasion. ‘Me, the leader of the embassy from the Jews of Alexandria to the Emperor of Rome, locked up like a common criminal as if I were from the lowest order; of no more account than you, Magnus.’ Philo’s long grey beard stuck out at a strange angle from his chin, wobbling up and down as he sucked in his lower lip, working it furiously in his disgust. His heavy brows creased and uncreased in time to the blinking of his eyes, one of which was surrounded by a purpling bruise. ‘Does the Urban Prefect not know who I am? Is he unaware of the dignity of my rank? Doesn’t he know the extent of my literary achievements? Is he not cognisant of the fact that my brother, Alexander, is the Alabarch of the Alexandrian Jews? The Alabarch, I tell you; not some vague title such as head of the Alexandrian Jews, or leader, or foremost Jewish citizen, but Alabarch. The Alabarch! And I, the brother of the Alabarch and leader of the embassy, was forced to share the company of gaolers so uncouth that I doubt that even you would find them suitable company, Magnus. Do you see just how I have been insulted when all I was trying to do was to give alms to the Jewish beggars who live amongst the tombs on the Appian Way? It’s an outrage.’ He adjusted his white turbanesque headdress to further emphasise the point.

Magnus tutted in sympathy. ‘To be treated as if you were me; I can’t imagine anything worse for you. But I’m sure that it was all nothing more than a misunderstanding based on you just clearing your throat at the wrong time, whilst you were passing a statue of Mars. I’m positive that any phlegm you deposited on the god’s foot was due to misaiming, and the outraged citizens who attacked and beat you were overreacting to what was no more than a rogue globule of mucus.’

Philo pulled his black and white patterned mantle tighter around his shoulders. ‘Yes, and to be set upon by common people and beaten by their unwashed hands was a shame that was almost too much to bear; not one person of the equestrian rank amongst them, let alone a senator. None of my attackers had the quality to lay a finger on me and yet here I am, cut and bruised by the lower orders.’

‘Yeah, well, I’m afraid that there’s never been much thought for relative status when it comes to people taking exception to the actions of others, even misinterpreted actions. On the other hand …’ Magnus tried to think of something with which to change the subject as they headed, with Tigran and Cassandros, towards the Esquiline Gate and the gardens just beyond, but nothing came to mind and instead he had to endure the whole diatribe again from the beginning, spiced with added outrage and pepped-up indignation. He prayed to the gods of his crossroads that the messenger that Senator Pollo had promised to send to his brethren at the tavern had completed his errand and that there would be four other brothers awaiting them at the gardens and he could delegate the unpleasant duty to Tigran and them.

‘Don’t allow them to leave the garden complex, Tigran,’ Magnus ordered as Philo was reunited with the other members of his embassy, each one a greybeard and each one looking very much like the next, dressed as they all were in white, ankle-length robes, black and white mantles and wound cotton headdresses. He took the list of Jewish requirements that Gaius had supplied him with and handed it to Tigran. ‘And this is a list of what they won’t eat and when they won’t do stuff – it’s quite long. You can read, can’t you?’

Tigran smiled as he looked at the scroll. ‘Yes, Magnus, Servius taught me. He’s a good teacher,’ he added pointedly. ‘No shellfish! Why ever not?’

‘Who knows and who cares? And don’t try and eat with them as they don’t share the table with people not of their religion, apparently. Not that I suppose you were planning on making friends with them.’ He looked over at Philo who had seated himself beneath a pergola in front of the villa, at the garden’s centre, and was greeting each of his companions in turn and telling each one, at length, of his ordeal. ‘Have the lads guard the gate to the gardens. I’ve explained to Philo that they should stay here for their own safety and warned him that the common people are still angry with him and he faces fresh humiliation at the unwashed hands of the hoi polloi until I can talk to their leaders and clear up the misunderstanding that sparked it all off.’