Michelle Styles - The Gladiator's Honor

'Claudia plans to be here for the games in September and wants the latest gossip as to gladiatorial form. She also writes that Apius, the augur who foretold our marriage, has been rewarded yet again by Caesar. His reputation for accuracy grows and grows. Claudia is thinking of consulting him about whom she should marry.'

'That old fraud. It is a wonder he has not been found out by now.'

'What do you mean, Valens?'

Valens lifted her chin and Julia was suddenly staring into his dark eyes. "There are some things too important to be left to Fate, my darling wife. I knew I could not offer for you then, but if I did well in the games, I had a chance. Luckily the heaviness of the purse had some influence on Apius and he gave the prediction I wanted.'

'Did you know how worried I was?' The corners of her mouth twitched. 'Do you know how much money he has made on the strength of that one prediction?'

Valens stroked her hair. 'I did what I had to do.'

Julia fell silent. She noticed he seemed quieter, more subdued as he read his scroll. 'Not bad news, I hope.'

'It's from my father. He was excited to learn of Marcus's birth and looks forward to meeting him next month. He plans on making him his heir, you know.'

Julia touched Valens's cheek. Even though Gracchus and Valens had patched up their differences, she knew the problem of who should inherit the senator's great wealth was unresolved. 'Do you want this?'

'It seems the most sensible solution. I suggested it to my father when I first learnt you were pregnant. And now my father agrees.'

'And what of Lucius? What does he think?' A shiver passed over Julia. The last thing she wanted was more trouble from that man. Valens knew her feelings on this. It had been the cause of their one quarrel. In the end, she had agreed that Senator Gracchus had the right to leave his money to whomever he wanted.

Valens's eyes turned grave and he put both his hands on Julia's shoulders. 'My father writes that the court case is over. Mettalius has been banished for his part. But the morning the judgement was due to be read out, Lucius's body was discovered in his prison cell, hemlock by his side.'

'Oh.' Julia stared at him, suddenly lost for words. 'We will never know then what truly happened.'

'He left a confession. It details everything—how he first conceived of the plan when he heard of my quarrels with my father, how he used Mettalius's gaming debts to pressure him into doing his bidding and how he arranged for the kidnapping by the pirates. My ransom note went to him first and he altered the code. Then, thinking the pirates would kill me, he murdered my mother by poison. He took his life rather than face the punishment.'

'Hades is too good for him.'

'His actions may have caused immense trouble, but in the end everything worked out because I found you.' Valens touched his lips to Julia's forehead, and Julia felt the tenderness of the kiss pervade her very being. Valens was correct—the past did not matter. It was their present and future together that was important. 'I have no desire for anything but being here on this estate with you and our son, and enjoying the rest of our days together. I could not wish for anything more.'

'I love you, my honourable gladiator.'

Valens bent his head and Julia tasted the sweetness of his kiss. Except for the gurgling of the stream, the contented snores of Bato, and the gentle breathing of their child, the garden fell silent for a long time.

Historical Note

Gladiators were ingrained in the Roman psyche. From the earliest Etruscan times, gladiators would perform at funeral rites to honour the shades of the dead warriors. However, it was not until 105 BC that gladiator games were given officially by two Roman consuls. By the time Julius Caesar became Aedile in 65 BC , the sport had grown into a professional spectacle.

Caesar was the first to equip his gladiators with silvered armour and to try to harness the spectacle for his own political ends. The lavish games he gave in honour of his father would serve as a platform for his later political ambitions.

Prior to the first permanent Roman arena being built around 29 BC , gladiatorial games were either held in the Circus Maximus or in a hastily built wooden structure on the Forum. Given the importance of these particular games, and the absence of historical record as to precisely where they were held, I decided Julius Caesar would have used the largest venue possible, thus I chose the Circus Maximus.

To improve the quality of the gladiators, and partly to allay senatorial fears of a private army, Caesar housed his troupe amongst his clients. It is only in 53 BC that there are records of an actual school of gladiators being housed separately within Roman city limits.

Despite their wealth and the adulation from the crowds, gladiators, like actors and prostitutes, were considered to be outside society and lower than slaves, therefore no noble family would want to be willingly aligned with them. The stain could echo down the generations. Although the sexual appeal of gladiators is well documented, these were seen as passing fancies as long as they were kept out of the public domain.

For anyone wishing to read further on the period, I would highly recommend the following books. They have been very useful to me and I found Grant's book on gladiators and Holland's book on the end of the Republic particularly riveting.

Carcopino, Jerome, Daily Life in Ancient Rome-The People

and the City at the Height of the Empire (Penguin 1941),

London. Croom, A.T., Roman Clothing and Fashion (Tempus Publishing

Ltd 2000), Gloucestershire. Goldsworthy, Adrian, In the Name of Rome-The Men Who

Won the Roman Empire (Weidenfeld & Nicholson 2003),

London. Grant, Michael, Gladiators-The Bloody Truth (Penguin), London. Holland, Tom, Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the

Roman Republic (Little, Brown 2003), London. Woolf, Greg, ed. Cambridge Illustrated History: Roman

World (Cambridge University Press 2003), Cambridge.