‘Titus Flavius Vespasianus Caesar Augustus, for example.’
‘Shhh, Sabinus; don’t say that, it’ll bring bad luck; but yes, something like that. But I have to be sure that I really can do it and that I can trust the people around me; Mucianus, for one: did he know of the assassins? Titus, for another.’
‘Titus? But he’s your son.’
‘Yes, he is. But he’s under the influence of a very ambitious eastern woman who seems to have taken up with him despite being eleven years his senior and also coming from a family with whom I certainly have a feud, having thwarted her father Herod Agrippa’s ambitions on a number of occasions, a couple of which involved you. So what is she doing with Titus other than trying to further her own purposes by using someone who, after careful consideration, is a contender for the Purple, should we spend next year in civil war?’
‘He wouldn’t, would he?’
‘He said he wouldn’t but now I’m not too sure; I don’t know what he’s thinking of being with Berenice. But what I do know is that I need to be sure of him if I do go to Rome. However I do it, I need to leave behind someone whom I can implicitly trust with three legions to finish off the rebellion, take Jerusalem and destroy the Temple once and for all. And the only man I could trust to do that would be him.’
‘Or me.’
It was Vespasian’s turn to be surprised. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘Now I’m no longer the prefect of the city there’s no reason that I couldn’t help you out should Titus not prove to be the son you thought he was.’
‘Yes, thank you; but let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that. I’m summoning him here; he should arrive within the next couple of days. In the meantime we should find Caenis and draw up a list of senators and equestrians upon whose support we might rely and which legions might proclaim me…’ He left the word unsaid.
‘That won’t take long.’
‘Yes, I suppose you’re right; still, there’ll be a few who are in our debt.’ Vespasian reached over and put his hand on Sabinus’ shoulder. ‘As I am in yours, Brother; thank you for coming.’
‘You have to have faith in yourself, Vespasian,’ Caenis said yet again.
‘You’ve told me that at least a dozen times over the last couple of days, my love, and repetition doesn’t necessarily make a thing true. It’s not a question of faith.’
‘What is it a question of, then?’ Caenis slapped the balustrade in frustration.
Vespasian affected not to notice as he stood on the terrace looking down into the harbour at the burnt-out remains of the ship that had brought the Praetorians to kill him. ‘It’s a question of numbers, my love; pure and simple arithmetic. It’s the sort of thing that I’m very good at. There are two legions in Egypt: the Third Cyrenaica and the Twenty-second Deiotariana; then there are my three legions here: the Fifth, Tenth and Fifteenth.’
‘Yes, I know; and then there are Mucianus’ three legions in Syria.’
‘The Sixth Ferrata, the Twelfth Fulminata, or what’s left of it, I don’t know how well up to strength it is yet. And then there is my old legion, the Fourth Scythica, which was moved there from Moesia. And finally there are the Moesian legions: the Third Gallica which was moved there from Syria just recently and would still be expected to be loyal to its former comrades in the East; plus the Seventh Claudia and the Eighth Augusta. That’s a total of eleven. Since Galba formed his new legion and Clodius Macer formed his in Africa and the marines were made into the First Adiutrix there are thirty-one legions in total in the Empire; do the arithmetic.’
‘I have done the arithmetic, you maddening man; we’ve both done it together for the last two days; just like we’ve worked out that there are around eighty senators who have ties with either your family or Mucianus and who could therefore be expected to look upon your challenge favourably. And don’t say do the arithmetic again to me or I shall scream and then slap you; I’m well aware there are over five hundred senators still living. Well aware!’
‘So you just expect me to have faith in myself and that will protect me from the numbers? Come on, Caenis; you were the one who counselled caution.’
‘Caution, yes; inaction, no. If we can get a suitable promise out of Titus, when he arrives here anytime now, then you must think of preparing the ground, and one of the things that you must do is send Malichus as an emissary to Vologases to ask for a commitment from the Parthians that they leave our eastern border alone for the duration of the civil war. You know the man, you’ve dined with him. You like each other; he may well do that for you; and if he does, you will be able to afford taking more troops from Syria than would otherwise be deemed prudent.’
‘And Armenia?’
‘Armenia will look after itself if Vologases gives you his word; King Tiridates is, after all, Vologases’ younger brother and has sworn an oath to Rome anyway.’
‘And should I trust Vologases’ word?’
This was too much for Caenis and she shrieked in his face, her chin jutting and her bunched fists pushing back behind her.
‘I’m sorry, my love,’ Vespasian said in a conciliatory manner. ‘I know that the Great King would never lie as it is a fundamental tenet of his religion: fighting the Lie with Truth, I seem to remember him saying; so yes, if he does give me his word I should be able to trust him. It’s just that the magnitude of what is starting to appear on the horizon is so big that it terrifies me.’
‘Then rousing yourself and doing something, rather than pondering on the sheer scale of the undertaking, is the best way to combat that.’
‘Have faith in myself despite the arithmetic, you mean?’
‘Oh fuck your fucking arithmetic!’ Caenis squeezed her eyes tight shut and breathed deeply.
Vespasian looked at her astounded; he had never before heard her swear, at least not that he could remember and certainly not with such passion.
‘Yes, you made me swear at you, Vespasian. I lost my temper; can you believe it?’
‘I’m struggling to.’
‘That’s just how difficult you are being. Now, the arithmetic will look after itself as things progress, think about it: if the Oracle of Amphiaraos is correct then there are two more to come before you, the seventh Emperor and the eighth; Galba’s legions will support the eighth one because the seventh one will be seen as being responsible for their leader’s death. The seventh Emperor’s legions will support you for that very same reason: the eighth Emperor will be seen as responsible for the seventh’s death. So, you see, numbers will come to you; so please stop talking about arithmetic and send Malichus to Vologases now; you need to have an answer by spring next year at the latest.’
Vespasian turned and took her in his arms. ‘Very well, my love; I’ll do as you suggest.’ He squeezed her tight and held her for a few heartbeats. ‘I’m terrified,’ he admitted as he released the pressure. ‘Absolutely terrified.’
‘I know, my love; and so am I. But we need to move with everything in place and an eastern settlement is one of the most important things to have.’
‘Malichus will leave tomorrow.’
As he embraced her again Hormus came to stand discreetly in the double doorway; Magnus hovered behind him. ‘Master?’
‘What is it, Hormus?’
‘I have just heard from Tiberias.’
‘Good, when is Titus arriving?’
Hormus paused and looked at Vespasian with nervous eyes.
‘Go on, out with it.’
‘He’s not coming, master.’
‘Not coming! What does he mean by not coming?’
‘I don’t know, master, he didn’t reply in person. When my messenger arrived to deliver your letter he wasn’t there; he had left a few days previously.’
‘Left? Left to go where?’
It was Caenis who stepped forward to answer. ‘I’m afraid, my love, that there is only one probable explanation: he and that Jewish bitch, Berenice, must have left to pay their respects to Galba in Rome.’
‘What more do we know?’ Vespasian asked once he had got over the shock.
‘Not much, master,’ Hormus said, wringing his hands as if the whole matter was his fault. ‘It seems that Herod Agrippa returned and then, within a day, he departed back to Rome taking Titus and Berenice with him.’
‘The bastard! What did he say to Titus, do we know?’
‘No, master; that’s all the messenger managed to find out.’
‘It’s a trap, my love,’ Caenis said, sitting back down at the table. ‘Galba’s using Herod Agrippa to lure Titus back to Rome in return for enlarging his domains, I shouldn’t wonder.’
‘What do you think he said to him that made him be so reckless as to go?’
‘The only thing that he could say to convince him that it was safe and right to go.’
Vespasian was incredulous. ‘That Galba was going to adopt him? Surely Titus knows that would be a death sentence.’
‘Why? Did you tell him?’
Vespasian thought back to the conversation he had had with his son. ‘No, not as such.’
‘Perhaps you should have.’
‘But anyone can see it’s a death sentence.’
‘Perhaps not; not if he was told that the offer comes from both Galba and the Senate. Titus has been promised the Empire in a way that he may have a chance of keeping it without having to come into conflict with you. For him it’s a sensible decision because, as he sees it, the East will be secure because you would never move against him, firstly because you are, obviously, his father and secondly because he has been given legitimacy by the backing of the Senate.’
‘That stupid idiot! Why didn’t he consult me?’
‘Because he knows that you would have forbidden him to accept and he would have gone against your will and caused a rift between you.’
‘And going behind my back hasn’t?’
‘My love, calm down; now is not the time to get worked up. Titus has been lied to, and Herod Agrippa knows it was a lie; he knows that he is being used as Galba’s instrument to lure Titus to Rome now that he thinks you are dead; and don’t forget that as far as he’s concerned you should be by now. Titus is going to his death urged on by Berenice who has no idea of her brother’s duplicity. Titus needs to be saved, not railed against.’
‘Well, I’d better get going, then,’ Magnus said, surprising everyone.
‘You? What do you mean by that?’
‘Well, it stands to reason, don’t it: you can’t leave without seeming to disobey your orders, which would be just what Galba would want you to do once he finds out that you’re still alive; it will give him, or whoever has succeeded him, a good excuse to recall you and, seeing as you’ve abandoned your post to chase your son around, no one will have any sympathy for you, either in Rome or in the legions here. So I’ve got to go.’
‘You? You’re far too old for something like that. You had difficulty mounting your horse yesterday.’
‘I’ll go,’ Sabinus said. ‘As a senator I’ll be able to move much more freely and quickly, and besides, whoever finds Titus has got to persuade him back in front of Herod and his sister.’
‘Meaning I couldn’t do that?’
Vespasian ignored Magnus as the answer was so obvious. ‘Thank you, Brother.’
‘I’ll get going immediately.’
‘But you’ve only just arrived; at least stay for the night to rest.’
‘I can sleep on the ship. If I go now I’m no more than three or four days behind him; I’ve a chance. I’ll bring him back within a month, Vespasian; that I promise.’
Vespasian pulled Sabinus to him and embraced him for the first time in their lives and, to his surprise, Sabinus returned the hug and it seemed natural. ‘Thank you, Brother, you have been a true friend to me.’
Sabinus stepped back, holding Vespasian’s shoulders, and smiled, his eyes wide and curious, as if he were seeing something for the first time. ‘And you, Brother, have always been a little shit to me. I’ll see you soon and then together we shall ensure that the auspices of your birth come to pass.’ He kissed Vespasian on the cheek, turned and walked out of the room.
Vespasian watched him go, content that, after all this time and all that had passed between them, they had finally been able to talk to each other with affection.
CHAPTER XI
‘ISWEAR THAT I shall obey all that Marcus Salvius Otho Caesar Augustus commands and I shall never desert his service nor shall I seek to avoid death for him and the Roman Republic.’ Vespasian’s voice was high and clear so that it carried to the ears of every man of the two legions and four auxiliary cohorts witnessing him taking the oath; the first man in Judaea to do so.
And he had been quick to take it. From the moment that he had received Sabinus’ letter from Corinth informing him of Galba’s assassination and Otho’s elevation, Vespasian had known that it was the prudent course of action because his brother had been right: Galba had been murdered in the middle of January, barely two months after Sabinus had predicted he would soon be dead and a seventh emperor would take his place, and this one would not last either. Swear loyalty to Otho, as Caenis had pointed out, and when he too is dead then his supporters would support whoever opposed the man who had overthrown him. The name of that man was now known and it had come as no surprise to Vespasian: Aulus Vitellius, or rather, Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Augustus, as he had styled himself since the army of the Rhenus had refused to renew its oath to Galba on the calends of January and had proclaimed Vitellius emperor the following day. And now that army was marching south to invade Italia in Vitellius’ name, despite it being, at the time of Sabinus writing, only the last days of February.
It was Vitellius whom Vespasian would face if he were to make the bid for empire, that was slowly becoming clearer in his mind. Vitellius of all people; Tiberius’ catamite, whom Vespasian had first met on Capreae, now grown into a hedonistic gourmand with no discernible talent for public service, unlike Otho who had been regarded as a very competent governor during his ten-year tenure in Lusitania. No, it was clear that, of the two of them, Vitellius was by far the least worthy of the Purple and the man most likely to attract fierce opposition; a man against whom Vespasian was beginning to think he may have a chance of succeeding. And so now, here he was, standing before the army of Judaea drawn up in cohorts beneath a forest of standards, his army, taking an oath of loyalty to a man over twenty years his junior; a man whom, if Sabinus was right, was destined to die within a few months.
As the last word of his oath faded over the vast crowd witnessing it, Vespasian reflected that if Sabinus’ letters to Mucianus and Tiberius Alexander had not gone astray then they too would be doing the exact same thing, and Sabinus would be able to tell Otho upon his arrival back in Rome that he had secured the East for him thus ensuring his safety and perhaps, even, his reinstatement as prefect of Rome. For Sabinus had decided to go back to Rome, as, with Galba dead and civil war now inevitable, he had judged that he would be safe if he returned as a vociferous supporter of the new young Emperor. Titus had not gone with him.
Sabinus had first written to Vespasian back in December having tracked down Titus, Berenice and Herod Agrippa in Corinth where they were waiting for the weather to improve sufficiently to continue their journey. He had written that Titus was not convinced that he should refrain from presenting himself to Galba and the Senate; he did not believe Sabinus that Herod Agrippa was lying to him. Berenice, her brother’s unwitting confederate in the lie, had a far more persuasive tongue than he, Sabinus had observed, although he was not sure that it was just because of the eloquence of her rhetoric, and he had not been able to persuade Titus back to Judaea.
It had not been until news of Galba’s death had arrived in Corinth, just as they were preparing to leave, that the truth of what Sabinus had put to Titus became apparent, for not only had Galba been assassinated but also Piso Licinianus, the man whom Galba had adopted as his heir whilst Titus was still obeying his fictitious summon
s. It was then that Herod Agrippa’s duplicity had been exposed and the tetrarch had departed immediately, fearing for his life at Titus’ hand. Berenice, however, had justifiably claimed innocence of all knowledge of her brother’s treachery and was still installed in Titus’ bed; although her tongue, Sabinus had gone on to observe, may still be in service, it was now not listened to quite so attentively. For this at least Vespasian was grateful but his gratitude would be complete if he only knew where Titus was. Sabinus had written with news of Galba’s death towards the end of February; Vespasian had received the letter on the ides of March, the previous day, and if a letter could arrive that quickly then so could a person. And yet, despite all that had happened, Vespasian had had no news directly from his son, and so, as he sat and watched the legions take their oath to the seventh Emperor, Vespasian worried that he was going to be obliged to commence the campaign without Titus by his side and with the nagging doubt ever present that maybe he could not trust his firstborn as much as he would wish.
‘The Fifteenth Apollinaris have completed the oath, sir,’ Silius Propinquus, Titus’ thick-stripe military tribune and temporary commander in his absence, announced in the lazy drawl of a young man ruined early in life by excess of wealth and privilege.
‘Thank you, tribune,’ Vespasian said, snapping out of his reverie. ‘You may take them back to the camp. We march to Herodium at the second hour tomorrow; have them ready. I want no delay as we must do twenty-two miles a day to make it there in two days and, hopefully, take them by surprise.’
‘And then it carries on like this: “Now that I have had the army of Judaea take the oath of loyalty to you, Princeps, which they did, following my lead, with great enthusiasm, I will restart the campaign against the Jews, which had stalled during the confusing times that Galba held power, unless I receive a specific request from you not to do so. I believe that we can take the last two towns holding out, Herodium and Machaerus, and then move to invest Jerusalem, which is now so wracked by internal fighting and so short of supplies that I expect it will fall by the end of the campaign season. After that it will only leave the fortress at Masada, in the south, to crush, which, because of its position on a plateau whose only access is a goat track, will involve the building of a siege ramp. I believe that this should be done after Jerusalem is back in our hands as, because the winter months that far south are warm and rain scarce, it would be a far more conducive time for heavy siege labour. In addition, I would hope to have sufficient manpower for the task with the legions supplemented by a good number of slaves captured in Jerusalem. I would appreciate the wisdom of your advice on this matter, Princeps, as it is only you, with your overall view of events who can judge the sagacity of the actions I propose. You have my absolute confidence and loyalty.”’ Caenis lowered the scroll and raised her eyes. ‘Well?’
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