CHAPTER XXXVII
ACCUSATION
The murder or assassination or execution of Julianus on the Kalends ofJune shocked Falco even more than the deaths of Commodus and Pertinax. Asthe June days passed I had to exercise my greatest adroitness to keep himfrom spending all his waking hours indoors, chiefly in moping about hiscollection of gems. I did pretty well with him, for I wheedled him intogoing to the Baths of Titus three afternoons out of four, into going outto dine one evening in three, and I even induced him to give severalformal dinners, each of which was a great success.
But, if I left him to himself, I invariably found him glooming over thegems which no longer gave him any real pleasure. And I could not blamehim. Indoors one felt reasonably safe in Rome that June, for no residenceshad been broken into anywhere in the city, though many shops had beenlooted and some burnt. But, in the streets, the insolence of thePraetorians was unendurable and their unbridled license and arroganceterrorized the entire population, especially the upper classes. Goinganywhere in broad daylight was dangerous, even going to the Baths of Titusfrom the Esquiline was risky. Anyone like Falco was certain to feel saferindoors. And the tense uncertainty of those twenty-four days madeeverybody restless, feverish, fidgety and morose: civil war betweenSeverus and Pescennius Niger, lord of the East, was inevitable. HowClodius Albinus, in control of Gaul, Spain and Britain, would act, wasproblematical. We were all keyed-up, apprehensive and wretched.
Our suspense was shorter since it turned out that Severus had made up hismind and begun to make his rapid and effective arrangements as soon as heheard of the murder of Pertinax. Pertinax was murdered on the fifth daybefore the Kalends of April and so swiftly travelled the imperial courierswho were his friends and who arranged to set out at once and carry Severusthe news, that the first of them rode more than eight hundred miles ineight days and reached him at Caruntum in Pannonia on the Nones of April.Severus was cautious, kept secret what he had heard and moved seventy-twomiles nearer Rome to Sabaria in Pannonia, where, after the news wasconfirmed beyond question, he harangued the soldiers and was by themsaluted Emperor on the Ides of April. At once he assured himself of thesupport or acquiescence of his officers and won over the local authoritiesand garrisons all over Illyricum, Noricum and Rhaetia. Bands of his mosttrusted soldiers set off towards Rome by every road. He gathered hisforces, made sure of their loyalty and began his march. He was already atAquileia when the news of the death of Julianus reached him there on theNones of June. He marched straight to Rome and on the tenth day before theKalends of July, the day of the summer solstice, was outside the city,accompanied by the delegation of senators who had met him at Interamniaand surrounded by the six hundred picked men who acted as his personalguards, who, it was rumored, had not taken off their corselets day nornight since they left Sabaria.
The next day, the ninth day before the Kalends of July, we heard withamazement that the Praetorians had been cowed, had surrendered theirstandards to Severus and had been disarmed. Certainly knots of them hungabout the streets and squares, all in ordinary tunics and rain hats, shornof their uniforms as well as of their weapons, and looking not onlyhumbled but frightened. It was rumored that all of those directlyconcerned with the murder of Pertinax had been not only disarmed andstripped of their uniforms, but actually stripped naked and scourged outof the camp by the Illyrian legionaries who had surrounded and cowed them,and ordered to flee the neighborhood of Rome and never again to approachwithin a hundred miles of the capitol.
From noon of that day the whole city was in a ferment, preparing for theentry on the morrow of our new Emperor. This was acclaimed the mostmagnificent spectacle ever beheld in Rome; certainly I was never spectatorof anything so impressive. The day was fair, almost cloudless, mild andwarm, but pleasant with a gentle breeze. From where Falco and I viewed theprocession, nearer the Forum, we gazed about on a wondrous picture: theblue sky above, under it a frame of roofs, mostly of red tiles, some ofgreen weathered bronze among them giving variety, and here and there atemple roof of silver gleaming in the sun, not a few gilded and flashing.
As far as we could see about us every balcony was hung with tapestries gaywith particolored patterns, every doorway and window was wreathed inflowers, countless braziers sent up columns of scented smoke. The streetswere lined with throngs habited in togas newly whitened; spectators ofboth sexes, the men in white togas, their women in the brightest silks,crowded every window, loggia, balcony, roof, and other viewpoint. Thechattering of the crowds ceased when the head of the procession appeared,and, in a breathless hush, we saw leading it on horseback, with twomounted aides, Flavius Juvenalis, who had been third and last Prefect ofthe Praetorium to Julianus and who, as an honorable gentleman and loyalofficial, had been confirmed and continued in this post by Severus. Behindhim tramped, in serried ranks, an entire legion of the Pannonian troops,in full armor with their great shields gleaming and the sun sparkling ontheir gilded helmets and their spear-points.
Behind them came ten of the elephants with which Julianus, in his futile,bungling attempts at preparations for resistance, had had some of his mendrill. Each now carried in his tower eight Danubians, four tall Dacianspearmen and four Scythian archers, bow in hand, leaning over the edge ofthe howdah.
Behind the elephants came Norican legionaries carrying the surrenderedstandards of the disbanded Praetorian Guard; not held aloft, but trailed,half inverted.
Then, amid roars of cheers, came Severus himself, habited not in hisgeneral's regalia, but in the gorgeous Imperial robes, as if already inthe Palace and about to give a public levee. Though thus clad as in timeof peace and walking all the way on foot, he was hedged about by hisfaithful six hundred, every man stepping alertly, helmet-plumes waving,helmets glittering, shields gleaming, spear-points asparkle, kilt-strapsflapping, scabbards clanking, a grim advertisement of irresistible power.
After this guard walked our entire Senate, and, as the Emperor and Senateacknowledged the acclamations of the onlookers, passing amid thunders ofcheering, behind we saw a long serpent ribbon of Illyrian legionaries,every man fully armed and armored as for instant battle, their even trampsounding grim and monotonous when the cheerers paused for breath, theirresistless might manifest. Indubitably Rome belonged to Severus, he wasour master.
Falco, hopeful, yet awed, said little. Once inside his housewalls he fledto his beloved gems and solaced himself with them till it was time for hisbath, which he took in his private bathrooms. He and I dined alone andtalked chiefly of our hopes of the new Emperor. Falco particularlyremarked his appearance of hard commonsense, ruthless decision and flintyresolve.
Next day, soon after dawn, we heard many rumors of disorders by theIllyrian troops, of their having used temples for barracks that night, ofcook-shops forced to feed them without payment, of shops plundered andpedestrians robbed. Naturally the entire household kept indoors, exceptsuch slaves as went out for fresh vegetables, fruits and fish. I solacedmyself by reading the Tragedies of Ennius. I read parts of his Hector,Achilles, Neoptolemus, Ajax and Andromache, with much emotion, andespecially the Bellerophon, forgetting everything else. Then I slept untillate in the afternoon.
Waking I bathed unhurriedly and then went to call Falco, who liked tobathe at the last possible moment before dinner. I walked round the reargallery of the peristyle, sure of finding him among his jewels. The doorof the middle room was not shut, and barely ajar. Against the sill of thedoor, on the brown and white mosaic pavement of the gallery, a glint ofcolor caught my eye. I stooped and picked up a fine uncut emerald, one ofFalco's chief treasures.
A qualm of apprehension shot through me. I pushed the door, entered andswept the room with a glance. A confusion of jewel-trays cluttered thefloor, no sign of Falco. Nor was he in the left-hand room, which had beensimilarly rifled.
But, when I turned and peered through the right-hand inner door I saw,across the marble center-table, horridly sprawled, what I instantly knewfor his corpse, so unmistakably did the head hang loose, the arms dangl
e,the legs trail: he was manifestly a corpse, even without sight of thedagger-hilt projecting from his back.
I rushed to him and touched him.
He was yet warm, the blood still trickled from about the dagger, drivendeep under the left shoulder blade, slanting upwards, the very strokeAgathemer had drilled me in early in our flight, the stroke with which Ihad slaughtered two of the five bullies at Nona's hut!
I plucked out the dagger, gazing at it in horror.
As I did so I heard footsteps behind me and turned to face CasperiusAsellio, and Vespronius Lustralis, two of the most persistent of thetoadies who hung about Falco, both of whom hated me consumedly.
In a flash I realized my situation. Had I been a freeman I should havebeen commiserated by all as a gentleman who had had the misfortune to findhis best friend foully murdered; as a slave I would be assumed by all Rometo have been caught in the act of assassinating my kind and indulgentmaster; and, recalling Tanno's invectives against me at my last dinner atVilla Andivia, I knew I was liable to be tortured until I confessed myguilt!
Asellio and Lustralis flung themselves on me with execrations and theiryells brought the entire household. My protestations were unheeded. No onewould listen to my valet's assertion that he had found the janitor asleepin his cell and roused him just before Lustralis and Asellio reached theentrance, that he had but just finished dressing me when he went down tothe vestibule. No one heeded my denials or my urgings that I could nothave rifled the collection, that the looters and the murderers must be thesame individuals, that I was clearly innocent. Asellio and Lustralis notmerely seized me, but rained blows on me. I knew I could knock bothsenseless without half trying, but, in my character of effeminate orientalexquisite, I must not advertise my real strength. I struggled, but half-heartedly.
The house-boys and any of Falco's retinue who could reach me, thumped meand mauled me. I was horrified to realize all of a sudden that those whohad made most of me had always envied me in secret; that, to a man, theyhated me; that each and all would use every effort to ensure my ruin; thatI had to face perjury, unanimous perjury, gushing from an abundant well-head of malignity, spite, and enmity. My valet alone seemed on my side,and he could assist me not at all.
I was bound with ropes knotted till my hands and feet swelled, till thecords cut into my flesh. I was abused, my clothing torn till I was halfnaked. I was whacked and clawed till I was bleeding in a dozen places; Iwas reviled, jeered at and threatened. Trussed like a fowl to be roasted,I was half hustled half dragged, almost carried, down into the courtyard.From there, after no long wait, I was haled off to the slaves' prison inthe Slave-Dealers' Exchange next the Slave-Market. There I was releasedfrom my bonds, heavy shackles were riveted on my ankles and I was castinto the lower dungeon.
I had had time to tell Dromo, my faithful valet, to inform Agathemer. Iknew he, in turn, would inform Tanno and Vedia. I was certain that theywould do all that they could. But I dreaded that they could do nothing. Iwas despondent, despairing. Actually, Dromo must have been clever, promptand judicious, and Agathemer equally quick and resourceful, with thefullest possible help from Tanno and Vedia, and they must have taxed tothe utmost their influence and their means.
After a night almost sleepless I was visited at dawn by no less a personthan Galen himself.
"My boy," he said, "you, are in a terrible situation and we were in aquandary how to advise you. But, after much discussion, we are agreed thatyou have some chance of life as Phorbas the slave, accused of murderinghis master, whereas you have no chance at all as Andivius Hedulio,proscribed along with Egnatius Capito. Our new Emperor seems to feel thatall enemies of former Princes are foes of his; he seems to have orderedhis agents to be on the lookout for all living persons accused, relegated,or banished under Julianus, Pertinax and Commodus. Those taken in Romehave been promptly executed. By all means, whatever happens to you,whatever threatens you, give no hint that you are Andivius Hedulio. Endurewhat befalls and hope for life and safety and ultimate rehabilitation.
"Of course I can see you as often as I please without exciting anysuspicion. You were, while yourself and prosperous, only one of mycountless patients, never among those I made much of. You, as Phorbas,have been under my special care, as the darling of poor Falco, who was oneof my best friends, though I had known him so short a time. My visits herecannot prejudice your welfare and may help you, even save you.
"Cheer up! Agathemer says that the real murderers are certain to betraythemselves by attempting to dispose of some of the stolen gems. He isright. And he had taken measures to ensnare them. He has warned or iswarning every gem-dealer in Rome, from Orontides himself down to the mostdisreputable scoundrel who makes a living by exchanging his cash forstolen gems. He has sent off despatches already along many postroads, bythe couriers who set out at dawn, notifying all gem-dealers in the townsalong these roads to be on the watch for the miscreants. He will continuethis until the warning is all over Italy from Rhegium and Brundisium tothe Alps, and that within a few days. Those precious gentry are certain tobe nabbed either in Rome or elsewhere. Whenever they are identified and indurance it will be easy to clear you.
"Meanwhile you will be tried as a slave accused of murdering his masterand the investigation will include the questioning of every slave in thehouse at the time of the murder. I know you are aquiver with dread oftorture; there will be torture, but I assure you you will not be tortured.As much can be done today by influence and bribery as could be done underPerennis or Cleander, only it cannot be done so crudely and openly, andmuch else can be done openly.
"We have endeavored to arrange to have you tried by a bunch of jurymenpresided over by a praetor, just as if you were a freeman, according toHadrian's law. But Commodus had repealed all such laws mitigating therigors of procedure in the case of slaves and Severus has not had themreenacted. So you will be tried by a magistrate, a deputy of the Prefectof the City, as slaves were tried before Hadrian's time.
"We shall have, at the trial, to cheer you up, to counsel you, and, ifnecessary, to intervene in your behalf, as clever an advocate as any inRome. Keep up a good heart, and read these letters."
And he went off.
I had a proof of the truth of what he said of bribery within half an hour,for I was bathed, my hurts dressed, and I was clothed in new, clean andcomfortable garments and served with abundant eatable food and good wine.
I had promptly read the letters.
Agathemer's Galen had anticipated, mostly. Besides briefly telling me ofhis measures for detecting the murderers, and prophesying their success,he assured me of his devotion and alertness to take advantage of anychance to help me.
Tanno pledged me his utmost efforts to assist me, and emphasized his hopethat the influences which he and Vedia could enlist in my behalf and thecash at their disposal would protect me from the worst horrors of trial asa slave and would ultimately clear me and free me from danger.
Vedia wrote:
"The Leopard-Tamer's bride gives greeting to the Leopard-Tamer. Keep upyour courage! Do not be despondent, but have a hopeful heart. All thatgold, all that influence can do for you, shall be done. Cheer up! You willlive to see yourself a free man, unsmirched by any accusation, you and Iwill be married and live many years of happiness afterwards: Farewell."
Investigations of murders are prompt in Rome and trials of accused slavesquickly disposed of. Before the next morning was half way to noon, on thefifth day before the Ides of July, I found myself, still shackled, butwell fed and well clad, in the Basilica Sempronia, before the magistratecharged with deciding such cases. He turned out to be young LolliusCorbulo, whom I had not set eyes on until he came to know me as Phorbas,for he was an art amateur of high standing, considering his youth.
I never have discovered how much he was influenced by his naturalkindliness of disposition, how much by personal regard for me, how much byTanno, acting for himself and Vedia, whether he had been bribed or not.He, when I questioned him in after years, passed it off with
a smilesaying that anyone would accept a gift on condition of doing what he meantto do uninfluenced, that no one needed a gift to make him do the rightthing. From Agathemer, Tanno and Vedia I have never been able to extractany admissions as to their activities in my behalf. Anyhow Corbulo gave ademonstration of the great latitude which is permitted both by law andcustom to such a magistrate in such a case. He ordered my shacklesremoved, and, while they were being filed through, sent off three of hisapparitors in charge of Dromo to fetch some of my own garments from myapartments in Falco's house.
He went about his investigation like a fair-minded man who meant to favorno one and to ferret out the exact truth.
Corbulo in his full senatorial attire, the broad crimson stripe moreconspicuous than the white of his toga, sat in his chair at the center ofthe apse of the basilica, his apparitors behind him. In the nave of thebasilica, surrounded by guards, were herded those members of Falco'sretinue who had been in his house at the time of his murder. Further downthe nave were many outsiders, come to listen to the trial. In the aisleswere gathered hangers-on of the court. In the apse, to the left and rightof the tribunal, stood many of Falco's friends, among whom I recognizedCasperius Asellio and Vespronius Lustralis. Among those on the other sideof the magistrate were Tanno and Galen.
The bare, bleak interior of the ancient, old-fashioned basilica, with itsblackened roof-beams, unadorned walls, Travertine columns of the severestTuscan pattern, and plain window-lattices, made an austere setting for thetrial. I saw nowhere any rack, winches, horse, or any other engine ortorture; but, while Dromo was gone, four muscular court-slaves cametramping In, each supporting a pole end. The two long poles were passedthrough the four ear-handles of a bronze brazier all of five feet square,level full of glowing charcoal, the brilliant bed of coals radiating anintense heat perceptible as they passed near me. When they had set it downin full view of all and near the tribunal one of them shook out and foldedfour-thick a thin Spanish blanket of harsh wiry wool and spread the squareof it by the brazier, squatting on it to tend the coals with a long-handled five pronged altar-hook.
When Dromo returned with my garments and I was clad as Phorbas, Corbuloquestioned me as to when Falco had bought me, where and from whom. To myrelief he did not ask me how Rufius Libo had acquired me. He did ask myage, but nothing else concerning my past. As to my life with Falco inAfrica and at Rome, he questioned me closely. I told him all about Falco'scharacter, his gem-collecting, the effect on him of the murders ofCommodus and Pertinax, his forebodings and his utterances to me about hiswill. When he felt that he knew all I had to tell along these lines, hesaid:
"Now tell me your version of your master's death."
He heard me out and said:
"I believe you. You speak like a truth-teller."
He then questioned the janitor, who babbled and cringed, halfunintelligibly, but stoutly denying that he had slept at his post on theseventh day before the Kalends of July.
"I am of the opinion," said Corbulo, drily, "that you are lying."
Then to his apparitors he said:
"Strip him."
The court-slave, the charcoal-tender, stood up off his folded blanket andshook it out. The janitor, stripped and bound, ankles lashed, handstrussed behind him, was haled towards the brazier. The blanket was flunground him and four apparitors lifted him as if he had been a log and heldhim near the brazier, the enveloping blanket drawn tight over his leftthigh and its outer underside nearest the coals, tilting him sideways tobring the soft thickness of the thigh closest to the heat. They watchedthe tight blanket over his thigh and moved him a little away from thebrazier when the wool began to smoke.
I had never seen nor heard of this kind of torture, but it seemedeffectual. The fellow writhed, groaned, squalled and protested. AfterCorbulo had him brought back before him he confessed that he had beenasleep in his cell from some time before Falco's murder until he wasaroused by Dromo, just before the arrival of Casperius and Vespronius.
One by one the other slaves were questioned. Three declared that they hadseen the janitor asleep not long before they heard the alarm.
Several more testified that the janitor had often been asleep. More thanhalf of them confirmed my story of the theft of the silver on the Nones ofMay. Except the janitor not one was tortured, though Corbulo threatenedwith torture several who hesitated in their testimony.
After the slaves Corbulo questioned Asellio and Lustralis.
Then, when they had stood aside, he gazed about at the spectators in thenave, at the crowd behind them, interested in the next case or in othersto come up later, at the hangers-on in the side aisles; for a time, mute,he stared at the glowing charcoal fire in the big brazier.
When he spoke he said:
"It is my opinion that Phorbas is innocent. I have inspected the housewhere the murder took place. From the condition of the looted rooms it isplain that more jewelry was stolen than any one man could carry off.Manifestly two men participated in the robbery and murder and escapedwith their booty, very likely the same pair who robbed Falco's_triclinium_ on the Nones of May. The janitor's confessed delinquencyexplains how they entered and got away unhindered and unseen. The deadman's heirs should punish the janitor. I hold no other slave at fault. Hasany man anything which he wishes to say before I pass formal judgment forofficial record?' Lustralis asked permission to speak and amazed me by hisfluency, his ingratiating delivery, his vehemence, his ingenuity and thefantastic malignity of his contentions. Corbulo heard him out to the end,unmoving as a statue.
"You do not look like a lunatic nor act like one, Lustralis," he said,"but you talk like one. Phorbas has impressed me by every feature of histale. He appears to have told the truth. He seems to have been a sincerefriend to his late master. I cannot credit the wild suggestion that a manof his character would plot his master's death, or that a man of hisintelligence, with a full knowledge of the terms of his master's will,would expose himself to suspicion by so plotting; far less that such a manas he would ignore the perils of such a crime and so desire his freedomand the legacies promised him as to league himself with two criminals,assist them to enter the house and to escape from it, and hope to come offunscathed and unsuspected and forever unbetrayed.
"But, suppose all you imagine and insinuate is true in fact. Prove it!Produce the two robbers. Prove them the robbers by recovering their booty.If they, so convicted of the robbery, are brought before me, if theyaccuse Phorbas of being their accomplice, if they tell a consistent andconvincing tale, if any colorable motive for such association and such acrime can be alleged against Phorbas, then I'll believe him guilty, andnot till then."
He eyed Lustralis, who spoke further.
"Torture Phorbas!" Corbulo cried. "Absurd! In my court I never torture menlike him, any more than if they were freemen. And though it might beimperative to torture him for a confession if all the testimony pointed tohis guilt, it is ridiculous to suggest torturing him merely to corroborateevidence demonstrating his innocence.
"I, hereby, officially as the representative of the Commonwealth,pronounce Phorbas cleared of all charges connected with this case. Ihereby enjoin all men to assist the Republic to detect and apprehend themurderers who robbed Falco and killed him."
Lustralis and Asellio looked baffled and sour. A murmur of approval ranthrough the bystanders. My fellow-slaves congratulated each other andrejoiced, save only the janitor.
Galen approached me.
"Phorbas," he said, "as you are now a freeman by your late master's will,which will soon be read and its provisions put into effect, at whichreading I shall be present as one of the legatees, you may now go whereyou like. I invite you to come with me."
I thanked Corbulo, who said:
"Don't thank me. I did just what any sane, clear-headed, fair-mindedmagistrate must do, affirmed the manifest truth."
Galen led me off to a modest apartment near the Carinae. I foundeverything prepared for my comfort, slaves to wait on me and nothingomitted. I thanked him.
"Tanno," he said, "deputed me to hire this lodging for you. He has kept inthe background. These are my slaves, put at your disposal and enjoined toobey you as they would obey me in person. Keep quiet here till I canarrange for you to take possession of your legacies from Falco. I think heleft you all your personal belongings and the slaves who waited on you. Assoon as the necessary formalities are completed I'll send them to you.
"Do not attempt to communicate with Vedia or Tanno. Do nothing which mightbetray you as your actual self. Our new Emperor seems resolute toexterminate, to the last individual, all persons implicated in anyconspiracy not only against Julianus or Pertinax, but against Commodus,from the date of his accession. All such persons apprehended are promptlyexecuted. Keep quiet. Efface yourself till I give you the word. I cancommunicate with you freely, can see you daily, if need be, since I am oneof poor Falco's heirs and was your physician during his life here in Rome.I'll do all I can for you."
He left and I bathed, ate, and slept the rest of that day and slept soundall night.
Next day passed similarly. But, early on the following day, the third daybefore the Kalends of July, not long after sunrise, my new valet came tome his face ashen. He babbled some unintelligible syllables and before Icould comprehend him, my bedroom was entered by a Pannonian sergeant, grimas the centurions from Britain who had liberated Agathemer and me from the_ergastulum_ at Placentia. Behind him were four legionary soldiers. I wasrearrested!
Andivius Hedulio: Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire Page 38