Though his trade is low, his qualities are noble. He’s entertaining and affectionate. He tells the truth. He doesn’t make promises unless he can keep them – though sometimes he keeps promises he never even made. What I like most, says Helena Justina, is his loyalty. [LAP] He also has enormous physical courage, alien to me, so I admire it greatly. Not only can he hold his own in a fight, but when he works in the silver mines we learn just how much punishment Falco can endure, in an environment so terrible that even he will be haunted by it permanently: dirt, vermin, beatings, starvation, exhaustion, the filthy overseer whose kindest punishment was to strangle the culprit while his only notion of reward was an hour of enforced buggery. [DLC]
I insist he carries forward the results of physical damage. So his trainer tells him: Your left leg’s weak from when you broke it three years ago. Your old fractured ribs still ache if the wind is north-westerly, you like to fight with a dagger but your wrestling’s adequate, your feet are good, your right shoulder’s vulnerable, you can throw a punch but you aim too low and you have absolutely no conscience about kicking your opponent in the balls. You eat too many street caupona rissoles and you hate redheads. [THF]
Falco is ambitious for a better life, though he wants it without handouts, patronage or obligation. He eventually obtains it: I was now a man of substance. I had house, wife, children, dog, slaves, heirs, work, prospects, past history, public honours, roof terrace with fig tree, obligations, friends, enemies, membership of a private gymnasium – all the paraphernalia of civilisation. [SA] Perhaps all of us can share his ambivalent feelings: Sometimes I had no idea myself how much I had capitulated and sold my soul to keep my family, or how much I simply played along and guarded my integrity. [AL]
Blame the army. Once the legions train you to kill, any attacker gets what-for. He meant me dead. I slew him first. That’s how it works. [BBH]
Falco the informer
The urge to right wrongs is an irresistible, ethical driving force. Somebody had just killed this man, and I was going after whoever did it … [LAP] He will, if there is no alternative, take away life – though he says, Killing people has a bad effect on me [SP]. Like a writer, Falco can’t resist: I was enjoying myself … there were real social undesirables to unearth and convict. [VC] Helena describes his method: He rampages about as if the gods had him under a murderous curse – then he clears everything up. Next minute he’s demanding where is dinner … [BBH] If ever he speculates on having a different career, he and we know it’s not serious.
Although Falco is primarily a loner, he can find allies. Apart from Petronius and Helena, these run from Vitalis and Hilaris in The Silver Pigs, to senators like Gallicus and Frontinus – even the occasional goat or dog. This trait greases the wheels of the plot, but I see it as professionalism that Falco knows when he needs help, and he can winkle it out.
I could be a bakery owner’s bread-oven-paddle-pusher or a butcher’s offal-bucket-toter … [AL]
Skills
He is often called upon to disguise himself. He is variously a priest, a lead-pipe salesman, a fountain-cleaner, a jobbing playwright, a project manager. He acts as a bodyguard. His skills include being able to catch a thrown knife by its handle (oh really?). Not a brilliant linguist, he speaks workaday Greek (though a mistake over liquorice in Shadows in Bronze nearly costs him his life) and has a smattering of Celtic.
He is a city boy, who both knows his way around Rome and is streetwise: I walked steadily, keeping away from doorways and glancing down any alleys I passed. Where there was space for more than one person, I went straight up the middle of the road. When I heard anybody who must realise I was there, I made sure my tread was confident. If the other person did not appear to have noticed me, I kept quiet. [TTD]
Falco and the Emperor
Sometimes I worked for Vespasian. A new emperor, sprung from a middle-class background and wanting to keep a canny eye on the nasty snobs of the old elite, may need the occasional favour … I was quick and discreet, and Vespasian could trust me to tidy up loose ends. There were never repercussions from my jobs. [LAP]
Imperial missions are often overseas: Is the mission just dangerous, or does it involve an inconvenient journey, a foul climate, a total lack of civilised amenities, and a tyrannical king who likes his Romans laced on a spit over a very hot fire? Falco asks Anacrites over Nabataea; his mission is exploratory, to report back on this secretive and very wealthy Eastern state, which will in the long term be taken over as a Roman province: topography, fortifications, economics, social mores, political stability and mental state of the populace. [LAP]
He is not above boasting about his imperial work: I’ve worked for the best. Don’t ask me names. I’ve been involved in jobs I’m not allowed to discuss and I’m trained in skills you’d rather I didn’t describe. I’ve tracked down plenty of felons and if you haven’t heard about it, that just proves how discreet I am. [LAP]
Literary dreams
Falco wants to be a writer. His Juvenilia, those odes to Aglaia which Sosia calls rather rude, must be ghastly, but his play, perhaps the prototype for Hamlet, is eagerly sought by those at the frontiers of literary scholarship. Like all of us who want our name in lights but who know it will be spelled wrong, Falco has no illusions: My elegant creation The Spook Who Spoke received its sole performance on a hot August evening in the Palmyra garrison theatre. If you can think of worse, I’d be glad to hear it … [LAP] It does, however, lead to his inclusion in the catalogue of the Great Library in Alexandria: categorised as a comedian, he is Phalko of Rome, father Phaounios, prosecutor and dramatist. None of which I had anticipated when I began the series.
His first attempt at giving a public reading fails when nobody comes. Next, he and Rutilius Gallicus hire the Auditorium of Maecenas for the night of embarrassment that opens Ode to a Banker. Believe me, I feel for them.
Helena Justina
Although Falco is generally drawn to a woman’s appearance, he falls for Helena’s character, only later noticing that: Once they worked her over with the manicure prodders and eyebrow tweezers, curling tongs and earwax scoops, left her fermenting all afternoon in a mealy flour face mask then finished her off with a delicate sponging of red ochre across the cheekbones and a fine gleam of antimony above the eyes, Helena Justina was bound to be presentable enough, even to me … The effect was of a cool, tall, distinctly superior naiad. [SP]
Single-minded girls are always dangerous. A man can float along for years being cynical and flippant, then some fierce tyrant (who happens to have the advantages of a sweet mind, a delicious expression and a body that is crying out to be entwined with his) sneaks under his defences …
[DLC]
At home, she wore very little jewellery, and looked none the worse for it. In company she was shy; even alone with a close friend like me she might pass for modest until she piped up with an opinion – at which point wild dogs broke pack and ran for cover all along the street … [VC]
She acquires a cross-shaped scar on her left arm where she was bitten by a scorpion in Last Act in Palmyra; afterwards she wears a row of silver bangles to hide it, which tend to jingle expressively under stress.
I gave Helena a birthday in September, then forgot, and could find no evidence – which led to the joke that Falco thinks it is in October.
We first meet her abroad. She is very keen on travel, developing a yen to see all the Seven Wonders of the World (which I am not sure I can emulate). Inconvenience does not faze her, and she has a bravery I envy: Most women of her status would have frizzled up in horror at the thought of stepping into the public hubbub of a loud, lewd foreign metropolis … Many citizens of Damascus eyed her with obvious suspicion for doing so. For a senator’s daughter Helena had always had a strange sense of propriety. If I was there that satisfied her. She was neither embarrassed nor afraid … [LAP]
A Roman matron in her chair (after a long day?)
Her character seems too modern to some people. I suspect there were alway
s women like Helena. She was a true Roman matron. Her father had tried to create in her a meek, modest partner to some all-knowing male. But her mother’s example of quiet contempt for the opposite species was just as traditional, so Helena had grown up forthright and doing just as she liked. [DLC] She is my kind of girl: she was eccentric; she knew it; she did not want to change. [JM] People constantly ask, would a woman of Helena’s status choose to live in a grotty apartment with a man of Falco’s low birth? Read Juvenal’s famous Sixth Satire, where he rails against Rome’s uppity upper-class women, and cites Eppia, a senator’s wife (not even divorced) who ran off with a gladiator.
Helena has been given a free run of her father’s library and education from her brothers’ tutors. In Ode to a Banker she assesses the contentious scrolls of novels and in Last Act in Palmyra she adapts The Birds for Falco, then scandalously acts in the performance (as the dabchick). She is a good mother – but frankly would prefer to have her nose in a scroll. When Falco has to write formal reports for the Emperor, Helena Justina takes over; she is quicker and knows what he needs to say. She does his accounts too.
When that senator’s wife,
Eppia, eloped with her fancy swordsman …
Husband, family, sister, all were jettisoned, not
One single thought for her country; shamelessly she forsook
Her tearful children, as well as – this will really surprise you –
The public games, and her favourite matinee star.
JUVENAL
In her personal life, she shows great self-determination: she issues a divorce note to Pertinax; she decides when to come and live with Falco. Hilaris explains what went wrong in her first marriage: She found that a high position and good manners were not enough. She would rather he had picked his nose and goosed the kitchen maids – then at least talked to her! [SP] To Falco’s amusement, she tells him the moment of truth finally came to her during a quarrel about politics.
In work, she helps whenever a woman can. Approaching strangers can be dangerous; when in doubt, Helena may take Maia with her, for instance looking for Tertulla in Lalage’s brothel, or trying to visit the gladiator Rumex. However, I loathe the ‘woman in jeopardy’ situation and indeed mock its clichés in Three Hands in the Fountain.
In the first book, Helena not only has the idea of sending Falco to the lead mines, but saves his life several times. She encourages their dive into a brothel to escape pursuit and is an excited companion in the subsequent chase. In less extreme situations, Falco often takes her along: ‘Wear a plain dress and no necklaces. Bring a stylus, and don’t interrupt. I hate a secretary who talks smart.’ Some might imagine her a slave. I tried to view her as a highly trained freedwoman inherited from an aunt. Helena herself seemed quite at ease, without being explained away. [TTD] Later, she helps orchestrate the gathering of suspects in Ode to a Banker; she has spotted the potential bestselling author. She organises the family council at the end of Nemesis.
More mundanely, Helena holds the fort at home. She doesn’t enjoy that so much; neither do I.
I had no doubt she had spoken to the man with authority in my absence; he may not have believed how much I respected her judgement. [OB]
Helena sometimes solves the crimes: she spots the room-size discrepancy at Flora’s in Poseidon’s Gold, for instance. Her motivation matches Falco’s own: That young lady could never resist a mystery. [LAP] She also works behind the scenes for Falco, introducing him to Caenis, in Two for the Lions, hoping for imperial patronage.
It is probably important to Falco’s self-esteem that he feels Helena is attractive to other men. Her devotees came from some strange walks of life. The very top too. A quiet, competent girl who listened to people, she attracted both the vulnerable and those with taste; men liked to think they had privately discovered her … [LAP] He is hugely, ridiculously jealous (this probably increases Helena’s own self-esteem, so dented by Pertinax).
Helena is a romantic, though less so than Falco. She is enthusiastic about sex, overturning gender stereotypes from The Silver Pigs where she seduces Falco. This may be me teasing, but it fits Latin authors’ horror of threatening women.
Falco and Helena’s relationship
‘Interesting partnership!’
‘Interesting girl,’ I said. [LAP]
They don’t immediately gel, naturally. To say our eyes met would imply too much. What happened was that I looked at her because when a man is left alone with a woman in a quiet room it is the natural thing for him to do. She stared back at me. I had no idea why she was doing that … [SP] The sparkiness of their relationship endures, and I think it healthy; they retain enough independence to keep one another’s respect. By Time to Depart, when they are established together, Falco says: Sometimes we did fight. Sometimes, because she wanted me too badly to use reason, I could make her quarrel bitterly. Other times, the intelligence with which she handled me was breathtaking. She set trust between us like a plank, and I just walked straight across.
This relationship is not traditional in crime novels. I think he will always have a shabby office, a lonely house, a number of affairs but no permanent connection, said Chandler, of Philip Marlowe. Maybe Falco and Helena owe more to Nick and Nora Charles, in Dashiell Hammett’s ‘Thin Man’ books – or simply to my past experience with romantic novels.
Helena can read Falco’s thoughts. Sharing every confidence is for them, as it was for the Romans, the ideal definition of a good marriage. Even when Falco is working with Petronius, in Three Hands in the Fountain, Falco tells Helena he will always keep a modicum of reserve, something he will only share when he comes home to her (starting with his opinion there that Petro is behaving like an idiot).
It is important to them, as it is to me, that they do things together, whatever the rules say. They never lose the excitement of dashing off to follow up a clue: I had already grabbed her hand as we hurried along. This was the kind of moment we both enjoyed together – rushing through the evening streets to an unexpected rendezvous where we might witness something material. [AC]
They keep a good house and are good parents; both are pleased by their success in this.
Falco and Helena’s household
As the series proceeds, the couple acquire children, property – both real estate and chattels, a dog, and eventually even slaves. It makes their lives more comfortable (when it’s not causing domestic problems), though it changes the dynamic from Falco the scruffy bachelor at Fountain Court. Readers fear he may grow staid, but for me adjustments keep the books fresh. But having too many characters makes life awkward for an author. Children tie down a hero who needs to keep mobile. In Three Hands in the Fountain, I forgot about the baby, so poor Falco also forgets, hoofs off to tail suspects – and leaves his three-month-old daughter alone in an empty house … In See Delphi and Die, the young children are left behind (but not Nux, who has a role to play); Falco and Helena miss them so much that in Alexandria Julia and Favonia travel too (but not Nux).
A whole house has been bought for me, without anybody telling me the street or the locality, showing me the site plan, or even, if I may be so coarse as to raise this, Helena, mentioning the price. [OVTM]
In order to control the cast list, regular characters must sometimes be culled; fortunately ancient childbirth was frequently fatal and many children died very young. Despite a miscarriage and a technical stillbirth, by the end of Nemesis Falco and Helena have:
Julia Junilla Laeitana
Born in Barcino, Hispania Baetia, at the end of A Dying Light in Corduba and destined to dominate any household she graces, simply by looking cute. Her unusual third name celebrates a wine from the Barcelona region.
She is a child of character: ‘No!’ Dear little poppet; it had been one of her first words … [BBH] By three, she is learning her alphabet (from the senator) – and she is naughty; she scribbles on evidence tablets – though that’s really because the author needs to kick up the plot …
Julia’s many t
oys are based on archaeological finds. I won’t say my daughter was spoiled but she was fortunate. Four grandparents doted on their dark-eyed toddler. Aunts vied with one another for her love. If a new toy was created in any corner of the Empire, Julia somehow acquired it. You wonder why we had brought every one on a thousand-mile journey? Sheer terror of her reaction if she discovered we had left any treasure behind. [BBH] So carefully does Julia audit her possessions, her parents prophesy she will become an accountant.
Sosia Favonia
Born at the beginning of A Body in the Bath House, Favonia nearly fails to survive. She becomes another cutey, though a more gruff and private individual than her sister. In Scandal Takes a Holiday, Falco describes her as a sombre thug; we see her doggedness as she begs for treats from her grandfather and when her deaf cousin calls, Falco comments: she loved anyone eccentric. Later, however, she charms the people of Ostia as she practises toddling, in her clean white tunic and tiny bead necklace.
Flavia Albia
Discovered running wild on the streets of Londinium, a casualty of the Boudiccan Revolt, Albia comes to Helena’s notice and is rescued. She was little more than a skeleton, her features unformed. She had blue eyes. They could be British … [JM] Helena takes the decision, but even Falco is sympathetic: She was childishly slight, and if her life had been as hard as I suspected, she was young enough to deserve a chance, young enough to be capable of being saved … [JM] Early tantrums lead to her running away and being taken up by Florius, who evidently rapes her.
If Helena took her in, we would be infected with fleas and diseases, lied to, betrayed on every possible occasion, then robbed blind when the skinny scrap finally upped and fled … [JM]
Her origins will never be known. That’s definite: to show the consequences of disaster is my aim. It does not suit Albia or me to have a sugary solution.
By The Accusers Albia has a place in the family and is developing a personality: a quiet, calm, tolerant teenager. She watched the decadent world into which we had dragged her with those British blue eyes, so full of reserve; they seemed to appreciate our special Roman madness, while keeping her own, much more civilised, restraint. I had seen her sometimes shake her head over us, very slightly. But around this time, her position begins to rub. In Scandal Takes a Holiday she has a tomboy relationship with Aelianus, but Falco is already disturbed; he hopes, soon Albia would pass for a freedwoman and the questions would stop. With any luck we could find her a husband with a good trade and she might even end up happy. Well, the husband might be happy. Albia had lost her childhood to isolation and neglect; that would always show. She herself questions her position: ‘You never told me I was merely to look after your children, saving you the price of a slave!’ Albia was adept at throwing the sympathy dice; she always knew she could make us scared our goodwill gesture would go bad. [SDD]
Falco: The Official Companion (A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery) Page 12