Roman Dusk: A Novel of the Count Saint-Germain (Saint-Germain series Book 19)

by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

  As you must have heard, wherever you are, Heliogabalus was killed by the Praetorians on March 11, for his excesses and his dishonor of the Senate and people of Roma. That is the official reason for the murder. Whatever other causes there might be, they are spoken only in whispers. His young cousin Gessius, or to use his optimistic reigning name, Marcus Aurelius Severs Alexander, is now elevated to the purple, to the delight of his mother. Julia Mamaea has a steadier hand than. Julia Soaemias. The boy may last longer. Roma is wary of this child, but relief is everywhere. Even Roma was growing weary of Heliogabalus’ unchecked dissipation.

  There is so much I want to say to you, but as I try to express all that is in my thoughts and my heart, I cannot find the words I seek. If you and I were conversing, it might be possible to convey all I want to you. For you, who have known me better than anyone, since I cannot see you, cannot touch you, cannot hear your voice, I am mute. I ask you to pardon my stillness. You, of all men, must comprehend the reason for it. If ever you return to Roma and I am still here, I ask you to visit me, so that I may impart what I cannot express in words. Until that time, may Mercury, Neptune, Fortuna, and your gods protect you, and may Fraus and the waters of Phlegethon remain far from you.

  With affection and devotion,

  Pax Ignatia Laelius

  by the hand of Felifanus, the scribe

  EPILOGUE

  Text of a letter from Ragoczy Germain Sanctus-Franciscus at Vindobona to Atta Olivia Clemens at Emona, carried by private courier.

  To my long-cherished Atta Olivia Clemens, Ragoczy Germain Sanctus-Franciscus, as I am known here, sends greetings.

  I have your letter of January 7th with me, which, I am pleased to say, has actually reached me after going through Alexandria and Narona to arrive in Vindobona, where I am staying at present. I have acquired a house and suited it to my needs. It is far from lavish, but it is sturdy and the roof does not leak.

  Out here at the edge of the Roman Empire, I am struck with the hard life these people are willing to tolerate all for the privilege of calling themselves citizens of Roma. This city may have walls and a Legion, but it is little more than a typical border village, a rough place under constant threat of attack from beyond the frontier. Those foolish enough to go beyond the city gates may take their lives in their hands, as many reckless Romans have learned. There are times going out of the house is enough to bring mortal danger upon one. Just a month ago, the factor of the Legion here was found beaten to death on a dung-heap, not ten paces from the Legion barracks.

  Rotiger is with me still; he has this household—limited though it is—well within his command, and he has gained the trust of the local merchants in all his dealings with them, so that what few luxuries reach this place, we have first claim on them, foreigners or not.

  I am enclosing with this a few new jewels toward any costs that you may encounter in pressing your claims on your Roman property when you return there next spring. I am assuming you are still planning on such a journey, and that you will find the decuriae of Roma as avaricious as I did. Think of it as a return on your generosity to me during my stay there, a decade ago.

  Speaking of that time, last month I was delivered a message informing me that Melidulci has succumbed to fever and has had her body burned, supposedly in tribute to the customs of the old Republic. She left a goblet to me, as a remembrance of her, which surprised me, given her protestations of no strong attachment. It may be that over time, her affection increased, or her memories may have altered her understanding of what we had in our time together.

  That does concern me, now and again. I think my memories are true, and I rely upon them to be so. Yet over the centuries, my vision of them has changed, and I occasionally fear they will become so distorted that I can no longer depend on what I recall. It is those times when I value you most deeply, for you and I share almost two centuries of memories. Between you and Rotiger, I know I will not lose my link to the past, or not completely, and that gives me solace that I thought I would never know again. From the deepest chamber of my unbeating heart, I thank you for that, and for your constant love, which I return in full measure until the True Death consigns me to the realm of memories.

  Ragoczy Germain Sanctus-Franciscus

  (his sigil, the eclipse)

  by my own hand on November 11th, in the 983rd Roman Year

  Author’s Note

  This novel is set in the period of Roman history called the Decadence, which began about 160 AD, a distinction it richly deserved: social conventions had become lax; the bureaucracy was increasingly corrupt, due in large part to the privatizing of most of the civil service; the nobility were competing in luxury and excess, and were rarely held accountable for their overindulgence, either legally or politically; the Emperors were more often than not puppets for powerful families and influential plutocrats; maintenance of Roman roads, the most successful communication routes in the ancient world, was reduced or abandoned even as the Romans struggled to hold their borders; the Legions, once the heart of Roman strength, now filled their ranks with client-nation soldiers and gave high rank positions to mercenaries; the standards of education and language-use had declined and the quality of linguistic communication and literary expression was eroding; public entertainments, from the arena to the stage, were violent, sensationalistic, and debauched. The attempt to maintain a society of laws was giving way to one of political and commercial influence, and all the while the gulf between rich and poor was widening, and the legal rights of women and slaves were diminishing steadily.

  On top of that, the upper classes were experiencing the genetic consequences of generations of cooking in lead-lined pots: all manner of problems from decreased birth rates to myriad physical and mental infirmities took a rising toll on those families long used to occupying positions of authority in the Empire. Even the middle-class—what there was of it—had begun to erode its generational health; for in an attempt to appear more wealthy and of higher rank than they were, many successful middle-class families sprinkled their food with powdered lead so that their food would taste as if they could afford lead pots.

  Despite all these depredations from within, and although there were barbarian tribes worrying away at the edges of the Roman Empire, it still reached from the Middle East to the Atlantic Ocean, from Britain to north Africa. The first signs of a distinct east-west split were starting to develop by the time of this novel, the third century of the Christian calendar, or the tenth century of the Roman one.

  At the time, Christianity was only one of many non-Roman religions gaining adherents; Mithraism was particularly popular among the Roman military, and Isis-worship was gaining supporters among Roman women as the power of the Vestal Virgins waned. Fortune-tellers and sybils had thriving clienteles in many parts of the Empire, as did any number of regional pagan practices. Christianity itself was sharply divided between the Peterine groups—who maintained most Jewish traditions but held their wives in common, in a kind of group marriage, and celebrated communal suppers—and Paulists—who did not practice strict Judaism, organized their followers hierarchically, exhorted nonbelievers in the streets, and physically attacked those they considered to be sinners, including Peterine Christians. This bipartisan rivalry was relentlessly competitive—much like siblings attempting to attract the favorable attention of a distant and baffling parent—and garnered a marked degree of public disapproval, a stance that only served to intensify both groups of Christians in a more determined practice of their versions of their faith in a display of resolve that increased the Roman condemnation of their religious beliefs as seditious.

  The position of non-Romans was becoming precarious due to the barbarian incursions on Roman borders, to say nothing of Rome’s increasing dependence on foreign trade. As the Empire entered its slow collapse, this first showed in the progressively aleatory postures of the internal administration of the Empire toward foreigners, especially those of substance. This was reflected in mercurial enforcement of t
axation, the arbitrary enactment of customs regulations regarding imported goods, and demands of double and triple payment for such services as private security and civic repairs.

  In his short, hectic reign, Heliogabalus did nothing to stop the erosion of the Roman Empire—in fact, through his systematic debasement of Roman coinage, he did a fair amount to speed it along—encouraged and abetted by the real authorities behind him: his mother and grandmother. Not that he didn’t have a talent for surfeit and dissipation—he most certainly did, and he paid dearly for it. He was not alone in his avaricious exploitation of Rome and the Roman people; following Marcus Aurelius, Rome had few emperors with either the skill or the intention to secure the Empire until Constantine shifted the seat of power from Rome to Byzantium—renaming this city for himself: Constantinople—and laid the foundation for the collapse of the West.

  As in Blood Games, I have kept the names of historical persons in traditional Roman order, but for fictional characters, I have put their family names last, as is the present style, for the sake of clarity, and to keep confusion to a minimum. For those familiar with Roman traditions of nomenclature, I ask your indulgence for this lapse in historicity.

  Thanks are due to John Conner for information on the city of Rome during this period, and the shifts in Latin structure and vocabulary of the time; to Agatha Dermond for the use of her superb library on daily life in late-Imperial Rome, including extensive records on food and clothing; to David Lindenthal for allowing me to use his references on Roman roads and aqueducts of the period; to James Melchior for providing information on Roman government, laws, customs, and tax codes; and to Tracy Smith for sharing her material on the state of Roman provinces and borders in the third century. Errors and misinterpretations are mine, not theirs, and their help is much appreciated.

  Also I would like to thank Lisa Eamons, Christine Sullivan, and Scott Wye, my clarity readers, at whose suggestion I have put a glossary of Roman terms at the back; to Libba Campbell and Gregory Huang, who read it for content; to the Canadian Chapter of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, particularly Elizabeth Miller, and the Lord Ruthven Assembly, including all those who contributed to Forgotten Gems of Horror Fiction, for all their enthusiasm for this series of books; to Charlie and Peggy, Gaye, Megan, Steve, Maureen, Randy in absentia, Brian, and Alice; to Wiley Saichek for all the Internet work; to Paula Guran for getting my new Web site up and running (chelseaquinnyarbro.net); and to the Yahoo chat group. On the publishing side, thanks to Melissa Singer, my editor at Tor, and to her boss, Tom Doherty, for steadfastness. Last, thanks to you, the bookstore owners and the readers, for your ongoing support for Saint-Germain and this series—it wouldn’t continue without you.

  CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO

  Berkeley, California

  17 July, 2005

  By Chelsea Quinn Yarbro from Tom Doherty Associates

  Ariosto

  Better in the Dark

  Blood Games

  Blood Roses

  Borne in Blood

  A Candle for D’Artagnan

  Come Twilight

  Communion Blood

  Crusader’s Torch

  Dark of the Sun

  Darker Jewels

  A Feast in Exile

  A Flame in Byzantium

  Hotel Transylvania

  Mansions of Darkness

  Out of the House of Life

  The Palace

  Path of the Eclipse

  Roman Dusk

  States of Grace

  Writ in Blood

  Gazetteer and Glossary

  a before the entry indicates an actual place or thing

  GAZETTEER

  Achaea—the Greek Peloponnese

  Aegyptus—Egypt

  Alexandria—port city in Egypt

  Antioch—port city in Roman Syria

  Aquitania—Roman province, southwestern modern France

  Arabian Sea—still there

  Armenia—northeast Turkey today

  Asiana—Roman province; western Turkey today

  Asisium—modem Assisi

  Aventinus Hill—on the south side of Roma

  Barbary—north Africa

  Basilica Julia—Roman civil courts and records building

  Belearus Isolae—islands off southern Spain

  Bithynia—Roman Middle-Eastern province

  Bononia—Italian town, Bologna today

  Britannia—Britain

  Brundisium—modern Brindisi

  Byzantium—Roman city; later Constantinople, now modern Istanbul

  Caelianus Hill—on the southeast side of Roma

  Capitolinus Hill—upper class Roman hill, west side of the Old Walls

  Cappadocia—northwestern Turkey today

  Carpathian Mountains—Hsh-hook shaped range in modern Romania

  Chios—Greek Island; still there

  Circus Maximus—chariot-racing and gladiatorial arena—older than the Flavian Circus

  Cnossus—port on Crete

  Cos—town famous for linen

  Greta—Greek Island of Crete today

  Dacia—modem-day Transylvania and Moldavia

  Emona—city near the Austro-Croatian border today

  Esquilinus Hill—on the eastern side of the city

  Fars—northeastern Iran today

  Flavian Circus—we call it the Colosseum today

  Florentia—Florence now

  Forum Agricolarum—the farmers’ market

  Forum Emporiarum—warehouse market

  Forum Romanum—civic center for Roma

  Gallia Belgica—Belgium and most of central France today; one of the Three Parts Gaul is divided into

  Germania Inferior—northern Holland and northwestern Germany

  Germania Superior—southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria

  Golden House—Nero’s personal palace

  Hind—India

  Hydruntum—small harbor on the heel of Italy’s boot

  Iberia—Spain

  Illyricum—most of present day western Serbia and Croatia

  Judaea—roughly modern Israel and part of Jordan

  Litigianus Prison—Roman jail for minor offenders (as compared to the Mamertinus Prison)

  lupanar—Roman red-light district

  Luxor—city in Egypt

  Macedonia—northwestern region in Greece

  Mamertinus Prison—major Roman prison for major felons

  Mare Internum—the Mediterranean Sea

  Mare Nostrum—Roman nickname for the Mediterranean, meaning Our Sea

  Mare Tyrrhenum—sea west of Ostia and southern Italy

  Miletus—Asianian port

  Misenum—north-northwest of Neapolis

  Moesia—region in the southern Carpathians, between Dacia and Thracia

  Naissus—Balkan territory

  Narbo—southern French port

  Narona—Dalmatian port

  Nepete—town north of Roma

  Neapolis—modern Naples

  Nile—a river in Egypt

  Odessus—modern Odessa on the Black Sea

  Ostia—port for Roma

  Palatinus Hill—Roman upper-class hill

  Pannonia Inferior—mostly modern western Hungary

  Pannonia Superior—mostly modern Croatia and eastern Austria

  Pergamum—Asianan spa town

  Persia—today southern Iran

  Phoenicia—trading port in Middle East

  Pincius Hill—on the north side of the city

  Porta Caelinus—Roman gate on the southeast side of the city

  Porta Nova—Roman gate, immediately south of the Praetorian Camp

  Porta Ostiensis—gate on the south side of Roma, just east of the Tibrus

  Porta Pinciana—one of three north-facing gates; this one was under the Virgo Aquaduct

  Porta Viminalis—Roman gate, immediately north of the Praetorian Camp

  Pyrgi—beach-town northwest of Roma

  Quirinalis Hill—northern Roman hi
ll

  Ravenna—Roman city on the Adriatic

  Roma—the Eternal City

  Salonae—on the Dalmatian Coast

  Sapientia—Olivia0146’s villa in Vesontio

  Stone Tower—east/west merchants’ center in southeast Persia

  Syria—Syria

  Tarrraco-port city in Iberia (Spain)

  Tarsus—port in present-day Turkey

  Temple of Hercules—pagan temple in Roma

  Temple of Imhotep-temple in Egypt

  Temple of Isis—small pagan temple in Roma

  Thessalonika—Macedonian city-state

  Thracia—northeastern Greece

  Tibrus—in earlier days, the Tiberis Flumen, today the Tevere

  Vesontio—Roman town in Gallia Belgica

  Vetera Castra—city in Germanca Superior

  Via Appia—probably the most famous Roman road

  Via Castrum—Roman street

  Via Cingula—beltway on the east of Roma

  Via Decius Claudii—the street of the Laelius’ house in Roma

  Via Ostiensis—the road from Roma to Ostia

  Via Philomena—in Vesontio, Gallia Belgica

  Via Subura—Roman major street leading to the Forum Romanum

  Via Thermae—Roman street

  Vicus Longus—Roman major street: lit. Long Boulevard