The other officers nodded their agreement with their First Spear’s aggrieved statement of what they saw as the immutable truth of the matter.
‘I see.’ Flaccus turned to look at the other side of the parade ground. ‘And where does the Twenty-Second Legion stand in all this, First Spear? Surely you cannot ally yourselves with such … precipitate action, no matter how honourable it might be in its motivation, and no matter that the legion conducting this …’ He paused for a moment, searching for the right word. ‘Well, perhaps I have no choice but to call it a mutiny? No matter that the Fourth Legion is such an old and well-respected part of the army?’
The Twenty-Second’s senior centurion answered in a calm voice.
‘To be very clear with you, sir, the Twenty-Second Legion lost a number of men dealing with the traitor Vindex, and to find ourselves punished for our loyalty by the removal of a good and honourable leader is hard to bear, never mind finding the man Vindex was fighting for on the throne. It is an insult to our dead, and to the empire itself, and we too wish for the senate to choose a successor to Nero of whom we can approve.’
Flaccus looked at him for a moment, and Secundus could have sworn he was fighting an urge not to smile.
‘Your commitment to the senate and people of Rome are noted, First Spear. And please accept my compliments on your devotion to the empire’s best interests. Your views are much the same as those I’ve heard expressed by some members of the senatorial class …’ He turned and looked at the Fourth’s legatus with a piercing expression. ‘So, if you’re not willing to swear loyalty to the emperor, will you at least declare that you remain devoted to the service of Rome? Failure to do so will, I am afraid, be interpreted as an outright mutiny, and will leave me with no option but to summon assistance from the neighbouring fortresses to put down this revolt.’
And the best of luck with that, mused Secundus, knowing full well that informal contacts between the Winter Camp’s legions, First Germanica at Bonna, 100 miles downriver, and the famed Twenty-First Rapax 250 miles to the south at Vindonissa, had already revealed that they shared the strong disaffection felt so deeply by their comrades of the Fourth and Twenty-Second, with whom they had jointly crushed the Vindex revolt in support of Galba to such good effect the previous year. The Fourth’s legatus stepped forward, a man by the name of Caecina Alienus, who mess gossip said was tarnished by his previous association with Galba in Hispania and was obviously the reason why he had been appointed to command the legion. The commonly held opinion was that he was not a man who could be trusted under the circumstances, and the rebellious centurions looked up at him dubiously.
‘I’m sure that such an irrevocable step won’t be required, Legatus Augusti. After all, I am myself, as every man here knows, a recent appointment to command the illustrious Fourth legion, approved in my post by Galba himself. If any man here has a reason to declare these two legions as in revolt it should be me. And yet I can see the justice in what they say. Perhaps we should compromise, as you suggest, and ask our comrades to swear allegiance to senate and people, and then seek a resolution to this matter under less pressured circumstances?’
Secundus turned to look at the legion’s senior centurion, who in turn looked to his colleague from the Twenty-Second. They nodded, and turned back to face the senior officers.
‘We will. Our loyalty to the empire burns as fiercely as ever, and we yield to no man in our love for Roman ideals.’
Caecina smiled beatifically and gestured to Flaccus, who was looking at him with the expression of a man who had trodden in dog’s faeces after taking his boots off.
‘In which case …’
Flaccus stared at him for a moment longer and then raised the scroll that had hung loosely in his hand.
‘Very well, and my fulsome thanks to Legatus Caecina Alienus for stating what we were all thinking with such insightful perception. Return to your units, centurions, and we’ll proceed. Oh, and can someone pick that bust of the emperor up and place it where it cannot be seen? I’m sure you’ll agree that it would be disrespectful in the extreme for us to continue with such an august personage staring up at us all from the mud into which he has been so unceremoniously been deposited?’
The Old Camp, Germania Inferior, January AD 69
‘Why is that the one day we have to get them all out onto the parade ground to swear their loyalty to the emperor is always freezing cold or blowing a gale? Do the gods know something we don’t?’
Marius smiled at his friend’s complaint, guessing from the looks on some of his men’s faces as they marched out onto the Old Camp’s parade ground that more than a few of them had misjudged the weather and failed to pad out the space between armour and flesh with their spare tunics. He himself was wearing three garments beneath his heaviest subarmalis, and even with the thick padded arming jacket to retain his body heat the wind seemed to be cutting straight through him. Gaius shivered and pinched his nose to clear it, flicking the mucus from his fingers.
‘Let’s hope the legatus hasn’t wrapped up warmly enough, that’ll make the ceremony nice and quick and we can all get back inside for something hot to celebrate another year of service to the empire. My nose is running like a bloody fountain.’
Marius shot him a jaundiced look.
‘Celebrate? Have you heard the grumbling that this lot have been doing in the last week?’
His friend shrugged, sniffing loudly.
‘Of course. The legions upriver are in a state of ferment, or so the rumours say, pissed off to the hilt with the way they’ve been treated by Galba despite, or perhaps because of their loyalty to the throne in dealing with Vindex and his Gauls. None of which, I hear, has been helped by the fact that the Gauls in question seem to have got off very lightly for a bunch of rebellious barbarians, not punished in any meaningful way and even rewarded by the emperor, according to some of the stories I’ve heard. Not that our boys are very much happier. And not that I care. They’ll swear their loyalty to the emperor because the alternative is unthinkable.’
Marius nodded.
‘They don’t have to be happy, they just have to get it done.’
But when the legion was paraded, and he walked out in front of his cohort, the expressions on the faces staring back at him were even more sour than he had expected. Strolling back towards them, he stopped by one of his officers, lowering his voice so as not to be overheard.
‘What the fuck is going on? They look like they’re ready to throw their rattles out of the cot.’
The other man shook his head, clearly sharing Marius’s bafflement.
‘I don’t know. I’ve heard nothing from my officers, and they’re usually pretty close to what’s going on in those tiny minds, but they’re sullen alright. All I’ve had out of them all morning is yes and no, all respectful like, but there’s something that’s got to them, that’s for sure.’
Marius nodded and turned away to find Decimus pacing towards him.
‘Well then, Centurion, perhaps you can illuminate this strange state of affairs for me. This lot look like they’ve lost a gold aureus and found a clipped copper as.’
‘We don’t know, First Spear. But I could hazard a guess.’
The senior centurion nodded.
‘So could I. They think their legatus augusti was assassinated on Galba’s orders. And they’re probably right. They think they’ve been put under the command of a man who’ll offer no threat to Galba’s hold on power, where the last legatus augusti was an emperor in waiting. And they’re probably right. And they hear the stories about how the Gauls are taking the piss out of the legions further up the Rhenus, flaunting the fact that Galba’s let them off any punishment for rising in support of Vindex while our lads find themselves in the doghouse for having put down the new emperor’s best mate, so they draw the conclusion that the German legions are being handed the shitty end of the stick. And they’re probably right.’
He looked out across the two legions, waiting in silence fo
r their orders, then turned to make sure that the senior officers of both were in their places on the raised dais.
‘This could all go very wrong very quickly. We’ve all heard the stories of what happens when a legion mutinies, and it doesn’t often end well, especially without anyone with enough seniority to nip this in the bud. In the old days there’d have been an imperial prince or even an emperor up there to calm it all down, but whether or not they’re decent soldiers, that pair are going to be as much use as tits on a bull if this lot take it into their heads not to swear the oath. Come with me.’
Gathering the senior centurions of all the Fifth Legion’s cohorts, he marched back to the dais where the two legion’s aquilifers and their attendant signifers and imaginifers were gathered, stolidly waiting for the ceremony to begin. His opposite number from the Fifteenth Legion had followed his example, and the two groups of officers met in front of the clustered standards to which the soldiers would shortly swear their loyalty. Decimus gestured to the standards, then tapped the hilt of his sword as he issued his instructions to the small group of officers.
‘Get lined up in front of the standards, and be ready to use these if any man steps out of line. Better one man dead than the mayhem that will result if we let them riot.’
The two men conferred briefly, and then Decimus turned to the dais, his words pitched loudly enough for every man on parade to hear them.
‘With your permission, gentlemen, I would like to say a few words before we swear the sacramentum?’
Legatus Lupercus looked to his colleague Fabulus and then nodded their joint assent. The First Spear turned to face the ten thousand men paraded before them, raising his voice to its usual parade ground bellow.
‘Men of the Fifth and Fifteenth Legions! Before we proceed with the swearing of the oath of loyalty to your emperor and your legion’s standards, I have something for you to consider. It is apparent to your officers that you are unhappy with the current state of affairs following the defeat of the revolt in Gaul. We share your disappointment that the men who revolted against the legitimate emperor have not been more soundly punished, while our comrades who put down their rebellion find themselves without imperial favour! But let us be very clear, men of the Fifth and Fifteenth Legions, we are first and foremost servants of the Roman republic to which we pledge our allegiance when we swear the sacramentum! So join me, comrades, in committing myself wholeheartedly to the service of Rome for another year, as we repeat the solemn promises we made before our legions’ eagles when first we entered the service!’ He turned back to the dais. ‘Please carry on, Legatus!’
Lupercus, the more senior of the two on the grounds of his greater age, drew breath to administer the oath, and Decimus muttered something under his breath that Marius was just able to discern.
‘And make it sound like you’ve got a pair.’ He looked to the centurions on either side of him. ‘As loudly as you like, gentlemen, let’s make it clear where we stand in all this.’
The legatus’s voice rang out over the silent soldiers, and Decimus breathed a sigh of relief at the note of command in his voice.
‘Soldiers of the Fifth and Fifteenth Legions! We are gathered to renew our sacramentum, our oath of loyalty to the republic and the man who commands it! So repeat after me!’
He paused for a moment, taking a breath.
‘I swear that I shall faithfully execute all that the emperor commands!’
The gathered senior centurions repeated the legatus’s words as loudly as they were able without actually shouting, but the soldiers’ response was lukewarm at best, and to Marius’s eye few men beyond the front rank were actually repeating the oath’s words.
‘I swear that I will never desert the service of Rome!’
He glanced sideways at Decimus, but his superior’s face was a blank mask as he repeated his vow.
‘And I swear—’
From somewhere towards the rear of the gathered ranks of soldiers a stone flew, fast and low over the heads of the legionaries, to strike the bust of the emperor that had been set on a plinth in front of the raised dais. With an audible crack the statue’s nose sheared away, projectile and debris falling to the ground. Decimus started forward, apoplectic with rage at the defiant act.
‘Find that man!’
After a moment’s silence the truth dawned on Marius, that with the entire legion’s attention locked on the two legati administering the oath, nobody with any incentive to report the stone thrower had actually seen the act, while the men around him probably shared his sentiment. He turned to his superior, speaking quickly and quietly.
‘I couldn’t say where that stone came from, not even which legion.’
Decimus nodded furiously.
‘Watch your cohorts! If that happens again I want the culprit out here!’ He turned to his colleague, who issued a similar order, then returned his attention to the ranks of legionaries, and if he realised that the two legions were only one provocation away from rioting, the knowledge didn’t appear to trouble him. ‘Whoever threw that stone seems to have got away with it! Your feelings on the matter of the emperor’s right to the throne have been noted. But if there’s one more act of defiance this morning then I’ll have my entire legion on punishment duties for the rest of the year, and so will my colleague here!’ He gestured to the Fifteenth Legion’s senior centurion, who nodded with an equally angry expression. ‘And if you cunts want to find out exactly how serious I am then go ahead and find out! And just in case you think it was clever to throw that stone, let me assure you all that you’re lucky the fool that threw it had a steady hand. Because if that stone had hit my eagle I’d have found out who threw it by flogging one man in ten in every bloody century until the culprit was identified, and then I’d have had the bastard crucified, and both legions kept on parade until he choked out his dying breath!’
The hush that greeted his threat was so profound that even the birds in the trees that surrounded the parade ground seemed to have fallen silent.
‘You think that’s an empty threat? Then I fucking dare you, any one of you cunts, to throw one more fucking stone and find out just how vindictive I can be when I’m provoked!’ He stared out across his command with his chin jutting out, pugnacity radiating from the set of his body and the white-knuckled grip on his vine stick. ‘Nobody? Good! Perhaps now we can get on with swearing our loyalty to the fucking empire!’
He turned, gesturing to the two legati to continue with the sacramentum, and after a moment Lupercus raised the scroll again.
‘And I swear that I will not seek to avoid death in the service of the Roman republic!’
The soldiers’ repetition of the sacred vow was now barely audible, and at its conclusion Decimus turned to his officers with an expression little less furious than before.
‘Get them off parade as quickly as you can! The sooner they’re back in their hutches the happier I’ll be! We can worry about preventing this turning into a mutiny once the risk of a riot has been avoided!’ He nodded to his opposite number from the Fifteenth and raised his voice to roar the command his soldiers were waiting for.
‘The Fifth Legion is dismissed!
The Winter Camp, Germania Superior, January AD 69
‘Aquilifer Volpeius!’
A swift knock on the door of the eagle bearer’s room reinforced the urgency of whoever was trying to attract his attention, and Volpeius sprang to his feet, crossed the room in three paces and flung it open, ready to remonstrate vigorously with whoever it was who had disturbed his usual and well-known routine after coming off parade. Opening his mouth to issue a tirade of abuse, he closed it again at the sight of the legion’s senior centurion.
‘I know. You’ve only just managed to polish the paw marks of half a dozen centurions off the eagle, and you probably haven’t even had time to offer your usual prayer to Mars, never mind get your head around what just happened.’
Volpeius nodded brusquely, still seething at the way his standard had
been manhandled by the legion’s senior centurions less than an hour before. The eagle was now safe in the chapel of the standards, under the watchful eyes of soldiers he had warned would pay with their hides if he found so much as a single finger mark on its gold surface when he returned to clean it again, once he had communed with his god. A big man among his peers in more than one way, in a profession that favoured soldiers who could physically and mentally dominate their men to ensure their instant compliance with any order, he was half a head taller than the man addressing him and, in the opinion of many of the legion’s centurions, would have been a natural leader of men if he’d not been chosen to carry the Fourth’s eagle instead. As if recognising his aquilifer’s effortless and yet always dominating presence, the man standing before him was always appropriately respectful to his eagle bearer, and often went out of his way to include him in command meetings at which his attendance was not strictly required.
‘It’s been a disturbing morning, First Spear. I was praying.’
The senior centurion nodded.
‘I know. You’re lucky to have had the time. I’ve spent the last hour with my colleague from the Twenty-Second, our legati and the legatus augusti. Caecina wants to see you.’
Volpeius shook his head in bafflement.
‘The legatus? Wants to see me?’
The other man nodded with a grim smile.
‘You heard me. So blow out the candles, put on a clean tunic and your best belt and boots, and get yourself over to the praetorium. Now.’
He turned and walked away, leaving the baffled aquilifer to hurriedly change and comb his hair before walking quickly across the fortress to the commanding officer’s residence and presenting himself to the guards on duty, to find himself ushered swiftly inside with the respect due to such a pivotal figure in their world and into the presence of the legion’s commander himself. Stamping to attention, he saluted and awaited his commanding officer’s requirements of him.
Betrayal: The Centurions I Page 14