I also feel a little guilty about my portrayal of the Watch (Vigiles or Cohors Vigilum in Latin). The Romans had a much narrower view of the state's responsibilities in the areas of crime prevention, detection and punishment than we have; there was, for example, no public prosecutor's office at Rome, and even prosecutions for crimes such as murder were initiated by private individuals. Although they did exercise certain policing duties, the Watch's primary concern was fire prevention, while the maintenance of public order was the province of the – purely military – Urban Cohort (Cohors Urbana).
My only other major assault on historical fact (intentional, at any rate) concerns the revelation of Drusus's murder and its contribution to Sejanus's downfall. The 'real' discovery of the murder actually post-dated Sejanus's death, and came through his former wife Apicata's posthumous letter to Tiberius. It is strange but true that up to that time everyone, including the emperor, had believed that the death was natural, and there was no suspicion whatsoever of foul play. As to the poison itself, Tacitus says only that 'Sejanus chose a poison which counterfeited the gradual deterioration produced by natural ill-health' ('Seianus...deligit venenum quo paulatim inrepente fortuitus morbus adsimularetur'), without going into further details. Consequently my suggestion of stibium – antimony, or one of its compounds – rests on no historical evidence whatsoever. I chose it after discussion with a doctor friend, Hamish Leslie, primarily because although the Romans knew of its medical uses – Pliny in his Natural History describes it as 'an astringent and coolant' – its long-term deleterious effects, and thus its candidature as a slow poison, seem to have slipped past them unnoticed; at least so far as I am aware. They, like the Greeks, Egyptians and Babylonians before them, used it widely in paste form as eyeshadow, and also in the manufacture of wine flasks.
The two years which followed the closing date of the story (late October AD31) were marked by a series of treason trials aimed at the destruction of Sejanus's partisans, and these I used as the 'quarry' for my villains. Those who died, committed suicide or were otherwise disposed of included Publius Vitellius (suicide), Sextius Paconianus (perpetual imprisonment), Latiaris (death), Quintus Servaeus (condemned but turned state's evidence, implicating Julius Africanus and Seius Quadratus), Appius Junius Silanus (pardoned), Vescularius Flaccus (executed or forced into suicide) and Rubrius Fabatus (perpetual imprisonment). Fulcinius Trio escaped immediate prosecution (although he had a rough ride) but succumbed in AD36, when he was forced into suicide.
Sextus Marius and Marilla require a note to themselves. Marius – who had indeed earlier been accused of involvement with Sacrovir – was thrown from the Tarpeian Rock in AD33 for incest with his daughter; Tacitus says that Tiberius had him killed for his money, but this is a typical Tacitean sideswipe at an emperor whom he disliked. The daughter is not named, but by Roman convention would be Maria. This I didn't want to use, since it would have given rise to too many un-Latin overtones. Instead I used Marilla, an alternative Latin feminine form.
One interesting non-victim of the Tacitean trials, from the point of view of my pseudo-history, is Corvinus's uncle Cotta. Not only did Tiberius himself intervene to quash charges against him (among others, casting aspersions on Gaius's manliness, a crime for committing which one of the emperor's oldest friends was later forced into suicide) but he took the almost unprecedented step of having his principal accuser investigated and subsequently put to death. Cotta seems to have wielded considerable influence with Tiberius (because the emperor was grateful to his nephew for services rendered?): in connection with the outcome of a financial dispute with Aemilius Lepidus and the 'real' Lucius Arruntius the same year, Tacitus reports him as saying, '"The senate will support them, but my little pal Tiberius will support me"' ('"Illos quidem senatus, me autem tuebitur Tiberiolus meus"'). The Wart did, too, against the justice of the case.
Finally, several thank-you's: to Dr Hamish Leslie for keeping me right on the effects of antimony and head-wounds; to Roy Pinkerton and Andrew Lang for fielding questions on subjects ranging from provincial governors' dates to the layout of the Villa Iovis in Capri; to my wife Rona for giving me access to books from her library; and finally to the shade of the late Professor Sir Ronald Syme, whose excellent Augustan Aristocracy is one of the most-thumbed books in my ongoing reference box.
________________
Sejanus (Marcus Corvinus Book 3) Page 26