The Roman sotk-2

by Mika Waltari

  Claudia raised her hand and slapped my face so that the sound echoed. I humbly turned the other cheek as Jesus of Nazareth says one should do, and Claudia raised her other hand and split my eardrum on that side. I have been a little deaf ever since. Then she burst out into such a flood of invective that I could hardly believe that it came from her mouth. I should say that I was more successful in following the teaching of Christ than she was, by sensibly keeping silent.

  Claudia hurled such a downpour of crude curses on both myself and the dead Antonia that Nero had to stop her. Nothing but good of the dead, he reminded her. For the sake of her own health, Claudia should remember that Antonia was Nero’s own half sister and so he could not allow others to speak ill of her.

  To appease Claudia and appeal to her compassion, I flung up my mantle, raised my tunic and showed her the bloodstained bandage about my organ, telling her that I had endured punishment enough for my faults. Nero forced me to undo the bandage, painful as this was, so that he could see for himself that I had not tried to deceive him by winding a bloodstained cloth around an uninjured organ.

  “Are you really so stupid,” he said after looking at it, “that you rushed straight off and had yourself circumcised? I was only joking and regretted what I had said after you had gone. But I must admit that you faithfully obey my orders, Minutus.”

  Claudia was not sorry for me. Indeed, she clapped her hands together and praised Nero for finding a punishment which she would never have dreamed of thinking up. For me it was punishment enough to be married to Claudia. I think she has never forgiven me for being unfaithful to her with Antonia. She has nagged at me about this for years, when a reasonable woman would have forgotten such a temporary lapse by her husband.

  Nero considered the matter was now closed and after sending Claudia and the two Jews away, went on to talk of other things without the slightest sympathy for me.

  “As you know, the Senate has decided on thank-offerings for the exposure of the conspiracy,” he began, “I myself have decided to build Ceres a temple which befits her. The other one was burned by the cursed Christian fire-raisers and I haven’t had time to plan a new one, as my hands are full with the rebuilding of Rome. But the cult center of Ceres has been on Aventine since time immemorial. I have not been able to find a large enough site there, so to restore our mutual confidence and set seal on our friendship, I’m sure you’d be willing to present your house and garden on Aventine to Ceres. It’s the best possible place. Don’t be surprised if the slaves have already begun to pull down the house when you get home. The matter is urgent and I was sure of your approval.”

  In this way Nero forced me to give him the Manilianus’ old family house without the slightest compensation. I could not summon up any overwhelming joy over this favor, for I knew he would take the honor on himself and not even mention my name when the temple was dedicated. Bitterly I asked him where he thought I was going to put my bed and my possessions in the present housing shortage.

  “Of course,” said Nero. “I hadn’t thought of that. But your father’s, or rather Tullia’s, house is still empty. I haven’t been able to sell it because it is haunted.”

  I replied that I was not going to spend huge sums on a haunted house which I did not want. I also explained how decayed it was and how ill-planned it had been in the first place, and that now, untouched for years, it had a wild garden which would be far too expensive to keep up in view of the new water taxes.

  Nero listened, enjoying my description.

  “As evidence of my friendship,” he said, “I had thought of selling you the house at a reasonable piice. But it disgusts me that you insolently and unworthily begin to bargain before I’ve even mentioned a price. I no longer regret having asked you to get yourself circumcised. To show you that Nero is Nero, I hereby present you with your father’s house. I refuse to lower myself by haggling with you.”

  Naturally I thanked Nero with all my heart, although he was not giving me the house for nothing, but in exchange for my old house on Aventine. Sufficient that I gained on the exchange.

  I thought with satisfaction that Tullia’s house was almost worth circumcision, and that thought still consoled me when I sickened with fever. I myself had done my best to stop the house being sold by spreading rumors about ghosts and having a couple of slaves rattle pan lids and thump furniture at night in the abandoned house. We Romans are superstitious when it comes to ghosts and the dead.

  So now I can with good conscience go on to tell you about Nero’s victorious progress through Greece, about the regrettable deaths of Cephas and Paul and about how I came to take part in the siege of Jerusalem.

  Book XIII

  Nero

  The suppression of the Pisonian conspiracy continued for nearly two years and extended to those wealthy men in the provinces and allied states who had evidently known what was happening but had said nothing. Merciful though Nero was in replacing the death sentence with exile wherever possible, thanks to the conspiracy he managed to put the State finances into some kind of order despite his enormous expenses.

  In fact the preparations for war against Parthia accounted for the greater part of the State income. Nero was quite moderate in his living habits for an Emperor, compared with some of the wealthy and newly rich in Rome. Due to the influence of the dead Petronius, Nero attempted to replace the vulgarity of Rome’s upstarts with good taste, though of course he often made mistakes now that he no longer had Petronius to consult.

  To Nero’s credit it should be said that he did not, for instance, burden the State treasury with more than the costs of transport when he replaced the works of art which had been destroyed by the fire with new statues and objets d’art. He sent an arts commission to Achaia and Asia to search every town of any size and send the best sculpture they could find back to the Golden Palace.

  This aroused considerable discontent among the Greeks, and in Per-gamon there was even an armed uprising. But the commission completed its task so well that even in Athens they discovered irreplaceable statues and paintings dating from the time when Greece had been a great power, though Athens had of course been thoroughly plundered during the Roman conquest.

  In newly prosperous Corinth too, where once hardly a stone had been left untouched, they found treasures, for the wealthy merchants and shipowners had done a good job building their collections over the years. And in the islands, which had not hitherto been searched for works of art for Rome, old statues were found which deserved the place of honor they were given in the great rooms and arcades of the Golden Palace.

  The Palace was so large that it remained spacious although the commission sent one shipload of objects after another to it. Some of the sculptures which Nero thought less worthy he gave to his friends, for he himself wished only for the very best of ancient art. In this way I acquired my marble Aphrodite which is by Phidias and whose colors are marvelously preserved. I still set great store by it, despite your grimaces. Try to calculate some time what it would fetch if I had to sell it at a public auction to pay for your racing stable.

  Because of the coming war with Parthia and to calm his own conscience, Nero revoked his monetary reforms and had full-weight coins struck in the temple of Juno Moneta as gold and silver flowed into the State treasury. The legions which had secretly begun to move eastward to strengthen Corbulo’s forces were discontented with their lessened pay, and while Nero could have raised the soldiers’ pay by a fifth, everyone knew what huge outlays that would have necessitated. So it became cheaper in the long run to restore the value of money. Nero granted the legions certain additional reliefs, just as he had earlier granted the Praetorians free grain.

  In fact it was a matter of juggling, an art many a wise man has attempted in vain. I shall say nothing against the State treasury freedmen, whose office is burdensome and who thought out the plan. But personally I thought it scandalous that Nero’s silver coins containing copper had to be exchanged at the rate of ten for eight, so that one receive
d only four new coins for five old ones.

  I myself did not suffer, but among the poor this new edict aroused just as much bitterness as Nero’s original reforms. So it did not improve his popularity, although he himself thought it did. Nero never had understood money matters but just followed his clever advisers’ counsel. The legions, however, calmed down when their pay was once again paid in solid silver.

  Nero could only shake his head over the state of affairs in the State treasury, although he himself thought he had done everything to improve the position, sacrificing time that could otherwise be spent on his artistic interests by going through provincial tax lists and selecting wealthy people whose property could be confiscated as a punishment for participation in the Pisonian conspiracy.

  There was usually evidence. There was always some inappropriate expression of pleasure, or someone who had forgotten Nero’s birthday, or, the worst crime of all, someone who had spoken disparagingly of his singing. No wealthy man’s conscience is ever completely clear. It was even wise to stay awake and refrain from yawning when Nero performed in the theater. Nor would he tolerate anyone leaving noisily in the middle of a performance, even if the person were ill.

  To finance the Parthian war he had to levy unreasonably high taxes on luxury goods and as a result such goods were sold clandestinely. Thus surprise inspections had to be arranged in the city shops, and the merchants were annoyed at having their stores confiscated and themselves fined.

  Flavius Sabinus, my former father-in-law, was ashamed of these measures, which he was responsible for carrying out as City Prefect, and he was afraid of losing his reputation altogether. Sometimes he had the merchants warned, at least the richer ones, before they were surprised by his inspectors. I know that for certain. And he had no reason to regret his honesty, for he very shortly improved his financial position.

  Nero was aided by Statilia Messalina’s vanity. Statilia thought that the color violet suited her best and in this she was quite right. In order to retain this color for herself and no one else, she made Nero forbid the sale of all violet dyes. Naturally this resulted in every Roman woman with any self-respect dressing herself in violet, or at least owning some clothing of this color, though of course only at home and in the company of reliable friends.

  This secret trade in violet reached unimaginable proportions and the merchants profited so much from it that they were happy to have their goods confiscated occasionally and now could pay their fines.

  Nero was not personally enthusiastic about the war with Parthia, however necessary it seemed to be for Rome’s future to open direct overland trade routes to the East. With you in mind, I gradually came to approve of the plan, however distasteful wars are to me. My father’s freedmen in Antioch made huge sums of money from war supplies and persuaded me to support the plans for a war in my speeches in the committee for Eastern affairs. In itself the plan was reasonable and the time favorable. The suppression of the Parthians will be necessary one day anyhow, if Rome’s security is to be maintained. But I had wished only that it should not happen in my time, and neither did it. The inevitable still lay before us.

  Nero agreed when he was told that he could easily leave the actual warfare to Corbulo, but himself as commantler-in-chief in name celebrate the triumph. But I think that he was more tempted by the thought of holding a concert in Ecbatana-so that with his brilliant voice he could win the devotion of his new subjects after the sufferings of war-than by thoughts of a triumph.

  None of his advisers considered it necessary to tell him that the Parthians do not particularly like music or regard singing as a pastime worthy of an Emperor. They value riding and archery more, as Crassus in his time bitterly discovered. To be rid of him, your ancestor Julius Caesar sent him to fight the Parthians and the Parthians killed him by pouring molten gold down his throat, so that for once he would have enough. Perhaps it would be a good thing if you remembered this story, my son. If someone must go to Parthia, do not go yourself, but send another.

  I need not say anything about the history of Parthia and the Arsa-cidae. It is thick with fratricide, coups d’etat, Eastern cunning and generally speaking, all sorts of things that would never occur here in Rome. No Roman Emperor has ever been publicly murdered except your ancestor Julius Caesar. And he was responsible for his own death by ignoring good counsel, while his murderers honesdy believed they were acting for the good of the fatherland. Gaius Caligula was a case on its own, nor has it ever been quite clear whether Livia poisoned Augustus or whether Caligula strangled Tiberius. Even Agrippina poisoned Claudius without causing unnecessary publicity. Whatever one thinks of these events, they were handled decently, within the family so to speak.

  The Arsacidae, on the other hand, regard themselves as the rightful heirs to the former Persian kingdom and boast of their murders and how cleverly they were carried out, and their dynasty has ruled for more than three hundred years. I do not wish to begin to list their involved land intrigues. Certainly they have plenty of experience. It is sufficient that I mention that Vologeses succeeded in establishing his power and became a politically astute opponent to Rome.

  To place his brother Tiridates in an embarrassing position Vologeses put him on the throne of Armenia, which during Corbulo’s campaigns had been devastated three times and reconquered again. It was in that same Armenian war that two legions suffered such an ignominious defeat that to maintain discipline Corbulo had to execute every tenth man afterwards by drawing lots. Restoring discipline and the will to fight in the weak Syrian legions required years of work but now it was beginning to bear fruit.

  Vologeses had to make the best of a bad job and recognize Armenia as a state allied to Rome in the hope of keeping his brother away from Ecbatana. In the presence of the legions and the cavalry, Tiridates laid his diadem at Nero’s feet. For this purpose a statue of Nero had been erected on a senator’s stool. Tiridates promised on oath that he would personally come to Rome to confirm the alliance and receive the diadem back from Nero’s own hand.

  But he was never seen in Rome. In reply to questions, he made a number of evasions and among other things maintained that for religious reasons he could not expose himself to the risks of a sea voyage. When he was asked to travel overland, he pleaded poverty. The rebuilding of Armenia was no doubt occupying all his resources.

  Nero regally promised to bear the cost of the land journey for him and his escort on Roman land, but Tiridates still did not come. According to reliable sources, he was making unnecessarily close connections with the remaining Armenian noblemen, after the Romans and the Parthians had alternately competed at executing those who fell into their hands.

  In the Senate committee for Eastern affairs we regarded Tiridates’ evasions as questionable. We knew only too well that Parthia’s secret agents had done their best to spread discontent in the Eastern states allied to Rome as well as in the provinces in an effort to put an end to the war. They bribed German tribes to move and thus hinder legion movements eastward, and as far away as in Britain they tried using generous promises to inveigle hostile tribes into rebellion so that we still had to keep four legions in Britain to maintain the peace. As his envoys, Vologeses used wandering Jewish merchants who knew many languages and were used to adapting themselves to new circumstances.

  Fortunately I received the news of these intrigues in good time from old Petro in Lugundanum. I had considered that I owed it to Lugunda to name a town after her, because of my inheritance. The town was well chosen and holds a key position in Iceni country. Petro lives there and enjoys a well-earned old-age pension in gratitude for his loyalty, so that I should be able to keep my good connection with the Druids and keep myself informed of what went on in the tribes. Fortunately the Druids did not give their support to the rebellion because certain omens had convinced them that the Roman occupation of their island would not last. I am not superstitious when it comes to my property.

  So I let it quietly increase in value in Britain and went on making n
ew investments there.

  Anyhow, through my connections with the Druids I heard about the Jewish merchants’ suspected journeys in Britain. On my advice, the Procurator had two of them crucified and the Druids themselves sacrificed two others in wicker baskets to their gods, because the Jews, in spite of their secret assignment, appeared much too self-assured in matters of faith. A legion could then be transferred to the East. I saw no reason for larger movements than that.

  Gradually, with a great many security measures, ten legions had been gathered in the East. I shall not list them, for troops on the march had to change their numbers and eagles to lead the Parthian scouts astray. All the same, Vologeses was unnecessarily well informed of the movements and positions of our troops, and he even knew about the grazing land dispute by the Euphrates, which we had meant to put forward to the Senate and people of Rome as a formal reason for war. At a secret meeting of the committee we had granted Corbulo, who still retained his physical strength, the honor of throwing a spear across the Euphrates into the Parthian area, as a declaration of war. Corbulo said in a letter that he could do this, and promised to practice every day so that the spear would not land in the water but would reach as far as the disputed grazing land.

  From a military point of view Nero’s long-planned journey to Greece presented an excellent screen for our plans. Not even the Parthians could doubt Nero’s genuine wish to win wreaths for singing at the ancient Greek games. On his journey he had good cause to take one of the Praetorian legions as his escort and leave the other behind to guard his throne.

  Tigellinus promised to control Nero’s enemies while he was away, however bitterly he complained at not being allowed the honor of traveling with the Emperor. Naturally everyone who thought himself anything wanted to go with the Emperor to witness his victories in the competitions and generally keep themselves within his view, even those who still did not know of the coming war and the possibilities it offered for distinction. Had they known, perhaps they would have discovered some illness or some other genuine reason for not going.