The Roman Mysteries Complete Collection

by Lawrence, Caroline

Felix looked down at his wife and gently stroked a strand of hair from her cheek. ‘But why should Polla want to die? I’m not going to leave her.’

  ‘Treacherous one!’ said Flavia, and she was glad he couldn’t see the tears filling her eyes. ‘Every time you go with a slave-girl or a beautiful house-guest or some girl in Baiae, every time you do that, you leave her. Every time you do that, you wound her.’

  ‘Dear gods,’ he said. ‘You know about all that?’

  ‘Everybody in Campania knows about it!’ cried Flavia. ‘Each time you’re unfaithful to Polla it’s like a sword in her breast. And it does hurt, Paetus!’ she cried, before turning to run out of the room. ‘It does hurt!’

  ‘Great Juno’s beard!’ breathed Jonathan the next day as Flavia and the others sat cross-legged in the shrine of Hercules. It was late in the afternoon because Pulchra had stayed close to them all day. At first she had not believed Flavia’s explanation that it had all been a mistake and that nobody was trying to kill her mother and that Polla would be fine now.

  But when a meek Felix and a radiant Polla appeared arm in arm in the mid-afternoon, Pulchra was finally convinced, saying her mother looked better than she had in years. And when the three sisters received an invitation to have dinner with just their parents, Pulchra had seized it. As soon as Pulchra left, Jonathan and his friends had taken the opportunity to meet in their secret den.

  ‘Great Juno’s beard,’ he repeated. ‘I can’t believe Polla Argentaria was trying to kill herself all this time.’

  ‘But you guessed that, didn’t you?’ said Tranquillus, looking at Flavia. ‘How did you know?’

  ‘The moment I first suspected,’ said Flavia, ‘was when Nubia told me Parthenope said that Polla had told her she didn’t love Felix. I knew that wasn’t true because when you were all at Baiae, Polla said her love for Felix was the greatest tragedy of her life.’

  ‘But Parthenope could have been lying,’ said Jonathan. ‘Maybe Polla never said she didn’t love Felix anymore.’

  ‘I think Polla probably did say something like that,’ said Flavia. ‘It’s just the sort of thing a wife would say to get more details about her husband’s infidelity.’

  ‘Even if the details caused her pain?’ said Tranquillus.

  Flavia and Nubia nodded.

  ‘Like picking a scab, I suppose,’ said Jonathan thoughtfully. ‘You can’t help doing it even though you know it will hurt and be messy as Hades.’

  ‘You must have had more clues than that,’ said Tranquillus to Flavia.

  ‘I did,’ said Flavia. ‘Polla was always praising women who were willing to commit suicide, like Seneca’s wife, and Arria. And she also identified herself with Dido, and Felix with Aeneas. It was right in front of me,’ Flavia sighed. ‘I should have realised ages ago.’

  ‘Just as I choose a ship when I am about to go on a voyage,’ said Jonathan, ‘so I shall choose my death when I am about to depart from this life.’

  They all stared at him.

  ‘Seneca,’ Jonathan explained. ‘They made us memorise a lot of his sayings at gladiator school. It gives the men courage when they face death.’

  ‘If Polla wanted to commit suicide,’ said Tranquillus, ‘why didn’t she just fall on a big sharp sword like Dido?’

  ‘I don’t think she really wanted to die,’ said Flavia. ‘It was more like a cry for help. Also, whenever she was ill Felix paid her lots of attention. But on the night of the beach banquet he was flirting openly with Annia Serena, and then he went off so blatantly with Leucosia. After that humiliation, I think Polla really did want to end her misery.’

  Lupus raised his hand. He was frowning.

  ‘Is there something you still don’t understand, Lupus?’ said Flavia bitterly.

  He nodded. Then he mimed stomach-ache and fainting.

  ‘That’s right,’ said Jonathan. ‘What about the night of your birthday, when Polla collapsed? Was she trying out a new poison on herself?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said Flavia. ‘Claudia was about to accuse Felix of something bad. I think Polla just pretended to faint to distract everyone and avoid humiliation. That’s why the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with her,’ she added. ‘And maybe why her symptoms made no sense to Locusta.’

  ‘What about Locusta dead?’ said Nubia quietly.

  Flavia frowned. ‘Maybe it was just an accident.’

  Jonathan raised an eyebrow. ‘Or maybe she shouldn’t have given poison to the Patron’s daughter.’

  ‘You’re brilliant.’ Tranquillus gazed at Flavia. ‘You should be proud you found the truth.’

  ‘Sometimes the truth hurts,’ said Flavia picking dejectedly at a loose thread in the carpet. ‘I almost wish I hadn’t found out that Felix is no better than a satyr and his wife a would-be suicide . . .’

  ‘So this is where you’ve all been hiding,’ said Pulchra from the door of the shrine. Ajax panted and wagged his tail as the other dogs rose to greet him.

  ‘Pulchra!’ Jonathan jumped up and went to her. ‘What happened? I thought you were having dinner with your parents . . .’

  ‘An old man with a wispy beard just brought this urgent message for Tranquillus.’ She tossed a folded sheet of papyrus onto the carpet, then looked at Jonathan with wounded eyes. ‘None of the slaves knew where you were so I said I would try to find you. Ajax led me straight here. I’m sorry I interrupted your secret meeting!’ she added bitterly, and turned away.

  ‘Pulchra!’ he cried reaching for her arm, ‘Wait! Don’t go!’

  But she had twisted away and was running back up the hill through the olive grove. Ajax waddled after her on his stubby legs, his gilded lead trailing in the dust behind him.

  ‘Pollux!’ cursed Jonathan. He sat down and began to strap on his sandals. ‘Do you think she heard what we were saying about her parents? I’d better go after her.’

  Suddenly Tranquillus leapt to his feet and pounded the wooden wall of the shrine with his fist, letting out a torrent of Greek swear words that made them all freeze in astonishment.

  Jonathan stopped lacing his sandals and stared as Tranquillus pounded the wall of the shrine.

  ‘Gaius!’ cried Flavia. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘My stupid father!’ cried Tranquillus, his back still turned to them. He cursed in Greek again, and thumped the wall of the shrine until ribbons of dust drifted down from the ancient wooden beams overhead.

  Flavia stood up and put her hand on his shoulder.

  ‘Gaius, what is it?’

  Without turning around, he pressed the folded piece of papyrus into her hand.

  Flavia took it and as she began to read it, Jonathan saw her face go pale.

  ‘Read what my blockhead of a father says,’ cried Tranquillus. ‘Read it out loud!’

  ‘I can’t!’ whispered Flavia. She let the papyrus fall from her fingers and sat down heavily on the carpet.

  Jonathan picked up the papyrus and began to read it out loud:

  M. Suetonius Laetus to his son C. Suetonius Tranquillus.

  I have just received disturbing news. One of the promising young lawyers I sometimes meet in the forum stopped me today to remark that he had recently seen you and that you were well. Apparently this young man had been at the villa of Pollius Felix with you only the day before and he said you seemed to be having a fine time. He mentioned in passing that you were seen hand-in-hand with a young girl of the equestrian class and that she had kissed you in public. When I grew angry, he tried to defend you and the girl, saying you were soon to be betrothed. But I must tell you Gaius: I was deeply humiliated. Upon strongly pressing him for further details I discovered that you and this girl had been alone in an olive grove for some time and that when you reappeared hand-in-hand this young woman’s hair was unpinned. I cannot tell you the shame I felt at this revelation from a young man of undisputed character and reputation. I could tell he was distressed by my reaction, and this made his report all the more believable. Furthermore, that such scan
dalous behaviour should take place in the household of a man as deeply respectable as Pollius Felix is like adding vinegar to soda. I have since made other inquiries about the young woman in question. I have discovered that in the past year she has been allowed to run wild in the most disgraceful fashion. No doubt you are not the first young man for whom she has ‘unpinned her hair’—

  Jonathan paused, then put down the letter. ‘There’s more,’ he said, ‘but I won’t read it.’ He looked at Flavia, who was staring blankly out the shrine door. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m really sorry, Flavia.’

  ‘So am I!’ said Tranquillus and turned his face to look at her. Jonathan was surprised by the passion in his eyes. ‘It’s so unfair to you, Flavia. You’ve done nothing but good. You kept your vow, you solved the mystery, you saved a woman’s life – maybe a whole family . . . And you always seek the summum bonum.’ He stared at the ground. ‘My tutor Archileus is probably the old man with the wispy beard who brought the message. He’ll certainly thrash me, but that doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is that I’ll have to go home with him right now. I’m a good, obedient son,’ he said through gritted teeth.

  After a few deep breaths he said, ‘Goodbye Lupus, goodbye, Nubia. I’ll never forget you. And Jonathan,’ here he turned and held out his hand and shook Jonathan’s firmly. ‘Thank you again for saving my life.’

  Then he went to Flavia and pulled her to her feet and hugged her.

  ‘Goodbye, Flavia,’ he said. ‘I wish . . . I’ll try to explain it to pater, but he’s as stubborn as—’ Emotion suddenly overcame Tranquillus and he turned and ran out of the shrine.

  Half an hour later, the four friends returned to find the Villa Limona in turmoil. Tranquillus had departed with his tutor, but Pulchra had not yet returned.

  As they entered the lemon-tree courtyard, Polla Argentaria came up to them, her face paler than usual and her hair slightly dishevelled. She was holding Ajax in her arms; he looked dusty and exhausted.

  ‘Flavia!’ she breathed. ‘At last! Tranquillus told us that Pulchra found all of you at some disused shrine and that she delivered his message. He said she started back to the villa before he did. But Pulchra never appeared and a short time ago a door-slave found Ajax scrabbling at the slave’s entrance. The poor little creature seems very distressed. Something must have happened to Pulchra. My husband and his soldiers are searching the hills and we have every slave scouring the villa and outbuildings. Even the house-guests are searching for her. Oh, Flavia! Do you have any idea where she might have gone?’

  ‘No,’ said Flavia, with a glance at her friends. ‘But Jonathan’s dog Tigris is excellent at tracking a scent. If we give him one of her tunics to sniff he’ll find her.’

  ‘Oh, thank you, Flavia!’ said Polla, ‘Please hurry! It will be dark soon.’

  Flavia looked at Polla and then handed Scuto’s lead to Lupus. ‘Nubia, will you get a piece of Pulchra’s clothing? Something she’s worn recently? Jonathan, you and Lupus take Scuto and Nipur to your room and get Tigris to smell the tunic. Then meet me back here. I want to talk to Polla privately.’

  As their footsteps receded, Flavia kept her eyes on Pulchra’s mother.

  ‘I know what you’re going to say, Flavia,’ said Polla, looking down at Ajax and stroking him distractedly. ‘Please don’t think too badly of me. I just wanted to end the anguish.’ She glanced up at Flavia, then quickly looked down again. ‘You don’t know the pain Felix caused me.’

  ‘You told me once about Seneca’s wife,’ said Flavia, ‘and Arria. You admired them because they were brave.’

  ‘Yes!’ said Polla, looking up eagerly. ‘I wanted to be brave like them.’

  ‘Let me tell you about bravery,’ said Flavia, trying to keep her voice steady. ‘Nubia’s parents were killed by slave-dealers. But she has never once complained about her fate, though she often cries in her sleep. That is bravery. Lupus saw his father murdered and was torn from his mother’s arms and had his tongue cut out to stop him talking when he was only six. Last month he finally found his mother and he saw her for just one night. Then he left her to help us solve a mystery. That is bravery. For ten years Jonathan believed his mother was dead. When he found out that she was alive and a slave in Rome he risked his life to save her and bring her home. That is bravery.’ Flavia blinked away the tears filling her eyes. ‘My own mother died in childbirth when I was only three years old. I’d give anything to have her back for just one day. Anything. But you! You have an opulent villa and slaves and more money than you know what to do with and three beautiful daughters who adore you. How could you!’ Flavia angrily wiped her wet cheeks with her fingers. ‘Shame on you, Polla Argentaria! You aren’t brave. You are a coward!’

  Tigris led them down a rocky path beside the stream to a little inlet on the south side of the Villa Limona. Felix’s yacht was berthed here, in a man-made grotto carved in the limestone cliff. Not far from this boat-cave, where the rocks met the water, they found a neatly folded pink tunic and gilded sandals. Tigris looked up from sniffing them and whined.

  ‘Oh, no!’ cried Flavia, clenching her fists. ‘She’s decided to end it all!’

  MAYBE SHE GOT ON A BOAT wrote Lupus on his wax tablet.

  ‘No,’ said Flavia. ‘You don’t strip off to get on a boat, but you take your clothes off if you’re going to drown yourself.’

  ‘Pollux!’ swore Jonathan. ‘What a stupid thing for her to do!’ He turned away, his eyes brimming.

  ‘Behold!’ said Nubia suddenly, pointing towards the Sirens’ rocks silhouetted against the magenta sky of dusk. ‘I think I see the Pulchra!’

  ‘Nubia! You’re right! Oh, praise Juno!’ cried Flavia. ‘She didn’t kill herself. She just went swimming!’

  Lupus nodded vigorously and Jonathan started to strip off his tunic.

  ‘No, Jonathan,’ said Flavia putting a restraining hand on his shoulder. ‘I think it would be better if I go.’ She pointed down at the pink tunic lying on the rocks. ‘She’s completely naked.’

  ‘Pulchra!’ gasped Flavia, pulling herself out of the sea onto the lowest of the Sirens’ rocks. ‘What in Juno’s name are you thinking: going for a swim at this hour? It will be dark soon.’

  Pulchra looked at Flavia with swollen eyes.

  ‘Pulchra? What’s wrong?’

  Pulchra did not reply.

  ‘You heard us talking, didn’t you?’ said Flavia. ‘About your parents.’

  Pulchra nodded. Then her face crumpled and she began to sob. ‘I was so miserable I wanted to drown myself. I swam way out beyond the rocks but the current is so strong and cold out there. I got frightened and swam back here. Flavia, I almost did drown.’

  ‘Oh, Pulchra!’ Flavia put her wet arm around Pulchra’s bare shoulders and let her friend weep. In the west, the lemon-shaped sun was dissolving into a purple and pink horizon.

  Flavia tried to think of something she could say to console Pulchra but for once she had no words.

  ‘Look, Pulchra!’ said Flavia presently. ‘Here come the boys in a rowing boat. They’re trying to get another look at you naked!’

  Pulchra gasped and turned to look.

  ‘Just joking,’ said Flavia. ‘The boys are rowing so they have their backs to us. Nubia’s navigating. That’s why they haven’t run aground. And look! She’s holding up your tunic.’

  Pulchra hid her face in her hands. ‘How can I go back, Flavia?’ she whispered. ‘My father is a satyr and my mother a would-be suicide. How can I face them?’

  ‘It won’t be easy,’ said Flavia gently, ‘but you have to.’

  ‘You don’t understand. I worshipped pater. To find out he’s been with every slave-girl and female guest in the house . . . And everybody knew about it except me! It’s so humiliating . . .’ Pulchra raised her swollen face. ‘And mater! She was going to kill herself and leave me and my little sisters alone and motherless!’

  ‘I know. Your parents have behaved very badly. But Pulchra, you have to set
an example to them.’

  ‘An example? Of what?’

  ‘Of the summum bonum,’ said Flavia. ‘You have to be wise, just, self-controlled and brave. Especially brave.’

  Pulchra shook her head. ‘I’m not brave. I’m a coward. I couldn’t even kill myself.’

  ‘I think sometimes it takes more courage to live than to die,’ said Flavia. ‘Come back to the Villa Limona, Pulchra. Come back and live a brave life.’

  A sea breeze ruffled the water and although it was still warm, Pulchra shivered. ‘I don’t think I can.’

  They were both quiet for a moment.

  Then Pulchra looked up at Flavia. ‘If you were to stay here with me, then I might be able to do it. But without you I have nobody to pull me up to the higher good.’

  ‘Yes, you do. I think that deep down, your mother is noble and good. If she can only make her peace with Venus, she would be a wise mentor. And I believe your father really loves her. After what’s happened, he’ll think twice about looking at another girl.’

  ‘Do you really think so? Do you think he’s reformed?’

  ‘I’m sure of it,’ said Flavia. ‘He won’t risk losing your mother again.’

  ‘Oh, Flavia! That would be so wonderful!’ Pulchra smiled through her tears at Flavia. ‘How did you get to be so wise?’

  ‘I’m not wise,’ said Flavia. ‘And if I am a little wise, it’s always about other people. I need somebody to be wise for me.’

  ‘Flavia!’ cried Pulchra suddenly, ‘Let’s write letters encouraging each other. Like Seneca and his friend Lucilius!’

  ‘Oh, Pulchra! What a wonderful idea! And it will be easier than keeping a diary because I’ll be writing to somebody else, not just to myself. We can include a wise saying or an encouraging motto in each letter. Just like Seneca.’

  ‘And beauty and grooming tips,’ said Pulchra. ‘Not like Seneca.’

  Flavia laughed. ‘Good. It’s agreed: we’ll encourage each other to strive for both inner and outer beauty.’

  ‘And the summum bonum,’ said Pulchra. ‘Like good Stoics.’