Rome's Sacred Flame

by Robert Fabbri

  ‘And I suppose that it was no business of yours if they managed to get themselves enslaved, eh?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Well, Decianus, unfortunately for you, it was my business! This man was carrying my message and was treacherously taken and then illegally sold into bondage by the Suphetes of Leptis Magna, and the King of the Garamantes was complicit in that crime in that he purchased them.’

  ‘It happens all the time.’

  ‘With legionaries? I don’t think so, Decianus. That is a direct attack against the authority of the Governor and therefore an attack on the Emperor himself and you are involved, Decianus, just as much as your mountainous king. And Rome will hear of this if I choose to let it. If you ever had any thoughts about one day being able to buy your way back into favour, you can forget them right now unless you guarantee me your fullest co-operation in the rest of this business, rather than just trying to impress upon me what an important man you are when actually I couldn’t care less.’

  Decianus’ stare was cold. ‘And what makes you think that you’ll survive the journey back to the Empire?’

  ‘Do you really want to bet against it, Decianus?’ He indicated to Magnus and Hormus, standing behind him. ‘They may not look much to you but between us we can hold our own, especially as we now have Urbicus with us. Urbicus, go and join them.’

  The optio saluted and marched over to join Magnus and Hormus.

  ‘Now, have these people fed and separated from the rest of the slaves. Tomorrow I’m taking them back to Garama and there I shall wait, camped with my Numidian cavalry outside the city walls, whilst you round up the rest of the Roman citizens in this kingdom and send them to me and not to Nayram.’

  ‘But you’re meant to be coming with me.’

  ‘Why? All I do is watch you. You can do the job perfectly well on your own. Besides, I don’t feel as secure in your company as perhaps I should; I prefer the company of my Numidians. As you said: where my safety is concerned no precaution is too great.’

  ‘But the king—’

  ‘Fuck your king and fuck you. Think about it, Decianus: do you really want to live the rest of your life here, in this shithole, or do you want to have the smallest chance of returning to Rome?’

  Decianus’ silence was eloquent.

  ‘Then do as I say!’

  CHAPTER III

  IT WAS WITH great relief that Vespasian watched the eleventh ragged little column of citizen-slaves stumble past the caravan merchants’ encampment and on through the gates of the military camp that the Numidian cavalry had constructed a quarter of a mile from Garama’s north gate. He reckoned them to be about forty in number and such was their condition that there were only two slave-keepers escorting them.

  ‘The last lot should arrive tomorrow and then we can be on our way,’ Vespasian said to Magnus and Hormus as they shared a bowl of dates, watching the arrival from beneath the shade of an awning rigged between three palm trees, which they had called home for the past five days.

  Magnus spat out a date stone. ‘I can’t say that I’ll be upset to start a four hundred mile slog across the desert; it’ll be far more preferable to being stuck in this camel’s arsehole. Not that they have camels here, mind you. Come to think of it, why don’t they?’

  Vespasian nodded. ‘I wondered that when we first arrived in Africa: why are there no camels west of Cyrenaica? It’s perfect country for them.’

  ‘Well, someone would make a fortune importing and breeding them, and seeing as you don’t seem to be taking Hormus’ and my advice and making a considerable profit on this deal then why don’t you?’

  Vespasian smiled and popped another date into his mouth. ‘I might well do – or at least set up a proxy to do it. I’ve been thinking about it as we’ve been waiting. Hormus, what would you say to staying behind in Africa for a few months and setting up the business?’

  Hormus tried to look enthusiastic but it did not convince Vespasian. ‘If you require it of me, master.’

  ‘Well, as a senator, I can’t set up a business as you know; and what are freedmen for, after all? Who knows, I might even invest some of the small fortune that I will make from this mission.’

  Magnus and Hormus both looked at him astounded.

  ‘How are you going to make any money, master?’ Hormus asked, being the first to recover from the surprise.

  ‘Ah! Well, let me put it this way: meeting Decianus here wasn’t all bad; in fact, it’s rather a good piece of luck. It occurred to me on the way back here.’

  But further enlightenment was precluded by the approach of the senior decurion of the auxiliary cavalry together with a slave-keeper.

  ‘Governor,’ the decurion said, coming to attention before Vespasian.

  ‘What is it, Bolanus?’

  ‘This man claims Roman citizenship.’

  Vespasian looked at the slave-keeper with interest. ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Juncus Nepos, sir, from Cumae.’

  ‘And you want to come with us?’

  Nepos wrung his hands on his whip. ‘If I could, sir.’ He was in his mid-twenties, burned by the sun, wearing only a leather kilt and sandals; his hair and beard were long and two sea-grey eyes stared back at Vespasian with all the animation of the dead.

  ‘What’s to stop you? You’re a freedman after all.’

  ‘Technically, yes; but when they free you here it’s to do a job and you have to swear your loyalty to the king. What happens is that instead of dying here as a slave you get to live longer and die as a freedman. Either way you don’t get a decent burial and, instead, end up in bits on the fields.’

  ‘Barbaric.’

  Nepos shrugged. ‘It’s their way and if you’re unlucky enough to end up here it’s all you can expect. Perhaps I would have stayed; after all, what is there for me to go back to in the Empire? I’ve been here for five years now, three of them as a slave, and I’d have nothing back home any more.’

  ‘So why not stay here?’

  Nepos pointed to the citizen slaves who he had just brought in. ‘There were only two of us guarding them; normally there would have been five or six keepers for that amount but that wasn’t necessary, was it? No, because they knew that they were going to their freedom before Decianus had even got to our farm. The rumour has got about very quickly and most of the slaves know that the Roman citizens are being released.’

  ‘Leaving the vast majority that remain even more resentful of their situation than they were before.’

  ‘If that were possible, sir, yes; and I can tell you that as I marched this lot away from the farm complex this morning my fellow keepers were having a lot of trouble whipping the rest of the slaves back to work. I saw them execute at least two.’

  Magnus grunted and picked another date from the bowl. ‘A merciful release for them I should think, seeing as being a slave here is a fate worse than death.’

  ‘That’s exactly it, and I should know,’ Nepos agreed. ‘I think that now they’re aware that some of them have been saved, the ones that remain have finally really understood that their gods have forsaken them.’

  Vespasian nodded. ‘That last shred of hope has disappeared and they now have literally nothing to lose.’

  ‘I know the feeling well, master,’ Hormus said. ‘Before you bought me, I clung to the very small hope that maybe, just maybe, there was a god looking out for me and that someday all would be well. Without that, I would have had nothing to lose by killing my then master even as he buggered me. But I didn’t and the gods saw fit to reward me by becoming your slave. But these people? Well, if they’ve lost that last shred of hope then they, all together, will become a fearsome force.’

  ‘I think you may be right, Hormus,’ Vespasian said, a smile slowly spreading across his face. ‘Despite all Decianus’ efforts to split up the ethnicities to ensure that the slaves don’t find common cause, we have just unwittingly given them one. He’s just as guilty as the king and all of his subjects of the compla
cency that he was accusing them of. Had he been wary he would have seen the danger and been far more secretive about what was going on. But no, he had the citizen-slaves parade publicly before us in the middle of the farm complex. The others would have seen what was going on and found out.’

  ‘And the slave-keepers talked,’ Nepos added, ‘you can be sure of that. They would have taunted the slaves with it. I know, because I did.’

  Vespasian shook his head in slow thought. ‘That doesn’t bode well for Garama.’

  ‘I’d say that it was time we were leaving,’ Magnus observed.

  Vespasian looked up at Nepos. ‘Do you know when the column from the twelfth farm is due to arrive?’

  ‘We passed the farm soon after midday; Decianus was already there so it wouldn’t surprise me if they are only a couple of hours behind us.’

  ‘And then he’s got to get the citizens from the city itself; that could take all tomorrow.’

  ‘Do we have time to wait?’ Magnus asked, getting to his feet and rubbing some blood back into his buttocks.

  ‘We have to.’

  ‘Why?’ Magnus gestured to all the ex-slaves sitting around in groups. ‘Look; there must be four or five hundred there.’

  ‘Five hundred and eleven, plus what Nepos brought in.’

  ‘Forty-three, sir.’

  ‘So, five hundred and fifty-four all in all,’ Magnus calculated, ‘that’s got to be enough. Let’s just go now, before it gets even hotter around here, if you take my meaning?’

  Vespasian was reluctant. ‘We have to wait for the rest; and, besides, what danger would we be in? We’re not the ones who’ve been working them to death on our farms. They’ll attack the city.’

  Magnus pointed to the nearby north gate. ‘Which is right there; and as they arrive to do that they’ll see us still waiting and realise that we have the key to getting across the desert. It’s one thing taking five hundred or so back but five thousand or even more? We’d all die.’

  ‘He’s right, sir,’ Nepos agreed; he looked at the hundreds of citizens sitting around in groups. ‘It’s going to be virtually impossible to get across the desert with all these people anyway.’

  ‘Everyone has a bag containing some twice-baked bread and dried meat and there are more provisions loaded on the caravan. As for water, we’ve got dumps and wells on the route.’

  Nepos looked dubious. ‘Even so; every extra person puts the whole group in more jeopardy.’

  Vespasian stared out over the desert to the north, beyond which lay the Empire. ‘Very well; not all of us will wait. Bolanus, start moving the citizens out now, all of them, and send a turma of your men with them as guides and to make sure that they don’t empty all the water dumps – actually, you’d better make that two turmae; you go with them, Nepos. They should march all night to get as much of a head start as possible. Tell the caravan that they must be ready to leave with us in the morning by which time I hope to have collected all our slaves. We’ll then follow as fast as we can. Being mounted we should catch up with the column in a day and a night.’

  ‘But the slaves we’re waiting for won’t be mounted,’ Magnus pointed out. ‘How will they keep up with us?’

  Vespasian shrugged. ‘What can I do? My best hope is to get them out. They will just have to follow at their own pace and trust to their gods. But at least my conscience is clear and I’ve given them a chance.’

  Magnus looked at him, frowning. ‘There’s more to this, isn’t there?’

  Vespasian said nothing as he watched Bolanus rouse the citizen-slaves, ready for the journey.

  The brief southern dusk had just given way to night as a half-dozen flickering points of light in the east came into view through the gates.

  ‘Looks like they’re here,’ Magnus said, nudging Vespasian to rouse him from a pleasant doze in the cooling air. ‘Perhaps we can get going soon.’

  Vespasian grunted in a non-committal manner, rising stiffly to his feet and making for the gates.

  ‘Everything is packed, master,’ Hormus assured him, following, ‘and Bolanus tells me that the horses are fed and watered.’

  The torches grew nearer and soon the bulk of Decianus’ carriage could be discerned in their midst; behind was a long shadow, darker than the night, that gradually resolved itself into the individual figures of freed slaves.

  ‘I have been good to my word, Governor,’ Decianus announced as the carriage approached the gates, his voice, ingratiating, betraying a marked change of attitude. ‘I trust that you’ll bear that in mind when you consider my request.’

  Vespasian played innocent; knowing full well what was to come, he moved close to Decianus so that they could not be overheard. ‘What request?’

  Decianus gave a brief glance over his shoulder, which told Vespasian more about the situation in the east of the kingdom than Decianus could have imagined. ‘I should like to come with you; I think I should resolve any misunderstandings still current back in Rome.’

  ‘You want me to help you now? It’s one thing not killing you out of hand in justifiable revenge but actually helping you save your miserable skin? You have to be delusional.’

  ‘I’ll pay you well when we get back to Rome.’

  ‘And just remind me why you didn’t go straight to Rome after you fled Britannia in such a cowardly fashion.’

  ‘That had been my original plan until I heard that Suetonius Paulinus had defeated Boudicca and that he, you and your brother had all survived. I judged that, even though I was only looking after the Emperor’s interests, I would not get a fair hearing if you three brought charges against me and persuaded Seneca to back you.’

  ‘The Emperor’s interests? You took the money that Boudicca had gathered to pay off Seneca’s loan; it had nothing to do with the Emperor.’

  ‘I was reclaiming the original loan that Claudius had given Prasutagus, her husband, to raise him to senatorial rank after he had sworn allegiance to him.’

  ‘And so you then gave the money to the Cloelius Brothers to transport back to Rome and keep it in their bank in the forum. It was in your name; the Cloelius Brothers admitted it to Seneca.’

  ‘Of course it’s in my name; and I had planned, when the time became right, in that Seneca would be dead and I could eventually get back to Rome, to hand it over to the Emperor.’ He gave another nervous look into the darkness behind him. ‘But circumstances are changing and I believe that now may be a reasonable time for me to risk returning. I think I could make my money smooth the way for me.’

  ‘It’s too late for that, Decianus.’

  The ex-procurator frowned and again glanced over his shoulder. ‘What makes you say that?’

  Vespasian felt a warm glow growing inside as he supplied Decianus with the answer. ‘Because Seneca made the Cloelius Brothers hand that money over to him.’

  ‘But they can’t do that; it goes against all the rules of banking!’

  ‘I’m sure they felt the same way; but Seneca pointed out that the rules of banking don’t apply to the deceased and you had disappeared and were therefore assumed to be dead with no sign of having written a will and that the money that you had entrusted them with was, in fact, his. It was something that my brother, Caenis and I were all happily able to confirm. Wisely, in my opinion, the Cloelius Brothers returned it to its true owner and the suggestion that it might be a good idea to review the taxation on banks, in view of Nero’s current financial difficulties due to being unable to withdraw from Britannia because of the revolt, suddenly went away.’

  Decianus’ battered face was a study in despair. ‘But that was my money!’

  ‘I thought you said it was the Emperor’s.’

  The ex-procurator stared in outrage at Vespasian, unable to formulate a defence.

  ‘Well, it’s irrelevant now as Seneca has been forced to give the Emperor a few substantial loans which Nero has no intention of paying back, so the money has ended up exactly where you meant it to.’

  ‘But what am I t
o do? You must take me along with you.’

  Vespasian nodded towards the east. ‘Why, Decianus? What’s happening out there that you’re so afraid of, eh? Are things getting a bit out of hand despite the brilliance of your system?’

  Decianus swallowed. ‘They’re coming; they’ll be here soon.’

  As if to confirm the truth of this statement a distant glow rose in the east.

  ‘Then you had better hurry and get the Roman citizens out of the city itself because we’re not leaving without them.’

  ‘If I do that then I can come. I’ll find the money to pay you when we get back; I promise you.’

  ‘No, Decianus; you’ll pay me now; we both know you can afford it. Do that and I won’t stop you following us. That’s my best offer.’

  ‘Very well. I’ll have all the citizen-slaves here before dawn.’

  ‘Then we’ll leave at first light.’ Vespasian turned away, feeling torn between relief at securing a substantial bribe and disgust that it was to save the life of the man who had tried to have him killed; but Decianus’ co-operation was now crucial if he was to succeed in his mission and extract all the citizens.

  Speed was all important now that the burning had begun.

  ‘But you must stay. His Most Exalted Majesty, Nayram of the Garamantes, The Lord of the Thousand Wells, has commanded that you, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, stay to help defend the city with your cavalry,’ Izebboudjen the chamberlain stated again with more desperation, his eyes drawn to the growing glow in the east. His litter-bearers’ breath was laboured as they tried to keep up with Vespasian’s quick pace.

  ‘Does he now? And why would he think that I should be interested in doing that?’ Vespasian increased his pace in an attempt to get away from the insistent chamberlain who seemed incapable of taking no for an answer.

  ‘Because he knows that his brother, the Emperor Nero, would command you thus.’

  Vespasian rounded on Izebboudjen, forcing the bearers to come to an abrupt stop. ‘Let’s just drop Nayram’s pretence that he is equal to Nero, shall we? You know as well as I that Nero wouldn’t lift a finger to save your kingdom or your fat king. I’m leaving as soon as Decianus arrives with the rest of the Roman citizens and you can either try following our column or stay here and attempt to explain to ten thousand very angry slaves just why they should spare your life.’