The Gods Help Those
Page 25
Martial Roman poet G. Valerius Martial, author of witty and salacious epigrams. Pliny mentions him in a couple of letters and was a benefactor of his. He plays a major role, along with Lorcis (see below) in my novel The Flute Player.
Plinia Pliny’s mother and the sister of the elder Pliny. She is mentioned only in Pliny’s letters about the eruption of Vesuvius. We do not know the dates of her birth or death. Pliny was born in 62. If his mother married and had a child in the normal timing of things for that day, she would have been about 15 at that time, putting her birth ca. 47. She was alive when Vesuvius erupted in 79, but seems to have been somewhat frail by then. Pliny says that she wanted him to leave her behind when they were trying to escape so that she would not be a burden on him.
Pompeia Celerina Pliny’s mother-in-law. He exchanges several letters with her but there is never any mention of her daughter’s name. She owns an estate near Narnia, which Pliny enjoys visiting.
Regulus M. Aquilius Regulus, a lawyer and fortune hunter who began his nefarious career in Nero’s reign. By informing on people who might be plotting against the emperor and being rewarded with a quarter of whatever was confiscated from them, Regulus built up a fortune. Pliny lambastes and ridicules him in several letters. The one misfortune Regulus did not deserve, Pliny says, was the death of his son. The childless Pliny would have felt that deeply, I believe.
Fictional Characters
Demetrius The steward in Pliny’s main house in Rome, in charge of day-to-day affairs. Technically he is a slave, but he would have been treated more like an employee. He has an Egyptian wife and two daughters.
Lorcis A former slave of Regulus. In the fictional world of my first novel, The Flute Player, she and the poet Martial have a daughter, Erotion, and have to smuggle the child out of Regulus’ house. Lorcis and Aurora meet in that novel.
Lucullus Lucius Licinius Lucullus, cousin of Regulus’ wife, Sempronia. After living in Antioch for some time, he returned to Rome to take up a consulship with Domitian as his colleague. Virtually every man in this branch of the Licinian family was named Lucius Licinius Lucullus.
Malachi Rabbi of the synagogue which Naomi and Phineas attend, and which Plinia also goes to on occasion and to which she donates money.
Merione A wet nurse from Regulus’ household.
Miriam A Jewish woman who replaces Merione as wet nurse to little Joshua.
Naomi A slave who is Plinia’s friend and confidante. She and her son, Phineas, were taken captive after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 and sold to Pliny the Elder.
Nestor/Jacob A Jewish–Christian slave who is Regulus’ steward.
Phineas Son of Naomi, and Pliny’s chief scribe.
Porcia Widow of L. Licinius Lucullus. The nomen gentilicum (family name) Porcius is well known because of several men like M. Porcius Cato, Caesar’s enemy, but I don’t intend for Porcia to be part of that branch of the family.
Sempronia Regulus had a wife, so technically she’s not fictitious, but we don’t know her name or anything at all about her. Pliny mentions Regulus’ son in a couple of letters, but the only mention of his wife occurs in Ep. 4.2, when Pliny says that Regulus released his son from parental authority so the boy could inherit his mother’s estate, meaning that his mother was dead. Purely for dramatic purposes, I have portrayed Sempronia as a lesbian, but there is no reason to think Regulus’ wife actually was.
Thalia A servant woman in Pliny’s household. Several mythological figures have this name. Servants were sometimes given mythological names from characters their owners liked or because they seemed to have a characteristic of that figure.
Thersites A clownish soldier who dares to speak up in an assembly in the Iliad. Odysseus uses his staff to drive him out.
Glossary of Terms
Also see glossaries in previous books in this series.
apotheosis The event in which a person becomes a god. Such scenes become common in Roman art in the imperial period, usually with the person being carried or riding on the back of a winged figure.
Arch of Augustus Erected to celebrate Augustus’ recovery of the legionary standards lost by Crassus when he was defeated by the Parthians in 53 b.c. It consisted of a central arch and two smaller arches, one on each side. Situated next to the Temple of Julius Caesar, it required anyone entering the Forum from the southeastern end to acknowledge the Julian family’s absolute control of Rome. No trace of this arch remains, but we do have a representation of it on a coin.
Arch of Titus Erected around 82 by Domitian in honor of his brother’s conquest of Jerusalem in 70. It depicts the triumphal parade held in 71 and shows some of the most important objects looted from the temple. Those objects were on display in the nearby Temple of the Caesars.
caldarium The “hot room” in a Roman bath. Bathers proceeded from a cold room (frigidarium) to a warm room (tepidarium) to the caldarium, then reversed the process. In a bath in a private person’s home the cold room and warm room might be combined. The caldarium was kept so hot by means of ducts in the floor that sandals had to be worn to prevent burns on the feet.
caliga A sandal-like “boot” designed for Roman soldiers. It had a closed toe and heavy sole. The emperor Gaius Caligula got his nickname from a miniature soldier’s uniform, complete with boots, which his mother, Agrippina the Elder, designed for him. The name Caligula would have sounded to the Romans like “Little Boots.”
Centumviral Court A civil court that dealt with financial matters and inheritance cases. Pliny appeared before this court regularly during his public career.
compluvium An opening in the roof of a Roman house over the atrium. In Rome’s earliest days, before the building of aqueducts, the compluvium allowed for the collection of rain water, which drained into the impluvium, a shallow pool in the floor directly under the compluvium. By Pliny’s day people who could afford a private home could also afford to get permission to tap into the aqueducts and have water piped into their homes. The Romans did not easily give up their traditions, though, so they continued to build their houses with a compluvium in the roof. In addition to rain water, the opening also allowed birds, insects, bats and other small animals to have entry to the house.
cuirass A piece of armor, a breastplate. Alexander the Great and his men reportedly used a cuirass made of linen. Modern studies and reconstructions have shown that layers of cloth could be glued together to make a stiff breastplate, but there is no general agreement about how, or if, this was done.
denarii Silver coins, about the size of a dime; one was usually reckoned as a day’s wage for a working person.
equestrian Member of the second wealthiest order (class) in Roman society. Originally named because they could afford to ride into battle on a horse, they became Rome’s businessmen, since senators were prohibited from engaging in any business except agriculture. They wore a colored stripe on their clothing, similar to a senator’s except narrower. Pliny and Tacitus were equestrians.
exhedra An outdoor eating area, usually at the rear of the garden of a wealthy Roman home, also spelled exedra. The h represents what’s called a “rough-breathing” in Greek and, to some degree, in Latin. The emperor Hadrian was also called Adrian. The poet Catullus makes fun of a man with what we would call a “Cockney” accent who calls the Ionian Sea the “Hionian.”
Falernian A type of wine highly prized by the Romans.
ianitor The man who answered the door in a Roman aristocrat’s house.
Ludus Magnus The “Great School,” where gladiators trained for their bouts in the Flavian Amphitheatre. It was built by Domitian next to it. Seats were provided for a small audience to watch the training.
salutatio The “morning greeting.” The clients (dependents) of a wealthy man like Pliny or Regulus would gather in the atrium of their patron’s house to greet him shortly after dawn. The patron would dispense small amounts of money, inquire about his clients’ welfare, and receive their requests for help or favors.
Sicarii A group of
terrorists who operated in Jerusalem before the war of 66–73 and into its early days. They attacked anyone they suspected of collaborating with the Romans and any Roman officials reckless enough to go into the streets of the city. Their method was to deliver a quick stab in the back and then blend into the surrounding crowd.
strigl A metal scraper, shaped like a letter L but with a rounded corner to it. In bathing, Greeks and Romans rubbed themselves with olive oil, usually scented, and then scraped it off with the strigl. They then rinsed and dried themselves and rubbed on more scented olive oil.
strophium A band of cloth or leather worn by Roman women to hold the breasts in place or to de-emphasize them. Overly large breasts were considered comical, while sagging breasts were seen as a sign of old age.
suffect consul During the first century a.d. it became common practice for a man to hold a consulship for a few months, then resign so someone else could be appointed to the post, a consul suffectus, or substitute. As the empire grew, more and more ex-consuls were needed to fill provincial posts. The suffect consulship wasn’t quite the same honor as a regular consulship, but it met an administrative need. Pliny was appointed to a suffect consulship in 100 a.d. by the emperor Trajan. By that time it had become the custom for an appointee to deliver a speech in the Senate thanking the emperor for the honor. Pliny’s Panegyricus, of which he was inordinately proud, is the earliest surviving example of this type of speech and our only surviving example of Pliny’s oratory. It is interesting for its historical detail and, to those of us who admire Pliny, embarrassing for its boot-licking.
vigiles Even with a population of over a million by Pliny’s day, the city of Rome did not have a police or fire department. The primary responsibility of the vigiles was to spot fires when they broke out and get people out of harm’s way. They also carried out some of the basic responsibilities of a police force but did not do the kind of investigations a modern police force does.
Author’s Note
When I wrote All Roads Lead to Murder I never imagined there would be a seventh book in this series. I’m in my early seventies now. I have other projects on my bucket list, not all of them mystery novels. Perseverance Press has been an excellent outfit to work with. John and Susan Daniel and Meredith Phillips are congenial and supportive. I have a great deal to thank them for. But their list is small and exclusively mysteries, and I know I can’t take up space intended for other authors with whom they work or expect them to publish books outside their field of interest.
For those reasons I’ve begun to do something I never thought I would do: self-publish. Two of my novels—Murder My Love and Death by Armoire—are already available on CreateSpace, thanks to the most capable assistance of my tech-savvy friend Judy Geary. I plan to put out several other books in that format, not all mysteries. I have to be realistic. If I did find an agent/editor/small press to do those other books, it would take at least two years from acceptance to publication. I simply don’t have that much time left, I’m afraid. That was once my dream as a writer, but it hasn’t happened and clearly isn’t going to happen. (I did make enough a couple of years ago from my traditionally published books to pay for a modest remodeling of a bathroom.) I’ve derived great satisfaction from writing the books, though, and from the reaction that readers and reviewers have had to them. The occasional royalty checks that allow me to take my wife out for a nice dinner will have to suffice.
One of the joys of writing, for me, is working with my writers’ group, the West Michigan Writers’ Workshop. We meet every Wednesday evening in the Grand Rapids public library. That’s right, every Wednesday. When I tell people that, they look at me like I’m (we’re) crazy. A lot of writers’ groups meet only once or twice a month. I don’t see how they get anything done. I know that I have to have four double-spaced pages ready to present each week. And, of course, I try to write more than that in a week. That’s over two hundred pages a year. That’ll get a book done. I’ve been in the group since 2001, and I’ve produced thirteen books in those sixteen years. Group members have come and gone, but since 2011 we have established a core of ten or twelve people whose advice has proved invaluable to me. And I hope I have helped them achieve their goals. Several of them have published—books, articles, stories, and poems. Pliny may not have had a regular writers’ group, but he did get critiques of his work from Tacitus and others, and he shared his comments on their work. What we wouldn’t give to have a manuscript by Tacitus with Pliny’s notes in the margins!
I was surprised to see that two reviews of the previous book in this series, Fortune’s Fool, commented on its literary quality. That surprised me because I think of myself primarily as a storyteller. I may turn a nice phrase now and then, just as a blind squirrel occasionally finds an acorn, but I have no literary pretensions. For me it’s all about the story and the characters and their relationships. I do love my characters. I hope readers do, too. As I did in the last two books, I’ve written some sections from Aurora’s point of view. Those sections are in italics. Given enough time, I might even write a book from her P.O.V. Then I guess Pliny’s sections would be in italics.
About the Author
Albert Bell is a college history professor, novelist, and weekend gardener who lives in Michigan. He and his wife have four adult children and two grandsons. In addition to his Roman mysteries, Bell has written contemporary mysteries, middle-grade novels, and nonfiction. Visit him at www.albertbell.com and www.pliny-mysteries.com.
Also by Albert A. Bell, Jr.
Historical Fiction
The Flute Player
Cases from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger
All Roads Lead to Murder
The Blood of Caesar
The Corpus Conundrum
Death in the Ashes
The Eyes of Aurora
Fortune’s Fool
The Gods Help Those
Contemporary Mysteries
Death Goes Dutch
Murder My Love
Death by Armoire
For Younger Readers
The Secret of the Bradford House
The Secret of the Lonely Grave
Nonfiction
Perfect Game, Imperfect Lives
Exploring the New Testament World