Arrian was troubled. Vestinus was agitated. Macedo displayed increasing alarm. Commodus exuded confident apprehension, distracted by checking his vestments and hair for stains or spots.
Hadrian braced himself on the throne's armrest to cast his eyes at the two hierarchs before him. After a short, choked coughing bout and clearing his throat, he gathered his composure sufficiently as his voice weakly rasped into the cavernous gloom. His gaze had settled wistfully on the figure upon the bier. But his words were not what the gathering could have anticipated.
"Little soul, roamer and charmer,
My body's comrade and its sometime guest,
What dominion now must be your goal,
Pale and stiff and naked?
Unable now, like us, to jest."
The assembly stood rock still in oppressive silence. Many wondered whose soul Caesar reflected upon. His own or that of the figure on the bier? And what did 'sometime guest' convey?
Then Hadrian's voice resumed its usual commanding resonance. It grew in power as he spoke.
"Priests of Isis, Serapis, and Amun, place a worthy gold coin on the Bithynian's tongue for his journey's fee with Charon to the Land Of The Dead.
Say holy rites over Antinous to prepare him for his journey. Impress a death mask from his features to retain for our fond memory.
Take his earthly remains and perform your most effective arts upon him to embalm him for posterity. Spare no cost to preserve his tissues with loving respect. I will send the Dacian, Geta, to you shortly with special instructions for ceremonies to honor the youth's life."
The assembly relaxed from its dread.
"It will be done, Great Caesar," Pachrates affirmed as he waved hurriedly to temple attendants to cleanse the mess on the flagstones. Attendants in workman's leathers scurried in the background with sponges, water, and generous splashes of perfume.
The emperor returned to his formal manner.
"But we are not finished here yet, Egyptian magi. Stay! It is time for my Special Inspector to make his report to the Household in our presence," Hadrian announced.
Alarm! Panic! Suetonius clenched his fists while Clarus drew breath and bit a lip. They were both unprepared for such a duty. They assumed the report would be delivered later in the privacy of Hadrian's chambers. Suetonius realized his hundred thousand sesterces and the security of his head on his shoulders could be at risk.
But as he contemplated this less-than-desirable fate his attention was drawn by Strabon's tap at the elbow. The scribe pointed to the group of temple workers cleaning the temple floor before them. Among the gathering he spied a particularly unexpected face.
Suetonius peered toward the man. For a brief moment he couldn't place precisely where he had seen the fellow previously. It then struck him.
It was Hetu the fisherman who had discovered Antinous's body beneath the river's waters two dawns earlier with his cousin Ani. Hetu had not been killed by Ani's murderers after all!
Hetu and Suetonius's eyes met in fleeting recognition while the Egyptian was addressing to his tasks, but the fisherman flicked away in fear.
Suetonius immediately realized his fund of fragments from the two days of testimony possessed some slim unifying threads. The puzzle's solution was gradually taking shape. Or was it? How were these threads to be woven together in a meaningful way, he asked himself? What did they tell?
Yet were the stalking wolves themselves now being stalked, he wondered?
CHAPTER 31
Suetonius stood before the assembly to deliver his report. Clarus, Strabon, and Surisca stood a pace behind him, each wondering what their Special Inspector could possibly assert under the circumstances.
"Great Caesar, you have instructed Senator Claudius Septicius Clarus and I, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, to examine the circumstances of the death of your Companion of the Hunt, Antinous of Bithynia.
You commanded us to investigate the manner of his death and the reason for his death. The enquiry was to be completed within the space of two days and two nights," Suetonius declaimed magisterially in his least-quavering barrister's vocal technique. It had worked well enough decades ago at the Bar of Rome but was a little rusty, he thought.
"No excuses, Special Inspector. Get on with it," Hadrian huffed.
The emperor slumped deep into his throne as the workers bustled silently around him eliminating the odious effluvium of his discharge. Suetonius braced himself as Clarus stood firm nearby concealing sweating palms.
"Firstly, my Lord, a chain of violent events begins when Antinous is found lying beneath a moored fishermen's coracle at the river's edge at first light two dawns ago. That day was the morning of the first day of The Festival of Isis.
Two netters of fish and birds, Ani and Hetu of the village of Besa nearby, drag the body of the youth from the river and raise the alarm. Antinous was beneath the river's waters attired in his ceremonial parade uniform as a Hunt Companion, still wearing the helmet and cavalry mask of a formal imperial parade. It is the regalia of a special ceremony, not of a casual night's pleasures or some sporty lad's horseplay.
Ani and Hetu call for help. Fortuitously, a troop of three members of Governor Flavius Titianus's Praetorian Guard from Alexandria happen to be nearby under the command of Centurion Quintus Urbicus of Numidia. Urbicus and his troops try to revive Antinous, but to no avail. They aim to clear his lungs of water and search his body for signs of the cause of death.
Other than light bruises, the only visible wound is a deep incision in the lad's left wrist. The guardsmen do not report the wound, leaving this revelation to an official magistrate's enquiry or inspection by a physician.
Later when checking the young man's attire it is noted how two of the lad's personal possessions are missing — his youth's bulla locket, the golden necklet containing some favored scripture or charm, and his ring depicting the deity Abrasax, known to be a gift received from you, Caesar, as a protective talisman.
Ani and Hetu later report to us how the only vessel sailing on the river at such early light was a single craft identified by them as bearing the insignia of the priests of the very Temple of Amun we currently inhabit. Their recorded testimony says it is possible those sailing this vessel had deposited the youth at the river's edge and hurriedly departed the vicinity."
Suetonius paused to let the information sink in to his audience, and give him time to assess his next stage of description.
On hearing about the Temple vessel the security chief Tribune Lucius Macedo made a discreet gesture to one of his officers. Guardsmen closest to the priests Pachrates and Kenamun quietly shifted into a formation of nearer proximity to the pair, much to their immediate alarm. Suetonius continued his presentation.
"One of these two fishermen, Ani, is murdered later that same night by masked assailants of unknown origin. Fortunately, we had inscribed a record of the fishermen's testimony. The following morning Ani's decapitated head is exhibited to us by Centurion Urbicus as evidence of the murder. Urbicus had been assigned to us as an investigative operative. Hetu, the other fisherman, is reported chased by the same masked assailants to a fate unknown at this particular time. I will return to Hetu later.
Lysias of Bithynia, Antinous's close friend, and Thais of Cyrene, the youth's language tutor, are attacked at their tents in the Imperial Encampment that same night, also by masked assailants. Simon, a steward of Lysias's household, is murdered and decapitated defending the couple. They flee by devious routes to take secret refuge at the compound of the Companions of the Hunt. Quaestor Salvius Julianus, the former Master of the Hunt, offers his protection to the two at the Companions' stables.