"You attended all evening and night?" Suetonius queried further as Strabon scribbled.
"From before sunset until very late, to just before dawn, sir," Scorilo assured the group. He was apprehensive at the surprise questioning.
"You are certain of that, Decurion Scorilo?" Suetonius labored the point.
"Yes, Special Inspector. It was my roster duty for the day."
"Thank you, Decurion. Before you depart please tell us for the record your status, origin, age, and other identifying information," the biographer outlined as Strabon's stylus continued. Scorilo gathered himself for his response. This was unexpected.
"My lords, I am Scorilo of the Bastarnae Celts," he began in the guttural tones of a former German tribesman. "I do not know my age or place of birth. I am a decurion in the service of Great Caesar's special Horse Guard. I have been an officer of the Guard for ten years. Before being pressed to enter Caesar's service I fought under Caesar's command as an auxiliary to the Legions at Pannonia and Moesia in the wars against the Sarmatii and Roxolani. Caesar admired my fighting skills and recommended me for duty in his special Guard. That's all I have to offer, my lords."
"It is enough, Decurion Scorilo. But your tattoos, do they have meaning?" Suetonius probed further. "Explain them."
The Horse Guard was thoughtful for a moment.
"Special Inspector," he replied, "I received my tattoos early in my life. They are mementos of warfare between The Bastarnae and other tribes in my youth. They tell of victories I achieved against my enemies. We of The Bastarnae treasure our tattoos and the heroism they proclaim. They tell the quality of a man."
"Very good, Decurion. You may depart," Suetonius concluded.
Scorilo snapped to attention, saluted, and departed as his men rejoined him from their fruitless search. Suetonius turned to Julianus and Clarus.
"Who are The Bastarnae?" he asked. "Septicius Clarus, you served in those wars, you know these things. Besides, you know something of Scorilo?"
"Scorilo was already known to me at the time of Trajan's campaign twenty-five years ago. He was very young," the senator responded. "The Bastarnae are one of the dozens of Germanic and Dacian tribes who are scattered all over Europa beyond the defensive limes. Scorilo was such a one, and a good fighter too. They are tenacious, the Germans, they don't let go."
Suetonius turned to Julianus.
"Did this officer share in the celebration for Commodus you attended, as he said? Was he a guest or a member of the Guard?"
"I have no recollection of him there at all," the former Master of the Hunt confided. "Perhaps I had too much wine to notice? I didn't note who the guards were. They're often invisible to me. Marcus might remember? He was there too."
All eyes turned to the wounded equerry.
"I have no memory either. My recall is that Praetorians were the watch for that occasion, not Germans."
"Damon, you said you think the arrow head is German?" the jurist and quaestor queried. "Scorilo believes it to be Nubian. Do you agree now?"
The horse doctor scratched his head in uncertainty.
"Well, a man of the Guard must surely know weapons better than a humble friend of horseflesh," Damon offered. "But the arrow head which pierced Marcus's foot was too well shaped and cast to be of Nubian origin, and it's quality bronze."
"Scorilo further says the intruders who killed the steward last night at Antinous's apartments were Nubians too," Suetonius added.
Julianus interjected with an offer.
"Well let's find out, gentlemen. I have someone who can advise us on this very matter. We'll retire to my private courtyard to hear. Come this way — "
CHAPTER 25
Beyond Salvius Julianus's tent chambers beside the horse pavilion lay a gardened terrace open to the late afternoon sky and its rising breeze. The space was furnished with several dining couches, chairs, and low tables accompanied by boxes of Egyptian greenery and busts on pedestals of well-regarded legalists of Rome.
"You have until an hour before the next dawn to resolve your enquiries, gentlemen. That's about fourteen hour's time. Ask of me what you will, and then I will show you something which will be of great value to your investigation," the jurist stated. The investigation team immediately showed increased interest.
"Well, we'll begin by taking your testimony, lord Quaestor," Suetonius asked formally while waving the scroll of authority to view, "with your cooperation. Strabon will record your words so we have a transcript of all interviews in accordance with Caesar's commission."
"A formal deposition, with my identity noted? I see. Well to save us time, gentlemen, I am Lucius Publius Salvius Julianus Aemilianus, Senator at Rome, lawyer by profession. I was born at Hadrumetum in the second year of Caesar Trajan, so I am thirty years of age. I studied law of the Sabidian School at Rome under Javolenus Priscus.
I have been appointed quaestor by Caesar Hadrian to review the Praetor's Edicts of Roman Law. I am traveling in Egypt within Caesar's Household in anticipation of advising the Princeps on judicial matters relating to the establishment of new settlements in this province. I have a wife at Rome and two children, both girls. What else do you wish to know?"
Strabon's stylus was in full flutter.
"What is your understanding of the death of the Imperial Favorite, Antinous of Bithynia?"
Julianus paused thoughtfully before responding.
"I am deeply saddened by his passing. He was a worthy Companion of the Hunt, and he brought light to all who shared his company. He possessed admirable Hellene aspirations, yet to be fully realized. They are now no more. The young man will be sorely missed, at least among his many friends at Court," the quaestor confided.
"Do you believe he also had enemies?"
"Not many, I'd say, not many. But whether they had anything to do with the drowning is beyond me," Julianus clarified. "I don't intend to denounce any individual without clear evidence. Besides, cui bono? Who benefits? If I was to delate anyone at all it would possibly be the young Bithynian himself."
"Antinous himself!" Clarus gasped. "How so, Julianus?"
"Well, there were facets of the young man's character which may well have led him in unhappy directions," the jurist offered. "His sense of honor, his virtue, his noble principles, his Greek arete, could well have led him to risks others might think twice about."
"Do you have an example?"
"Yes. Antinous possessed a refined sense of obligation. Perhaps it's a Greek thing," the huntsman supposed. "A favor performed for him obliged he return the favor in kind. Now we know the ethic of mutual obligation is an admirable lubricant to interaction among equals, yet in exchanges between unequals it may become onerous to those who are lesser equipped.
Antinous, to his credit, aimed always to respond to favors with parity. He was in no man's debt. Nevertheless, the lad was not Great Caesar and didn't possess the powers or resources to respond to his erastes' gestures in like or kind.
If Hadrian offered his Favorite some gesture of regard, it was not always easy for the younger man to match a return gesture, despite his eagerness to do so. Perhaps Caesar felt the gestures of the boudoir, or even simple companionship, were sufficient recompense? However there was one particular occasion where a reciprocal gesture would have been problematic for the Bithynian."
"And what was that?" Suetonius asked.
"It was the recent lion hunt in the western desert beyond Alexandria. It occurred almost two months ago.
The previous week Hadrian had announced to his inner circle while visiting Alexander's tomb in the centre of that city how the time had arrived for Caesar and Antinous to relinquish their respective roles as erastes and eromenos. Antinous must surely have known the relationship was overdue for dissolution, public decency demanded it. For the thing to have continued would have had people talking. Yet Antinous was obviously thunderstruck by the announcement.