‘That’s true, but my Gaius is a very busy little boy and, despite his coming wedding, has found the time to become infatuated with this harlot. It started when Macro moved her to Capraea last year; a strange thing to do, to say the least, unless he was deliberately pandering her to Gaius. I couldn’t understand what Macro stood to gain by this so I watched and waited, saying nothing to Gaius about it in my letters as he’s become increasingly dismissive of my advice and now tends to take the opposite course of action to that which I recommend. I was rewarded for my patience a couple of months ago when I received this. Pallas, if you please?’
Pallas walked over to the desk at the far end of the room and retrieved a scroll that he handed to his mistress.
‘This was sent to me by Clemens, the captain of Gaius’ guard. His loyalty to my grandson is matched by his distrust of Macro. It is a copy of a document, signed by Gaius, in which he swears to make Ennia empress when he inherits the Purple. In return for Macro’s loss and also as a reward for ensuring that he does become emperor he promises to make him prefect of Egypt.’
Corbulo could not contain his outrage. ‘He’s sold his wife to gain a position of power! That’s unthinkable.’
‘No, Corbulo, that is modern day politics,’ Antonia responded, ‘wouldn’t you agree, Consul?’
‘Indeed I would. It seems that our Praetorian prefect has learnt from his predecessor’s mistakes.’
Vespasian smiled; he suddenly understood the beauty of Macro’s strategy. ‘He knows that he can never become emperor, as attempting to do that cost Sejanus his life, so he’s going for a smaller prize.’
‘Smaller yes,’ Antonia agreed, ‘but in terms of wealth and power, huge; enough for him to use as a stepping-stone for what I believe to be his ultimate ambition: to imitate my father, Marcus Antonius, and divide the Empire in two by seizing the eastern provinces.’
There was a stunned silence; all thought of eating had now evaporated as Antonia’s three guests contemplated how this could be achieved and what consequences it would have for the stability of the world as they knew it.
‘I believe that some more wine would be in order at this point, Pallas,’ Antonia requested.
With their cups refilled Antonia continued her analysis to her spellbound audience.
‘Let us assume for a moment that Gaius does give Macro what he wants and it is not an idle assumption; my little Gaius may have many faults but lack of generosity is not one of them, he desires to be loved and is naive enough to think that he can buy that love. Macro would then be in control of the wealthiest province in the Empire, a province that is defended by two legions and is, to all intents and purposes, a peninsula. An army cannot cross the desert to its west, as you now well know, Vespasian; the southern border is the edge of the Empire and to the north and east is sea. So other than a highly risky seaborne invasion the only way to attack Egypt is from the northeast, through Judaea and the collection of petty kingdoms and tetrarchies that surround it, using the only other four legions in the region, based in Syria. So to secure Egypt, Macro would only have to ensure that the Syrian legions were busy elsewhere; which he did last month with a move of far-thinking political dexterity.’
Asiaticus’ eyes widened. ‘The Parthian embassy,’ he said slowly, ‘brilliant.’
‘Yes, it was admirable,’ Antonia agreed, visibly pleased that the Consul had the political acumen to keep up with her reasoning.
‘But they were a group of rebel nobles who wanted to replace King Artabanus on the Parthian throne with Phraates who was hostage here in Rome,’ Corbulo said. ‘What are they to do with Egypt or Macro?’
Vespasian vaguely recollected Magnus mentioning something about rebel Parthians on his arrival in Cyrenaica.
‘Everything,’ Antonia answered, ‘if you look at the timing and who organised the embassy.’
‘Herod Agrippa,’ Vespasian stated, his memory clearing. He rewarded himself with a gulp of wine.
Antonia looked at him quizzically, wondering how he knew. ‘Correct. Herod’s been trying to persuade Tiberius for ages to reinstate Judaea as a client kingdom with him on the throne but Tiberius has always denied him. Macro must have offered Herod what he wanted in return for him using his considerable influence with the disaffected nobles in Parthia to persuade them that now was the time for a change of king. Herod’s friend Phraates is the only survivor of the ancient Arsacid dynasty and therefore the rightful heir to the Parthian throne; he would have been only too happy to be of service.’
Asiaticus grinned. ‘That is elegant. Tiberius went for it because since Artabanus put his son Arsaces on the throne of Armenia, the balance of power in the East has shifted towards Parthia.’
‘Exactly, Consul; I know that Tiberius has made Phraates promise to return Armenia to Rome’s sphere of influence in return for his throne. Tiberius thinks that he has done a good deal for Roman diplomacy and so sends Lucius Vitellius, the new Governor of Syria, off to Parthia with his legions for a war that will last at least two, perhaps even three, years; longer than Tiberius is expected to live. Once Macro and Herod had put the Parthian embassy in motion all they had to do was sit back and watch Tiberius fall for it.’
Comprehension spread over Corbulo’s face. ‘Ah, I see, Macro’s expecting Tiberius to die, either naturally or with a little help, before the war is concluded; he’ll then make sure Caligula becomes emperor and will be rewarded with Egypt. With the Syrian legions busy he’ll be able to create a buffer state by uniting Judaea with Galilee, Iudemaea, and all the other smaller Jewish tetrarchies with Herod as the King of a Greater Judaea.’
Antonia nodded. ‘And Herod is already preparing the ground for that. On his way back to Rome last year he stopped off in Alexandria where his wife persuaded the Alabarch to lend them a lot of money, which Herod, rather than repaying his debts to me, has used to buy grain secretly from Claudius and Narcissus.’
‘But that would have come to the attention of imperial agents, however secret the deal, and he would have been prosecuted,’ Asiaticus pointed out correctly.
‘Only if the grain had been diverted from Rome itself; but it wasn’t. The estates that he bought it off had all fulfilled their quota to Rome; Herod bought grain destined for lesser provinces.’
‘That explains why we had a severe shortage in Cyrenaica,’ Vespasian observed, ‘it was one of the causes of the Jewish unrest there.’
‘I doubt that Herod cares about the Jews of Cyrenaica, he wanted that grain stockpiled ready to take with him to help him secure his new kingdom. An independent, united Jewish state would have a huge amount of manpower to call upon to form a considerable army, which would need to be fed. Herod will be a very powerful man, powerful enough perhaps to prevent Gaius sending an army through Judaea to invade Egypt.’
‘And Caligula will be powerless to do anything else about Macro because he would hold a large percentage of Rome’s grain supply in his hands, and would threaten to withhold it.’
‘Precisely,’ Antonia agreed. ‘But before he can secure Egypt, Macro needs money and a lot of it to buy the loyalty of legions and the auxiliary cohorts stationed there. Money is the one thing that he’s short of.’
‘So that’s why he’s recently allied himself with Poppaeus,’ Vespasian said, refilling his cup. ‘His family’s silver mines in Hispania would surely provide enough if they managed to finance the Thracian rebellion.’
‘More than enough,’ Antonia agreed while signalling to Pallas to refill her cup. ‘And in return for Macro giving him a free hand in Rome to prosecute the many enemies he’s made during his career, Poppaeus has agreed to lend him the money that he needs to become a wealthy landowner in Egypt by…?’
‘Buying Claudius’ estates,’ all three men said simultaneously.
‘The produce of which has just shot up in value due to the destruction of the last grain fleet.’