Germanicus

'You're saying,' she said slowly, 'that Germanicus ended up with the legions' sympathy. Whereas Tiberius and Drusus didn't.'

'Right.' I nodded. 'And that's the key to the whole business. Sympathy and popularity. Whether Germanicus acted consciously or whether he was the simple-minded idealist he seemed I don't know. The main thing was he had something else going for him as well. Or rather someone.'

She had it now. 'Agrippina.'

'Yeah. It was her and young Gaius Caligula who were largely responsible for changing the soldiers' minds and ending the mutiny. More, she's army to the bone, and squaddies appreciate that.' I took a swallow of wine. 'So. The mutiny was put down. What happened next?'

'Germanicus led the troops against the tribes on the other side of the Rhine.'

'Right. And whatever the political ins and outs were, as far as the lads on the ground were concerned he went further and did more than any other general since his father. Only the Wart pulled him back before he'd finished the campaign. Result?'

'Germanicus left Germany a hero to the troops. And again Tiberius was cast as the villain.' Perilla was looking thoughtful. 'Corvinus, I'm afraid you're beginning to make sense.'

'Good.' I took another swig of wine. 'Okay. So now we come to the eastern trip. The Wart sends our blue eyed boy east. The first place he goes is Pannonia. Why would he do that?'

'Drusus is there. And Germanicus has despatches from the emperor.'

'Yeah. Both true. Anything else? Remember we're assuming the guy's a rotten apple. Or that he's planning to be. Think army.'

'Pannonia has the biggest concentration of legions between-' Perilla caught her breath, then finished more slowly: 'Between the Rhine and Syria.'

'Correct. And the next legionary base down is Egypt. Where Germanicus later chooses to spend his winter holiday. Am I still making sense?'

'Yes.' She was frowning. 'Yes, you are. Very much so. Go on, please.'

'Secundus told me one of the things Germanicus did in Pannonia was to review the troops. Maybe there was nothing more to it than that but I think there was. The army's a tight family, especially along the Rhine and Danube frontier. A lot of the Pannonian squaddies would know Germanicus, by reputation at least. The officers, too. Especially the junior ones and the NCOs, and they're the ones that count. A personal visit would be something they'd appreciate.'

'You think he was canvassing for support?'

'Maybe not overtly, but the guy had charm and he would've used it. Like he did in Egypt. Sympathy and popularity, remember?'

She was definitely with me now. 'The Greek tour fits too. And the visit to Actium. Most of the client-kings come from the old Greek families who supported Antony in the civil war. It'd be a reminder to them that he was Mark Antony's grandson as well as an adopted Caesar, wouldn't it?'

'Yeah.' I paused with my hand on the wine jug. Antony's grandson. That was an angle I hadn't thought of. 'Well done, lady.'

She was right, of course, and it fitted. Even after fifty years, to the Greek-speaking half of the empire Antony was still a hero because together with the Greek queen Cleopatra he'd led them against Octavian's Rome. The fight off Actium had been Greece's last stand, and even although Antony had been beaten the Asian Greeks had never forgotten him. I remembered what Orosius had said about them not finding Romans sympathetic. They'd liked Germanicus, though. They'd liked him a lot. He'd made sure of that. And not just Greeks, either. To the native Egyptians Cleopatra was still their greatest queen ever. And an interest in the local culture, expressed by a trip down the Nile to look at the monuments, would go down a bomb with them. Added to which they had even less cause than the Alexandrian Greeks to be grateful to Rome, because all we meant to them was oppression and taxes. Shit. It worked. It all fitted together like the bits of a mosaic…

'Marcus?' Perilla was looking at me.

'The bastard had it all sewn up,' I said quietly. 'He and Agrippina were popular with the senate and the mob in Rome, far more popular than the Wart and Livia. He had the northern legions in his pocket, maybe even the Pannonian ones. He'd only have to lift his little finger and the whole Greek east including the Alexandrians who sent the corn ships and the Egyptians who grew the corn would've been behind him. Only he had to have Syria too, because if he wanted to play Antony in a rematch against the Wart's Octavian Syria's four legions were too important for him to ignore. Meanwhile, Tiberius's hands were tied because the guy hadn't made a single overtly treasonable move. And he wouldn't, either. Not until he'd got all the sympathy and support he needed and he was good and ready to use it, by which time it'd be all over bar the shouting.'

I swallowed half the wine at a gulp. Perilla was sitting very still.

'So,' she said. 'What happened in Syria?'

34

'What happened in Syria,' I said, 'was that the Wart pulled the plug on him.'

Perilla shifted. 'You mean Tiberius knew?'

'Of course he knew. That's the whole point. He knew what Germanicus had in mind before he sent him east.'

'And how do you work that out?'

'Simple.' I poured myself more of the wine. 'It explains Piso. And it explains the cover-up here. Piso wasn't sent out because Tiberius didn't trust his son to do a good job; he was sent because the Wart didn't trust the bastard full stop. And he was right.'

'But if the emperor thought that Germanicus intended to commit treason then why didn't he simply have him arrested?'

'Jupiter, Perilla! We've been through that! Germanicus was the empire's blue eyed boy, and like you said he was his named successor. If Tiberius had called in the heavies he'd've had a full scale rebellion on his hands before the ink was dry on the warrant. The same would hold if he just had him chopped. Especially since everyone knew — or thought they knew — that he was jealous as hell of his own crown prince. Besides, what proof did he have? Popularity isn't a crime, and Germanicus hadn't said one word or done one thing out of place. The Wart's fair, too fair to act out of hand. All he could do was give the guy enough rope and leave him to prove to his satisfaction that he deserved hanging. Which Germanicus did.'

'But you said yourself, poisoning isn't Tiberius's way.'

'Yeah.' I sat back scowling. 'That's the problem. The more I think about it the more I'm convinced Livia was involved right up to her eyebrows. Lamia as good as admitted it. When I said I'd come from the empress it really threw the guy. I swear he was going to say the empress knew already. And personally, fancy oaths or not, I wouldn't put it past her.'

'But why should Livia poison Germanicus? Especially for the emperor? They haven't got on for years.'

'That's where Agrippina comes in. Sure, Germanicus was a traitor, but I'd bet a gold piece to a rotten cabbage his wife pushed him into it. Like I say, I doubt if left to himself he'd've had the heart for treason. Agrippina's different. That lady's got the heart and the stomach. And she has a pretty big axe to grind because thanks to the empress's little efforts over the years the Wart's on the throne and she's the last of the Julians.'

Perilla nodded. 'Yes. Yes, that makes sense,' she said. 'Agrippina certainly hates Tiberius and Livia, and it's mutual. If the imperials were responsible and she knew it it would explain her conduct in bringing Germanicus's ashes back; she was bringing his murder home to his killers, in both senses of the phrase. Another thing. With Germanicus dead and Drusus Tiberius's heir the succession would be firmly back in the Claudian line. That would certainly weigh with Livia.'

'Too right it would.'