We averaged four miles an hour, covering around twenty-eight miles a day, and taking forty days to get there. I thought I was fit and lean before we started. When we finally rolled into our new barracks just outside Rome, I think we had all lost weight and become leaner, fighting machines.
The Legions were forbidden to enter Rome, as the fear of military coups was very great. The Cohortes Urbanae and the Praetorian Guard were the military presence within the city. The former kept the peace for the people, and the latter guarded the Emperor. Such was the politics of Rome that generals were often considered high risk, as the Legions’ power was such that they could topple an unpopular emperor just by their presence alone.
In truth, out of the first forty-nine Emperors, eight were murdered by their own Praetorian Guard. Some, it has to be said, ruled for as little as twenty-one days.
The Christian church had yet to become organised sufficiently to be a real presence, as that would not happen until the Emperor Constantine in the year 312AD. The Edict of Milan was a turning point as it gave the Christians freedom to follow their faith without oppression or persecution for the first time. Constantine even restored Christian property that had been seized or confiscated under previous administrations.
I had yet even to meet a Christian, knowingly, at any rate. They were still a persecuted and hated sect, forced underground by prejudice and bigotry. The Romans didn’t like their ideals of loving everyone and true selflessness and equality. The British in the nineteenth century were placid where it came to class consciousness and status compared to this lot!
Trajan has a place in Christian History because in correspondence with Pliny the Younger, he addressed the issue of how to handle the faithful. This is one of the earliest mentions of Christians in pagan literature and is often quoted.
Pliny was governor of Pontus and Bithynia (in Asia Minor) for three years beginning in 111AD. He wrote to the emperor explaining how he had dealt with Christians. This included requiring them to worship the emperor or the Roman gods, and if they refused, to execute them. But he wondered if he should execute youngsters and whether it were enough for a Christian to sacrifice to idols or if such a one should still be executed.
Trajan (or his secretaries) replied:
“You observed proper procedure, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those who had been denounced to you as Christians. For it is not possible to lay down any general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard. They are not to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved guilty, they are to be punished, with this reservation, that whoever denies that he is a Christian and really proves it - that is, by worshiping our gods - even though he was under suspicion in the past, shall obtain pardon through repentance. But anonymously posted accusations ought to have no place in any prosecution. For this is both a dangerous kind of precedent and out of keeping with the spirit of our age.”
Trajan, although he did not perpetuate persecution on the scale of Domitian and other emperors, executed several Christian leaders including Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, and Simeon, Bishop of Jerusalem.
While I was there, I saw little evidence of Christians, or even of any persecution going on. To be fair, we were still in the same century as the birth, life and death of Christ, as well as the mission of the man called Saint Paul. He died here, in Rome, but not before starting a church that was now operating underground.
I wasn’t actually looking for them, but as time progressed, I came to see their signs on door posts and walls, so knew they were around.
I wasn’t especially religious, a fact I think I may have mentioned before. I’m not sure whether God would approve of what I had done, and was doing. For all I knew, God might have started the Time Corps, so I deliberately kept an open mind. I was, however, no lover of the church, especially that part of the church in the United States where I grew up. Bigotry and hatred had replaced any gospel of love and tolerance in most of them. Their attitudes towards the gay and transgendered, let alone their attitudes towards those with darker skins, left a great deal to be desired. I found it much easier to avoid them.
However, the church wasn’t to become accepted and socially permissible for another two hundred and something years. These Christians were the revolutionaries of their day. They were the hippies, the strange weirdoes and the counter-culture within Roman society. The faith appealed to slave and rich man, particularly to the slave, so they bucked the religious, social and class trends in every way possible. That was why just being a Christian was enough to sign your own death warrant.
The Emperor was a god, so had to be worshiped. Few really did, but just went through the motions for social acceptance. The Christians refused, and many died for it, as was illustrated in Trajan’s letter.
The female century had its own quarters within the garrison camp. Living under canvas wasn’t as bad as living in some of the rat infested buildings with open sewers close by.
At least in the camps, the latrines were well placed and dug deep. The cook house was out in the open and the food fresh and plentiful.
We had our new uniforms now, although we had not worn them in public yet. Mine was quite spectacular, probably because of the burnished metal breastplate that was sculpted to my body. There was no doubt as to my gender, given the shape of the breasts in metal for all to see. At least, they hadn’t given them nipples!
The black cloaks were just the job, as they were sufficiently different and striking to catch the eye. Added to the black helmets with detachable red plumes, dark tunics and dull metal armour and arms, we did look amazingly sinister.
I slept alone, these days. Gaius was still embarrassed over his slightly premature ejaculation to repeat the performance. To be fair, we had been very busy and lacked the same opportunities that presented themselves in Britain. I was slightly disappointed, but then it was a relief to be out of a relationship that could possibly alter my perspectives and hinder my objectivity.
Iona had taken another female lover from the ranks. I had unwittingly walked in on them when I wanted to speak to her about something important with regard to the training.
The red haired little beauty had been a recent addition to the ranks just prior to us leaving Britain. I had registered the event and simply walked out, unaware that I had been seen.
Iona had seen me, and followed me out. She had wrapped a cloak around her nakedness. She was quite a delectable woman, and I felt familiar stirrings within. I quashed them. I also felt slightly jealous, but also not a little guilt.
“You are angry!” she said, as a statement, not a question.
“No. To be honest, I’m pleased for you.”
She was surprised.
“Pleased? How so?”
“I am jealous of the girl, but not angry. You are still very attractive and desirable. But, we have moved on, and this is right. I need to be free, as do you.”
“Free?”
“Yes, what I have to do means that relationships might hinder me. As much as I might want to be loved and needed, it might not be the best thing for me. I may have to leave and return to where I come from. It might not be right to leave behind someone who will miss me.”
Her frown cleared and she surprised me by nodding.
“I understand. Yet you denied it.”
“Denied what?”
“Being the mortal form of a Goddess.”
I was about to come back with a more reasonable explanation, but then it dawned on me that actually, that was as good an explanation as I could give.
I simply nodded.
“I still love you,” she said.
“And I you, but it is right we are not as close.”
She smiled slightly.
“What?” I asked.
“I often wondered what a Goddess would be like. Now I know.”
“Don’t tell the Romans,” I said. “Go back to her, with my blessing.”