‘Just to diminish Claudius’ legacy?’ Vespasian considered that for a moment. ‘I suppose so; that’s what I’d do. After four years in Britannia I can see that the money spent holding those parts already pacified and expanding the frontiers until the whole island is under our control is going to be far more than the tax revenue for many years to come. You’re right, Magnus: if Claudius wants to divert attention from his folly then he should have chosen something else, because there is a lot of folly to mask.’
Vespasian fell silent as he contemplated the immensity of the task that he, Sabinus and Plautius had left unfinished in Britannia. Having returned to the Roman sphere of influence, leaving the druids depleted but still in place and Judoc unpunished for his treachery, Vespasian had spent the next month, before the arrival of his replacement, probing into Dumnonii territory in strength, destroying everything that could be destroyed until Arvirargus had seen sense and realised that if he wanted to keep his kingdom and his precious horses then he had to come to an accommodation with Rome. This had cost him far more than it would have done a couple of months earlier: not only did Plautius oblige him to pay a greater annual tribute in tin than might be considered fair but also, at the request of Vespasian and Cogidubnus, he was obliged to ensure that a hundred of Judoc’s followers lived out the rest of their lives mining that tin. Judoc himself was to work in the mines until the time came for him to be transported to Rome to be displayed in Plautius’ Ovation, which the Senate had recently voted him — at Claudius’, or rather Narcissus’, request.
Most gratifyingly for Vespasian had been Plautius’ insistence that Arvirargus clear the remaining druids off Tagell and ensure that it remained unoccupied — apart, of course, from the Lost Dead. Vespasian shivered as he remembered the cold grip of an unseen hand and then the squeezing of his heart as if another hand constricted it; the Lost Dead were welcome to that forsaken spit of land.
The arrival, in November, of Publius Ostorius Scapula, the next Governor of the infant province, along with the new legates, had meant that Vespasian’s work was complete and all that remained for him to do was to brief his replacement, Titus Curtius Ciltus, thoroughly in the geography, people and politics of the II Augusta’s theatre of operations. Finding Ciltus to be a nonentity with a very limited capacity for independent thought and hearing Plautius’ assessment of Scapula as a man who made him seem calm in temper but reckless in action, Vespasian had left Britannia with the feeling that it was a problem never to be solved and he wanted no more part in it. He was put in mind of the legend of Pandora’s box — but without, at the end, Hope flying out of the casket that should never have been opened.
With Caratacus still at large and resentment building as the tax-farmers ploughed their fresh fields, Britannia was far from pacified. Indeed, news had reached him on his way home, during his two-month sojourn at Aventicum to complete the sale of his parents’ estate, that the Iceni, who had hitherto been an independent client-kingdom, ruled by their king Prasutagus, had revolted after Scapula had tried to disarm them. The foolishness of needlessly provoking a peaceful ally into rebellion summed up for Vespasian everything that had been wrong about Rome’s approach to her reluctant province: they had been too tough on their friends and allies in their attempts to keep them subdued and to extract the taxes to pay for the invasion; yet they had failed to crush their enemies because, quite simply, there was not the manpower to fight an aggressive campaign and at the same time police what had already been won.
The multifarious odours of a port in high summer cutting through the salt-tanged sea air and the ship’s smells of musky warmed wood, pitch and hemp rope brought Vespasian back to the present as the trireme entered the harbour mouth with its oars dipping in slow and steady time. He was almost home after his longest ever absence; and, what was more, he had made it in time for Aulus Plautius’ Ovation and then his brother’s inauguration as suffect-consul for the last six months of the year, which was to be on the day after: the calends of July.
As the ship manoeuvred, with much shouting from the trierarchus, in preparation for berthing, Hormus appeared on deck with Vespasian’s travelling luggage, the main bulk of his possessions having been sent overland in the spring.
‘Find a carriage to take us to Rome as soon as we dock, Hormus,’ Vespasian ordered.
With a bow, Hormus went to stand by the gangplank waiting for it to be lowered; down on the quay a crowd of traders and whores had started to gather, eager to sell their wares to voyage-weary sailors.
‘I think I’ll go to my uncle’s house first,’ Vespasian informed Magnus, ‘before going to the palace to see Flavia and the children.’
‘Very wise, sir; he’ll have a good idea of how things stand between the imperial family and yours.’
Vespasian steadied himself on the rail as the trireme nudged the dock. ‘And, more to the point, how I can expect to be received by Rome’s true masters.’
‘I wouldn’t worry about that; Sabinus has been nominated as consul and I’m sure that Claudius didn’t do that without his freedmen’s consent. So I’d imagine that you’re in their favour.’
‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But what I also need to know is whether Messalina and Corvinus made any objections to Sabinus’ appointment, because if there’s one thing that I must do for sure it’s to find some way of getting Corvinus into my debt. Only once I’ve done that will I stand a chance of getting Flavia and the children out of the palace and into the relative safety of my own home in Rome.’
‘Oh, so you’ve finally got one now, have you?’
Vespasian watched the gangplank being lowered and Hormus make his way down and through the crowd of vendors. ‘I don’t know; I wrote to Gaius from Aventicum asking him to find me something suitable near him on the Quirinal.’
‘And near Caenis.’
‘Well, yes; it would make matters simpler all round.’
‘I wouldn’t describe moving my wife into a house that’s been chosen for its proximity to my mistress as “making matters simpler all round”.’
‘How would you describe it then?’
‘As the complete opposite, and the action of a madman; especially when you consider that your mother is living with your uncle. Are you seriously going to put all the women in your life close enough to each other to fight on a daily basis?’
‘But Caenis and Flavia get on very well.’
‘Whilst you were away they did; but now that you’re back they’re going to be vying with one another for your attention — as will your mother. And when that sort of competition arises whoever’s winning will make the other two deeply jealous; until, that is, they get tired of fighting and realise that you’re the cause of it and they unite against you as their common enemy — which will probably happen on a monthly basis.’
Vespasian’s face became even more strained. ‘I hadn’t thought about it like that; still, it’s too late, it’s done now.’ He tried to lighten his expression. ‘I guess I’ll just have to spend a lot of time concentrating on getting more money out of the estates.’
‘What? And leave the women unsupervised with none of them getting any attention? That really would be the act of the rashest of fools.’
‘And what makes you such an expert on women all of a sudden? You don’t even have one of your own.’
‘It’s because I’m an expert on the subject that I’ve chosen never to get embroiled with one on any basis more permanent than an exchange of coinage and bodily fluids.’