Silius finished off the oath and, as the Father of the House performed the purification rites, Vespasian sent up a silent prayer to his guardian god for success in his endeavours over the next night and day and a further appeal to the gods of his household to hold their hands over his family.
As Silius seated himself in the curule chair next to his senior colleague, the younger Lucius Vitellius, the Father of the House removed the fold of his toga from his head and addressed the Senate. ‘Conscript Fathers, the Emperor has been unfortunately delayed in Ostia by matters that only he has the wisdom to deal with. He has therefore asked that we conclude business for today now that the new Suffect-Consul is sworn in. He will endeavour to return by the seventh hour tomorrow and asks that you reassemble in this House then to hear his report on the progress of the new port — provided, of course, that the day is deemed auspicious for the business of Rome. This House shall rise.’
Vespasian picked up his folding stool and he and Gaius joined Sabinus in the crush to get out. ‘I detect the hand of Pallas behind the House sitting at midday rather than dawn.’
‘I hope that I’ll have had a message from Pallas by then.’
‘You will have and I expect that it’ll be me bringing it. How are you doing with gathering support?’
‘It’s difficult without being able to tell people what they’ll be supporting, but I’ve been spreading Pallas’ money about with vague promises of preferment from the Emperor in return for supporting an upcoming motion and then an amendment to a law. Paetus has been very helpful with some of the younger ones and Uncle has done as much as he’s dared with his contemporaries.’
‘Without exposing my position or giving any views, obviously,’ Gaius put in.
‘Obviously, Uncle; we wouldn’t want it said that you ever had an opinion, would we?’
‘I’ve known people executed for just considering the possibility of having an opinion.’
‘I’m sure.’
‘However, I am working on Servius Sulpicius Galba to support the motion in order to repay the debt that he owes Pallas for getting him the governorship of Africa so soon after coming back from Germania Superior.’
Sabinus looked suitably impressed. ‘A man like that from such an old family and with well-known conservative views would be a great asset. Anyway, brother, I have enough people to be able to speak in favour of whatever it is I’ll be proposing.’
‘Good. I’ll see you later this afternoon at Magnus’ place,’ Vespasian said as they burst out into the warm morning sun.
‘I’ll be there.’ Sabinus clapped his brother on his shoulder and moved off into the crowd.
‘What are you going there for?’ Gaius asked.
‘We’re meeting there before we arrive unannounced at a party.’ Vespasian sighed as he saw Corvinus standing waiting for him at the top of the Senate House steps.
‘Try not to goad him, dear boy,’ Gaius said, watching Corvinus walk towards them.
‘Don’t worry, Uncle, I don’t need to; when this is over he’ll be irrelevant to me.’
Corvinus looked down his nose at Vespasian. ‘Well, bumpkin?’
‘Well what, Corvinus?’
‘Silius is now sworn in, so what news of my sister marrying him and what is Narcissus planning to do?’
‘No news is the answer to the first question and I don’t know is the answer to the second.’
Corvinus’ sneer was made even haughtier by an incredulous frown. ‘Narcissus is doing nothing?’
‘I didn’t say that; he just hasn’t told me what he is doing. If you want news of when your sister is getting married then I suggest that you ask her. But there is one thing I do know and that is that the way things are playing out your life won’t be in Narcissus’ hands.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that Narcissus won’t be able to save you.’
‘Who will be able to?’ Corvinus asked.
‘Me, if I should choose to.’
‘You owe me, Vespasian.’
‘I could just ignore that fact, Corvinus, and leave you for dead; which after the way you threatened my family I’d be entitled to do. But I won’t. Now, as far as I’m concerned you are going to be dead in the next few days, so from now on you are dead to me. If I allow you to keep your life, which I will, then do me the courtesy of behaving in my presence as if you are a dead man. Then we’ll be even.’
A thin blue-grey cloud floating far out over the Tyrrhenian Sea bisected, almost perfectly, the sun, blazing deep orange as it fell into the west. With his shadow lost somewhere in the crowds before him, Vespasian made his way along the Alta Semita assailed by the aromas of thousands of evening meals.
Fortified by the knowledge that a successful conclusion to the coming events would see his family safe and considerably wealthier, he walked with a firm step and a straight back. The money he had made from Corvinus, Theron and now Messalina made him wealthy beyond the wine-fuelled imaginings of ninety-nine per cent of the inhabitants of the Empire; it was, however, as nothing compared to many in Rome’s élite. But it was a start and as he passed, dressed in an old travelling cloak and rough tunic, unnoticed through the throngs of citizens whose collective wealth was probably a fragment of his own, he felt an aggressive pleasure in what he had achieved for himself by reacting to the will of others. He thanked Caenis, her face burning bright on his inner eye, for her insight into the accumulation of wealth and the sense of power and enjoyment it gave to be active in its pursuit. So much for the high ideals of selfless service to Rome that he had espoused when he had first entered the city with his father almost twenty-three years before.
‘Are you deep in thought or just trying to pass a reluctant turd?’ a voice asked.
‘What?’ Vespasian saw Magnus standing in front of him.
‘Thinking hard or having a hard shit? Which was it, because it was taking all your concentration and you nearly walked straight past the tavern.’
‘Thinking, obviously!’ Vespasian replied with a little more terseness than he had intended. ‘Where’s Sabinus?’
‘He’s with the rest of the lads just outside the Porta Collina checking the cart and the horses. I was just waiting for you.’
‘Well, I’m here so let’s go.’
‘Perhaps you should have a shit first; it might improve your mood.’
‘I’m sorry, Magnus.’
‘Well, what’s on your mind? It must be pretty weighty.’
Vespasian took a deep breath as they headed towards the Porta Collina, just two hundred paces distant. ‘I’ve finally realised that after all this time of thinking that I’m serving Rome, I’m not; I’ve just been serving one or other of Rome’s masters or mistresses. No one ever does anything out of altruism in order to benefit the public good. On the contrary, everything that I’ve ever been involved in since arriving in the city has been solely for an individual’s personal gain. I very rarely profit from it directly and Rome certainly never does — or at least the idealistic view that I had of Rome because that Rome doesn’t exist, it never really did. All Rome is really is the pole over which the powerful fight to place their own personal Eagle upon, in order to rally support for themselves in the name of the people. So in the end what difference does it make who holds the power? Claudius, Caligula, Tiberius, Narcissus, Pallas, Sejanus, Antonia, Macro, Messalina, whoever, they’re all the same; some just smell nicer than others. But none of them do anything for Rome other than make sure the people are fed and entertained so that they don’t notice the misery in which most of them live whilst the powerful fill their coffers with what should be public money.’
‘There you go, sir; how many times have I tried to point that out to you? You with your high ideals, playing at politics, as if it really mattered, when you know that you can never rise to the top because you come from the wrong family. I remember you saying that your grandmother warned you about it.’
‘Yes, and I thought that meant there was a straight choice between staying on my estates for the rest of my life or accepting Rome how it is and understanding that although I could never hope to rise to the very top I could bring honour to my family by my service. I was so wrong.’