Ovid

I hadn't realised that I'd been holding my breath. Now I let it out.

'Yeah,' I said. 'Yeah. Okay. Any time, any place he chooses. He won't get into any trouble through me, I promise you. In fact I may be able to do the guy a favour or two.'

She was shaking her head.

'No, sir. Thank you but no,' she said firmly. 'Davus is all right, sir. He doesn't need nothing, not now. He'd like to see the mistress cleared same as I would, and if this'll help then he'll talk to you with pleasure. The Lady Julia was innocent, sir. I told them that, even when they broke my leg to get me to say different.' I glanced down at her lame foot. Yeah. That made sense. Against his master, a slave's evidence is only valid under torture. 'The mistress was no whore, sir. No more than her lady mother was.'

Everything went very quiet; so quiet I could hear the sound of the fountain in the ornamental pool inside the house.

Julia's mother, the other Julia, Augustus's daughter, had been exiled too. Also for adultery…

Gods!

'Uh… You mind running over that again, Harpale?' I tried to keep my voice calm. 'Just for the record?'

Harpale was quite composed. She could've been stating the most obvious fact in the world. Perhaps, to her mind, she was.

'Oh, yes, sir,' she said brightly. 'I was a present to the young Lady Julia on her marriage, but before that I was her mother's maid. That Lady Julia was innocent, too.'

16

We watched Harpale limp back towards the house.

'Perilla,’ I said, ‘what the fuck is going on?'

'You're supposed to be the expert. You tell me.' She sounded a bit jaundiced, but I noticed she hadn't mentioned the language. Maybe it was my bad influence.

'Oh. Yeah. Sure.' My winecup was looking empty so I topped it up. 'Okay, so what do we know? First of all Silanus never touched Julia. The whole adultery story was a lie from start to finish, a cover-up by Augustus for something else. Okay?'

'Go on.'

'But to make it plausible someone had to take the rap, and Silanus was the lucky winner, either because the bastard volunteered at a price or because someone twisted his little arm half way up his back. Right?'

'Yes, Corvinus. Or so it would seem.'

I may not be an intellectual giant but I know when someone's taking the piss; and that last remark was straight out of the blunt half of a Socratic dialogue. I looked at Perilla suspiciously. Not the trace of a smile. Maybe the lady had a sense of humour after all.

'Yeah Right. Anyway,' I went on, 'whatever reward was offered or pressure applied the guy was promised that he'd get off lightly, and he did. He wasn't formally exiled, but all the same Augustus encouraged him to take an extended trip abroad. And just for the show of things he banned him from any future political career. That might sound pretty dire for a political whizz-kid but Lover Boy Silanus hadn't any real interest in politics so he wasn't unduly concerned.'

'It also meant that he wouldn't be in Rome to face embarrassing questions.'

'Right. On the plus side, to compensate for this his brother, who is a political whizz-kid, gets Julia's daughter, a marriage tie with the ruling family, and all the extra political clout that goes with it.'

'Even although Julia herself was disgraced?'

'Even then. Augustus wasn't vindictive. None of the family were penalised when their mother was exiled. Quite the reverse.'

'But if as Harpale said the elder Julia was innocent too — '

'Yeah, okay.' I frowned. 'If Harpale's right that opens up a whole new can of worms, but we'll need more than a slave's word for it. We'll need some hard evidence.'

'If it exists.'

'Don't worry. I'll dig. There's a guy I can ask about that, a friend of my grandfather's. He's retired now, lives outside the city off the Appian Way. Leave it for the moment. We've got enough headaches to be going on with.' I poured some more wine and sipped it. 'So. If there was no adultery then why was our sweet little Julia exiled? From what Harpale tells us Silanus seems to've been involved more with Paullus. And Paullus was chopped for treason, so it's reasonable to assume the other two — Julia and Silanus — were in on the same scam.'

'What was Paullus's crime exactly? Do you know?'

'Search me. A plot against Augustus, obviously. That's something else we have to find out.'

'And you think Julia was involved?'

'Yeah, why not? She was guilty of something, certainly. If the adultery charge was only a cover then treason's as good a crime as any. Let's say she and Paullus were working as a husband-and-wife team and they got caught. Paullus was chopped but Julia, as Augustus's grandchild, was let off with exile.'

'So why weren't they both charged with treason? Why bother with adultery at all?'

'Perilla, I'm telling you. Julia was the emperor's granddaughter. You think Augustus would be willing to admit there was treason in the family?'

She nodded. 'Fair enough. You're probably right.'

'Sure I'm right.'

'Don't get smug. What about Silanus? You haven't mentioned him. Where does he fit in?'

'He was involved in the conspiracy too, like I said. That was obvious from what Harpale told us. If I'm right it was Silanus who blew the whole thing to Augustus. Maybe he got cold feet, maybe he just decided the game was up and he'd better save his own neck by turning informer. Either would explain why he got off so lightly, why he was so ready to admit to the fake adultery charge, and why he was given that under-the-counter reward of his.'

'And the man with the ring?'

'Ah, now.' I raised my winecup. Jupiter, this stuff was good! My brain was purring away like one of those fancy machines the Greeks come up with now and again for telling the time or counting votes. 'Our fourth conspirator. He gets the starring role. Why should anyone take their ring off when they go visiting?'

'Because it was distinctive?'

'Give me more.'

'A gold ring would show that the man was a noble.'

True enough. Only nobles had the right to wear gold rings. That was one of these stupid rules my father could've been responsible for.

'Yeah, but anyone on calling terms with Paullus wouldn't be the type to lug fishboxes in the market, would he? Still, nobles are ten a penny. It has to be more than just any gold ring.' I held out my own right hand. 'Notice anything?'

Like all narrow- and broad-stripers I was wearing a heavy seal-ring for documents. Perilla sat back.

'Corvinus, that's brilliant!’ she said. ‘The ring would have his crest on. And if he was well-known, or from a very prominent family…'

'The crest would give his name away even if his face was covered. Right.' I sipped my wine. 'Ten gets you twenty our fourth conspirator was a pretty important guy.'

'He could have changed rings, surely. Left his own at home and worn a different one.'

'Sure he could have. But he didn't. Why go to these lengths? And who worries what a slave sees? Or rather doesn't see?'

'You think that's why my stepfather was exiled? Because he saw the man and recognised him?'

'It's possible. And if he knew there was some funny business going on and didn't report it-'

I stopped. Perilla was frowning.

'No,' she said. 'No, I'm sorry, but that doesn't make sense. I'll allow you the rest, but not my stepfather's exile. Augustus had no need to be unduly harsh. After all, the plot had already failed. Paullus was executed, Julia was exiled, Silanus went abroad.' She waved her hand. 'End of story.'