Ovid

'Another chap in Naples. The architect's cousin. Clannish lot the Greeks.'

'Did he do the mural as well? The architect?'

'That's right. Do you like it? I thought it was pretty good myself.'

'You'll have to give me his name before I go. The guy's talented.'

'Wait till you see the dining-room. That'll really knock your eyes out.' He settled down on the couch and selected an apple. 'So. The baths are heating up nicely and we've got a couple of hours to kill before dinner. Now do you really want to discuss pornographic art or would you like to tell me what the hell this is all about?'

I sipped my wine. 'Talk to me about Julia,' I said.

'Which Julia?'

'The old emperor's daughter.'

'Ah.' He set his cup down carefully on the table beside him. 'I thought it might be something like that.'

Shit. We were a long way from Rome, but Uncle Gaius still had his contacts.

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Exactly what it says.' He wasn't giving anything away, that was for sure. 'How badly do you want to know?'

'Very badly. Very badly indeed.'

Pertinax stared into his cup. 'I do hear things stuck out here, Marcus. And I may be old but I'm not a fool. What would you say if I told you that what happened to Julia isn't important now, but that you'd be better off not knowing?'

Yeah. I'd heard that one before. It looked like this was going to be a wasted journey.

'I'd say that was for me to decide. And that I have to know for my own peace of mind if nothing else.'

His eyes came up level with mine. 'You're like your grandfather,boy. Very like. That could've been him talking.' He hesitated. 'There's a woman involved in this, isn't there?'

I didn't even think of lying. I owed him that, at least. 'Yeah. There's a woman. A client. Her name's Rufia Perilla. She's Ovid's stepdaughter.'

'You love her?'

My throat was dry. 'Yes.'

'Enough to sacrifice your political career?'

'Yes.'

'You're sure? Absolutely sure?'

'Yes.'

'Because it may come to that, you know. And it may not be worth it in the end. I don't mean her. I mean what comes of just having the information without being cleared for it. You understand?'

'Yes, I understand.'

'And you still want me to answer your question?'

'Yes.'

He sighed and turned away. 'Then you're a fool. Still, I'll give you what I can.'

I relaxed. 'Thanks, Uncle. I'm grateful. Really.'

'I don't want gratitude. Your father would kill me for this if he knew. But then I never could stand young Messalinus and I think your grandfather would've approved, which is far more important. Besides, I'm too old to care. So ask away.'

'I think she was innocent. Julia, I mean.'

'That's not a question.'

'Was she?'

He hesitated for a long time. A very long time.

'Yes,' he said at last. 'Julia was innocent. Of adultery, at least.'

I was tired of fencing. I just wanted hard facts. 'Just tell me what happened that night. Please.'

He got up and went over to where the slave had left the wine jug. He didn't look at me as he carefully filled his cup.

'Very well, Marcus,’ he said. ‘I'll tell you what happened. Exactly what happened. You know our company was responsible for the Eighth Region? The Market Square area?'

'Yes. That's why I'm asking you.'

'Right. So I'd gone out with the lads. We started our patrol at dusk, just as usual. We picked up a couple of disorderly drunks near Marcellus's Theatre and banged their heads together. Then we walked up towards Pallacina Street. One of the lads thought he saw someone breaking into a wineshop but it turned out to be a cat. We came back along the north side of the Capitol, down past the edge of the Citadel and into the Market Square. Then we went up the Sacred Way. Young Publius Afer had a stone in his boot so we stopped while he leant against a shop wall and got rid of it.'

Shit. What was going on here? It wasn't like Pertinax to spin a story out. He spoke like he wrote. Give the guy a nut to crack and he went straight to the middle.

'Look,' I said. 'I just want to know about Julia, right? Remember her? The hot little number being gang-banged on the Speakers' Platform?'

'And I'm telling you what happened that night. Exactly. When Publius got his boot back on we went up towards the Subura. It was pretty quiet…'

By this time I'd caught on.

'You mean nothing happened?’ I said. ‘Nothing at all?'

Pertinax brought the cup back to his couch and lay down. Now his eyes were sharp as chips of marble.

'Nothing happened, boy. Not a thing. If the emperor's daughter got herself laid in the Market Square then it wasn't that night. Or whoever saw her it wasn't us.'

'But she must've been there! Everybody says…' I stopped. Yeah, sure. Perilla had tried that argument with me when we were talking about the other Julia. It didn't cut any ice then, either.

Pertinax was nodding. 'That's right. Circular logic. Everybody says she was there so she was there. QED.' He took a large swallow of his wine. 'Only she wasn't. The orgy story's a myth. Believe me.'

'But what about the men she was with? She was screwing some of the top guys in Rome!'

'Fine. Give me names.'

'Uh.' I thought. 'Sulpicianus. One of the Scipios. Sempronius Gracchus. The others I can't remember, but they're on record. And Iullus, of course.' Iullus Antonius had been cited as Julia's principal lover.

'Of course,' Pertinax said drily. 'You notice anything?'

'What's to notice? Like I said, they're all big names but-'

'Not good enough, boy. Listen.' He ticked the guys off on his fingers. 'Cornelius Scipio. Grandson of the emperor's first wife Scribonia and so Julia's first cousin. Gracchus. A "persistent adulterer" according to the charge-sheet. Supposed to have been sleeping with Julia when she was Agrippa's wife. Helped her compose a certain letter of complaint to Augustus. Sulpicianus. Consul seven years before. Quiet man, no previous convictions except for a deep devotion to the emperor.' He paused. 'Are you getting the idea yet?'

My scalp was beginning to tingle. 'I might be. Go on.'

'I could give you a few more you haven't mentioned, but let's just settle for Iullus. Iullus Antonius, Adulterer-in-Chief. Mark Antony's son. Brought up by Augustus's sister Octavia like he was her own. Deeply devoted to Augustus. Married to the emperor's niece Marcella, with three children. Full political career under Augustus's personal supervision. As a child he was even included on the Altar of Peace along with the rest of the imperial family with his hand on Julia's head. Come on, Marcus! Do you want me to spell it out for you?'

Something cold with lots of legs was running up my spine. 'They're all political. Attached to the imperial family, by blood or obligation.'

‘Getting there. The imperial family?’

Shit. 'Augustus, then. Augustus personally. Or his first wife.'

'Remember that. Now, you say they're all attached to Augustus personally. You mean that? All of them?'

'Yeah. Apart from Gracchus.'

'So what was special about Gracchus? Come on, you can do it! You can do it, boy! How did they describe him? What did I say was on the charge sheet?'

The sweat was pouring off me in bucketfuls. 'He was a "persistent adulterer". Julia's long-standing lover.'

'That word “persistent” sound familiar?'

Persistent depravity. Holy shit! 'Postumus?'

'You're doing well. Keep it up. So. Who's Postumus?'

'Augustus's grandson.' The Augustus connection again! Jupiter!

'And whose son?'

'Julia's. Our Julia's. The emperor's daughter.'

'That's right. So let's get back to Gracchus. Anything else? Come on, boy! What about that letter to Augustus I mentioned? The letter Gracchus helped Julia write? Who was she complaining about?'