“Really? So can I get both of them for say, ten sesterci?” Magnus asked.
“I don’t know, probably,” Decimus answered.
“Right, I’ll see you later.” With that Magnus promptly left, muttering, “Thor…give me strength.”
“Ah, the lecherous young whelp. Just can’t wait to empty his loins, can he?” Gavius remarked.
“Humph,” Praxus snorted. “If you want to see lecherous, you should hang around with Valens more often. I swear if it were not for the mandatory savings program instituted by the army he would go broke on wine and prostitutes, or at least on prostitutes. He actually doesn’t drink a whole lot. Speaking of which, where is he?”
“I saw him go wandering off with that woman from the butcher’s shop a little while ago,” Carbo answered.
“The one with all the missing teeth?” Praxus seemed shocked. “Just how drunk was he?”
“I’m not sure. He didn’t look drunk, at least not yet. Besides, I think they took off towards her house soon after we got here.”
“Where’s this house located?”
“Two blocks north, right hand side.”
“Oh, this I’ve got to see.” With that Praxus left, Carbo right on his heels.
Artorius watched them leave before starting a fresh conversation with Decimus. “Decimus, there are a few things I’ve been curious about.”
“What’s on your mind?” Decimus asked, before taking another pull off his wine.
“When we were on our way up here, I asked Statorius how he got wounded. All he would say is that he messed up. I’m just curious as to what happened.”
“Well, it was like this,” Decimus said. “We were on a sortie against some band of renegades that had crossed the Rhine and were causing trouble. Things were going pretty good once we closed up on them. We threw our javelins and they panicked before we even charged. We drove them back to the river. The problem was that with nowhere to run, they turned and started fighting like wild animals. Statorius then broke one of the basic rules of close combat. He lunged too far forward to attack one of the barbarians. He stabbed the man in the chest and his gladius became stuck. It was then that one of them hooked his shield with an axe and yanked it away. With no shield and his sword stuck, he was in an awkward position. And remember, all of this took a matter of seconds to unfold. Anyway, one of the barbarians lunges in and catches him in the upper arm with his spear, just as Statorius got his gladius unstuck. Thankfully, we had just initiated a passage-of-lines and the second rank blitzed right past where he was and took care of the barbarians. We helped him back to the rear, and he spent the next six weeks convalescing in Ostia. He learned his lesson, though. Especially since Vitruvius never lets him live it down. Make no mistake though, Statorius is an excellent decanus and he looks after us pretty good. He just made a mistake is all.” He emptied his wine goblet and poured some more.
“So what about this mutiny that nobody heard about back home? You made mention of it during our travels from Ostia,” Artorius asked.
Gavius leaned forward, fascinated.
“Oh boy, that’s a story that’s going to require some more wine. Hey Lolia! Bring us some more wine, you saucy little tart.”
Once more wine had been brought to them, Decimus started to tell the story, at least as he saw it, of the mutiny on the Rhine. “I had just joined the legion shortly before Teutoburger Wald. Once we got word of the disaster, we rushed here to secure the bridges against invasion. Things were going okay, except there was a lot of corruption amongst the junior, and even the senior, officers. Another issue was the numerous soldiers who had served out their tenure. They were looking to retire. Instead, they ended up stuck here on the Rhine for gods know how long. Once Tiberius was recalled to Rome, things went to hell in a hurry. It seemed like every centurion in the entire army was corrupt. They extorted money from the junior enlisted as you would not believe. I mean, come on. Centurions make five times what we do, and yet they still felt the need to pinch their soldiers for every sesterci they had. If a soldier was due for leave or furlough, it cost him. If someone wanted to quit showing up on the latrine duty roster, it cost him. This made the tesserarius’ job infuriatingly difficult, as it was his responsibility to ensure that all details were evenly distributed. When we complained to the tribunes, they did nothing. In fact, some of them thought that extortion was an easy way to make money, so they started doing it themselves.
“It became worse when the centurions started demanding payments for no reason whatsoever. Those who could not pay, or who were just unwilling to, felt the wrath of the vine stick. It seemed as if we were fighting a two-front war, one against the barbarians and the other against our own officers. Tiberius kept us in check. It is not just that he was a tough disciplinarian. In truth, we did not want to disappoint him. Whatever his reputation back home, he was very much respected by the legions, and we could not let him down. Once he left for Rome to assume the reins of power, it seemed like all hell broke loose. All discipline evaporated, and we became a frenzied mob. The centurions and tribunes responsible for our misery were rounded up and beaten.
“So, Germanicus shows up to try and restore order. In a meeting with the mob, some men even tried to make him Emperor instead of Tiberius. Of course, most of us knew deep down inside where our true loyalties lay. Germanicus knew this as well. He even offered to fall on his sword if we did not return to our posts and show our loyalty to the Emperor. This was a theatrical gesture to say the least, especially when one fellow actually tried to hand Germanicus his own blade because he said it had a sharper edge. This was all despicable behavior. All of us knew better, and all of us were loyal to both the Emperor and to our Commander. The constant corruption and abuse had just driven us over the edge.
“Unbelievably, it actually took a woman to quell the whole damn thing. Fearing for his family, Germanicus sent his wife and children away from the camp. Many of the men saw this. Roman soldiers may be some hardhearted bastards, but most are sentimental inside, especially when it comes to our women and children. Agrippina came back, and the sight of her carrying their newest babe, Gaius, all dressed up in a miniature legionary costume… well, the soldiers just lost all anger. They even dubbed the little boy ‘Caligula’ because he even wore little caligae boots like ours.
“Once order was restored, Germanicus and Severus had to get the army back on its feet, and in a hurry. The ringleaders of the riot were summarily tried and executed. This was mainly because the front line of a war is not the place to commit mutiny, especially when there are thousands of bloodthirsty barbarians just waiting to catch us with our guard down. Caetronius, Commander of the First Legion, was given the dubious task of overseeing the trials. Representatives from every century within the army stood in front of the tribunal, swords drawn. I was one of those who actually volunteered for the task. Each accused man was on a raised platform and was pointed out by a tribune. If the soldiers shouted out that he was guilty, he was thrown headlong and cut to pieces. We even gloated over the bloodshed as though it gave us absolution. Nor did Germanicus check us, seeing that without any order from him; the same men were responsible for all the cruelty and all the odium of the deed.” 1 Decimus took a pull off his wine and shuddered at the memory.
“How many of the bastards were executed?” Gavius asked.
“I don’t recall,” Decimus answered, shaking his head. “What I do remember is seeing a couple of my friends, friends I had known since recruit training, being found guilty and cut to pieces by the mob. I felt disgust and loathing towards myself for having been involved in the whole affair. Yet I directed it towards those I was convinced had been the cause of our plight. In reality, all of us were guilty.”