‘I bought him because I wanted to know his story and try to understand the evil he had done. He was one of the men conscripted by us to form the new cohort. As you know, the Usipi live beyond the Rhine and are not under our direct rule. They had raided our friends and murdered some traders and so were punished. However, it seems that their chieftains did not wish to provide us with their best warriors or most loyal men, and instead they picked on the poorest, the thieves, the lazy. On those they least wanted to keep, as it were. Felix claimed that he was chosen because one of a chieftain’s warriors wanted his wife. He had taken no part in the raids or other attacks and resented being chosen. There were others, he claimed, snatched from their families and sent away as prisoners. Still more were slaves and captives bought or snatched from other tribes. Including fifty or so from the Harii. You have not heard the name before?’ Ovidius looked pleased. ‘It is significant, I assure you.
‘They were all rounded up, treated as prisoners rather than honourable recruits, and eventually shipped over to Britannia to train. I am no historian, but it has always struck me how often the worst possible men are given an important task, and that was certainly true in this case. A centurion from Legio XX was put in charge of organising and training the new cohort. I am guessing he was also chosen because the legion did not want him around, but perhaps he had friends. He made few new ones. While I understand that disciplina is important as a great martial and Roman virtue, from what Felix told me this was not good discipline but blatant tyranny. The centurion flogged, starved, and executed men for slight infractions. He withheld pay from all of them, cut the rations to something barely short of starvation. Worse yet, he had many of the recruits stripped naked and brought to him at night, so that he could satisfy his lusts and his appetite for violence. More than one hanged himself after the experience.’
‘The official report was less detailed,’ Crispinus said, ‘but could not hide the gross abuse of power. If the outbreak had been less violent, most of the men might well have been pardoned.’
‘To Felix and the others it seemed that they were trapped, without any hope. Yet the rising started for another reason. The Harii kept to themselves most of the time, under three leaders whose word was law to them. No one in the cohort had been allowed to bring their families with them. That is the regulation, I understand.’ Ferox nodded. ‘But I also see women and children in most forts, especially with the auxilia, so I assume it is a regulation rarely enforced. Yes, I thought so. Well, it was imposed on the Usipi, and then suddenly, months later, seven women turn up at the fort where they were training. All of them were Harii, and the leaders were twin sisters. Felix never liked to talk about them. Even after all these years his fear was obvious. It took a while – and I fear some compulsion – to get him to say that their blood was special, that they came from a line of priests and priestesses, or perhaps witches would be a better word because he said they had power to heal and to hurt, power to see into the minds of others and know the future.
‘The twins were the lovers of the leaders of the Harii, all three of them, for it seems the customs of these folk are strange. Twice they were evicted from the fort along with the other five women, but within a week they reappeared. The centurion ordered that they be beaten this time if they had not left by the next dawn, and one of the witches cursed him and cursed any man who obeyed him.
‘That night the cohort turned on every Roman and every outsider they could find. Felix could not quite understand it, but afterwards he was told that the witches had put a potion into the men’s food. He just said that he found himself sword in hand, chasing after one of the legionaries who was training them. He said that he knew the man well, and liked him, for he was fair and taught them dodges as well as the regulations, but still he ran him down and hacked him to pieces, cutting down again and again long after the legionary was dead. It was the same for all of them, their rage was red and raw and they had no mercy, murdering even the young slaves who looked after the pack animals.
‘The Harii caught the centurion and killed him slowly. Then they ripped out his bowels and the witches bit into steaming entrails. Some of the warriors did the same and swore a horrible oath binding themselves together. It was the Harii who took the lead in all that happened later. The other men began to feel their rage subsiding. Felix thought it was the magic wearing off, but who can say. Instead they were overwhelmed by fear, for they knew that the army would have no mercy after what they had done, whatever the provocation. The Harii led them to the coast, where there was a station of the classis Britannica. On the way, they stumbled on a convoy carrying supplies and pay to the legion’s base at Deva. The escort was not large, or expecting an attack from hundreds of desperate mutineers, for word had not yet spread of the outbreak. They were caught by surprise and slaughtered to the last man. The witches performed the same rite on a badly wounded tribune who happened to be travelling with them, ripping out his guts while the poor fellow was still alive. The rest of the Harii ate of his flesh and took the oath.
‘They pushed on to the coast, found three warships and I believe that this part of the story is well known. One of the ship’s masters refused to cooperate and was killed, along with any of the rowers who were unwilling to join the mutineers. What you probably do not know is that there was discord among the leaders of the Harii. One was stabbed to death, and another vanished, taking with him one of the witches, who was with child. No one was sure whether she went willingly or as a captive, but the sight of approaching cavalry stopped any thought of pursuit. Everyone boarded the ships and they rowed out to sea. That was the start of their marauding. They killed, abducted and raped women, and took whatever supplies they needed. The Harii were the leaders and enjoyed the pick of everything. Anyone who opposed them was slaughtered, but they mainly ruled by the fear of the witch’s power and their dreadful oath. One by one, some of the others ate the entrails of the dead and took the same oath.
‘As they went ever further north the pickings became less, while the ferocity of the inhabitants and the sea itself became greater. Food ran short, and it was then that they started to devour human flesh simply to stay alive. Sometimes they took captives, sometimes the witch cast lots or just pointed at the ones to die. It was never any of the men who had taken the oath. Eventually there was a fight, with heavy losses, but no clear decision and in the night one of the galleys vanished. On board were all the remaining Harii and others who had taken the oath, along with the witch and quite a few women. The other two ships kept going and rounded the north of Britannia. One ship sank in a storm, the other pressed on, raiding whenever there was the chance. Felix said that by now eating men had become natural. If you would like to know, he said that it is all in the cooking. One would have thought some men are tastier or more tender than others, but he said that they were not fussy.’
Crispinus grimaced.
‘The trireme ran aground, and they would have been stranded had not a merchantman stopped in a nearby bay. They overran the ship, crammed themselves on board and sailed through storms and savage seas until weeks later they were wrecked on the coast well east of the Rhine. The Frisians snapped up the survivors, selling them as slaves, and thus the story of their fate came to us.’