Cassius imagined she would have been quite lovely in her youth. It was a pity she was about the same age as his mother.
Antonia stopped next to the statue of Aphrodite, taking up one of the few free spaces in the room. She had a placid half-smile fixed on her face, and scanned the room as she spoke.
‘Abascantius is becoming more inventive with his choice of operatives. You look every inch the fine young gentleman.’
‘Is it beyond the realms of possibility that I am one?’
Antonia sipped at her drink and looked him up and down. ‘Fine — certainly. Young — obviously. But a gentleman? In the employ of that toad? Unlikely.’
Cassius chose not to point out that she was also ‘in the employ of that toad’. ‘Then I shall do my best to convince you.’
‘I look forward to it. Just let me do most of the talking. Starting now.’
‘What-’
‘Antonia, my darling!’
Cassius turned round to see a very overweight man waddling towards them, flanked by two fresh-faced servants.
‘Festus, I’ve not seen you in an age.’
Antonia smiled as Festus kissed her hand. His gaze shifted to Cassius.
‘And who is this striking young fellow?’
‘May I present Cassius Corbulo. He has just arrived to join the governor’s staff.’
‘A pleasure. Hey you, over here!’
Festus intercepted a slave walking past with a tray. Upon it were several bowls of nuts and fruit. Festus took one full of almonds and offered it to Cassius and Antonia.
‘Apparently they stop you getting drunk. My brother swears by them.’
The shrill tones of trumpets sounded from the other side of the room. The guests quietened as the quartet launched into a triumphal fanfare more suited to an imperial parade than a dinner party.
Scaurus strode into the reception room, head held high, arms clasped behind his back. His cloak had been removed to reveal a dazzlingly white toga. As the guests parted, he stepped up on to a wooden platform. Cassius noted that his body seemed to have been composed of two different halves, the cherubic face and barrel chest contrasting with the thin, almost spindly legs.
The trumpeteers finished. Scaurus waved his guests closer until he was surrounded.
‘Our venerable host,’ said Festus in a low voice, ‘as self-effacing as ever.’
He, Cassius and Antonia found themselves at the back of the watching crowd. Scaurus waited for absolute silence, arms still behind his back. Cassius noticed another white marble bust by the far walclass="underline" it was of the host himself.
‘Governor, friends, welcome — once more — to the House of the Dolphins.’
The guests broke into spontaneous applause. Scaurus returned the gesture and then quietened them down.
‘How long I have waited to say those words. The dark clouds that have hung over this city have finally been banished. Our esteemed and beloved Emperor, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, has freed us from the tyranny of the Palmyran occupiers. Now is the time. .’
Scaurus’s speech continued in this vein for what Cassius estimated to be a quarter of an hour. On at least three occasions, he had to turn to one of his slaves for a reminder of the next line. Cassius guessed the slave — almost certainly Greek — had written the entire piece. Scaurus’s delivery was amateurish: stilted and monotonous; but there was some fine language and the sentiments of liberation and renewal met with an enthusiastic response. The host finished his address by announcing that the formal dinner would start in one hour. Until then the guests were free to roam as they wished; his house was their house.
‘You’ve been invited to the dinner?’ enquired Festus.
‘Of course,’ answered Antonia.
The big man looked rather disappointed.
‘You shall have to excuse us, Festus. I need some air.’
Antonia grabbed Cassius’s arm and dragged him away towards the throng following Scaurus out of the reception room. Stopping only to refresh their glasses, they moved through three more huge rooms, each faced with a different coloured marble. As the sun was out, most of the guests gravitated towards the wide sward of grass between the villa and the river. Two musicians were seated at opposite ends of the turf: a harpist and a flautist. A group of young men hurried over to the dock to inspect Scaurus’s galley. Cassius noted the large bronze plaque on the vessel’s stern: it was named Radians.
He then almost lost his glass when nudged by a man trying to avoid Scaurus, who’d just bounded out of the villa with four tall, fine-boned Ethiopian drummers in tow. He lined them up in front of the river and had them strike up a beat. The other musicians were forced to stop, and those guests who’d been enjoying them turned round to watch.
Scaurus clapped along and tried to get others to join in. Only his entourage and a few lively individuals did so. Undeterred, he leapt in front of the drummers and — with a ribald grin on his face — began to dance. Some of the guests simply laughed, others didn’t know where to look. Governor Gordio and his party were doing their best to ignore the host’s antics.
‘Too early perhaps,’ said Scaurus, bringing his mercifully brief performance to an end. ‘Later you shall all dance with me!’
He grabbed a drink from a tray and disappeared inside. The drummers looked at each other and after a few moments stopped playing. Guests started to drift away to the river or the other musicians.
‘Quite a character,’ observed Cassius.
Antonia nodded towards the governor. ‘They tolerate his vulgarity only because of what he’s done for the city. Without his slaves and donations, half of the buildings wouldn’t have been rebuilt after the last Persian invasion.’
‘And I understand he lusts after higher office.’
‘I wonder if he really does any more. With displays like that he’ll likely ruin any chance he had. Anyway, hadn’t you better tell me what all this is about? Why are you here?’
‘I’m not at liberty to discuss that, but we’re interested in the four members of Marcellinus’s council — the governor and the procurator in particular. Abascantius would like to know of any unusual or suspicious behaviour on their part.’
‘That sounds disappointingly mundane.’
‘Not at all. A matter of the highest importance.’
‘It might be better if we split up. I’ll see what I can find out about Octobrianus. Perhaps you can focus on the governor.’
‘How? I don’t know a single person here.’
Antonia moved so that Cassius could look over her shoulder.‘See the two girls, the twins?’
‘Yes.’
‘Gordio’s daughters. I’ll have someone introduce you to them. You might hear something germane.’
Cassius wasn’t concerned about talking to the girls, but the prospect of getting close to the governor unnerved him.
‘I can try, I suppose. I’m not really used to this kind of thing.’
‘I can see that. Just tread carefully. You assured me you’re a gentleman. Now’s the time to prove it.’
Lady Antonia was not one to waste time. She immediately recruited a friend named Drusilla and told her that Cassius was interested in meeting the young ladies. Antonia made her way inside, leaving Drusilla to escort Cassius across the lawn. Gordio’s daughters and a third girl were listening to the harpist. Drusilla encouraged him by explaining that single young men of his class were few and far between; most had been called up for military or administrative duty outside the capital. The girls would be delighted to talk to him.
She was quite right; and before long, Cassius was standing next to the bench where the three girls sat, regaling them with tales of his trip across the Mediterranean. Drusilla listened politely for a while then left.
The twins — Julia and Junia — looked about fifteen; and they were utterly identical. Unfortunately, they were identically plump and nondescript; but Cassius didn’t let this distract him. Like many of the plainer girls he’d met they compensated by being charming, and he soon found himself relaxing into cordial small talk. It was a pleasure to be among young ladies again and he amused himself by glancing at their cleavage, drawing identical shades of pink from their full cheeks. Their friend Clara was a few years older. She too was rather plain, and said very little; but her few contributions revealed her to be both circumspect and knowledgeable. Cassius was careful, and waited a long time to steer the conversation around to the governor.