I found him in his private day-room, deep in conversation with the twins. Seeing their general demeanour and the intensity of their talk, I stopped in the open doorway, reluctant to interrupt them. I was turning to leave when Caius, who had seen me from the corner of his eye, stopped me with a peremptory wave of his hand. As I hesitated there, he half-turned his face towards me, keeping his eyes fixed on the twin who was talking. As soon as the man's voice reached a natural pause, another gesture of that upraised hand held him to silence momentarily.
"Pardon me, Terra. " He turned towards me. "Publius, you must pardon me, too. I had no thought of being ill-mannered, but I didn't want you to leave. Terra, Firma, this is my new brother-in-law, Publius Varrus. You met him earlier, but your arrival was rather hectic. Publius, these are two of my oldest and dearest friends, and you have heard me talk of them many times. This one here is Terra — notice the blue tunic. This one is Firma — white tunic. Tomorrow they may change clothes and confound us both. "
We all nodded to one another, smiling, and then I shook my head to Caius.
"I'm sorry, Caius, I had nothing important to say to you and I didn't mean to interrupt you. I was on my way to bed, and the others were wondering what had become of you. I said I would look in on you on my way and send you out, but you are obviously talking about important matters and so I'll leave you to it and tell them not to wait for you. " I moved to leave again.
"No, I want you to hear this, Publius. " He paused. "But then again, I think the others should hear it too. How many of the crowd are still there?"
I ran my eyes around the mental vision of the group I had left by the fire. "Gaius, Varo, Tonius, Plautus, a few others, about five. That's all. The rest left before I did. "
"Good. Those are the ones I want. " He turned back to the twins. "I think we should finish our discussion here and then tell Varrus and the others what you have told me. Do you. agree?"
The twins shrugged identical gestures of acquiescence and Caius turned back to me.
"My respects to the others and please ask them to wait for us. We will join them shortly. "
I smiled. "Does that include me? I believe my wife is waiting for me somewhere. "
He did not respond to my smile. "Yes, I'd like you to stay, too. We have a lot to discuss. "
I shrugged my shoulders, my curiosity aroused. "As you wish, " I said.
"I'll ask them to wait. "
I rejoined the others, and we spent several minutes in speculation about what could be so important that it must keep a new bridegroom from his duties.
Caius and the new guests came to the fire a short time later, to the severe detriment of a filthy story being told by Quintus Varo. Their three faces were sombre enough to put a mantle of seriousness on the greetings that were exchanged across the fire, and as soon as they had seated themselves Gaius Gallus asked the question we were all thinking.
"What's going on, Caius?"
Caius looked from face to face around the group before answering.
"Terra and Firma want to buy a villa in the area. Do any of you know of one for sale? Or two?"
There was a short silence, then Varo asked, "Two? Are you serious?" He looked at Terra and Firma, his face showing tolerant disbelief. "You two are looking for a retirement home? Here? Among the peasants? What about your villa outside Londinium? And your place in Aquae Sulis? And your island in the Aegean? Your palace in Constantinople? If I had your money and your youth, lads, I'd be basking in the sunshine, not trying to gull people into believing that I'd be interested in living in a quiet backwater like this. "
Firma grimaced. "They're all gone, Quintus. "
"Gone?" This was Gaius Gallus. "What do you mean, gone?"
"Just what I said. We no longer have those places. "
"You mean you had to sell them?"
"No. " The word was said with a rising inflection that demanded attention to the words that followed it. "We had to forfeit them. "
"Forfeit!" Gaius Gallus's shocked tone reflected the astonishment of everyone there. "You mean you're bankrupt? Cleaned out?" It was Terra who responded. "No, far from it. But we are out of business. " He cleared his throat and then continued. "We've been losing a lot of shipping to pirates, recently. Too much. "
"How much?" This was Varo again.
"Seven ships in the last two months. "
"Seven?"
"Seven. One ship, one crew and one cargo every eight days, and it grows worse all the time. One of those ships was a quadrireme. The others were four triremes and two biremes — big ships, big cargoes, big losses. "
"By the Christ!" Varo was outraged. "Nobody can sustain losses like that! Where was the navy?"
"Where it always is — at sea. " The sigh that followed this was short and frustrated. "It's not the navy's fault, Quintus. They can't do a damn thing. They're powerless. Too few ships, too much sea and too many pirates. " He paused and looked at each of us individually. "Tell them, Firma. " His brother stood up and moved closer to the fire, holding his hands out to the heat and speaking down into the heart of the fire.
"It's no exaggeration. There is not a single safe route for shipping left anywhere in the world. Not one. It's not general knowledge, of course, because the ports are still full of vessels loading and unloading. Hundreds of ships are getting through safely. But there are hundreds more being taken, and every one of them is owned by merchants like us who can no longer afford the risks. The money-lenders and the bankers have closed their coffers and are concentrating only on collecting bad debts. Even the Seneca family have closed down their maritime operations, and they were our bankers, world-wide. "
I felt the hair on my neck prickle at the mention of the Seneca name and glanced at Caius, but he had other things on his mind.
"So, " Terra continued, "we are out of the marine mercantile business, as are most of our major competitors. " He sat down again and his brother took up his point, almost without pause.
"In other words, my friends, the Empire is out of the trading business, and you know what that means. "
Plautus, who had sat still during all of this, was blinking in perplexity, a worried frown bisecting his forehead. "I don't know, " he said. "What does that mean?"
Firma looked him straight in the eye. "It means dissolution, my friend — gradual, at first, but definite, progressive disintegration. Break-up. The end. "
Poor Plautus was baffled. "The end of what, in the name of God?" Firma snorted with disgust. "Of everything! The end of the chain of supply that keeps the Roman Mob fed and clothed. The end of the web of commerce that keeps the Empire from collapsing. The end of the status quo. The end of Rome's dominion. Shall I go on? Caius, here, has been prophesying it for years, and we have all been laughing at him and calling him an alarmist. "
"But what about the government?" This voice belonged to Quintus Varo. "Can't they do anything to help you?"
Terra's raised, sardonic eyebrow was eloquent. "Ah, yes, of course. The government. They have a lot to say about helping us. For one thing, they are graciously allowing us to remain operative — fully operational and fully liable — in spite of the fact that we choose to opt out. The government has ordered us to continue trading, to continue losing all our investments, and threatens us with seizure and confiscation of all our property if we refuse to obey. " Shocked silence greeted this remark.
"About a week before we left to come here, " he continued, "we received advance notice from a trusted friend that a military detachment was on its way to visit us, 'to help us protect our interests. ' We tidied up our affairs as well as we could in a week, collected our collectable assets —