PRINCIPLE CHARACTERS
FRIENDS, ENEMIES, & FAMILY |
|
M Didius Falco |
An informer; trying to turn an honest denarius in a distinctly inferior job |
Helena Justina |
His highly superior girlfriend |
Falco’s Mother |
(Enough said) |
Maia & Junia |
Two of Falco’s sisters (the madcap & the refined one) |
Famia & Gaius Baebius |
His brothers-in-law, about whom it is best to say nothing (since there is nothing good to say |
D Camillus Verus & Julia Justa |
Helena’s patrician parents, who reckon Falco has much to answer for |
L Petronius Longus |
Falco’s loyal friend; the Captain of the Aventine Watch |
Smaractus |
The landlord Falco is trying to lose |
Lenia |
Proprietress of the Eagle Laundry, who is after Falco’s landlord (or after Falco’s landlord’s money) |
Rodan & Asiacus |
Falco’s landlord’s bullyboys; the seediest gladiators in Rome |
Titus Caesar |
Elder son and colleague of the Emperor Vespasian; Falco’s patron, when he is allowed to be by: |
Anacrites |
Chief Spy at the Palace, no friend of our boy |
Footsie, the Midget & the Man on the Barrel |
Members of Anacrites’ staff |
A prison rat |
Ditto, probably |
SUSPECTS AND WITNESSES |
|
Severina Zotica |
A professional bride (a home-loving girl) |
Severus Moscus |
(The bead-threader) Her first husband (deceased) |
Eprius |
(The apothecary) Her second husband (deceased) |
Grittius Fronto |
(The wild-beast importer) Her third husband (deceased) |
Chloe |
Her feminist parrot |
Hortensius Novus |
A freedman, now big in business; Severina’s betrothed (can he last?) |
Hortensius Felix & Hortensius Crepito |
Business partners to Novus (all friends together, naturally) |
Sabina Pollia & Hortensia Atilia |
Their wives, who consider that Hortensius Novus ought to be a worried man (an interest some might say was worrying) |
Hyacinthus |
A runabout to the Hortensii |
Viridovix |
A Gallic chef, reputedly a ruined prince |
Anthea |
A skivvy |
Cossus |
A letting agent Hyacinthus knows |
Minnius |
Purveyor of suspiciously delicious cakes |
Lusius |
A praetor’s clerk, who is suspicious of everyone (a sharp eye) |
Tyche |
An evasive fortune-teller |
Thalia |
A dancer who does curious things with snakes |
A curious snake Scaurus |
A monumental mason (with plenty of work) |
Appius Priscillus |
A property mogul (just another rat) |
Gaius Cerinthus |
Somebody the parrot knows; suspiciously absent from the scene |