Patria
Three Years Later
612 Ab Urbe Condita (142 BC)
UBI TU GAIUS, ego Gaia: the wedding vow was so ancient no one really knew what it meant. Paullus slipped a ring on her finger, a band of iron set in gold. Some doctors claimed a fine nerve connected the ring finger to the heart.
Minado was veiled. She looked different. Her hair was teased into an elaborate coiffure with six braids of artificial hair. Then she lifted her chin, and she looked the same, and Paullus was happy.
‘Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia.’ She said the words, and they were man and wife.
‘Feliciter!’ The guests wished them good fortune as Paullus led her to the couch.
There had never been a wedding like it in Temesa, not one graced by the presence of two senators of consular standing. The place of honour was taken by Lucius Mummius, the conqueror of Corinth. This year he was serving as one of the two censors. Elected every five years, in the eighteen months they held office the censors were empowered to revise the rolls of Roman citizens, and to both admit and remove men from the equestrian order and the senate. A position of immense power and prestige, it was the pinnacle of a political career in Rome. Seated by his side, Lucius Aurelius Orestes might have considered himself overshadowed. Dignitas was everything to a senator. Yet they were close friends. Orestes had served as legate to Mummius in the east, and they were bound by ties of amicitia. And both were patrons of the groom.
‘Thank you,’ Paullus said to Mummius. ‘Without you—’
The great man made a small gesture of demurral. ‘Her father showed the loyalty and courage of a citizen of Rome. It was only right the formal status was conferred on him and his family. The same held true of Onirus.’
Orestes smiled. ‘It was lucky Onirus had been a camp servant with the army. Even so, the guards were in two minds about admitting him when he came to me in Consentia. If they had not, things would have turned out very differently.’
Paullus acknowledged the truth of this, and Mummius proposed a toast to Good Fortune.
When they had drunk, Mummius asked Paullus if he was sure he had not bid too much for the right to fell timber and tap pitch in the mountains around Drys, Laboula and Sestion. Wedding or not, public business was never far from his mind, and auctioning such contracts were part of the duties of the censors.
‘I do not think so, if the gods are kind. The Sila is a wild and dangerous place. It needs a man who knows its vastness. But there are profits to be made, and without any fraud or loss of honour.’
Mummius nodded weightily. ‘As I have said, now you wear the gold ring of an equestrian, a political career in Rome is open to a man who won the civic crown. Military glory brings many votes. There are those of us who would be honoured to support you.’
‘Thank you again, but no, I am content to remain in my home town, to raise a family.’
‘You may be called to the standards again.’
‘If so, I shall do my duty.’
Servants brought in the first course: snails and anchovies with salad, washed down with wine from Tarentum. It was good quality, but nothing ostentatious. There would be lamb to follow, before the apples and nuts.
Paullus looked round the room. It was decked with luxuriant greenery and spread with rugs. Three years before, it had been the town house of Fidubius. Now it was the residence of Dekis, the sometime Bruttian huntsman.
The trial had brought a seismic shift in the colony of Temesa. Lollius, of course, was dead, along with two of his cousins. The verdict on his father and Vibius’ accomplice had been a foregone conclusion. The evidence had been overwhelming. Some had been provided by Solinus, on promise of immunity. More had been wrung out of Croton under torture. The latter subsequently had been crucified outside the main gate. Vibius and Fidubius had fled into exile.
‘Fidubius is still in Massilia?’ The exiles were the only thing that still troubled Paullus.
‘An old man sunk in lethargy and bitterness,’ Orestes said, ‘only rousing himself to drink and gorge on seafood. Haunted by his crimes, he will never leave.’
‘And Vibius?’
‘As far as anyone knows, still in the east. There is no cause to worry. Denied fire and water, if he sets foot in Italy, his life is forfeit.’
Both had been condemned to death in their absence. Their estates had been confiscated. By due process of law, one quarter of the whole had been awarded to Paullus. From the bounty, Paullus had gifted this house and land to Dekis, a more modest property to Onirus, and provided a smallholding on his own enlarged domain to old Kaido.
The lamb came in, tender and succulent, filling the room with its aroma.
‘Do you ever think of Corinth?’ Orestes asked.
‘Sometimes, hardly ever,’ Paullus said. ‘I try not to dwell on what was done.’
‘We did our duty,’ Mummius said. ‘We had our orders. It was a terrible thing, but perhaps for the best. Polybius the Achaean argues that it spared Greece the agony of a long-drawn-out conquest.’
They had not been long at dessert when Ursus, the officiating priest, rose to his feet and announced it was time.
Flute players led them out into the street. Five torchbearers were waiting, even though it was still broad daylight. Bystanders called out blessings on the procession as it wound down to Paullus’ new house overlooking the water. There were ribald jokes and snatches of song. Naevius led the way in this traditional licentiousness. For once, half gone in his cups, the centurion looked not angry, but beatific. As they got near, children threw handfuls of nuts. They rattled on the pavement, supposedly a symbol of fertility and happiness.
Minado had been silent and demure throughout the meal, and separated from Paullus in the procession. She was preceded by a boy carrying a torch of tightly twisted hawthorn twigs. Her hands were held by two other boys. Her bridesmaids followed, carrying her spindle and distaff.
There had been no chance to talk.
Finally, at the door, her entourage stood back.
She lifted her veil, and Paullus kissed her. She smelt of verbena and sweet marjoram. Paullus lifted her into his arms and carried her across the threshold, and they were gone.