Murder on the Appian Way (47 page)

My mood changed abruptly when I saw that Clodia's litter was gone.

Her haughty, handsome young slave remained, along with a sufficient bodyguard to see me safely home. "I hope you won't mind walking," he said, practically sneering.

"But where is Clodia?"

"She remembered more pressing business."

"But I had things to tell her. Things she wanted very much to hear."

"I suppose she decided they weren't so important after all." The slave was absurdly patronizing. "Shall we be going? You can manage the walk, can't you? Or shall I send someone to hire a litter?" Now he was being deliberately insulting.

I considered giving him a friendly lecture. He was young and beautiful now, and he had his mistress's favour. But for how long? Had he seen what became of the long line of those who had pleased his mistress before him?

But what was the point? The slave was simply deluded. What he took to be my humiliation, Clodia's abrupt departure, was precisely the opposite. I had wounded her after all, so badly that she fled. I, Gordianus, had hurt Clodia. It was a triumph, I told myself; and answered myself, yes, of the sort that Pyrrhus was famous for. The light inside the litter, the warmth of her body, that elusive, unforgettable scent — something told me I would never experience these things again.

XXIX

Oyer the next few days, as had been the case all through the period of our absence from Rome, there were continual contios in the Forum at which the radical tribunes railed against Milo. I myself stayed safely bolted behind the doors of my own house, but Eco, who made a point of attending these contios, assured me that they were peaceable affairs, kept that way by the presence of Pompey's troops.

"I don't know which would dismay me more," I told him, "seeing a contio erupt into a riot, or seeing Roman citizens being cowed by Roman soldiers."

"Papa, something had to be done about the violence."

"Then we might as well have a king. That's what it feels like now, seeing soldiers in the streets - it's like being in Alexandria, where you see King Ptolemy's men everywhere you go."

"Well, let's hope Pompey's soldiers do a better job of keeping the peace," said Eco. "Really, Papa, you sound almost nostalgic for the good old days of blood in the streets."

"I'm not sentimental about the past, Eco, only fearful for the future."

"Meanwhile, Papa, the rest of us are living in the present. Nobody else objects to seeing a few soldiers in the Forum." "Not yet."

When I told Bethesda about my acquisition of Mopsus and Androcles, she took the news that there would soon be two more mouths to feed - children, no less, and boy-children, at that! - with more equanimity than I expected. Did I seem so frail that she felt obliged to indulge me, no matter what madness I came up with? Had the spirit of Minerva entered her when the statue fell and broke, making her permanently serene?

Her own explanation was simpler. She had always enjoyed Eco and Meto when they were boys, she said. If the Fates had led two more boys to my household, then she would do her best to welcome them. Managing to feed the household had always been a challenge — especially at present, since Davus seemed to eat even more than Belbo had — but she would manage.

Diana's reaction was even more surprising. She had hated it when Eco and Menenia's twins supplanted her as the baby of the family, but she had matured a great deal since then, and I had no intention of making her accept Mopsus and Androcles as little brothers; they would simply be household servants. Still, I anticipated that Diana might be diffident or even averse to the idea. I had no idea that it would cause her to break into tears and run from the room.

"What in Jupiter's name was that about?" I said to Eco.

"She doesn't seem to like the idea."

"But why the tears?"

"She's seventeen. She'll cry at anything."

"Bethesda says Diana never shed a tear while we were gone."

"Then I should have said: she's seventeen, she'll cry at nothing. You know, it's time she married, Papa. That's probably what it's about. The idea of new children in the house makes her realize that she probably won't be here much longer herself"

"Do you really think that's it?"

"I have no idea. Have you given any thought to finding her a husband lately?"

"Eco, when have I had time? You're the one who's been out and about, going to all these contios."

"I hardly think I'll find a fit husband for my little sister among that rabble." "

"Maybe Menenia has a cousin the right age," I suggested.

"Or maybe Meto knows of an officer who's eligible."

"I suppose it is something we need to start working on," I admitted. "But you know what I really need to get done? I need to have the statue of Minerva repaired ..."

A few mornings later, one of Eco's bodyguards returned to the house in a state of great excitement. Davus showed him into my study. "There's a contio about to start down in the Forum," he said, a little out of breath from running up the Ramp, "and the master says you must come."

"But why?"

"He only says that you must. He's waiting for you there."

Davus and I followed the man back to the Forum.

A considerable crowd had gathered. The tribune Plancus was already speaking. Not far from the Rostra, a squadron of armed soldiers were stationed on the steps of the ruined Senate House. The sight of them did lend a certain gravity to the proceedings, I had to admit.

We found Eco in the crowd. "What's this about?" I whispered.

"If the rumours are true, Plancus is going to introduce - but look, he's just brought them onto the platform with him." Four men led by another walked onto the Rostra, all of them looking nervous and out of place.

Plancus reached for the leader and pulled him to the centre of the platform. "Citizen, tell these good men your name."

The man answered with an inaudible mumble. The crowd jeered and laughed. "Citizen," said Plancus good-naturedly, "you'll have to speak up. See those soldiers over on the Senate House steps? Pretend you're speaking to them."

"My name is Marcus Aemilius Philemon!" the man shouted. There was a round of cheering and applause.

"Tell us, Philemon," said Plancus, "do you remember where you were on the day that Publius Clodius was murdered?"

"Indeed I do. I was with these four other men on the Appian Way. We were travelling on foot, headed for Neapolis."

"And how far did you get that day?"

"To Bovillae."

"What happened there?"

"We came upon what looked like a battle."

"Where was this?"

"At the inn." The crowd now listened with rapt attention. Philemon cleared his throat and continued. "There seemed to be a group inside the inn and a group outside, and the ones outside were after the ones inside. They'd broken down the door. They kept forcing their way in and dragging out the men one at a time and stabbing them to death, right there in the road. There was blood all over the place."

"A horrifying sight, I'm sure," said Plancus. "What did you do?"

"We shouted at them, 'What are you doing?' And they said, 'We've got Publius Clodius trapped like a rat and we're going to cut his tail off!' They were laughing quite a lot, having a good time of it."

" 'They', you say. Did you recognize any of these men?"

"I knew two of them right away. We all did. Those two famous gladiators of Milo's, Eudamus and Birria. They were the ones who seemed to be doing most of the killing. Blood all over them." "What did you do then?"

"We shouted at them to stop what they were doing. I may be only a freedman, but I wasn't going to stand by and watch while slaves murdered a citizen!"

This elicited noises of approval from the crowd.

"Freedman you may be," said Plancus, "but it's a worthy citizen who'll stand up for his fellow Roman. You tried to stop this atrocity, then?"

"My friends and I went at them, but I'll tell you, not one of us has ever been a soldier or a gladiator. They beat us back. Then they chased after us. We had daggers, but these fellows were gladiators and armed with swords. I won't say I did a brave thing, turning and running, but I'll challenge any man here to stand nose to nose with the likes of Eudamus or Birria and not flinch." This elicited some sympathetic murmurs.

"Still, you did a brave thing, citizen, you and your fine friends here. I should hope that if ever some scoundrel like Milo sends his slaves after me or my loved ones, there'll be citizens like you to come to my rescue!" Plancus led the crowd in an outburst of cheering and applause.

"But Philemon," Plancus continued, "how is it that we're only now hearing about this? Why did you not come forward before, when we were all in a state of confusion about what happened on the Appian Way?"

"Because we've only now had the chance to come forward. For two months, we were all held prisoner by Milo at his villa in Lanuvium."

This created a great stir in the crowd.

"Explain, Philemon," said Plancus.

"When Eudamus and Birria and their men came after us, we all split up and headed away from the road. We thought we might be able to lose them in the hills and the woods. But there were plenty of them after us, and they caught us one by one until they'd rounded up all five of us. They tied us up and herded us like prisoners back through Bovillae and up the Appian Way."

"Slaves did this? To citizens?"

Men in the crowd shook their fists and shouted curses at Milo. "Burn his house!" someone shouted. "Burn down the villain's house!"

I looked uneasily at the soldiers who stood rigidly at attention on the Senate House steps.

Plancus quieted the crowd so that Philemon could go on. "They took us up the hill to Milo. He was standing in the road with a lot of men around him. When he saw us he stamped his foot and had a tantrum like a child. I thought that was the end of us, that they'd kill us right there in the road. But Milo ordered his men to gag us and put bags over our heads. Then we were shoved into some sort of wagon or carriage and they took us to a place a few miles away — Milo's own villa in Lanuvium, as it turned out. They locked us in an underground storage room. And that's where we stayed for two long months while they fed us on kitchen scraps and mouldy bread. Then we heard from one of the men guarding us that Milo had finally made up his mind to have us killed. I don't want to say too much about how we escaped, as there were those in Milo's villa who helped us do it."

"You said you were prisoners for two months," yelled someone in the crowd. "But it's been more like three months since Clodius was killed. What have you been doing in the month since you escaped? Why haven't we heard from you before?"

"I can answer that," said Plancus. "These men have been lying low. Are you surprised? Milo spared their lives once, but what would stop him from killing them if he could catch them a second time? Now it finally looks as if Milo will be brought to justice after all, and so these men have come forward. Truth bides its time."

"But is it the truth?" shouted another man in the crowd. "The whole story sounds suspicious to me. You Clodians looked everywhere and you never could find anybody who saw the actual killing, and now you've suddenly come up with five witnesses who claim they were there on the spot! And if it seems a bit funny that we haven't heard from them in all this time, oh, that's because they just happen to have been held prisoner for a couple of months! It's all a bit incredible, if you ask me. Do they have any proof that Milo held them captive?"

One of the four men ran to the front of the platform and shook his fist, "Proof? You want proof of something? I can think of a way to prove whether or not you have blood in your veins!"

There were more shouts and threats. The mood began to turn ugly. I looked towards the soldiers. Was it my imagination, or had they all moved a few steps closer? Plancus shook his head and gestured for calm, but more and more shouting matches began to break out, I nudged Eco, who nodded his consent, and we made our way out of the crowd.

"So, Papa, the mystery of the prisoners on the road is solved."

I nodded. "Not Clodius's men after all, just hapless travellers who happened to stumble upon the fracas."

"I can see why Eudamus and Birria hunted them down, but why didn't they kill them on the spot? Why did they spare them?"

"Their recklessness had already got their master into enough trouble for one day. Who knew who these five fellows were, or whether some powerful patron might be offended if they were killed? Milo must have thought it was better to simply hold them prisoner until the storm passed. Instead, the storm only kept building. You heard what Philemon said: just before they escaped, Milo had finally made up his mind to get rid of them. Probably some slave in Milo's villa took pity on them and helped them get away."

"There were sceptics in the crowd. I suppose it is a rather incredible story."

"But it all sounds only too credible to us, eh, Eco?"

The next morning, Pompey's legislation to reform the law courts, proposed a month before, was officially voted on and approved by the Senate. Immediately, Appius Claudius brought formal charges against Milo, accusing him of the crime of political violence in the murder of their uncle. Under Pompey's new rules for the courts, each side was allowed ten days to prepare for the trial. Rome held its breath.

If convicted, Milo would be subject to immediate, permanent exile and the confiscation of almost all his possessions. He would be disgraced and dispossessed. He would be finished in Rome forever.

But what if he was absolved? I tried to imagine the reaction in the city. I could envision only endless flames, rubble and bloodshed. Could even Pompey with his troops contain such a whirlwind? Reason, morality and simple pragmatism argued that any verdict other than guilty was impossible, except...

Except that Milo had Cicero on his side. And as I had learned from long, sometimes bitter experience, with Cicero for the defence, anything was possible.

XXX

The trial of Titus Annius Milo began on the morning of the fourth day of the month of Aprilis, with the examination of witnesses in the courtyard of the Temple of Liberty. Presiding over the court from a raised tribunal was the former consul Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, a grim-jawed, humourless former consul hand-picked by Pompey himself and, purely as a formality, approved by a vote of the people's assembly. Testimony was given before a panel of 360 potential jurors who sat on raised benches on either side of the courtyard. This panel had been selected from a list of eligible senators and men of property drawn up by Pompey. Of these, eighty-one would ultimately be chosen by lot to make up the jury.