by Sheila Finch
“We’ve had many years of peace, thanks to Tiber,” she said. “And my Catu who followed the path he laid out for us.”
“Yes, Avi.”
“Someday, you will be the one to lead your people, another Catuarus.”
“Oh, but my father – and his brothers –”
”You, Catuarus,” she said firmly. “And then I will give you his signet ring. It has his name on it, you know.”
He didn’t want to hear about staying in Noviomagus as king of the Regni – or governor, or anything else to do with the boring work of governing. He was a scholar by nature, not a soldier like his brother Gaius, or a politician like his cousin Lucullus. Yes, Lucullus would love to live here in the villa where they all grew up and be a Great King! What he himself wanted most to do was return to his studies in Alexandria. The library called to him with a most sweet song.
“Tiber used to say that one day a great nation would live here, not just Regni and Romans, or even Belgae and Trinovantes or the Brigantes in the north, but others from far away over the sea. And not just Celts. Our family must be strong to lead them.”
She fell silent after that and he thought this time she’d truly fallen asleep. He sat on a low garden wall beside her, careful not to disturb. After a while, his mother came out with a blanket. She put a finger to her lips and gently placed the blanket over the old woman’s knees. It was a warm afternoon, but old people’s blood runs chill, his mother always said. She went back inside, leaving him with his grandmother. He was his Avi’s favorite grandchild, after all.
They sat in the humming of bees as the sun slowly slipped away over the great humps of the Downs behind the villa. Like dolphin backs, he always thought, or the whales that went by in the wild water between Britannia and Gaul.
It was because of all the stories she’d told him over the years that he wanted to be a scholar. He saw clearly now where that ambition had come from. But even if he were to fulfil her wish and live his life here as king of the Regni, that would be a long way off. His father was still a strong, healthy man.
He put his big hand over her small one, feeling the bones below the fragile skin. He’d stay for as long as she lived , which he sensed wouldn’t be so very long. The library could wait till she went to join her beloved Catu.
AUTHOR’S AFTERWORD
In 1960, a workman cutting a trench across a field near the Sussex village of Fishbourne, came across what turned out to be previously unknown Roman ruins. This discovery by itself wasn’t surprising as the countryside around Chichester is full of the evidence of Roman occupation. But this find turned out to be surprisingly large – and very puzzling. Archaeologists have only been able to excavate a small portion of the enormous Roman villa that backhoe struck; almost three-fourths of it lie under a main road and a housing estate and can’t be accessed. But from what we can study, we can see this was no ordinary Roman family dwelling. Not only is it the largest such villa found anywhere so far away from Rome, it also seems to have been built in the style of Nero’s own Domus Aurea in Rome.
Who could it have been built for? We’ve learned that construction took place between AD 65 and the end of the Third Century when a huge fire destroyed the whole structure. In between those dates, the villa came to possess beautiful mosaic floors (including “Cupid riding on a dolphin”), advanced under-floor heating systems, elaborate bath chambers, and public meeting rooms, and fine gardens. It was obviously far too grand a home for any of the petty officials, Briton or Roman, who were in that corner of Britannia at the time. So who was it built for and who lived there, almost two thousand years ago?
A few clues have emerged. A name, “Tiberius Claudius Togidubnus,” appears on a plaque commemorating the building of a temple to Neptune and Minerva in Noviomagus Regnorum (today’s Chichester) calling him rather grandly,“Great King in Britain.” But as far as we know, Togidubnus was a very minor Celtic king who once fought with the Romans against the uprising of Queen Boudicca; there is a scattering of references to him in contemporary Roman chronicles. Was this splendid palace given to him as a reward for his loyal service? It’s possible, but we really don’t know.
What we do know is that the Emperor Nero became increasingly concerned that he was surrounded by political enemies, and that his life was in danger. Under those circumstances, it might have been prudent for him to consider building a “bolt-hole” in a remote corner of the Roman Empire. (Being Nero, of course, he’d send his own architect to supervise a glorious building.) We may never know if this is what happened or not, but it’s certainly a possibility. In any case, Nero never had the chance to use his hide-away, if that’s what it was intended to be.
And in 1995, a gold signet ring turned up in the garden close to the palace, inscribed “Tiberius Claudius Catuarus,” most probably a son of Togidubnus.
In telling the story of this magnificent mystery house, I’ve tried to stay with the historical record as much as possible, inventing details and actions only when history is silent or not yet totally understood. At times, when the needs of telling a story competed with current scholarly speculation, I reserved the right to make small changes.
Some of these characters, Togidubnus himself, for example, the Emperor Nero, the emperor’s architect Septimus Severus, Catuarus, Pudens Pudentinus, are real people; their motivations and intrigues are a product of my imagination.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sheila Finch is the author of eight science fiction novels and numerous short stories, including the collection of first contact stories, The Guild of Xenolinguists. The lingster story, “Reading the Bones,” won a Nebula. A non-fiction book about the intersection of science fiction with mythology, Myths, Metaphors, and Science Fiction appeared in 2014. She taught science fiction and creative writing at El Camino College, CA, for thirty years and at workshops around California.
