Of all the many lounging areas in the baths, these booths by the two grand nymphaea were the ones favoured by those who preferred their conversations private. For one thing it was near impossible to get close enough to hear without being visible to those upon who you were eavesdropping, but secondly, the constant jet and cascade of water down the fountains and around the statuary into the numerous basins made it difficult even to hear each other, let alone anyone else.
The two women chatted amiably over nothings for a while, until at some time just after noon a shadow fell across their table and they looked up.
‘Good afternoon, ladies,’ said a man with a worrying grin. His jaws numbered half as many replacement metal teeth as they did natural ones, giving him a weird appearance, though despite this, he was actually not unhandsome. Pera offered to leave, as she always did, but Senova trusted her and motioned for her to stay, turning to look up at the man standing at the booth’s edge.
‘Master Titinius, how pleasant to see you again. Do join us.’
Secundus Titinius grinned his troubling grin and slid into the seat indicated, opposite Senova, brandishing his own mug of wine, which he placed on the table before him.
‘How goes your business, Domina?’ the man smiled.
‘Fine and lucrative, thank you, Secundus. Now let us get down to business. I need an update on matters. I had hoped by now to be in a more commanding position. I am not sure to what timescale I am working, in truth, since there are numerous other factors outside my control, but I would like to have everything set and confirmed long in advance of any need. So tell me of your achievements.’
Titinius raised his brows.
‘One would think from your mode of speech, mistress, that you were engaged in some underhand and devious criminal enterprise. How thankful am I that I know you so well these days and can say with my hand on my heart that the lady Triaria is merely engaged in healthy business practices that will result in her undercutting her unpleasant competitors.’
‘Well quite,’ Senova smiled. ‘Do tell.’
Titinius took a pull of his wine. ‘We now have three companies running. One in Ostia, which is an import and export business with a number of suppliers in the ports and cities of Gaul thanks to your unnamed contacts. That company is already managing to turn its own profit, about which its owner is naturally very pleased. He will be forwarding on to you your cut of the profit in due course.’
Senova nodded. Severus had been more than helpful in supplying the names of a few merchants who would be willing to become part of this new company’s supply chain. Sales in the city here had been excellent so far.
‘Within the month,’ Titinius continued, ‘we should be in a position to use those same ships to transport our goods back to Gaul rather than acting as transport for other traders, and our profits should rise appropriately.’
Again, Senova nodded. A private trade company that linked Severus’ province and her household in Rome and granted them freedom to move goods about without Senova or Rufinus’ name entering the equation. A solid start, that.
‘The second company is doing well, too. They have branched out from pottery into copperware, which can be lucrative, given its Gallic source. The prices are just right so that we make money while not drawing anyone’s undue attention.’
Good, since it was through the trade of this company that Severus’ money was invested in goods, traded, sold on to other investors, used to purchase further goods, and then finally employed to pay that first company, where the money finally came into Senova’s possession, its source untraceable to all but the shrewdest and most suspicious of eyes. Perhaps one of the oddest results of the securing of mercantile shipments was that although he didn’t know it, Rufinus’ father was now reliant upon his daughter-in-law’s ships for his own budding wine trade. She’d not told Rufinus that, mind. She wasn’t sure he’d find it as ironically humorous as she did.
‘Excellent. But this is all by the way. It is our third and newest endeavour that I really wish to hear about.’
Titinius suddenly looked a touch nervous.
‘This is the only part of your business that makes me a little uncomfortable, Domina. I know there is no law against it, but we are edging close to something that might get us investigated and closed down.’
‘Of that I am aware. And that is why upon the advice of some very trusted and clever men,’ Vibius Cestius and his frumentarii, in fact, ‘I retained your services, for there is, I understand, no better man in all of Italia, or perhaps even the empire, for the task.’
He was good enough in fact that he acknowledged the complement as simple fact and not flattery.
‘I have agents working under assumed names for three non-existent companies, the details of which will evaporate under the lightest scrutiny. In actual fact they work, of course, for your third face company, though through so many levels of separation that connecting them to the company would be the work of months even for a dedicated investigator, before even attempting to connect that company to myself or you. I am confident that we are working completely unnoticed, and that it will take so long for anyone to trace our actions back that we will have plenty of warning and time to drop all connections and clear our books before any trouble strikes.’
‘But with what results have your men been working?’
Titinius shrugged. ‘The results one might expect. We are meeting with moderate success, but not as fast or as thorough as one might hope. We have secured the services of two traders in Carthage, one in Sicilia and two in Alexandria. They are prominent traders, and their own fleets constitute some of the best vessels used in grain shipment, but even with those five we have cornered only the smallest percentage of the entire grain fleet. Not enough to make much of a dent in shipping.’
Senova nodded. ‘What is making the other traders reticent? Why do they cling so to their state contracts? Are we not offering enough? Money is not the stumbling point for us that it might be for others.’
Titinius shook his head. ‘Money is not the issue. In fact I would only agree to sweeten the pot by the tiniest fraction. Right now we look like entrepreneurs trying to secure the best transport available, which we know to be part of the monthly grain fleets. If we start to offer too much, though, it will look increasingly suspicious, and even greedy traders will be less inclined to deal with us, worrying that we are up to something… well, probably something that we are up to, in fact.’
‘So what is the problem, and how to we solve it?’
‘Simply there is not the need. Those we have tempted over to our private service away from the grain fleet are those who know that with the plague and the famine building, the competition for grain shipments is going to become ever tighter. They are fleeing the nest now before they find themselves struggling to secure a cargo and losing money. Unless the number of ships available increases dramatically or the quantity of grain available at source plummets much faster, the rest have no real need to look to us. After all, we are a new and unknown quantity, while the imperial contracts are constant and reliable.’
Senova nodded again. ‘And an increase in ships fighting for contracts and shipments would be working against our end goal anyway, so that is of no interest.’
She pondered the problem for a long moment and gradually, with light dawning, a broad smile crossed her face.
‘I do believe I have the answer, Titinius. You are aware that I have a legitimate mercantile concern under my name?’
The man nodded. ‘Very much a requirement if one is to play this game. I might say that word in the marketplace is that your company is fated to fail, for you have few vessels and half of those are in port in Antium and barely seaworthy. I recognise that you are not relying upon them for anything more than a public face for your money, but you could do with expanding a little or getting those three vessels afloat.’
Senova chuckled. ‘We’ll do more than that, Titinius, my friend. I think it is time that the house of Triarius began t
o invest in grain shipments. Put the foreign acquisitions on hold for now. What I want you to do is take every sestertius of profit we make, from legitimate and hidden business alike, and invest in it getting good ships up and running for the family business. I will add my own skills to the mix and we will swiftly build a large fleet up. At the same time, I will secure a contract with the imperial grain administration. It so happens I have a way in with the prefect in charge.’
Titinius’ eyebrow rose at that.
‘We shall take over a large share of the grain trade,’ she grinned. ‘And we shall undercut the other merchants so we can guarantee that we land the shipments. Simultaneously, as other traders inevitably turn to different avenues from the grain to make ends meet, our face companies will buy up their contracts and use them on lucrative routes with Gaul. The money they make us there will surely offset the losses from the cheap grain contracts?’
Titanius laughed. ‘Gods, but remind me never to play you at a game with wagers. That is cunning and unexpected. If it plays the correct way, those ships in Africa, Sicilia and Aegyptus will bite off our hands when we offer them contracts, while you will secure the lion’s share of the grain shipments.’ He sat back. ‘Very well. I will begin to put these things in motion. Secure your contracts and deal with your own company. If you are planning to expand the way you say, you will need to hire new men to work for you. Good men, too. And a number of new captains and crews for your ships. If this is to become a legitimate concern then you must do things properly.’
Senova grinned and took another sip of her sweet mulsum. ‘It so happens that I am married to a man who knows the best retired trierarchs in the empire.’
Chapter Ten – The price of tension
Rome, June 188 A.D.
Rufinus bounced this way and that in the litter, becoming increasingly irritable with every bone-jarring jolt. It had not escaped his attention that even now, months down the line, Senova had the perfect litter and bearers, while Rufinus’ still seemed to be mismatched and clumsy. He wondered if at some social event he had offended the prefect of the litter bearers. It was possible. He had been to several such events and had never been the most easy and graceful of socialites.
Such musings brought him back to Senova and to why he was here. He’d been against her being involved in this horribly dangerous enterprise, despite the comfort of having her with him. He’d have preferred to keep her safe, but Severus had had other ideas. It turned out that she was extremely adept at commercial enterprises, involving herself at a close level in matters that utterly baffled Rufinus. In the end he had just left her alone to get on with it and trusted that she knew not to get herself in any trouble. Still, he wished she had stayed in Gaul.
But she was definitely doing something. She now had quite a fleet of ships and had one day, without even consulting Rufinus and checking how it might impact upon their grand plans, visited Papirius Dionysus and secured for her growing fleet of merchant ships a solid contract for grain shipment from all the major sources: Africa, Aegyptus and Sicilia. She certainly seemed to be making money, though she probably wasn’t making any friends among those traders who had been knocked out of the grain fleet, unable to compete with her low prices for the contracts. That wasn’t all she was doing, though. There was something else moving in her mercantile web, though she steadfastly refused to discuss it, citing Severus placing her in control of this aspect of his plan as her reasoning.
That had rankled more than it probably should.
The fact remained that Rufinus was impatiently awaiting the next phase in the governor’s plan, and once more nothing seemed to be happening. He’d removed the traitors from within their various organisations early in the year on Severus’ instructions, and had then expected things to accelerate. Instead they had once more sunk into inactivity. Despite his concerns over Senova, she seemed to be free of suspicion and investigation and happy to work on her project while Rufinus suffered impotent impatience. Her dealings all appeared to be above-board anyway, but since the news from the Palatine had leaked out, Rufinus could see why the chamberlain and his people were probably too busy to deal with small fry. It seemed the empress had been caught in a web of adultery and had been shipped off to some island in exile. The palace would be in an uproar, and everyone would be shifting their allegiances and vying for position. Rufinus had found himself wondering whether their would-be patroness, the lady Marcia might come out rather well from this, given the rumours that she had already been the emperor’s mistress anyway. Perhaps that was what Severus was waiting for?
Anyway, the fact remained that the grain shipments continued unchanged, which concerned Rufinus, given that their failure seemed to be what Severus’ plan hinged upon. Oh the shipments were coming up short, of course, but that was nothing new. In this time of plague, farms were being left untended, and grain from all sources was becoming scarcer. But with the reserve always held in the Roman granaries, the supplies being brought in from the south by sea would still be adequate and would cause little issue.
That in itself caused conflict in Rufinus. He still was not entirely comfortable with the idea of starving the Roman poor just to bring down one man, but he was in the minority, apparently.
But what was Senova up to helping bring in the grain like she was?
The litter lurched to a halt and Rufinus twitched aside the curtain, checked where they were and, satisfied, climbed out. The Horrea Galbana stood beside him, his guards lining a short walk to the entrance. Inside, Papirius Dionysus would be in his office at this time of day, for the man had recently moved his base of operations from the office complex of the Statio Annonae to the hub of Roman grain distribution, here at the horrea. If there was one man in Rome who had the answers to any grain import questions, it would be him.
Accompanied by his marines, Rufinus marched in through the high archway of the central of three gates. Clerks hurried out of the side offices to intercept the new arrival and attempt to ‘direct his enquiries’ appropriately, but his rich toga and the presence of eight armoured marines made them think twice and pause at the doorways. He stomped out into the long, wide courtyard, heading for the offices at the far end. To each side every doorway had a sign above it, labelling its contents and owner, if that was not the state, and each door had additional tags, dating the arrival of the goods and their destination if in only short term storage here. The far end of the courtyard held five offices, and the central one belonged to the prefect.
Leaving his guards in the courtyard, Rufinus marched into the office, rapping on the open door as he entered. In his experience a trader or administrator with an open door was available to visitors anyway.
Dionysus looked up from his desk and blinked in surprise.
‘Prefect Rufinus? What can the office of the grain administration do for you?’
Rufinus closed the door behind him.
‘We are safe here?’
‘As safe as anywhere, and safer than most. Why?’
Rufinus leaned on the desk opposite him. ‘Nothing seems to be happening, other than my wife supplementing my income by helping bring in the grain. I’m just seeking some reassurance that things are happening. I’m getting sick of sitting in my office listening to sailors fart and tell mermaid jokes while nothing really advances.’
Dionysus shrugged. ‘The governor’s plans are not entirely ours to know, Prefect, and that is probably for the best. Each of us plays the part we are given and does not interfere with the others. That way there is precious little chance of any of us causing trouble for one another. All I will say is that, though I do not have the details of your wife’s activities, if she is doing what I suspect she’s doing, then she is doing it very well and with a great deal of subtlety. She is a perfectly acceptable Roman matron doing exactly what every other matron is doing to keep their households in coin, and she is above suspicion. Her business is perfectly open.’
‘But?’
‘But something she is doing is having an
effect, Prefect, even if you don’t see it. Like most of the uninitiated, you simply see large grain shipments coming in each month. What you don’t see is the truth hidden in the figures. Those shipments are falling off, they’re just doing it so slowly and subtly that it is not immediately visible. The decrease in arrivals is also a little too large to simply be laid at the feet of impoverished and unmanned farms. No, your wife is slowly, very slowly, squeezing the grain flow. Like me, you would do best to leave her to her task, for she is doing it very well, and the more we contact and interfere, the more danger we bring upon one another, in relation to which I would say this visit was unnecessary and dangerous.’
Rufinus dropped two wax tablets on the table.
‘Orders from myself to assign two triremes to the coast between Alsium and Lavinium, as there have been a few small incidents with locals thieving from ships at anchor off the coast. I wanted to officially warn you about it, and make sure you knew not to have any unprotected barges until the authorities in Ostia haver sorted it out. Also a request for grain – and yes, I know that’s ironic – for the fleet. Despite the production of the mills at Arelate, the current wide distribution of the fleet is making supply troublesome. I want to create a few small granary bases in coastal towns where the fleet often operates, to save large scale transport becoming a necessity.’
Dionysus frowned, then nodded. ‘It makes sense, I suppose. Yes, I will sign that order and pass on your warnings to the liaisons with the grain fleet owners.’
‘So,’ Rufinus said, returning to his private reasons for attendance, ‘the supply is falling, then. How much grain can Rome survive on before it begins to feel the pinch?’
Lions of Rome Page 14
