“Caesar, it is good to see you in fine health.”
“And you,” he said briefly. “So where is Pollio, your husband?”
“Speaking with a merchant, I believe.”
Octavian appeared displeased. “Doing business in the theater?”
“He would do business underwater in the baths if he thought he could make money,” she said with resignation. “I hope you enjoy the show.”
I inhaled the warm scent of lavender as she passed, and when Pollio appeared, I held my breath.
“Is that him?” Alexander whispered in Parthian.
“It must be,” I replied.
He waddled between the stage and the bench, shaking hands with everyone. His fingers were weighed down with heavy gold rings, and when he came to Juba, he held up his hands. “The Prince of Numidia,” he announced louder than he needed. “Do I shake hands, or bow?”
Juba glanced at Octavian. “I believe we only bow for royalty, Pollio, and as yet, I am not the king of any kingdom.”
Pollio held out his fat hand, and Juba took it without enthusiasm.
“Livia”—Pollio breathed the word like a prayer—“you put Venus to shame.”
The blatancy of the lie made Octavian frown, but Livia beamed. “And you could flatter the thunderbolts from Jupiter,” she said.
Pollio moved to Octavian but didn’t attempt to shake his hand. “Caesar.”
“I hear you are conducting business in the theater. Does this look like a market?”
“Of course not. Forgive me.”
“You are a very wealthy man. But that wealth comes from grain contracts granted by Rome. This is not the Forum. If you confuse it again,” Octavian said simply, “you will find yourself without any business at all.”
As Pollio passed, I whispered to Octavia, “Is it an offense to conduct business in a place of entertainment?”
“No, but Julius Caesar used to do business when he came to the theater, and it angered the plebs. The people must not come to associate this place with patrician wealth.”
The orchestra began to play, and I glanced down the row at Tiberius, who was telling Vipsania something to make her laugh. On the other side of him, Octavia’s daughters were sitting silently, and I wondered if they had ever done anything in their lives that displeased their mother.
A thin actor in a toga came onstage through the curtained doorway. “We begin tonight as we begin all nights,” he said. “With a speech!” Several members in the crowd booed, and the actor smiled. “Perhaps you naysayers would like to give our orator a challenging topic, then?”
Alexander grinned at me. “Is he joking?”
“No. I think this is really what they do.”
Several members of the audience shouted, “Athens!” Another shouted, “Make him talk about the beauty of baldness.” And when one called out, “The Battle of Actium,” I clenched my jaw. “How about the value of a cheating wife?” someone suggested, and the actor clapped his hands. “We have a subject!”
I looked at Octavian, who seemed to be enjoying himself.
A fat orator appeared from the left of the stage. “The value of being a cuckold,” he began, and the entire audience descended into laughter. “When the horns of cuckoldry grow on your head, think of all the uses they might have. You can defend yourself without a sword.” He made the motion of charging, and the audience laughed again. “You could impale your enemies—or scratch an itch.” He rubbed his head on his flabby shoulder. “There are a thousand uses for a horned man. Not to mention a horny woman.” He went on to extol the virtues of a well-practiced wife, but as he went on to say that men would have fewer duties at the end of a long day, audience members groaned and someone shouted, “Bring on the bear!”
“I’m not finished,” the orator said angrily, but this only inspired the drunken men to further chants.
“Bring on the bear! Bring on the bear!”
I turned to Octavia. “Is there really a bear?”
She laughed. “No. There used to be bears in these theaters. They could do tricks, but they became too dangerous and my brother forbade them.”
“So what do they want?”
“For him to get off the stage and let the play begin.”
The actor who’d introduced the orator came out, and the fat man was led offstage to jeers and hisses.
“I thought he was good,” Alexander said sadly.
Next, the stage was filled with dancing nymphs. Two men appeared in the long-bearded masks of satyrs, and already the audience was laughing. One pranced, the other skipped, and a third masked man entered with a bow and arrow. The first satyr began to recite his lines, and as the third man pointed his arrow toward the audience, I realized what was happening.
“Octavian!” I screamed before I could stop myself, and suddenly Juba was on top of him, pushing him to the ground. The actor’s arrow whistled through the air, shattering as it struck the stone bench where Octavian had been sitting.
“In the name of the Red Eagle!” the masked bowman shouted.
Then pandemonium broke out.
Soldiers rushed the stage, but the actor was already gone, and people began fleeing from their seats. Soldiers made a tight ring around us, pushing us toward the exit.
Alexander took my arm. “How did you know?”
“I saw him nock the arrow.”
“But he was just an actor!”
There was the same panic in the air as there had been at the Circus—only this time, someone had tried to assassinate Caesar in the front row of the theater. Outside, there was no time to arrange litters. A cavalcade of heavily armed soldiers escorted us to the Palatine, and I could feel Julia’s fear as she pressed my hand. If her father had been killed, everything would have been lost: her villa on the Palatine, her marriage to Marcellus, the succession.
Octavian walked swiftly between Agrippa and Juba, and no one said anything, not even the passersby on the streets. When we reached his villa, he led us into the library. Slaves rushed to light the candelabra, and when they were finished Agrippa locked the heavy metal doors. Juba poured cups of wine, and, for the first time, I heard Octavia weep.
“This Red Eagle,” Octavian said, breaking the silence, “is now an assassin.”
“I doubt this was the Red Eagle. He spoke with a Gallic accent,” Agrippa said.
“So what stops this rebel from being a slave?” Livia shrieked.
“Look at his acta,” Juba said. “Are those the writings of a slave?”
“Then what are you saying?” Livia demanded, looking from face to face. “That this had nothing to do with that rebel?”
Silence fell over the group again, until Agrippa said, “Yes. This was a slave hoping to share in the Red Eagle’s glory.”
Octavian’s gray eyes flashed. “There is no glory in being a traitor,” he warned.
“Of course not. But to the slaves—”
“Tell me, what would happen if I had been killed?”
There was an uneasy shifting in the room.
“Juba,” Octavian said darkly, “why don’t you tell us? You’re well versed in history. What would happen to Rome?”
“The thirty tribes would go back to fighting,” Juba predicted. “They would not accept Marcellus as heir, since he is too young, and the Senate would not accept Agrippa, since he is a descendant of freedmen.”
“There would be chaos,” Octavian promised. “Instead of going forward, Rome would go backward. It may not have been the Red Eagle tonight, but the man is inspiring rebellion. And there are slaves and freedmen who are covering for him! A man doesn’t post a hundred acta without being seen!” He had begun to shout. “So perhaps we should see what our poor freedmen would rather have. Freedom, or food.”
Octavia gasped.
“We will stop the grain dole for ten days,” he commanded. “Tell them I must use the denarii to hire personal guards.”
“But hundreds will die!” Octavia cried.
Her brother sat back.
“No one has ever died of a little hunger. Men can go for weeks without food.”
“Not the elderly! Not the sick children!”
“Then perhaps they should have thought of that before they helped a traitor,” Livia snapped. “This will turn the people against him,” she said eagerly, “and remind these freedmen why they will always need Caesar.”
Agrippa looked distinctly uncomfortable.
But Octavian was satisfied with his decision. “When they find the bowman, crucify him.” He stood, and that was our signal to leave. Agrippa unbolted the door and held it open. As we left, Octavian called my name.
I turned, and my heart thundered in my chest.
But Octavian was neither smiling nor angry. “You surprise me,” was all he said.
CHAPTER NINE
OUTSIDE, SOLDIERS surrounded Octavia’s villa, and there was no house on the Palatine that wasn’t under guard in case the assassin should reappear. As we entered the villa, Alexander and Marcellus spoke in hurried whispers about the assassination attempt. Then Octavia stopped suddenly. “Where is Gallia?”
“I saw her with Magister Verrius at the bottom of the hill,” Antonia replied.
“And what was she doing with him?”
“Talking. I don’t think she expected us back so soon.”
I looked at Octavia and saw the lines deepen between her brows. Perhaps Gallia wasn’t adept at writing Latin, but Magister Verrius certainly was. What if they were writing the acta together? Verrius knew what it was like to be a slave. He was a freedman himself, though he never talked about his childhood with us in the ludus.
Marcellus looked from me to his mother. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” she said sternly, dismissing us with a wave. “Go to your chambers.” But as as I moved to go, she held me back with her hand. She waited until everyone had left before saying, “You saved my brother tonight.”
“I didn’t do anything. It was Juba.”
“But you saw it first.” Her eyes searched mine in the torch-lit atrium. “How did you know?”
“I saw him nock the arrow. Then his muscles tensed like he would really set it free.”
Octavia nodded, and her eyes filled with tears. “Why?”
I knew what she was asking. Why had I called Octavian’s name when his assassination could have meant my freedom? What had changed between the Triumph and today? I pressed my lips together and considered my answer before speaking. “Because he is our future,” I said carefully, and there was nothing I needed to explain. Without him, who knew what would happen to Alexander and me? And if another senator made himself Caesar, what would become of Octavia? Who would feed the poor and bring clothes to the Subura? There would be more bloodshed, more civil war, and the abandoned infants beneath the Columna Lactaria would be food for Rome’s dogs.
“I am thankful to the gods for you, Selene.”
I flushed.
“Will you do an errand for me?”
“Of course.”
She took out a key and unlocked the doors to the library. The room was still unbearably warm, heavy with the scents of leather and papyrus. Moonlight silvered the marble busts on the shelves, and Octavia went to one of these statues and took it down. She studied the face by the light of a distant torch. The subject was a handsome man, with a strong jaw and a heavily curled beard. I thought it might be a statue of Zeus, but Octavia said quietly, “This is Juba’s father. I should have given the statue to Juba years ago, but I didn’t. Tonight, Juba saved my brother’s life. I want you to take this to him.”
My heart sank. I would have happily gone anywhere in Rome. But why did it have to be to Juba’s villa? There were a hundred slaves who might have delivered this gift for her, even Gallia, once she returned, and I wondered why Octavia was choosing me. She placed the marble bust in my arms, and because it was smaller than all of the others, it wasn’t heavy. She guided me to the door. Although it was dark, the road was lit by hundreds of torches as soldiers patrolled up and down the hill. When I hesitated, she explained, “My brother’s men are everywhere. The Palatine is safe.”
A few of the soldiers nodded in my direction, and I recognized some of them as the guards who followed us to the ludus and back every morning. When I knocked on the door of Juba’s villa, the slave who answered glared down at me. He was an older man, with thick hair that had completely silvered, and his face was distinguished.
“Yes?” he demanded.
“I have come with a gift.”
“Dominus does not wish to see anyone right now.”
“But I come from Octavia.” I craned my neck to see inside, and when I tried to step around him, he moved to block my entry.
“No one enters this house tonight.”
“I am coming from Octavia with a bust of Juba’s father! What’s the matter with you?”
Suddenly, Juba appeared behind him, and the man shook his head in frustration. “She will not listen, Domine.”
“I’m not surprised, Sergius. She rarely listens to anyone,” Juba replied.
Sergius pursed his lips, as if he was personally offended by this, and I purposefully stepped around him. “I have come with a gift.” I raised my chin.
“So I see. And who am I to thank for this?” Juba asked, taking the bust of his father and passing it carelessly to Sergius.
“Octavia,” I said, “and she did not give this lightly. Aren’t you even going to look at it?”
“I know what it is. A marble of Juba I, King of Numidia.”
“And aren’t you grateful to have a portrait of your father?”
Juba smiled. “Exceptionally grateful. Please relay all of the thanks you so clearly feel on my behalf.” He motioned to the slave to shut the door, but as he stepped away I looked across the atrium, and through the open doors of the library I could see tables upon tables covered in scrolls.
“What are those?” I whispered.
Juba looked behind him, and I was sure I saw his face grow a little pale.
I stepped inside, and this time, neither man made to block my way. “Perhaps you aren’t thankful because you have something to hide.”
“Nonsense!” Sergius said angrily, but Juba raised his brows.
“Wait. Let’s hear what she thinks I am hiding.”
The two men looked down at me. One was a prince, the other a slave, but both of them were larger, much more powerful than I. “Nothing,” I said hastily.
But Juba held out his arm so that I couldn’t move, and his black eyes held mine in a piercing glare. “You looked into my library and announced that I was hiding something. Sergius, why don’t you show the princess inside?”
Sergius sighed audibly, then took my arm and guided me across the atrium. In the library, the tables were filled with scrolls, just as I had seen, but on every table was a different colored map. “Dominus is writing a history of the world,” he said. “Are you happy now?”
Juba stood behind me, and I could feel his eyes boring into my back. “There it is. All of my secrets laid out before you. What’s the matter, Selene? Were you expecting something else?”
“Not at all,” I lied, and my gaze fell upon a map of Egypt. “I’m simply wondering why you’ve added a temple next to the theater of Alexandria when there isn’t any,” I said smugly.
But Juba smiled. “Perhaps there wasn’t one before, but there’s going to be one now.”
I glanced back at the map. “Next to the theater?” I cried.
“That is Caesar’s wish. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he said, “I have secrets to attend to.”
When I returned to the villa, I didn’t see Octavia, but Marcellus and Alexander rose from their chairs as soon as I entered my chamber. I was surprised to see they were both still up.
“Where have you been?” Alexander exclaimed, and the oil lamps flickered in his wake.
“Octavia wanted me to deliver a statue.”
“To Juba?” Marcellus guessed. “She’s been meaning to give him his father’s
bust for years, but she couldn’t part with it. It’s a very rare statue, by a sculptor who made very few pieces in his life.”
“And it belonged to Juba?”
Marcellus nodded. “He was brought to Rome when he was two or three. So up until then, I suppose it was his.”
“But why would Octavia send you?” Alexander asked.
“I don’t know,” I said defensively, sitting down on my couch and opening my book to an empty page. “Perhaps it was a punishment.”
Marcellus laughed. “After tonight? I doubt it. Why? Was he in a foul mood?”
“Isn’t he always? He was working on his history of the world.”
“He wants to create a complete history of every kingdom,” Marcellus explained. “Chart their lands, record their languages, study their people. Perhaps she sent you because she thought it would mean more.”
I drew up my knees and blushed at the thought that I’d been willing to believe that Juba was the Red Eagle. Everything belongs to Caesar, he’d told me. Especially him. He would be the last person on the Palatine to betray Rome. Even Agrippa would defy Octavian before Juba would. But I didn’t want to think about him anymore. While Marcellus and Alexander whispered over candelight about what had happened in the theater, I took out my ink and stylus and sketched a two-storied building instead. I added frescoed walls and mosaic flooring, and enough rooms to shelter more than three hundred children. When Marcellus stood up to go, he leaned over my shoulder.
“What are you drawing?”
“A building.”
“May I see?”
I held out my sketch. From the outside, it was just like any other building. But the images I had drawn for the chambers inside should have made it clear what it was supposed to be.
“An inn?” he asked uncertainly. “But why would an inn need so many beds?”
Alexander peered over his shoulder and asked, “Is this for the foundlings?”
I took my sketch from Marcellus’s hands. “They can’t just be left beneath the Columna Lactaria! Think how many must die of exposure. It’s a terrible practice.”
“It is.” Marcellus nodded. “But how would it help to shelter them in a building?”
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