A Forbidden History.The Hadrian enigma

by George Gardiner

  "Let's not be detained here, friends, let's retire into the cool air of my garden court," Arrian offered, perhaps to remove his intruders from his boudoir, "where my staff can provide refreshments as we talk."

  Signaling to his steward for the appropriate services, Arrian led the group into an outdoor terrace. It was a charming area graced with planters and pots of well-watered greenery. Valuable ivory-inlaid ebony chairs edged with gilt trim and supporting comfortable cushions in Asian ethnic weaves were interspersed by individual trestle campaign tables. With the sun's direct rays screened by a thin overhead canopy, the diffused light bounced softly off white marble tiles and scattered Ionian rugs. Busts of notable philosophers and the likes of Alexander the Great fringed the gardened area.

  Mugs with jugs of wine and water appeared promptly, accompanied by nutty nibbles, honey cakes, and dried fruits.

  "I'd heard from Caesar's own lips how you are instructed to enquire into the death of his Antinous, his Favorite. Well, what have you come up with?" Arrian asked with interest, either genuine or feigned. "What have you discovered thus far about the poor lad? You've almost consumed a day of your two day's allowance, haven't you?"

  "That's why we're here," Suetonius replied. "We have no time to lose."

  "Senator," Clarus appealed to his fellow member of The Senate, "we're in something of a bind. So far we've learned very little we didn't know already."

  "Anything I can throw light upon?" the Bithynian noble responded.

  "Well, hopefully," Clarus responded. "Are there matters you feel we, as investigators, should know about Antinous which might relate to his cause of death?"

  Clarus nodded towards Suetonius and Strabon, who promptly started recording the proceedings on his wax pads. "Or are there matters you advise we explore?"

  "Before we begin," Suetonius interrupted, "we should identity your person in our record. Perhaps, Senator, you will describe to us in your own words your personal details for our scribe to notate?"

  Arrian looked askance at the portly senator and former Prefect of Praetorians who would know all that needed to be known about a fellow courtier, but took the hint and responded with legalistic deliberation.

  "These are the duties of my secretary, gentlemen. But I will speak in his stead. As you well know, in the West my Latin designation is Lucius Flavius Arrianus Xenophon. I was born in the fifth year of Caesar Domitian's rule at Nicomedia to a noble Bithynian family. I was awarded Roman citizenship in the seventh year of Caesar Hadrian's rule at the age of thirty-eight, and appointed senator. I am the first Greek of Bithynian origin to be Consul at Rome.

  I am currently researching the administrative procedures involved in governance of the province of Cappadocia at Roman Asia, where I am soon to be nominated its Prefect Governor. I need not add I am also a biographer of the military strategies of Basileous Alexandros; an adherent and compiler of the aphorisms of the philosophy of Epictetus of Nicopolis; and so on. But you already know these things."

  The quality of his career and works silenced his auditors.

  "You knew Antinous of Bithynia well, Senator?" Suetonius eventually asked.

  "Of course. I know his family at Claudiopolis intimately, and was very fond of the lad. He showed great promise, I assure you. I would have offered the boy a role in my administration at Cappadocia had he lived. His father and elder brother are trading partners with my stewards," the senator outlined. "I've been an informal patron to the lad for the past five years. In fact, I am directly responsible for his entering into the company of Caesar. It was I who arranged the original introductions five years ago."

  "What is your opinion of the manner of the young man's death, senator? Do you have information of its nature and likely causes?" Clarus queried. "Is there something you feel we should know?"

  "No, Septicius Clarus and Special Inspector Suetonius. I am entirely without understanding of the manner or reason for his death. It's said he drowned in this mighty river we can hear behind us. Many do, you know," Arrian offered. "I am not aware of any malice of substance against the lad, and nor am I aware of any motive on his behalf to commit such an act."

  Both Suetonius and Clarus could see they weren't getting very far with Arrian. Suetonius had an idea.

  "My lord, yesterday when inspecting Antinous's apartments we came across a notepad with a message of some interest. It is written in archaic Greek, ancient Attic, and we'd appreciate if you, as a great scholar of Hellene antiquity, would check our translation into today's Greek. Our antique Greek is rusty," Suetonius uttered. He snapped his fingers impatiently while Strabon searched his basket for the tablets. The wooden blocks tied in cloth were lying at the bottom of his jumbled pile in the basket. He opened the wood-covered wax pages and offered the block to the senator.

  Arrian peered at the inscription engraved in the wax.

  "Yes, it's Attic, or an attempt at Attic. It's poetic after a fashion. Though why anyone other than someone like myself would wish to write in a five-hundred year old language is beyond comprehension. I do so under a scholar's duress; it's expected of me. This inscription is — "

  He ceased explaining as his eyes widened in astonishment.

  "Where did you acquire this?" he asked sharply.

  "It was lying on the floor of Antinous's apartment complex in this very city of tents yesterday evening," Suetonius stated plainly. "We retrieved it before someone else whisked it away. Do you agree it appears to be a boyish ditty written by Antinous or his chum Lysias? Do you recognize the hand-writing? And how do you translate its rhyme?"

  "Yes, I recognize the hand-writing. Yes, indeed," the nobleman muttered as he regained his comportment. "A rough translation of the Attic might go something like this:

  When the King of the Lionhearted toys with his man cub no more, it's time for the lackey to restore his own pride.

  It is written by someone with only rudimentary antique Greek, an amateur."

  "You mean like Antinous or Lysias?" Clarus asked.

  "No," Arrian replied, "they would do better than this. Probably someone for whom Greek is not their first language."

  "Then you mean, perhaps, Thais the language tutor?" Suetonius explored.

  "No," responded Arrian softly. "She is no man cub lackey."

  "Then you mean — ?" Suetonius trailed away, his wispy eyebrows rising in recognition of one particular possibility.

  A heavy silence descended. It made Clarus distinctly uncomfortable.

  Arrian suddenly whisked a napkin from his tunic belt. With a single swift movement he wiped across the surface of the wax. Suetonius and Strabon protested loudly. The stylus impression of the quatrain on the wax was smeared beyond recovery.

  "I don't think you need retain this tablet, gentlemen. It's not within your commission," the senator blithely concluded.

  "King of the Lionhearted? Man cub? Lackey?" Suetonius vented in provocative recollection. "What did the writer mean?"

  "I think you should desist from speculation on that matter, Special Inspector," Arrian advised. "Devote yourself to more concrete issues. Such as 'where was Antinous on the night of his death', or 'what company did he keep on that day? You might be on safer ground on that path, gentlemen."

  "In that case, my lord: Where do you think Antinous may have been on the night of his death, and do you know what company he kept?" Suetonius responded.

  "Of the first I have no idea. The last I saw of the boy was through the early afternoon of the day before, but very briefly," Arrian confided. "He was on an odd mission. He came to these tents to retrieve his secured coins and treasures from my steward for some purpose.

  My household provides safekeeping services to many people, including Antinous and Lysias. He secures his wealth in my steward's care because this encampment is an open invitation to thievery of one sort or another. I offer complete security to my clients, with full guarantee of capital and proper records. He retrieved a sum of cash and jewels and papers, my steward told me."

  "T
o what degree, my lord," Suetonius enquired.

  "My steward said he withdrew virtually his entire wealth in gold coins plus several select jewels and property deeds. It was a considerable treasure," Arrian stated.

  "The value?" Suetonius queried furthered.

  "If I recall correctly, fifty gold aurei and a similar amount of silver, plus elegant baubles worth a tidy sum. It was probably his entire liquid wealth, though he's also acquired two good properties at Nicomedia and Athens. Being Caesar's companion provides many opportunities for investment advice. I estimate his withdrawal was worth several hundred thousand sesterces, minimum, including the properties," Arrian concluded.

  Surisca emitted a soft but audibly impressed gasp. Arrian ignored her, as Arrian did all women.

  "How did he explain his withdrawal?" Clarus interjected.

  "He didn't. He made no prior mention to me of the action, so my notary ensured a properly signed and witnessed record with identity seals of the transaction was registered.

  Antinous took this sizeable purse away with him to attend to his business privately. I can only imagine his withdrawal was to buy some larger purchase, pay a debt in gambling, or provide gifting to some person unknown," Arrian offered. "However, upon learning of his death the following day, I too am keen to search for the reason for his drowning and the whereabouts of this treasure. I owe it to his family. I'm sure the second point will provide the answer to the first. Remember, Suetonius, the ancient jurist Cassius's great query: Cui bono, who benefits?"

  "Cui Bono? It was Cicero's adage as well. This mystery deepens, Senator," Suetonius muttered. "Where is his treasure? Perhaps the treasure will lead us to a resolution of the death?"

  "I don't believe he's gambled the treasure, he was not a gambler. And I don't think any fool would be unwise enough to extort money from Caesar's Favorite. Their wealth would be short lived."

  "Then where is it?" Clarus repeated. "We have another unknown to add to our mystery."

  Arrian reminisced a little.

  "Antinous seemed a lusty enough fellow to my eye, healthily bent upon the earthier pleasures of life as well as giving satisfaction to his chosen partner. And you must understand, gentleman, the boy was neither a cinaedus nor a eunuch either, I can assure you. He enjoyed his pleasures."

  "Were his habits conventional, would you say, Senator?" Suetonius pursued.

  "Do you mean, was he sexually conventional? Was he a vir? I think I can vouch for his disposition, gentlemen. I have reason to know something of his tastes from observation."

  "So, perhaps Antinous was the King of the Lionhearted?" Suetonius interjected dryly.

  "Perhaps, Suetonius, perhaps. Yet I am content with the Lionheart who currently wears the imperial purple. There are very many of us, gentlemen, who'd be pleased to see Hadrian extend his rule and his life into the distant future," Arrian declared. "The Empire has rarely seen such a period of serenity."

  "But what could Antinous do about it?" Clarus queried. "He was a mere toyboy, a source of pleasures."

  Arrian frowned.

  "Prior to the drowning the lad's role as Hadrian's eromenos had expired. It was over. And it must be seen to have ceased, by all. This is a public necessity for Caesar's sake to avoid the accusation of being a cinaedus, despite the residual affection the emperor has for the lad. He has brought great joy to Hadrian over the past five years, and I suppose this was reciprocal. But the days of his public display as consort are over.

  So what does a young man who's been the recipient of such favor do with his life?

  At Alexandria when the Western Favorite made his appearance from Rome, I suggested to Antinous I would enjoy him entering my own staff at Cappadocia. He was smart, capable, well educated, had good contacts, and was experienced in Court procedure. He read and wrote well in the two major languages, with a smattering of others. He'd seen a great deal of the Empire and its peoples, he knew what life is like for them.

  He also knew too how to handle himself in elite society with aplomb. He even treated slaves and women respectfully. He was admired by the Court and by the military.

  Yet his response to my offer was evasive. In fact he started talking of finding his true destiny, of emulating Alexander, of living according to Achilles' short but glorious existence. I began to wonder what nonsense had gotten into the lad."

  "Had his head been turned by the new cults among us? Had Antinous fallen under the Chrestus spell?" Clarus queried.

  "I doubt it, Clarus," Arrian calmed his senatorial colleague, "but his sudden separation from Hadrian may have triggered a personal crisis."

  "Has there been some devious conspiracy to ensure the Favorite is 'retired' from Caesar's company for State reasons?" Suetonius queried provocatively. Arrian stiffened at the suggestion through clear cool eyes.

  "My good man, Hadrian's choice of a successor is his own business. But it's fair to say there are many forces at work to steer him in preferred directions. A great deal is at stake. At this point in time Hadrian is all we have standing between a carefully chosen successor or the chaos of civil war when he dies. Rome has been down that bloody path before."

  "Would the supporters of Senator Commodus, the Western Favorite, go to any lengths to entrench their candidate, Senator," Suetonius asked audaciously, "including eliminate the so-called Eastern Favorite from Caesar's companionship?"

  "All things are possible, Special Inspector, all things," Arrian offered quietly. "But Commodus may have his own issues to contend with."

  "Well, what do you make of that?"

  Clarus, Suetonius, Strabon, and Surisca had retired to a viewing platform on a hillock above the river. Below them the broad expanse of molten waters flowed to the north and far away Memphis, with the metropolis of Alexandria even farther.

  The four looked out over the streaming waters dotted with fishermen's coracles, light-loader boats, the local ferry feluccas, and small houseboats hired from towns and ports along the Nile's length to accommodate the tour's privileged travelers.

  The high hulk of The Dionysus, Caesar's specially-crafted fabrication of two laced river biremes to provide a platform for a structure above, was moored offshore in deeper water. It provided apartments and entertainment space for the empress, Vibia Sabina's, retinue and her daily feasting soirees.

  Anchored beyond The Dionysus to the north lay the Prefect Governor, Flavius Titianus's, river barque The Alexandros. Its elegant gilded timbers and ornately carved decors provided Titianus and his companion, Anna Perenna, suitably exalted accommodations but in an appropriately scaled down way. Despite its antique age The Alexandros, like The Dionysus, provided evidence of Rome's triumphant grandeur to awe Egypt's peasantry.

  Roped to moorings alongside the larger craft were the runabout vessels of the tour, single-sail gondolas maintained by several Imperial agencies. Two had sails emblazoned with the scarlet eagle and wreath of the Imperial Household.

  Another displayed the blood-red double-scorpion insignia of the Praetorian Guard.

  A fourth displayed the Prefect Governor's cartouche of a golden Ptolemaic eight-pointed starburst, an insignia inherited from Cleopatra's Ptolemy forebears.

  "Senator Arrian seemed ambivalent about Antinous's passing," Clarus offered. "I couldn't detect whether he was saddened or simply disinterested in the boy's death? Yet I'm told he was fond of the fellow."

  "He told us enough, I think," Suetonius resolved. "But what did you think of the shrouded figure fleeing ahead of us when we arrived? And who was it, I wonder?"

  "The woman with the pronounced perfume?" asked Clarus. "Who was she, do you think? A secret affair of the senator's? Someone's wife? Arrian does not travel with a wife."

  "Who indeed?" Suetonius added, looking to Surisca. Surisca smiled enigmatically.

  "May I speak?" she asked politely. Suetonius looked to Clarus, who nodded grudging approval.

  "The perfume is known to me," she said, "it was a blend of oils of lavender and wild marjoram. This tells us someth
ing, my lords."

  "You recognized the perfume, my dear? What does it tell us?" Suetonius charmed.

  "It tells us the wearer was from Rome, my lords. I know the perfume well, as you might imagine. It is new, is highly prized, and very expensive. I've used it myself when I'm fortunate enough to be given a small gift of it by a wealthy admirer," Surisca revealed.

  "Why does it tell us the wearer was Roman, Surisca?".

  "Lavender blooms are only harvested near Massilia on the coast of Gaul, while the perfume's heads of wild marjoram are from Florentia north of Rome. Nowhere in the East produces these blooms in sufficient quantity to make perfume," Surisca explained, "it requires very great quantities of blooms. These two blooms are impregnated in oil, and then blended and have their scents fixed by a secret process. This is known only to an apothecary who owns a shop in the emporium arcade of Trajan's New Forum at Rome.

  Trajan's arcade houses the Empire's leading dealers in fashion silks, jewels, and perfumes. This particular blend of scents is the apothecary's rarest product. Only the wealthiest, most fashionable people wear it."

  "So, Surisca my dear, this woman was from Rome?" Suetonius enquired in a manner suggesting he already knew her likely response.

  "I am not familiar with the Roman women at this encampment, master. But I do not need to because I am sure this was not a woman."

  "Not a woman!?" Clarus lurched.

  "No, my lords, the figure was the outline of a man," she clarified, "he was wearing a toga beneath the cape, and these days men of fashion wear strong perfumes too."

  "By Zeus, who do we know at this godforsaken desert outpost who acquires products from Rome's leading emporia and wears a perfume which impacts the nostrils of those on the other side of a room?" Clarus asked rhetorically.

  "Senator Lucius Ceionius Commodus!" several voices intoned together.