This appears to be the traditional solution to low flooding. The sacrificed man assuages the gods somehow; he is magically resurrected in their view to become Osiris Reborn on the third day of The Isia. This act guarantees next year's flood will be normal. Well, that's what they claim. It's all very convoluted, but these superstitious people have faith in it."
"My lady, seeing we're talking plainly, allow me to question you plainly," Suetonius roused himself. "Where do you think Antinous spent the day or night of his death?"
"Gentlemen, you appear to know as much as I do, and that's absolutely nothing. But if you want my advice, considering the preparations underway nearby, I'd suggest you talk with Governor Titianus. He knows everything worth knowing in this land.
Besides, Tranquillus, both the Augusta and I suspect the young man's death is too convenient by half. We'd say there's more to it than meets the eye."
CHAPTER 21
"Reporting as instructed, sir!"
Urbicus saluted the group of four. His Alexandrian Praetorian troop was approaching the riverside jetty giving access to The Alexandros. Suetonius, Clarus, Surisca, and Strabon were proceeding along the same pier.
"You requested my report by the highest sun, sir," he announced with a fumbling stammer. He seemed ill-prepared to meet the four.
"Greetings Centurion!" Clarus responded crisply. "Make your report."
"Hail Caesar! I and my men have searched for the river craft painted blue bearing the Eye of Horus and without sail markings, just as the fishermen who discovered the deceased described to us yesterday.
We have located such a vessel secured in slips by the river at an inlet close by the Temple of Amun near the Imperial Encampment. I am told on authority it is the only such boat on the river here. The temple is less than a stadion north of our protected stockade, surrounded by palm trees. You'd never know it was there it's so well concealed."
"Have you been able to establish whether this vessel was sailing the river at dawn on the day of Antinous's death, and who its sailor or sailors may have been?" Suetonius queried.
"This was difficult, sirs, as our enquiry would have raised suspicion among the chief priests of the temple. But yes, we apprehended a worker-priest attached to the temple who was performing manual work in the vicinity of the docked vessel. We persuaded the man to join our company so we could question him in private," the officer announced in crisply-articulated soldier-speak.
"Question him? You mean you abducted the fellow, put him to the sword, pressured him, and probably threatened him to some degree?" Suetonius asked genially, if apprehensively.
"Indeed this might be so, Special Inspector," the Praetorian confirmed with no hint of irony. "The fellow resisted and claimed he knew of no such voyage. But he was eventually amenable to persuasion and revealed what we wished to know."
"Amenable? So what was revealed?" Suetonius queried. He was alarmed at the Guard's impetuosity in dealing with a workman, priest, or slave under some other institution's protection.
"He told us the master of the Temple, a priest of Amun named Panchrates or Pachrates of Memphis, had been sailing the river at the appointed time in this vessel accompanied by an acolyte," Urbicus concluded. The Praetorian officer fell silent, displaying visible satisfaction.
"Pachrates?!" both Clarus and Suetonius exclaimed. "But why? What was he doing on the river at that time, Centurion?"
"Well," the Praetorian offered as an information coup-de-grace, "the slave told us he'd heard gossip how Panchrates had ritually sacrificed the youth Antinous in a magical rite to invoke health, and was delivering the corpse upstream to be discovered in the river at dawn. Perhaps this is why the youth's left wrist had been slashed when he was found by the fishermen, and why he was attired in his formal parade armors."
The group of four was astonished. At last a breakthrough!.
"But why would the priest Pachrates slay the Bithynian? What profit is there in this to an Egyptian priest? Especially a Bithynian who was Caesar's Favorite?" Clarus demanded. He was entering his legalist's temper of cui bono?
Urbicus replied carefully.
"The temple slave did not know these things, my lords, he was a lowly laborer, but he'd heard it said it was to allay Pharaoh's concerns about correcting the low flooding of the Nile," the Praetorian stated. "It was a public gesture for this year's Festival of Isis."
"Where is this slave informant now, Urbicus?" Suetonius demanded. "We must keep him isolated and protected until we can authenticate this story. These are sensitive claims you make, and this workman is our only witness to such charges."
"This is not possible, sir," Urbicus offered with a lowered voice. "The slave expired under our exactions. We may have overdone the persuasion a little, sir. He bled liberally under the duress. So we tossed his carcass into the river to appear to be a drowning accident too. It seems Osiris will have two claimants to resurrection this Isia." Urbicus was engaging in droll Praetorian wit.
"Separately, Special Inspector," he continued, "we've been searching for your interviewees Lysias of Bithynia and the freedwoman Thais of Cyrene. They too have gone missing, despite your demands they attend your interview today. We searched for them last night at their tents. They could not be found anywhere.
However, we did find the mutilated corpse of their senior steward, a Judaean freedman from Bithynia. He'd been decapitated in a similar manner to the fisherman from Besa. But we couldn't locate either the offenders or the two young people in the vicinity."
It was Suetonius's turn to feel discomfort at these revelations.
"You didn't mention this incident earlier this morning when you delivered the head of the fisherman Ani to our breakfast table?" he enquired. "Nor mention another decapitation. Had you forgotten such a grisly discovery?"
Urbicus shuffled momentarily with unease but did not lose his verbal stride.
"No, my lord, I had not forgotten. It was simply that the fisherman Ani's murder and return of his head to his family, as well as the search for the river craft, had a higher priority in your instruction. Were we being negligent, sir?" the officer offered with an air of impervious innocence.
Suetonius was now beginning to feel even greater discomfort. Looking to Clarus for confirmation, the biographer was coming to appreciate how the death of the Bithynian youth seemed to provoke increasingly violent, yet inexplicable, responses from unknown forces.
He recollected the lad's drowning had induced two beheadings, one death by over-zealous torture, three disappearances, plus a glut of conspiracy theories to complicate the basic search for a motive. As the hours towards the appointment with Hadrian raced by, the number of issues multiplied, not declined. A further query arose in his mind.
"Tell me Centurion, how did you manage to find us here at The Alexandros jetty?"
Urbicus expressed surprise at the question. He hesitated before responding.
"Why, my lord," he uttered with obvious sincerity, "we had been searching for your party in the vicinity of Senator Arrian's chambers to make our report, but then spied you and your colleagues at this river landing from a distance. It was accidental. But having reported, we request we receive your further instructions."
The guardsman from Alexandria was collectedly cool in his response. Suetonius wondered if he was perhaps too cool, and his eyes turned to Surisca for a shared opinion. Clarus interrupted.
"Yes, Praetorian," Clarus declaimed, "this is our instruction. We must urgently locate the two friends of Antinous, Lysias and the girl Thais, before anyone else apprehends them and does them harm. Continue your search for the couple. Assign further troops to the search if necessary through Tribune Macedo. Do whatever is necessary to secure their safety! Certainly let there be no accidents with the couple, we don't wish to lose further sources of testimony."
"It will be done, sir," Urbicus confirmed. He snapped to attention as his troop swept their helmets to their heads in unison, saluted in military style, and marched off.
"
Strabon, did you record the past few minute's conversation?" Suetonius enquired.
"Indeed I have, Special Inspector," the scribe responded.
"Good. Keep those tablets close in a safe place. Something is amiss here, gentlemen," Suetonius confided insecurely, "and I'm not at all sure what it is. Any thoughts, anybody?"
He cast his eyes over his trio of companions. Surisca cautiously raised a finger.
"Speak, my dear," the biographer prompted. Surisca spoke hesitantly.
"Master, forgive my impertinence, but when the centurion and his soldiers were approaching I had the definite feeling it was not My Masters they were coming to visit. To my eye, it was this jetty to the barque they were approaching," she offered, "not the enjoyment of your company."
"To this jetty?" Clarus enquired with a hint of exasperation. "Meaning what especially, woman?"
"I sensed, sir, they were at this wharf to travel to where you yourselves are travelling, not to report to your lordships, as they claim. They were on their way to that mighty vessel offshore."
"I felt the same, my lords," Strabon added to Surisca's comments. "I sensed they were surprised to come across us at this place. The centurion had not really expected to meet us here."
"You mean they were on their way to visit the Prefect Governor aboard The Alexandros, not talk with us as they claimed?" Clarus rationalized.
"Except, my good Clarus," Suetonius intruded, "the centurion pointedly told us it was our company he was seeking, not the governor's. We have another contradiction to contend with. Yet instead of such mere speculation, my friends, let's pay the good governor a visit ourselves to find out."
The main deck of The Alexandros was an open area shaded under a filmy canopy emblazoned with the Alexandrine starburst. It provided space for entertainments, feasts, ceremonies, or juridical occasions.
The barque's decoration was an elaborate fantasy of carved timbers inset with honey-hued porthole windows of thin alabaster. A riot of sculpted figures depicting the victories of Alexander over his enemies graced its exterior. Similar to its larger companion The Dionysus, the governor's barque was a visible demonstration of the opulence and power of Rome to her provincial Egyptian subjects.
The Prefect Governor was seated upon his chair-of-state on a rostrum under the midday glare diffused by the canopy. Flavius Titianus was attended by several staff, guards, a scribe at a lectern desk, and young pages. They were engaged in business when Titianus spied his visitors awaiting his attention. He rose from his seat and dismissed all his attendants except one.
"Come forward, gentlemen!" he called aloud to his visitors. "Make yourself known!"
Suetonius, Clarus, Strabon, and a hesitant Surisca approached the throne. Suetonius coaxed the Syri to follow close behind him despite her non-status as a non-person.
"Greetings, Prefect Governor," Clarus responded. "We salute you. Hail Caesar!"
"Senator Clarus and Suetonius Tranquillus, all hail!" was the reply.
Titianus was in his early forties, short of stature, thickset, and of sturdy farmer stock in the classic Roman soldierly way. He exuded the prim but efficient air of a practical man who gets things done. Titianus had the emperor's complete confidence in his management of the Empire's most important province, Egypt. The African colonies are Rome's bread basket.
Titianus has the obligation of ensuring an inexhaustible supply of grain to Rome. He must also secure from pirates the Red Sea trade with Nabataea, Arabia Felix, India and the farther mysterious Orient. A further priority is to encourage the capture of wild animals from beyond the distant lands of Kush and Punt in the African hinterland for the Empire's blood-sports arenas. Overall, Hadrian's governor had forbidding responsibilities. Not least among these were the strict control of the various ethnic, class, and religious rivalries which repeatedly threatened to explode across his jurisdiction and jeopardize these chores.
"What brings you to my office, gentlemen? And without an appointment," Titianus asked in the abrupt manner of a military man. He gathered his toga's folds and re-seated himself upon his throne of office, waving to his visitors to take their seat in the elegant chairs arranged before him.
Clarus rose to address the governor.
"Prefect Governor, we come on Caesar's instruction. We have been commissioned by Caesar to investigate the recent death of the Companion of the Hunt, Antinous of Bithynia," Clarus announced grandly while holding the slender ivory-spined scroll high as his authority. "We are charged to complete our investigation by dawn tomorrow and report our findings to Caesar. We are here to enquire your views of the boy's death and seek any relevant information you or your officers may possess about the manner of his death."
Titianus sat immobile for a few moments contemplating this presentation. He stared at Clarus with an unwaveringly searching eye.
"Well, you'd better get underway, hadn't you? Tomorrow's dawn is about eighteen hours away. Ask of me what you will, gentlemen. I will respond appropriately," he stated flatly.
"We're to take notation of your views and testimony, my lord. Our scribe is to record our interviews for Caesar's information, and so requires a preceding statement of your titles and honors, Prefect Governor."
Titianus rested back in his high chair as a tired, impatient expression cast across his features. It was evident the governor was not especially interested in this intrusion upon his day's chores, and the sooner it was over the better. He began sharply.
"I do not announce my titles to my inferiors, Senator Septicius Clarus, I have a secretary for that purpose. He'll give you the details. Let's get on with it."
Titianus waved to the secretary to perform. The Greek took the hint and proclaimed loudly to Strabon..
"Scribe, take note. This is the testimony of His Excellency Titus Flavius Titianus, Caesar's appointed Prefect Governor of the Imperial province of Upper and Lower Egypt. His Excellency has served Great Caesar in Roman Asia, Gaul, and Rome itself since the time of his succession. He is married to a wife resident at Rome, and has four children by her."
Titianus waved impatiently to his secretary to cease and leave-out out the long list of titles and honors which usually followed. He waited impatiently for an interview question.
"What is your understanding of the nature of the death of the youth Antinous?" Suetonius asked.
Titianus shifted peevishly on his throne.
"Special Inspector, all I can surmise is that the lad fell overboard after a drunken revel, or suchlike. I have no idea what may have transpired with the fellow," he offered brusquely.
"Do you possess any knowledge about the young man's movements on the day of his death, the first day of the Festival of Isis, or what company he may have kept?"
"No, I do not.".
"We have received the impression he may have had at least one sexual assignation on the day of his death with a person or persons unknown. Are you aware of his activities on that day which may interest us, or know of such persons?" the biographer queried.
"Gentlemen, I am the governor of this province. I do not bother myself with the sexual exploits or peccadilloes of my subjects, let alone passing tourists to this land. These are not affairs of substance to me. Let's move on," Titianus concluded dismissively.
Suetonius was not deterred.
"We have been told, my lord, how you and your companion, the lady Anna Perenna, had shared some time with the Bithynian in recent times?" the Special Inspector continued. "Perhaps you possess observations of the character of the deceased which might reflect upon our investigations and provide insight into his death?"
Titianus responded warily.
"Firstly, my involvement with Caesar's Favorite has been transient and nominal; I do not share the society of Companions of the Hunt or Caesar's intimates unless the Imperial couple is attending or there's a State significance.
Secondly, the Lady Anna Perenna is no business of your enquiry, gentlemen. This woman is my client and my companion who is under my protection, that's all.
She possesses no value to your endeavors. May we please wind up this fishing expedition for scandals, I have other business to attend."
Suetonius decided he needed a change of tack to engage the governor's greater interest and explore certain areas of enquiry.
"My lord, is it possible that Antinous of Bithynia shared private time with your ward and companion?" Suetonius asked with just the barest hint of provocation.
Clarus looked to his Special Inspector in cool dismay; he could not recall such a possibility being aired in any testimony provided thus far. Titianus was startled by the question. It had an unsubtle implication.
"Special Inspector Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, the affairs of those under the protection of my household are no concern to you. My good lady, the priestess Anna Perenna, is within the oversight of myself and my staff at all times," he stated with clear precision. "My ward and companion has met the youth Antinous on only a handful of occasions, each occasion being in my own company or in the company of those I appoint to protect her.
I assure you, the lady has had little opportunity to enjoy the pleasant society of young men like Antinous in private, if this is your suggestion. I suggest you reconsider your line of questioning."
"Who do you appoint to protect the lady, my lord Governor?" Suetonius probed further.
"This too is no matter of yours, Tranquillus. I appoint reliable officers of my Guard to such duties. In fact, the Lady Perenna has a permanent bodyguard corps assigned to her protection under a senior officer of indisputable regard," the governor proclaimed.
"Who is this officer, my lord Governor?" the Special Inspector queried.
"Why, the officer in charge of her security corps is an Alexandrian centurion I hold in high esteem who shows great promise for the future. He is an achievement-oriented leader of men, an unusual quality in recruits from the African colonies, and he takes initiative well," Titianus explained.
"What is his name?" Suetonius searched further.
A Forbidden History.The Hadrian enigma Page 35
