"Caesar, there appears to be a scarlet jewel within the entrails," he announced. Do you wish me to retrieve it?"
"The gut is sealed by Nature's hand, so it can't have been inserted into the tissue," Pachrates declared.
Hadrian again tiredly nodded. Macedo took his hip dagger and carefully incised the diaphanous tissue. Something small and hard popped out into his hand. A priest came forward with a small bowl of perfumed water and a towel to rinse the object, which was then passed carefully to Pachrates. Pachrates held the object high between finger and thumb to the light of the nearest torch to inspect its features closely.
He turned to Hadrian and uttered an impressive exclamation in his inscrutable language while holding the object high to display to the assembled notables.
"Great Caesar, your humble servant of Amun, Pachrates, Sage of Heliopolis, offers proof to vindicate the death of the youth Antinous. In divining the auspices of the entrails of the young man I see no messages of despair or disease or death. No, not at all. I see no imperfection, no dire omens, no divine warning. I see nothing but health and wholesomeness, healing, and future hope!"
Pachrates paused to assess the effect of his pronouncements upon the assembly. Their eager eyes and engrossed attention were very winning.
"Yet further Caesar, on inspecting these entrails more intimately I discover this miraculous trophy. Concealed within the entrails at a place no mortician can reach, inches beneath the heart of the boy, lies a blood-hued gem generated spontaneously within the organs of the youth. Behold! I raise it high!
It is a likeness of the god Osiris himself fashioned as a blood jewel. It is just as our ancients prophesy of a Nile sacrificial drowning! The youth's own bloodstream has transfigured into an icon of the god Osiris himself! Within the very organs of the drowned victim is the visible sign that the youth metamorphed into the god Osiris, the Dionysus of Egypt, the dying and reborn god of the seasons! It is a holy, sacred apotheosis!"
Pachrates was warming to his role. His voice rose higher in increasingly joy.
"Through the death of the mortal Antinous our god Osiris resurrects again on the third day! Osiris is reborn in Antinous! Antinous is reborn as Osiris! Antinous is sanctified as Divus! Divine-like! The youthful vitality of Antinous transmutes into the lifeforce of Pharaoh! Praise to the life-giving boon of Antinous-Osiris of Egypt!"
Pachrates voice soared in rising emotion, encouraging the assembly to heightened enthusiasm.
Suetonius immediately recalled the phrase "an exchange of boons" from somewhere among the recorded testimonies. It suggested Pharaoh/Caesar had now acquired the vitality of the twenty-three year old Bithynian by some sort of magical exchange. Was Urbicus correct in his claim about Pachrates after all? Suetonius pondered, or was Balbilla following somehow in her grandfather's steps on behalf of the Augusta?.
Pachrates proudly strode to Hadrian and placed the small scarlet figurine into the open palm of his hand. Hadrian cast his eyes over it with delicacy and distinct reserve. He seemed uncertain of the object. Pachrates continued his performance.
"My Lord Caesar, wear this mystical amulet deriving from the very bloodstream of Antinous of Bithynia. Adorn yourself for evermore with this jewel," the hierarch declaimed for all to hear. "This miraculously-generated icon transfers the health and years of the dead youth to you, our Princeps, the Pharaoh of our world. It expresses the Hidden God, Amun-Re's, beneficence to our generation! We all rejoice in Antinous, Osiris Reborn!"
Pachrates, Kenamun, and the assembled priests bowed low in a choreographed flourish towards the emperor.
The biographer and Surisca exchanged questioning glances.
Hadrian's demeanor transformed. His brow darkened. His skin perceptibly grayed. Signs of excruciating pain glinted from his eyes. His lips blanched into an aggrieved thinning. A stoop descended upon him whose very burden aged him a decade in seconds. His cough revived in his craw.
He raised himself shakily from the throne to glance dartingly from the blood-red jewel in his palm, to the cadaver serene upon the bier, to the glistening viscera lying larded on the golden platter. Several hundred pair of eyes watched his every motion.
Those observing this escalating transformation stiffened in uncertainty at the emperor's looming disposition. The priests intuitively stepped back a pace as they braced in anticipation of something ominous. None had previously witnessed such a rancor fall across their emperor's features. Hadrian was on the verge of eruption. Its sight numbed marrows, chilled blood, and weighed tongues.
With a wounded howl fit to harrow Hades himself, Hadrian leaned at the side of the throne to forcefully discharge his entire stomach's contents onto the flagstones nearby. He vomited a voluminous projectile spray across the slabs, splattering the sandals and boots of both Governor Titianus and Geta standing to the side of the throne, as well as Macedo and a guardsman nearby.
The putrid discharge displayed streaks of black blood and emitted a malodorous stench into the sanctuary.
A deep groan surged across the assembly.
Geta leaped to Caesar's aid to hold his elbow to offer support. The Augusta, remained upright in her seat, immobile, entranced. The entire entourage remained stiffly rooted to their places. No soldiers moved, no pages approached, no priests knelt.
Suetonius glanced around the faces before him. All were grave, except one. Decurion Scorilo, standing at the head of his detachment of Horse Guards, his eyes firmly planted on his commander in chief, the emperor, was assimilating every tremor of Caesar's distress. He was subtly alight with an expression akin to a smile. Suetonius determined it was the token of some inexplicable victory.
Meanwhile, on looking to Governor Titianus, his consort Anna Perenna, and Centurion Urbicus nearby, he could see each was severely restraining their emotions. The Augusta was formally, immutably composed, while Balbilla was visibly discomforted.
Arrian was troubled. Vestinus was agitated. Macedo displayed increasing alarm. Commodus exuded confident apprehension, distracted by checking his vestments and hair for stains or spots.
Hadrian braced himself on the throne's armrest to cast his eyes at the two hierarchs before him. After a short, choked coughing bout and clearing his throat, he gathered his composure sufficiently as his voice weakly rasped into the cavernous gloom. His gaze had settled wistfully on the figure upon the bier. But his words were not what the gathering could have anticipated.
"Little soul, roamer and charmer,
My body's comrade and its sometime guest,
What dominion now must be your goal,
Pale and stiff and naked?
Unable now, like us, to jest."
The assembly stood rock still in oppressive silence. Many wondered whose soul Caesar reflected upon. His own or that of the figure on the bier? And what did 'sometime guest' convey?
Then Hadrian's voice resumed its usual commanding resonance. It grew in power as he spoke.
"Priests of Isis, Serapis, and Amun, place a worthy gold coin on the Bithynian's tongue for his journey's fee with Charon to the Land Of The Dead.
Say holy rites over Antinous to prepare him for his journey. Impress a death mask from his features to retain for our fond memory.
Take his earthly remains and perform your most effective arts upon him to embalm him for posterity. Spare no cost to preserve his tissues with loving respect. I will send the Dacian, Geta, to you shortly with special instructions for ceremonies to honor the youth's life."
The assembly relaxed from its dread.
"It will be done, Great Caesar," Pachrates affirmed as he waved hurriedly to temple attendants to cleanse the mess on the flagstones. Attendants in workman's leathers scurried in the background with sponges, water, and generous splashes of perfume.
The emperor returned to his formal manner.
"But we are not finished here yet, Egyptian magi. Stay! It is time for my Special Inspector to make his report to the Household in our presence," Hadrian announced.
Alarm
! Panic! Suetonius clenched his fists while Clarus drew breath and bit a lip. They were both unprepared for such a duty. They assumed the report would be delivered later in the privacy of Hadrian's chambers. Suetonius realized his hundred thousand sesterces and the security of his head on his shoulders could be at risk.
But as he contemplated this less-than-desirable fate his attention was drawn by Strabon's tap at the elbow. The scribe pointed to the group of temple workers cleaning the temple floor before them. Among the gathering he spied a particularly unexpected face.
Suetonius peered toward the man. For a brief moment he couldn't place precisely where he had seen the fellow previously. It then struck him.
It was Hetu the fisherman who had discovered Antinous's body beneath the river's waters two dawns earlier with his cousin Ani. Hetu had not been killed by Ani's murderers after all!
Hetu and Suetonius's eyes met in fleeting recognition while the Egyptian was addressing to his tasks, but the fisherman flicked away in fear.
Suetonius immediately realized his fund of fragments from the two days of testimony possessed some slim unifying threads. The puzzle's solution was gradually taking shape. Or was it? How were these threads to be woven together in a meaningful way, he asked himself? What did they tell?
Yet were the stalking wolves themselves now being stalked, he wondered?
CHAPTER 31
Suetonius stood before the assembly to deliver his report. Clarus, Strabon, and Surisca stood a pace behind him, each wondering what their Special Inspector could possibly assert under the circumstances.
"Great Caesar, you have instructed Senator Claudius Septicius Clarus and I, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, to examine the circumstances of the death of your Companion of the Hunt, Antinous of Bithynia.
You commanded us to investigate the manner of his death and the reason for his death. The enquiry was to be completed within the space of two days and two nights," Suetonius declaimed magisterially in his least-quavering barrister's vocal technique. It had worked well enough decades ago at the Bar of Rome but was a little rusty, he thought.
"No excuses, Special Inspector. Get on with it," Hadrian huffed.
The emperor slumped deep into his throne as the workers bustled silently around him eliminating the odious effluvium of his discharge. Suetonius braced himself as Clarus stood firm nearby concealing sweating palms.
"Firstly, my Lord, a chain of violent events begins when Antinous is found lying beneath a moored fishermen's coracle at the river's edge at first light two dawns ago. That day was the morning of the first day of The Festival of Isis.
Two netters of fish and birds, Ani and Hetu of the village of Besa nearby, drag the body of the youth from the river and raise the alarm. Antinous was beneath the river's waters attired in his ceremonial parade uniform as a Hunt Companion, still wearing the helmet and cavalry mask of a formal imperial parade. It is the regalia of a special ceremony, not of a casual night's pleasures or some sporty lad's horseplay.
Ani and Hetu call for help. Fortuitously, a troop of three members of Governor Flavius Titianus's Praetorian Guard from Alexandria happen to be nearby under the command of Centurion Quintus Urbicus of Numidia. Urbicus and his troops try to revive Antinous, but to no avail. They aim to clear his lungs of water and search his body for signs of the cause of death.
Other than light bruises, the only visible wound is a deep incision in the lad's left wrist. The guardsmen do not report the wound, leaving this revelation to an official magistrate's enquiry or inspection by a physician.
Later when checking the young man's attire it is noted how two of the lad's personal possessions are missing — his youth's bulla locket, the golden necklet containing some favored scripture or charm, and his ring depicting the deity Abrasax, known to be a gift received from you, Caesar, as a protective talisman.
Ani and Hetu later report to us how the only vessel sailing on the river at such early light was a single craft identified by them as bearing the insignia of the priests of the very Temple of Amun we currently inhabit. Their recorded testimony says it is possible those sailing this vessel had deposited the youth at the river's edge and hurriedly departed the vicinity."
Suetonius paused to let the information sink in to his audience, and give him time to assess his next stage of description.
On hearing about the Temple vessel the security chief Tribune Lucius Macedo made a discreet gesture to one of his officers. Guardsmen closest to the priests Pachrates and Kenamun quietly shifted into a formation of nearer proximity to the pair, much to their immediate alarm. Suetonius continued his presentation.
"One of these two fishermen, Ani, is murdered later that same night by masked assailants of unknown origin. Fortunately, we had inscribed a record of the fishermen's testimony. The following morning Ani's decapitated head is exhibited to us by Centurion Urbicus as evidence of the murder. Urbicus had been assigned to us as an investigative operative. Hetu, the other fisherman, is reported chased by the same masked assailants to a fate unknown at this particular time. I will return to Hetu later.
Lysias of Bithynia, Antinous's close friend, and Thais of Cyrene, the youth's language tutor, are attacked at their tents in the Imperial Encampment that same night, also by masked assailants. Simon, a steward of Lysias's household, is murdered and decapitated defending the couple. They flee by devious routes to take secret refuge at the compound of the Companions of the Hunt. Quaestor Salvius Julianus, the former Master of the Hunt, offers his protection to the two at the Companions' stables.
At early afternoon the following day — this was yesterday — our party of three citizens of Rome — Quaestor Julianus, Senator Clarus, and myself of the equites class — accompanied by three worthy staff, are attacked by concealed archers while we were travelling from a riverside jetty to the Hunt compound. Julianus's equerry is wounded in the foot, but all six survive the attack unharmed.
Since that time your investigators suspect their lives are at risk, having been set upon by unknown forces bent on committing harm for unknown reasons of purposes.
So Great Caesar, to tally up, in the space of only two days within the confines of the protected enclave of the Imperial Household your assigned investigators are confronted by the inexplicable drowning of an innocent youth, Antinous; two or possibly three assassinations by decapitation; a murderous attack by unknown archers in which an equerry is wounded; and a general climate of insecurity and uncertainty within the enclosure.
This is a high casualty rate for such a secure facility in the space of two nights — four unexplained deaths and a life-threatening injury, along with general mayhem and havoc. It is my belief, sir, these events are closely linked."
"Linked by who or to what?" Hadrian murmured tiredly. His features displayed a distinct lack of enthusiasm for Suetonius's presentation.
"I must raise the renown principle of cui bono? sir. Who benefits? It seems a member or members of our court may have good reason to see these offences come to pass. I include the death of the young man Antinous as the primary offence. There appears to be some person or persons among us who possess the resources, the authority, or the determination to prosecute such violence in our midst, Caesar."
Hadrian shifted uneasily in his seat.
"Explain, Inspector! Why do you believe the youth was subject to violence? Importantly too, who can be shown to benefit from Antinous's death?"
"Possibly several people my lord, either directly or by purposeful influence."
"Get to the core of the matter, Special Inspector. Time is passing. Dawn is almost upon us," Hadrian declared impatiently.
"I will be brief, Caesar. Let us first explore our present company at Court to see what motives may exist among us. We will begin with the outer ring, those who are not official members of your Household, the priests of Amun before us. Pachrates the Sage of Heliopolis, and Kenamun the Embalmer, should tell us what they know of the youth's death," Suetonius offered. He gestured to Kenamun nearby as he spoke.
"Kenamun, as the presiding mortician, has an intimate knowledge of the state of Antinous in death, my lord. We should listen to what he has to say on the manner of Antinous's death."
Kenamun glanced nervously at the surrounding assembly of notables and the somber emperor before him. Suetonius nodded to him encouragingly and opened his questioning.
"Priest Kenamun, what can you tell us of the manner of the young man's death?"
Kenamun gulped nervously. His response tumbled out.
"Special Inspector, it is my belief Antinous of Bithynia did not die by drowning. I believe he died instead of a loss of blood which occurred before he entered the holy river's waters. Possibly well before."
A rustle of whispers swept the assembly. Hadrian shifted uncomfortably on his throne. Kenamun continued.
"In preparing the noble youth's cadaver for public display it was evident how very little blood had remained in his veins in the usual way of the deceased. When blood ceases its flow at death a residual quantity lingers in the veins. It coagulates in the veins as mucus which speedily putrefies.
In the case of Antinous, there was very little blood gelled in his veins. Very little indeed. I would hazard a guess he had been thoroughly drained of almost all blood while his life-force still animated his tissues. The faint blood which remained suggested he had died by massive bleeding at least an hour or more before his discovery at the river. This is my opinion.
Also, Antinous possessed a deep incision on his left wrist. It was an incision as a surgeon might perform, not an accidental tear. This tells me he had intentionally cut and bled himself. Alternatively, he had been purposefully cut by another as a slaughtered beast is bled of its impure blood."
The assembly emitted another rush of murmurs. Kenamun continued.
"Further, great sirs, though he was discovered under the river's waters, water damage to his skin and organs was minor. Prey-seeking river vermin are far more aggressive to a corpse over time than was evident on this youth. I believe he had been in the water less than even a single hour prior to his detection.
A Forbidden History.The Hadrian enigma Page 46
