`Well, listen: I suggest we keep it neat. Save us troubling our bankers and paying their damn charges. How about the figure you were awarded in the Calpurnia Cara case? You pay me the same and it all negates nicely.’
`This is for you, dear colleague,’ Silius observed, turning to Paccius. Neither of them quibbled about me assuming they had always worked in tandem, I noticed.
`Half a million? Falco, you’re not worth the same as a senator’s wife.’ Paccius was calm, despite the amount involved.
`But you two are,’ I answered. I was calm too. I had nothing to lose except my temper, and there was no point in that.
`Have I missed something?’ asked Silius, paying more attention. My demand was outrageous, so why was I making it?
`I was fortunate in that impiety issue,’ I explained frankly. `I had imperial support; I don’t know if you realised. Titus got involved. That was why the praetor barred the case.’ I saw the two men glance at each other. `My honour at the Temple of Juno was an imperial gift; casting doubt on my suitability was a thrust at Vespasian, you know… I thought it best to warn you,’ I said, in a genial tone.
I sat back and sipped my spiced wine, allowing them time to adjust their thoughts.
`If I insist on a public hearing to clear my name,’ I pointed out, `with Titus Caesar backing me, your reputations will be shredded. You may be hoping for further advancement in the cursus honorum - surely two ex-consuls must be hoping for governorships? I know you won’t want Titus screwing up your postings with a veto… Half a million is a small sacrifice to secure your next honours, don’t you think?’
After a long silence, the sacrifice was made.
I ate my cake, then walked away from them across the Forum. I hid a smile. I knew that Titus Caesar had told the senator he would intervene with the praetor only on condition that the charge died, with no repercussions. Titus would never have backed me publicly. Still, Silius and Paccius must both be aware that sometimes in legal bargaining it is necessary to bluff.
My post as Procurator of the Sacred Geese was abolished shortly after all this, in a round of Treasury cutbacks. I was disappointed. The salary had been useful; losing it curtailed Helena’s plans to build an out door dining room with a shell-lined nymphaeum and miniature canals.
Besides, the Sacred Geese of Juno and the Augurs’ Chickens were good layers. When I was looking after them, I used to enjoy my omelettes.
I had begun this enterprise disenchanted - and had all my prejudice confirmed. I would wait in vain to see the grizzled old legals come good despite their cynicism. It was equally futile to hope that their idealistic apprentice, Honorius, would stay clean. I had escaped harm, more or less. Perhaps in some circles I had even increased my reputation.
Nobody was ever convicted of the murder of Rubirius Metellus, but nobody was wrongly condemned either. Saffia was dead, so she was beyond the courts. If Licinius Lutea escaped temporarily, he had become a target for the most patient of predators. So perhaps despite the efforts and machinations of my prosecuting colleagues, justice would one day be done.
The state had its own perspective. The following year, Ti Catius Silius Italicus was awarded a powerful post as proconsul of the province of Asia, while C. Paccius Africanus became proconsul of Africa. These were the Empire’s chief prizes - honourable governorships where unscrupulous men could, by applying the right kind of diligence, acquire enormous wealth.
But that would be only greedy and corrupt proconsuls, of course.
OTHER PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
M. Didius Falco: a principled informer (who needs the money)
Helena Justina: the guardian of his ethics
Julia Junilla and Sosia Favonia: their children (never ill; never naughty; never loud)
Albia: a British visitor, who has seen nothing yet
Nux: a dog, who owns Falco
The Sacred Geese of Juno |
and The Augurs’ Sacred Chickens | religious poultry’s free range omelette producers
Ma: a mother shamed by impiety
Verontius: Falco’s brother-in-law, as straight as a Roman road
D. Camillus Verus: Helena’s father, a senator with memories
Julia Justa: her mother, a matron with connections
A. Camillus Aelianus |
and Q. Camillus Justinus | Falco’s Associates, on a long learning curve
Ursulina Prisca: a valued client; very litigious
L. Petronius Longus: Falco’s friend in the vigiles, a useful contact
Anacrites: Falco’s enemy, a useless spook
Glaucus: Falco’s trainer, who has seen it all
Ti Catius Silius Italicus: a high class lawyer (with a dubious past)
C. Paccius Africanus: a trusts expert (with a shady reputation)
Honorius: a legal idealist (heading for disillusion?)
Marponius: a judge with encyclopaedic knowledge
Bratta: an informer’s informer
Procreus: an accuser’s accuser
Euphanes: a sickly herbalist
Rhoemetalces: an apothecary who takes his own medicine.
Claudius Tiasus: a funeral director with a chipped nymph
Biltis: a professional mourner, taking an interest
Spindex: a funeral clown; not laughing much
Olympia: a fortune teller; therapist to the nobility
Scorpus: aka `Old Fungibles’; a wills expert
Scythax: the vigiles doctor, prescribing caution
Aufustius: a banker with profligate clients
Euboule: a wetnurse who fosters doubts
Zeuko: her daughter, keeping it in the family
Perseus: a door porter who knows too much
Celadus: a steward who knows what the last meal was
Julius Alexander: a loyal land agent who knows where the loot is
The End
Lindsey Davis - Falco 15 - The Accusers Page 32
