All Roads Lead to Murder

by Albert A. Bell

  Using a historical character in a novel imposes certain limitations on an author. You can’t put your character in any place at any time that you choose. You are strictly bound by what is known of your character’s movements. This book is set in April of A.D. 83. We know that Pliny was returning from government service in Syria at that time. Whether he sailed or went by land we don’t know, but in his letters Pliny makes clear his dislike of sea travel, so I think it reasonable to posit an overland journey, which would have taken him through Smyrna.

  The precise movements of some of the other historical characters who appear in the book aren’t known, but I have not put anyone somewhere that he could not have been at that time. There is some debate, for example, about whether the elder Pliny was in Judaea at the time Jerusalem was destroyed. One inscription seems to suggest that he was. Nothing says for certain that he was not.

  The name of the governor of the province of Asia where Smyrna is located presents a historical problem. We know the names of two governors, either of whom could have been in office in April of 83. I have chosen Lucius Mestrius Florus because he is described as a man with some scientific curiosity, a characteristic which might make him sympathetic to Pliny. If anyone wants to argue that it is not absolutely certain that Florus was governor of Asia at this precise moment in time, I can only say that it’s not certain that he wasn’t. He will do as well as anyone.

  To sort out such details I have relied on David Magie’s masterful Roman Rule in Asia Minor and C. J. Cadoux’s old but still useful Ancient Smyrna.

  Names and Anachronisms

  Names pose one of the largest problems an author encounters when writing a novel set in ancient Rome. All those -us names begin to sound alike after a while. In this case my main character is a man whose name has been anglicized. We are familiar with him as Pliny, not Plinius. But we call his friend Tacitus. I have decided to use those forms, to anglicize names which we customarily anglicize, and leave less familiar names in their original Latin or Greek form. Even when people in the novel address Pliny in a somewhat formal way as “Gaius Pliny,” I have decided just to live with the anachronism. To have him suddenly become “Gaius Plinius” would be jarring.

  It is also difficult to find a term for the Greco-Roman practice of a midday rest. I was inclined to use “siesta,” but my writers’ group found it too anachronistic, so I settled on “midday rest.” There are a few other terms, such as “towel” and “handkerchief” which create a similar problem. The Romans used such things, even if their words for them are difficult to translate into a single modern word. There is a glossary of some of the most frequently used, and possibly unfamiliar, terms at the end of the book.

  Christians and Romans

  I find it difficult to write about the first century A.D. without bringing in some references to Christianity. The new faith was growing fast, and the Romans encountered it on a number of levels. Both the book of Acts and Pliny’s letter to Trajan document this. They show that people of both genders and all ages and social classes could be Christians.

  Whether the Romans understood what Christianity really taught is another question. On the other hand, the tenets of this new faith were not fully formed by the 80s. Christians in different parts of the Roman world, for example, celebrated Easter at different times and used different books as scripture. The Christians who appear in a novel set in this period should not be spouting the articles of the Westminster Confession. Not even of the Nicene Creed. They were not Catholic or Protestant or Orthodox.

  With those technical bits out of the way, I hope you enjoy the book.

  Albert Bell, Jr

  GLOSSARY OF TERMS

  Baiae—a popular resort on the north side of the Bay of Naples, noted for its warm springs.

  Board of Ten Judges (decemviri stlitibus iudicandis)—a minor court which dealt primarily with cases where an individual’s status as slave or free was in question.

  Boularch—the term literally means “ruling council.” Like many Greek cities, Smyrna had a committee whose members took turns acting as something like the mayor in a modern town. In Smyrna in the late first century A.D. there were twenty-four boularchs, two for each month.

  Caestus—a metal “glove” which fit over a boxer’s hand and lower arm. It guaranteed that Roman boxing matches were much bloodier than those of the Greeks.

  Calendar—the Roman calendar is similar to ours in the names of the months. The Romans, however, had no concept of the week. They contrived a very cumbersome system of dividing each month by marking certain days: the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides. The Kalends was the first day of any month. The Nones fell on the seventh of March, May, July, and October, but on the fifth day of the other months. The Ides fell on the fifteenth of March, May, July, and October; in the other months, it fell on the thirteenth. Romans gave dates in terms of how many days before the next of these major divisions, e. g., the sixth day before the Ides of February. Any date after the Ides of a month was recorded as so many days before the Kalends of the next month.

  Chiasmus—a rhetorical effect achieved by reversing elements in two consecutive phrases. William Jennings Bryan once said, ‘It is better to know the Rock of Ages than the age of rocks.’ One could hardly find a better example of chiasmus.

  Citizenship—Roman citizenship was much cherished. In the late Republic Roman citizens in Italy were reluctant to see their privileges diluted by having citizenship extended too widely. Under the emperors, however, citizenship became a carrot which encouraged good behavior out of provincials. By Pliny’s day citizenship was also extended to women. This did not mean that they could vote or hold office, but it did entitle them to have their legal issues heard in a Roman court. In letters 10.5 and 10.6, he specifically asks the emperor Trajan to extend this privilege to particular women.

  Client—in the early days of Rome only the upper class (patricians) had access to the legal system. The only way that lower-class persons (plebeians) could get into court was with the help of a patrician. In exchange for that help, of course, the plebeian had to do whatever service the patrician required. This usually consisted of voting for the patrician or his relatives, accompanying him as he walked around town (a show of social status), and applauding for him when he made speeches. The plebeian also received a daily handout. He was called a ‘client’ from a Latin word meaning to rely on someone.

  Clientela—all of a patron’s clients collectively make up his clientela. They would usually accompany him through the streets, like a modern celebrity with his “posse.”

  Colonia Agrippina—the modern city of Cologne (or Köln) on the Rhine River in Germany.

  Consul—the chief executive officer of the Roman state before Augustus established the rule of the emperors in 27 B. C. Two consuls were chosen each year. They conducted foreign policy and commanded the army. After 27 B. C. the office was ceremonial but still considered a great honor. Families took great pride in having ancestors who had held the consulship, no matter how many generations back.

  Family dependent, see client

  Ides—see calendar

  Kalends—see calendar

  Legacy hunter—many aristocratic Romans were childless. The elder Pliny died without any biological children. Pliny the Younger lost a child when his wife had a miscarriage. They had no other children. The reasons for this situation are debated, but it meant that there was intense competition for a piece of the estates of these wealthy childless people. The satirist Juvenal wonders in one of his poems why a man would want to get married and give up all the attention and gifts lavished on him by people who hoped to be written into his will. In his letters Pliny derides Regulus for his blatant legacy hunting.

  Litter—a seat or couch which could be carried by slaves or animals by means of poles attached to the sides. Upper-class Romans favored this mode of transportation. The litter could have curtains around it to provide privacy for a traveller.

  Lord—this word is used in this novel where a Roma
n would say dominus and a Greek kyrios. Both words mean something like ‘master’ and are used to address one’s superior in a way that emphasizes one’s own lowliness. Slaves addressed their owners as dominus. By the late first century AD it was becoming commonplace to use the term for the emperor. This created problems for Christians, who used the term to address God.

  Lupinaria—a brothel. The lup- part of the word is from the Latin word for wolf. Disreputable women were commonly called by that name, similar to the way we today call a woman a “bitch,” which is a female dog.

  Manumission—by the first century A.D. it was commonplace for wealthy Romans to free some or all of their slaves in their wills. In fact, the emperor Augustus had to place limits on how many slaves could be emancipated because the citizenship rolls were becoming enlarged with former slaves. In several of his letters Pliny deals with issues related to manumission of slaves in wills. (see also Citizenship)

  Military tribune—men of the equestrian order filled ranks similar to our lower commissioned officers, such as a lieutenant.

  Nomen—a Roman man’s name typically consisted of three parts: praenomen, nomen, and cognomen. In a name like Gaius Julius Caesar, Julius is the nomen, the family name. Gaius is the praenomen, the first name. The praenomen is usually abbreviated: L(ucius), M(arcus), P(ublius), etc. Because names were commonly repeated in families, a cognomen or third name, in this case Caesar, served as a way of distinguishing one Gaius Julius from another. In a case like Pliny’s, where a boy has been adopted into another family, part of his biological father’s name would be incorporated into his name. The emperor Augustus, who was adopted by his great-uncle Julius Caesar, was technically Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. Pliny, whose father was a Caecilius, became Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus after his uncle, Gaius Plinius Secundus, adopted him in his will. An individual could be addressed by one name, such as Pliny, or by his praenomen and cognomen, such as Gaius Pliny. Traditionally, a Roman woman was given a feminine form of her father’s nomen. Thus any and all daughters of G. Julius Caesar would be Julia. Pliny’s mother was Plinia. A woman named Cornelia was the daughter of a man from the Cornelius family. By Pliny’s day the nomenclature for Roman women was changing, and we find some women with two names or with a name based on their grandfather’s name.

  Nones—see calendar

  Pater familias—the oldest male member of a branch of a family. As long as a Roman man lived, his children were technically under his control. All of their property belonged to him. In actuality fathers did not often interfere in the affairs of their adult children, but the legal threat always hovered. Problems sometimes arose when a man lived to extreme old age or became senile. When a man died, his sons each became the pater familias of their own families.

  Praenomen—see nomen

  Priapus—unburdened by Victorian or Christian moral sensibilities, the Romans celebrated the creative urge in the form of this god with oversized male genitalia. He was considered a guardian of one’s property and a statue of him was often placed in the family’s garden. The poet Martial complains that someone stole his Priapus, rather like someone stealing a watchdog today.

  Quaestor—lowest of the offices in the cursus honorum, the series of offices which qualified a man to hold the consulship. Quaestors managed government finances. A man could be appointed quaestor on the staff of a provincial governor, as Cicero was in Sicily.

  Strigl—a curved metal instrument used in bathing. Greeks and Romans rubbed olive oil over themselves and scraped it off with a strigl, in theory taking the dirt with the oil. The mixture of sweat and olive oil scraped off by famous athletes was sometimes made into a beauty cream by “gladiator groupies”.

  Taberna—a shop of any kind. In particular, a food shop.

  Tablinum—a room off the atrium of a Roman house where the master kept his papers and did the actual work of managing his affairs.

  Tribunician power—beginning with Augustus, the senate granted to the emperors the powers of a tribune, particularly the power to veto any action of another magistrate or assembly. To maintain the facade of the Republic, this power was granted on an annual basis. The emperors used the granting of this power to date the years of their reigns. Coins will show, for example, TR POT XI, meaning that particular emperor had been granted the power for the eleventh time.

  Trigon—a game played by three people, standing at points of a triangle. Beyond that, we don’t know much about it. It involved passing a ball or balls. Whether the object of the game was to enable another player to catch your pass, or to do something unexpected so that another player couldn’t catch the ball, we don’t know.

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