'You're sure that's him?' one asked the other.
'You can see the harbor of St. Bart's in the background,' the other responded.
The first man shifted his position for a better view. 'What do we know about him?'
The other touched a key on the board in front of him and read from the screen. 'Very little so far. He was at one time employed by the army-we hacked into the military's files-but not much since he left in
2001.'
'Echelon?'
The man referred to the supereavesdropping program that, from its place in England, monitored every e-mail and most telephone calls worldwide. The information gleaned was shared only by England, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The satellites and the system they made work had been in operation long before the American public learned that their communications could be intercepted. The sheer volume of transmissions made it highly unlikely that anyone would be listened to without already being of interest to one of the governments involved.
'Our person there has secretly tagged Peters's name, although that's more difficult than watching for a specific phone number or e-mail address. He may use an encryption device. In any case, we're tracing what we took from his companion. Is he a threat?'
'He or his employer has Alazar's computer.'
The other man, perhaps a year or so younger than the first, reached into a bowl containing the small, sweet bananas grown nearby. He began to peel. 'Surely he wasn't so careless as to…'
The older man snorted. 'Alazar was not part of our cause. He was only in it for the money.'
The other finished the banana in two bites. 'We've found the location of his secret; we no longer need him. Perhaps his death was providential.'
'Perhaps. But keep our people looking for Peters. We can't risk what might be on that computer. The secret he sold us is our greatest weapon against the despoilers of the earth.'
JOURNAL OF SEVERENUS TACTUS EXCERPTED FROM ENO CALLIGINI, PH.D., ORACLES, AUGURY, AND DIVINATION IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. (TURIN: UNIVERSITY OF TURIN PRESS, 2003). TRANSLATION BY FREDERICK SOMMES, PH.D. CHAPEL HILL, N.C.: UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS.
Cave of the Sibyl
Cumae, Gulf of Naples
Campania, Italy
Nones Iunius (June 1), Thirty-Seventh Year of the Reign of Augustus Caesar (a.d. 10)
I, Severenus, son of Tactus, have decided to make this account of my descent into Hades ^1 and, the gods willing, my return, so it may form a record of a remarkable journey. It is not a trip I undertake lightly, but one of necessity.
I am well aware many have crossed the River Styx never to return and that the trip is costly. In nearby Baia ^2 already I have purchased from the priests three suitable bullocks and three lambs for sacrifice, as well as innumerable ducks and chickens so that these priest might augur the most favorable of times to enter the underworld. ^3
By inquiry, I ascertained that no one entered the underworld before visiting the Sibyl at Cumae a few miles north of my inn in Baia to ascertain if they would survive such a journey. ^4 As Apollo's chariot reached its zenith for the day, I stood at the mouth of the cave, waiting for one of the Sibyl's priests to lead me inside. I stared into the alternating streaks of light and dark that marked the entrance, wondering again how wise were the actions I was preparing to take. I was half convinced consulting the seeress was the only sage part.
At least she could advise me of what will happen when I go down into Hades.
I only wished she could answer my question and obviate the necessity of confronting the shade of my dead father. Tactus was a difficult man and one who shared his secrets with no one. He had provided me and my siblings with a Greek slave to educate us, clothing, food and shelter, and little else, although he was one of the wealthiest merchants in Rome. When he died last year, my mother and siblings and I found his treasury nearly empty, both of goods and money. A diligent search and inquiry of Ms workers, both slave and freemen, revealed nothing. The only way to locate the fortune Tactus had secreted was to 'descend to the world of the dead and ask him. ^5
I was of the thought that it wasn't only Baia's mild climate, a refuge from the heat of Rome's summers, warm sulfur springs, and fat, purple oysters that had made the town the empire's premier resort location. More brothels than temples, more gambling halls than public buildings, exquisite baths. Seneca the Younger had described the place as a 'vortex of luxury' and a 'harbor of vice' two hundred years ago.
No, it wasn't the cooling breezes or the attractiveness of the prostitutes that had established the town.
It was the entrance to Hades.
My thoughts returned to the Sibyl. They said she dated to before man; and, at her request, the gods had granted her eternal life. She had not asked for eter nal youth, an oversight that explained why she…
There was movement in the cave. An androgynous figure, its face completely shadowed by a cloak, was coming toward me. Or was it? It alternately approached and disappeared like a ghost, getting closer with each reappearance.
Wordlessly, a hand motioned me forward.
NOTES
1. Other than Virgil, Homer, and other Greco- Roman poets, this is the first account of such a journey, certainly the first by a nonheroic personality or in the first person, although there is little doubt that real persons in addition to legendary ones (Aeneas, Odysseus, etc.) risked such a venture. Then, of course, there was Persephone, who, kidnapped by Pluto, lord of the underworld, was allowed to return to the earth each spring for a visit.
2. The modern name for the town, used for convenience's sake. The Roman name was Bauli.
3. The selling of sacrificial livestock was a mainstay of the priests and attendants at oracles and sibyls throughout the ancient world. Not all the animals purchased for this purpose were slaughtered, allowing any number of resales.
4. Cumae is the oldest Greek settlement yet found in Italy. The Cumae Sibyl was regarded as one of the two or three most important sources of divination in the ancient world and was held in equal or higher esteem than the oracle at Delphi in Greece.
5. The easy solution would seem to be simply asking the Sibyl, but oracles dealt only with secrets of the future, not the past. Possibly this division of labor kept more priests profitably occupied, not unlike the strict division of tasks favored by today's labor unions.
6. The cave of the Sibyl at Cumae may be visited today. The approach is a number of equally wide pillars of stone and open space. In the afternoon sun, a person walking along this corridor would enter darkness and light at identical intervals, giving the illusion to the observer outside of alternately appearing and disappearing. We will further examine other tricks of showmanship designed to dazzle, or better yet, frighten, those who dealt with the cult of priests.
PART II
Chapter Five
North Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands
British West Indies
January
The silver column of bubbles floated lazily toward the surface, leaving tiny globs of air to hang momentarily
