The Secundus Papyrus
Albert NoyerTHE SECUNDUS PAPYRUS
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Text copyright © 2003 Albert Noyer
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by AmazonEncore
P.O. Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140
ISBN: 978-1-935597-86-5
With special thanks to the writing group:
Jennifer, Melody, Mary, Frank, Russell
and
Leslie S.B. MacCoull Ph.D.
Society for Coptic Archeology (North America)
Fallite fallentes: ex magna parte profanum
sunt genus: In laqueos quos posuere, cadant.
Deceive the deceivers;
they are mostly an unrighteous sort.
Let them fall into the snare they have made.
Ovid, Ars Amatoria
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Getorius Asterius
Surgeon at Ravenna, son of Treverius and Blandina
Arcadia Valeriana Asteria
Wife of Getorius, training with him to be a medica
Flavius Placidus Valentinian III*
Emperor of the Western Roman Empire
Licinia Eudoxia*
Valentinian’s wife, Empress
Galla Placidia*
Mother of the emperor, daughter of Theodosius I
Theokritos of Athens
Palace Library Master
Feletheus
Assistant to Theokritos
Brenos of Slana
Abbot of the Abbey of Culdees at Autessiodurum
Fiachra
Secretary to Brenos
Sigisvult
Architect of the mausoleum of Galla Placidia
Surrus Renatus
Archdeacon of Ravenna
Flavius Aetius
Supreme Commander of the Western Roman Army
Publius Maximin†
Wealthy senator at Ravenna
Prisca Maximina
Wife of Publius Maximin
David ben Zadok
Rabbi of the Judean community at Classis
Nathaniel
Rabbinic student of ben Zadok
Charadric
Guard at the palace, friendly to Getorius
“Smyrna”
Gallican League’s secret contact at Ravenna
GLOSSARY OF PLACES MENTIONED
GERMANY
Mogontiacum—Mainz Treveri—Trier
FRANCE
Aballo—Avallon Forum Julii—Fréjus
relate—Arles Genevris—Genévre
Autessiodurum—Auxerre Lugdunum—Lyon
Cabillonium—Chalons-sur-Saone Massilia—Marseilles
Cularo—Grenoble Narbo—Narbonne
Flavia Aeudorum—Autun
Culdees—“Friends of God” fictional monastery at Autessiodurum
ITALY
Albinganum—Albegna Florentia—Florence
Augusta Taurinorum—Turin Forum Livii—Forli
Caesena—Cesena Genua—Genoa
Classis—Classe Mediolanum—Milan
Faventia—Faenza Ravenna—Ravenna
(Somewhat fictionalized)
HIBERNIA (Ireland)
Clonard—in County Meath
Slana—Slaine
RIVERS
Arar—Saone Rhenus—Rhine
Bedesis—Montone Rhodanus—Rhone
Icauna—Yonne Sinnenus—Shannon
Padus—Po
Contents
Dramatis Personae
Glossary of Places Mentioned
Ravenna
Chapter one
Chapter two
Chapter three
Autessiodurum
Chapter four
Ravenna
Chapter five
Chapter six
Chapter seven
Chapter eight
Chapter nine
Lugdunum
Chapter ten
Ravenna
Chapter eleven
Chapter twelve
Classis
Chapter thirteen
Ravenna
Chapter fourteen
Chapter fifteen
Chapter sixteen
Chapter seventeen
Chapter eighteen
Chapter nineteen
Chapter twenty
Chapter twenty-one
Chapter twenty-two
Chapter twenty-three
Chapter twenty-four
Chapter twenty-five
Chapter twenty-six
Chapter twenty-seven
About the Author
Ravenna
Chapter one
Emperor Valentinian III halted his horse to take in a deep breath of the chill November air, pungent with the scent of evergreen resin and the musty odor of decomposing leaves. A less pleasant fishy smell, from marshes on the nearby Adriatic seacoast, also filtered into the earthy fragrance of the pine forest.
The emperor grinned at a jay that scolded his intrusion from the top of a dead tree. It was good to be hunting in the forest outside the imperial capital of Ravenna with only his two bodyguards, Optila and Thraustila, even if it was only for a few hours. Inside the palace, he, Flavius Placidus Valentinianus, the Augustus of the Western Roman Empire, still had to endure the endless nagging of his mother, Galla Placidia.
“‘Placidus, you must take more interest in the government,’” he mimicked in a falsetto voice to the jay. “‘You spend too much time, Placidus, with your filthy Hun guards.’ ‘You should pay more attention, Placidus, to Licinia and your baby daughter.’”
Licinia Eudoxia…pregnant again. Valentinian frowned at the thought of his young wife. He had been married to his cousin for two-and-a-half years, and half that time she had been pregnant, or sullen at having had to leave the Eastern capital of Constantinople. Marriage had been exciting at first, but now it was boring. Thank a lucky zodiac moon sign that Heraclius can always find me any number of slave girls who are willing to do anything for a bronze coin they can stash away toward buying their freedom.
The jay called again, a harsh warning this time, but Optila, nearby, had already seen the boar.
“There, August-us,” the guard whispered in Hunnic-accented Latin. “In clump of sumac to right.”
Valentinian squinted in the direction of the fire-orange bushes. The boar stood rigidly still, with only a glimpse of its angry red eyes and breath vapor visible. Snorting, the animal tried to assess the danger from the intruders. Valentinian slowly brought up his bow and let a feathered shaft fly. A sharp squeal of pain betrayed that the beast had been hit, yet rather than charging, it turned and shambled off into the forest’s dark-green shadows.
“Caco!” Valentinian spat out. “Shit!” He clucked his horse forward into the sumac, ducking his head low to avoid being bruised by the tangle of branches, trying to keep the boar in sight. Optila, with Thraustila behind, followed to help track the wounded beast.
As Valentinian deftly guided his mount between the pines, he heard a splash of water ahead—the boar had crossed a stream that flowed eastward into the tidal swamps of the sea.
“Zeus, let the furcing beast go,” he muttered, reining in his horse at the waterway.
The two Huns halted a short distance away. Thraustila unstoppered a calfskin bag to share gulps of wine with his companion.
While his mount guzzled from the stream, Valentinian picked gobs of pinesap off his leather vest and brooded. Between his wife, his mother, and army commander Flavius Aetius, life was becoming increasingly unpleasant inside the Lauretum Palace. Eudoxia was merely bad-tempered, but Galla Placidia had gotten more critical—of practically every piss he took. Mother resents giving up her hold on me now that I’m twenty and married. Well, she’ll have to furcing well live with it. Aetius, secure at being big shot Supreme Commander of the Western Roman Army, still treats me like a child. His strutting around reminds me of those two ostriches that the African galley master just brought in for my palace
