request and the box that lay buried for safekeeping on his estate at Cosa.
‘Well, it sounds to me as if one of you boys is going to have to get permission to visit Egypt and take that box to the alabarch.’
‘Do you think that Antonia would be able to use her influence with the Emperor and write to him in order to get us that permission?’
‘I’m sure that when her mind is free to worry about more mundane things she would be only too pleased to write to him. Talking of letters, I had one from my sister this afternoon. It seems that your father is moving into banking; he’s bought Pomponius’ banking concession in the lands of the Helvetii off him at a decent price.’
Vespasian raised his eyebrows at the news. ‘So it sounds like he means to stay up there then. A Helvetian banker! Who’d have thought that he’d end up doing that?’
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the front door. The attractive new doorkeeper jumped up off his stool and peered through the viewing slot. A moment later he pulled the door open and in walked Pallas.
‘Good afternoon, masters,’ he said, bowing deferentially. He handed his cloak to Aenor who had padded across the room to be of service.
‘And greetings to you, Pallas.’ Gaius did not get up. However much he liked and respected Antonia’s steward, he was still a slave. ‘What brings you here?’
‘Two things, master: firstly the timing is finally right to take all the evidence that my mistress has collected to the Emperor. Messages have been sent to Sabinus and Corbulo to come to the Lady Antonia’s house immediately; she requests Vespasian to join them. Magnus is already there as she seems to like to keep him handy at the moment.’ He dipped his hand into a leather documents satchel slung around his neck, pulled out a thick scroll and handed it to Gaius. ‘My mistress sent this for your safe-keeping, senator. It’s a copy of the letter that she has written Tiberius detailing the conspiracy of Sejanus. She requests that should we be unsuccessful in our mission, and she herself is compromised, that you read it aloud in the Senate, even if it costs you your life.’
Gaius swallowed hard. ‘It will be an honour to serve the good lady in such an important way,’ he said, taking the scroll and then adding quickly, ‘should it become necessary.’
‘Master Vespasian, we should go at once. My mistress has made a quiet arrangement with one of your two colleagues to perform your duties whilst you are away; your absence won’t be noted.’
‘Thank you, Pallas,’ Vespasian replied, getting to his feet. ‘I’ll just lose my toga and get into some travel clothes. I won’t be long.’
‘But be sure to pack your toga, dear boy,’ Gaius called after him.
‘Whatever for, Uncle?’
‘Because, my dear, you are going to be presented to the Emperor of Rome and as a Roman citizen you should be properly dressed; to be otherwise would be an insult.’
‘He still looks like a pompous arsehole to me,’ Magnus commented to Vespasian as Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, wearing his senatorial toga, entered Antonia’s formal reception room. It was early evening and the house slaves had just finished lighting a myriad of lamps around the ornate and elegantly furnished high-ceilinged room.
‘And I expect that you still look like an uncouth, illiterate oik to him,’ Vespasian replied out of the corner of his mouth, whilst smiling at the approaching Corbulo.
‘That’s because he’s a pompous arsehole.’
‘Vespasian, how good to see you,’ Corbulo said, grasping Vespasian’s forearm. ‘You’ve been back from Thracia for the last eight months, I hear — why haven’t you come to visit me?’
‘Good to see you too, Corbulo.’ Vespasian was surprised to find that he genuinely meant it. ‘I’m sorry but I’ve been kept very busy.’
‘Yes, I heard. Sejanus is keeping the triumviri capitales hard at work at the moment.’
‘I’m afraid so, but luckily he’s not a literary type so we haven’t had to burn any books.’
‘Quite so, quite so,’ Corbulo agreed vaguely; humour was generally wasted on him. He turned to Magnus and looked down his long nose at him. Despite the dangers that they had shared, Corbulo could not overcome the innate prejudices of his class and found it offensive that he should have to acknowledge someone so far beneath him. ‘Magnus,’ he said with a frown, as if only just being able to recall the name.
‘Corbulo?’ Magnus queried, staring back at him with nonchalant insubordination.
Sabinus’ arrival brought their warm words of greeting to an end. The fact that his brother lived the closest to Antonia, in a newly rented house on the Aventine, but arrived last, led Vespasian to believe that he had been taking a long farewell of his wife. He suppressed a jealous pang at his brother’s freedom and thought instead of Caenis and the likelihood of his seeing her that afternoon. Since he had been back in Rome Antonia had not summoned him and so, consequently, he had not seen Caenis. Neither had he been able to find out anything about Caligula’s plan; Pallas had, of course, been a model of discretion on the walk from Gaius’ house.
As he watched Sabinus’ almost sycophantic greeting of Corbulo he was rewarded with the sight of his lover entering the room behind her mistress and Pallas. His heart jumped and he returned her radiant smile with equal measure.
‘Sit down please, gentlemen,’ Antonia said, seating herself on a well-upholstered couch and placing a scroll beside her. She arranged her crimson palla so that it fell gracefully from her head into neat folds on her lap. Caenis sat at a table behind her and arranged her writing things ready to take the minutes.
‘We’re still missing one person but I’ll begin anyway as I don’t want him to hear the first part of what I have to say.
‘Over the last few months my grandson, Gaius, has managed to ingratiate himself with the Emperor on Capreae; he is now very much in his favour. This has been greatly helped recently by Sejanus staying in Rome. He has been in the city constantly since becoming Consul jointly with Tiberius. With Sejanus away from Capreae, Gaius has had the opportunity to get closer to Tiberius to the extent that he is now, Gaius leads me to believe, thinking of making him his heir. Sejanus knows very little of this as he is busy in Rome.
‘This started me thinking. When Tiberius first announced that Sejanus would be his consular colleague, my first reaction was to think that he was just piling more undeserved glory upon him. However, I then thought about the timing. Tiberius didn’t need to be Consul again this year, he could have made someone else Sejanus’ colleague, leaving Sejanus free to come and go from Capreae as much as he liked whilst leaving his colleague always in Rome so that the business of government could carry on. But no, Tiberius, who hasn’t been seen in Rome for five years, decides to be Sejanus’ colleague, thus ensuring his absence from Capreae for the year. So, two months after Gaius arrives Tiberius effectively sends Sejanus away, with the double honour of a consulship and being the colleague of the Emperor himself to sweeten or perhaps disguise the fact. Now, why would he do that?’
Vespasian saw the logic of Antonia’s argument and joined in her audience’s mutterings of admiration about her mastery of the subtleties of imperial politics.
‘Being unable to see into the mind of my brother-in-law,’ she continued, ‘I can only make an educated guess: Tiberius does want a member of his family to succeed him but has started to run out of options. I learnt recently that my eldest grandson, Nero Germanicus, has died of starvation in prison and that Drusus is unlikely to be released and will probably suffer the same fate. Tiberius Gemellus, the grandson shared by Tiberius and me, is too young and Claudius is too stupid, or so Tiberius still believes. That leaves Gaius as the obvious candidate. However, Tiberius has belatedly come to suspect that Sejanus has got his eyes on the Purple and has finally come to see him as a threat but is unsure how to counter him. If he tries to remove him quickly he risks a coup; he’s now well aware that he is guarded by men as loyal to Sejanus as to himself, if not more so. So whilst he contemplates his problem he has put as much distance between himself and Sejanus as possible but without upsetting him because he’s given him the highest honour: a joint consulship with the Emperor. Very elegant, I would say.’
There was a general murmur of agreement, as much for Antonia’s reasoning as for Tiberius’ handling of the problem.
‘If I am right, then I believe that Tiberius will be very susceptible to what I have for him. With solid proof that Sejanus is conspiring against him he will be forced to act, and with the knowledge that elements within the Guard are loyal to Macro, he’ll feel free to act.
‘So, now that I’ve put a stop to my son Claudius’ ridiculous intriguing with Sejanus and decided not to sacrifice him, what is the solid proof?’ Antonia paused and looked around the gathering.
Vespasian enjoyed this insight into high politics by someone he knew to be a master of the art, in fact, almost as much as he enjoyed the stolen glances he shared with Caenis. ‘The priest?’ he ventured.
