me here and now. He wanted to be the one who let in his brother's doom.
Antonia lurched after him. 'Gaius — don't!'
Little Boots wrenched back the bolt from the door just as the guards swung the ram again. The door flew inwards, striking Little Boots hard in the face and flinging him backwards. Blood and spittle sprayed in the air.
A bull of a man, ugly and coarse, Tribune Macro filled the hall as he entered it, taking a cursory glance at Little Boots slumped on the floor tiles. Antonia stood rigidly before him, opening and closing her mouth to speak, but finding that her words had dried up. Senator Silius rolled forward, placing a protective hand upon Antonia's shoulder as he met Macro's eye without fear or contempt, unassailable in his dignity.
'You would break these noble women, Tribune? Is that what you intend to do?'
Macro looked him up and down. 'Who are you, sir?'
'I am Gaius Silius, senator and general,' he said, drawing himself up to his full height and hoping his unflattering dining tunica was well hidden beneath his cloak.
Macro nodded to the two Praetorians who had entered behind him. The men moved past Macro, brandishing chains. 'Then I am here to arrest you, senator and general.'
Cries of shock came from the women. Drusus stared dumbly about him in disbelief. He was not the one the Praetorians had come for at all.
Silius paled, but he retained his composure. 'And what is the charge, Tribune?'
Macro smiled. The question didn't really need to be asked, given that the answer was the same for everyone. 'Treason,' he said, then adding as an afterthought, 'and extortion.'
Sosia threw herself into the hall, livid at the outrage. 'You filthy scum! This man was awarded a triumph barely a year ago! This man crushed the rebellion of Sacrovir and held his own army in unbroken loyalty to the Emperor when others around him fell into mutiny. This man is owed a debt by Tiberius!'
We held our breaths to see what would come from this outcry. Bleeding on the floor, Little Boots began to cry.
'Are you his wife?' Macro asked.
'I am Sosia Galla, wife of Silius and mother of his children.'
A second length of chains was produced by the men. 'Then I am here to arrest you too,' said Macro. 'You were in league with the rebel Sacrovir as man and wife — you profited from his rebellion. The charges are the same — treason and extortion.'
Agrippina gave a piercing scream, gripping her hair in her hands. Then she ran across the atrium to the wall where the wax masks of her ancestors rested in alcoves.
'Mother!' cried Nilla.
Agrippina pressed her lips to the wax image of Germanicus. Then she snatched up the sword she kept hidden behind his mask.
'Mother, no!' Nilla screamed. 'It is not our time for this — '
But Agrippina was deaf to her daughter as she advanced slowly upon Macro, her face black with hatred, the sword clutched in her fist.
Flamma came in from the garden, still wearing his straw hat and with his feet brown and bare from where he had been lazing in the afternoon sun while instructing Burrus in his sword practice. Agrippina turned and saw the gladiator and the slave-boy following behind him. Livilla saw Flamma too, and astonishment marked her face. She had never encountered him before and had no idea who or what he was. All she knew was that this was a man of obvious and considerable strength.
Flamma held Agrippina with his eyes, and with an almost imperceptible movement of his head he signalled 'no'. Her lower lip trembling, Agrippina stayed where she was, but her arm that held the sword lowered slowly to her side before her strength left her entirely. Drusus was able to catch his mother before she fell and struck her head on the tiles. The two youngest girls rushed to Agrippina's side, trying to rouse her. Flamma stayed in the atrium just long enough to determine that his mistress was unhurt, before he retired again, taking Burrus with him. The boy-slave looked over his shoulder just once to catch eyes with Nilla. She nodded to him that she was not frightened or hurt.
Livilla took in the entire scene with amazement. I saw the quick, loaded look she cast at Macro, who had not moved a muscle or barely blinked an eye.
'Well, then,' he said finally to the room.
Silius and Sosia were dragged out the front door and into the street by the guards. There they found a mob awaiting them.
' It's them! Look, it's them! '
Silius's cloak fell open as the Praetorians bound his hands, exposing his lurid dining tunica. The jeers were exultant.
' Look what he's wearing! '
The mob's attendance had been paid for by Sejanus, of course.
In all this horror and disgrace Little Boots moaned pathetically in a heap, his face crushed and bloody from where the door had struck him. I confess that at that moment I hoped he would be scarred by it for life.
Sejanus returned home, feeling weary and drained. He closed his eyes as his slaves removed his bronze cuirass and boots, and when they made to remove the rest of his garments he made no argument. He liked them to admire his nakedness, enjoying their envy. He opened his eyes as his undergarments were removed and saw the large Laconian dog in the atrium, waiting patiently with its head on its paws.
Sejanus was thrown, recognising the animal.
'It belongs to a visitor, domine,' said the steward.
Sejanus knew who the visitor must be.
The steward bowed. 'She arrived, wishing to speak to you when you returned. Because she is the Emperor's daughter-inlaw I knew you would never object to me admitting her — or her dog.'
'Of course not,' said Sejanus, betraying nothing.
'She is waiting in the tablinum.'
'And where is my wife?'
'The mistress Apicata is at the baths with her maids.' Then, as if it were of no account, the steward added, 'She is not expected for some hours yet, domine.'
Sejanus met the eyes of his steward, but the man hinted at nothing. His face was a servile mask. The steward clapped his hands and a fresh tunica was pulled over Sejanus's head.
'Has the Lady Livilla been given wine while she waits for me?' Sejanus asked as the tunica was tugged down his chest and torso.
'Of course, domine.'
With Sejanus properly dressed, the steward and the other slaves bowed and peeled away to the corridors that led from the reception rooms. Sejanus strode across the atrium towards his curtained study at the other end, watching the loyal dog by the wall. Scylax lifted his head.
'You are the only slave attending your mistress?'
Scylax wagged his tail.
'You grow ever more prized, then.'
The dog returned his head to his paws.
Sejanus flung the curtain aside, both angered and aroused by Livilla's risk-taking. 'You are reckless,' he whispered.
The room was empty.
'Livilla?'
An empty goblet stood on a side table next to a jug of wine. Most of the contents had been consumed. He saw the young maid Calliope dart across the courtyard beyond the room. She froze when she saw her master, but she was already frightened by something else, it was clear.
'Get to the kitchens,' he called out to her.
The girl scurried into the shade.
'Wait.'
The girl froze again. Sejanus left his study, descending the row of steps that led into the peristyle garden. Calliope visibly shook as he approached her.
