'I told you I have something else to show you, my friends.'
Once again he drew a bead curtain aside to reveal a figure standing in the dimness of the vestibule chamber beyond.
'Lysias of Bithynia, please join us,' the Roman jurist called.
CHAPTER 27
'Explain yourself, Lysias of Bithynia! We are Caesar's investigators into the death of your companion Antinous!' Suetonius demanded sharply. He aimed to impress Clarus with his determination.
'You dare to put yourselves above the law! You, Lysias, only yesterday swore under oath you would attend our interview today. You did not! Your claim to arete, to honor, is the worthless promise of a dissembler and hypocrite!'
'You also offend against the Imperium!' Clarus added menacingly.
'Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen,' Salvius Julianus interceded, 'perhaps he had good reasons which we should hear first?'
'Noble sirs,' Lysias stammered, 'Thais and I were attacked late last night at our chambers. Ruffians with drawn swords fell upon us. Our worthy steward, my freedman Simon, was brutally killed before our very eyes. I grabbed Thais by the arm and dragged her to safety while the wounded Simon fought to hold off the attackers. I had no weapon to defend us other than a small dagger, so Simon was cut down without honor.
I fled with Thais by an evasive route to come here to the Companions' enclosure for sanctuary; otherwise we too would have been killed. I'm sure we were the intended targets'
'Nevertheless, why didn't you attend this morning's interview?!' Clarus demanded.
'Perhaps more importantly, Septicius,' Suetonius interjected, 'who is making attacks against members of this investigation, and why? And where are this camp's military protectors? Where are the Guard or even men of the Legion? Where are they when you need them? They seem to be everywhere when you don't need them.'
Clarus shifted tack in his examination.
'Explain why Nubians are pursuing you, Lysias of Bithynia? What do you know or possess to sufficiently incite Nubians to kill you? And whose Nubians are they, anyway?'
Lysias was dismayed.
'Nubians? What Nubians? I don't know what you mean!'
'We've had it on good authority you said you were attacked by Nubians,' Clarus responded, keeping Scorilo's earlier words in mind.
'No, my lord, this is not so. Though the troublemakers were disguised behind mantles and cowls, the skin of their arms was not the darkness of Nubians nor Egyptians, and their weapons were either Roman, Greek, or of the northern barbarians,' Lysias announced. 'Even their open-lace boots were military issue, not peasant work, I saw clearly.'
Suetonius, Clarus, and Julianus looked towards each other questioningly.
'Renegade troops? Bandits? Undercover operatives?' Clarus asked rhetorically.
'And finally, Lysias,' Suetonius probed further, 'how do you explain your journey to The Alexandros on the evening prior to Antinous's death? You are recorded in the vessel's traffic sheets as having boarded the vessel in the company of a Guardsman late in the evening of the day of Antinous's death? You did not mentioned this to us earlier!'
Suetonius halted momentarily when Strabon coughed politely and pointed to the furled sheet in his tablets and scrolls basket. Suetonius continued.
'And perhaps accompanied by another senior officer too? Yet there is no record of your return from the vessel that night or the following day, which we assess may have been the time of your friend's death?'
Clarus glanced quizzically at the biographer at mention of the further officer while Lysias expressed utter dismay if not actual offence.
'I have no idea what you are talking about. I've never been aboard either The Alexandros or The Dionysus in my life. My status doesn't entitle me. I've never been invited, by anyone, either. I was nowhere in the vicinity of the two Imperial barques on the day or night of my companion's death, so how can you believe otherwise?'
'Can you prove this? This paper record is our irrevocable proof. It says you provided a written invitation from the lady Anna Perenna as your pass authority. What can it mean? Are you involved in a secret dalliance with the Governor's consort?' Suetonius demanded. 'The clerk described your youthful qualities and presence very adequately.'
Lysias appeared visibly confounded by the queries.
'Sirs, I have had no reason to go anywhere near the two barques, and I have never ever conversed with the Governor's consort, ever!'
Two servants of the Companions appeared at the terrace entrance carrying lamps and tapers for the coming evening's illumination. Dusk was now falling and it was time to provide light in anticipation of a swift Egyptian sunset. Julianus nodded to his staff to place the lamps and depart for privacy's sake.
'Bithynian, if I recall correctly, you told this investigation yesterday how Antinous was faithful to the emperor and didn't sleep around with those who solicited his favors? I recall you said the youth only slept with his lover.
Yet we now hear your companion has been intimate with a manumitted slave, the Cyrene female Thais, and has been so for some time. She might even be pregnant from his attentions.'
Clarus was not known for subtlety in dealing with intimate details.
Thais cringed. Lysias heaved a despondent sigh.
'My lord, yes, you repeat my words correctly. I said he only slept with those who love him,' the strapping young man confirmed. 'But Great Caesar relinquished his role as erastes to Antinous many weeks ago at Alexandria. This was weeks before our flotilla sailed the Delta canals into Egypt's interior. Since that time Antinous has again only slept with those who love him, but now it is no longer Caesar. Nevertheless, it seems on the day before his death my long-time friend made a point of special sharing with each of those who loved him, even some who did not expect the honor — '
'Special sharing? Each? What do you mean by each? Your meaning, Bithynian, is he had sex with those who loved him?' Suetonius repeated. 'After all it's sex we're talking about, isn't it?'
Surisca made a discreet gesture to the biographer and leaned forward to whisper some words. Surisca reminded the Special Investigator of a matter from their earlier observations. Suetonius reacted with new interest. Yes, there had been two sets of lesions at Antinous's neck and throat, not just one, he belatedly recalled.
'Tell us, Lysias, why do you word your statement so generically?' he asked. 'You say he, Antinous, only had sex with those who love him? Are you saying there is more than one supplicant to his affections?'
Lysias paused before replying. He was discomforted by the question. His voice was strained.
'On the night and day preceding the night of his death Antinous indeed slept with and made love to one who loves him, and who I believe he too loved. This was his freedwoman Thais. However, it is also true how later in the afternoon of the same day preceding his death he shared his arete and his body with another, too, who loves him.'
'And who would this further paramour be?' Suetonius asked in exasperation. 'The Augusta herself?'
'No, of course not, my lords,' he murmured softly, 'but it was who you have probably contemplated it may have been all along.'
The group was frozen in anticipation.
'It was I myself.'
They stood silently for some moments.
'Are you saying,' Clarus offered frankly after a pause; 'you and Caesar's eromenos have been lovers all along? So you've been lying to us, yes? Some form of laesa majestas offence is committed here, if not capital perjury!'
'No, sir, I assure you Antinous was indeed faithful to Caesar! Antinous and I were not partners, regular or occasional — not since our adolescence long ago, anyway. But it seems in Antinous's final twenty-four hours he
