Cleopatra’s Daughter: A Novel (44 page)

“So you don’t like the earrings?” she asked hesitantly.

“Of course I do.” I attempted a smile. “They’re beautiful.”

“Then we’ll shop for something to match them tomorrow!”

I tried to be in a better mood when we went to the Forum. Even though the weather was grim and a cold mist hung over the streets, I followed Gallia down the Via Sacra in my warmest cloak.

“At least it’s not snowing,” Julia said. “Imagine what it must be like in the mountains of Gaul.”

“How cold does it get there?” I asked Gallia.

“Very bitter,” she replied. “When the snow falls, even the animals go into hiding. Every year there are children who starve for lack of food, and the old women without families are prey for the wolves.”

Julia shivered. “No wonder my father’s letters are so pitiful. He’s sick all the time. And weak.”

“The Gallic winters can do that. If he is wise,” Gallia said, “he will leave his most hearty men there and take the rest south toward Cantabria.”

Julia looked at me, and I knew she was thinking of Marcellus. Somewhere in the cold mountain ranges of Gaul, he was suffering with Juba, Augustus, and Tiberius. Their men were probably wishing for the comforts of home, where holly hung in bright sprigs on their doorposts and the rich scent of cooked goose filled their halls. Some of them would never live to see another Saturnalia, and I wondered how Livia was managing in such a bitter place.
Probably just fine
, I thought acerbically.
She has Augustus all to herself, and Terentilla is eight hundred miles away
.

When we reached the Forum, Julia wrapped her cloak tighter
across her chest. “Perhaps we should have left this for another time. Let’s take the shortcut,” she suggested.

Gallia led the way through the Senate courtyard, where despite the bitter weather, lawyers were arguing a trial. The heavily dressed men stood at two separate podiums, shielded from the light rain by a thin canopy. A crowd of onlookers had gathered, and I pulled at Julia’s cloak. “Do you think we should see what’s happening?”

“In this weather?” she exclaimed.

“But look at all the people. It might be another trial like the one for the slaves of Gaius Fabius.”

Julia hesitated, torn between the warmth of the shops and curiosity. “Only for a moment. And only if it’s good.”

We stood behind the platform in the space reserved for senators and members of what was now the imperial family. A young defendant had been placed between two soldiers, but it was obvious from her clothes that she was no pleb. The fur of her cloak brushed her soft cheeks, and the sandals on her feet were new and made of leather. Her long braid had been threaded carefully with gold, and no man would have passed her on the street without thinking that she was pretty. It was her lawyer’s turn to speak at the podium, and she listened with downcast eyes.

“You have heard Aquila’s lawyer tell you that this girl was once his slave,” he said angrily. “You have heard him lie like a dog from his mouth and say that she was stolen from him as an infant. So how can Aquila tell that this girl is the same child he purchased fifteen years ago? Does she have the same plump cheeks?” he demanded. “The same fat legs and ear-piercing cry?” The crowd in front of him laughed a little. “And why has Aquila suddenly come forward now claiming that she is his former slave? Could it be that she is pretty?” The crowd shook their heads in disapproval, and a heavy man in a
fur cloak narrowed his eyes at them. “Could it be that he has lusted after Tullia for months, and knowing that she is the daughter of an honorable centurion, he has decided that this is the only way to have her?”

“Liar!” the lawyer for Aquila shouted.

“I can prove to you that I’m not lying! This girl you see before you has never been a slave, and I will bring a dozen people who witnessed her birth and who will vouch for her identity.”

“And who are these people?” Aquila’s lawyer challenged. “Slaves who can be easily bought off?”

“Not as easily as judices,” Tullia’s lawyer retorted, and there was a stiffening of backs among the seated men. “It’s true. The midwives of Rome are slaves, but I will bring to you her mother, her father, even her aunts, and you will see the resemblance—”

“They can see a resemblance between you and me!” Aquila’s lawyer scoffed. “See? We both have short hair and dark skin. Does that make me your child?”

Several of the judices laughed, and an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach.

“Tomorrow, I bring witnesses,” Tullia’s lawyer promised. “And when this case must be decided, I ask that you use reason. What man would wait fifteen years before bringing charges of kidnapping? Why Tullia? Why now? And remember,” he warned ominously, “that the next time a man wants to abuse a pretty citizen, she could be your sister, your daughter, even your wife!”

The judices rose, and the crowd began to disperse.

“It’s over?” Julia exclaimed. “Why not bring the witnesses today?”

“Because it is raining heavily now,” Gallia pointed out.

Neither Julia nor I had noticed. We watched the soldiers escort the girl from the platform, and the eyes of the man in fur watched
her hotly. She avoided his gaze, looking instead at the weeping woman still standing in the rain.
Her mother
, I thought sadly. Next to the woman a broad-shouldered centurion placed his hand on his heart in a silent promise. The girl seemed to tremble, then her legs gave way beneath her.

“Tullia!” the man shouted, and I was sure he was her father.

The soldiers lifted her swiftly back onto her feet, and the centurion spun around to the fat man in his furs. “I will kill you!” Her father lunged, but several soldiers moved quickly to stop him.

“Let the judices decide!” Tullia’s lawyer pleaded.

“He’s paid them off!” the father accused. “Even her lawyer knows that their pockets are filled with this maggot’s gold!”

Aquila straightened his cloak. “Be careful,” he warned. “Masters can discard slaves who are no longer useful to them.”

The two men stared at each other for a moment, then the centurion hissed, “If I were you, I’d watch myself. Even maggots have to sleep.”

More soldiers rushed to separate them, splashing through the mud before violence could be done.

“We must come back tomorrow,” Julia said suddenly.

“You will not like it,” Gallia warned. “The judices have been bought.”

“How do you know?”

“You saw their faces. Who were those men laughing for?”

“Aquila’s lawyer,” Julia realized. “But that isn’t fair!”

Gallia turned up her palm. “It is foolish to think that rot can be confined to a single fruit. Once slavery is planted, everything decays.”

We didn’t do much shopping. The rain was falling in heavy gray sheets, and when we reached the shop of a wealthy silk merchant,
we huddled around his sandalwood brazier until the rain subsided and we could go out again. Julia purchased a few bolts of cloth in acknowledgment of his hospitality, and instructed him to send the bill to Augustus.

That evening, in Octavia’s triclinium, Julia described what we’d seen in the Forum. As she came to the part about the judices being bought, Octavia sucked in her breath.

“The judices of Rome are men from honorable patrician families.”

“I’m only repeating what the lawyer said.”

“And isn’t it suspicious that a man would wait fifteen years before claiming one of the prettiest girls in Rome as his slave?” Vitruvius asked. “Can it really be said that
all
patricians are honorable?”

“Perhaps we should go tomorrow,” Agrippa suggested. He looked at his wife.

“I wouldn’t mind the rain,” Claudia replied. “We could dress warmly. And our presence might inspire judices to act on their consciences.”

I was surprised by the simplicity of her thinking. Assuming the judices had really been bought, no one’s presence would speak louder than gold. Agrippa might appear for one day of the trial, but how long would it hold his attention? And what would he do if the judices ruled that Tullia was Aquila’s slave? As Octavia had said, they were men from honorable families. Charging them with corruption would be a heavy thing.

Before Alexander blew out the oil lamps in our room that night, I turned on my side to face him. “It’s a dirty system, isn’t it?”

“No more than in Egypt. And where’s the better way?”

“Perhaps if they forbade slavery—”

But my brother laughed sadly. “And do you think the patricians would allow that? All of their fields, which make them rich, would have to be tended by workers they actually paid.”

“So what? They’re all wealthy enough.”

“It would never pass the Senate. Even if Augustus paid the senators to vote in favor of banishing slavery, they’d be risking their lives. The plebs would revolt. The patricians aren’t the only ones with slaves. And in the end, what would it accomplish? Men would simply forbid their slaves from leaving on punishment of death, and the courts could run every day from now until next Saturnalia before they found judices willing to punish slave killers.”

I was quiet for a moment, angry that he was right. “Are you going to come tomorrow?”

My brother hesitated. “Vergil has a reading—”

“And you would rather be at the odeum instead of watching a trial for a girl’s life?” I sat up on my couch. “Whenever Vergil is invited to the triclinium, you and Lucius hang on his every word,” I said accusingly. “What is it about him? He’s just an old Ganymede.”

“You shouldn’t say that,” my brother replied.

“Why? Isn’t it true?”

“Yes. But he writes about male love in a way that makes it beautiful. If you read some of his works, Selene, you might change your mind.”

I stared at him. “You aren’t in love with Lucius, are you?”

My brother blushed.

“With a
man?”
I exclaimed.

“We haven’t done anything,” he said defensively. “Just kissed.”

I regarded my brother. His namesake, Alexander the Great, had taken men to his bed and counted the soldier Hephaestion as one of his greatest loves. But he had also taken a wife and given Macedon
an heir. “So what do you think you will do when Augustus returns and wants to arrange a marriage for you?” I whispered. “Refuse?”

“No one refuses Augustus. So why spend my last free years—maybe only months—at a trial whose outcome I can’t change, when I can be with Lucius?”

We stared at each other from our couches, and I tried to determine what I felt about this.

“I’m sorry, Selene. It’s nothing I can help.”

“Have you even tried—?”

“Of course,” he said swiftly.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” My voice broke.

“I thought you’d be disappointed.”

He waited for me to tell him I wasn’t; that his desire for Lucius was as normal as Marcellus’s desire for Julia. But I kept my silence, forcing him to explain.

“There are many men who aren’t attracted to women. Look at Maecenas. You don’t think it’s a coincidence that Terentilla’s never had a child? Maecenas isn’t interested, while Augustus has her drink the juice of the silphium plant to keep her from getting pregnant by him.”

“How do you know that?” I demanded crossly.

“I heard it from Maecenas.”

“So men who love other men pass on their secrets to one another?”

My brother raised his brows. “Don’t women?”

“And what does Vitruvius think of you two?”

“He doesn’t know. Or maybe he doesn’t want to.”

“So this is why Lucius didn’t want to marry,” I said.

My brother nodded. “Yes. But unless he can support himself or find a generous patron, he will have to someday. And then we’ll both be miserable, instead of just one of us. That’s why I have to encourage his readings in the odeum. There’s nothing I can do about slavery,
Selene. But I can help change Lucius’s life.” He held out his hand to me, and slowly I took it.

“This isn’t how I imagined our lives would be when I was Queen of Libya and you King of Armenia.”

Alexander laughed sadly. “Our father had great plans, didn’t he? The kingdom of Parthia hadn’t even been conquered and he crowned me its king.” We both smiled, remembering our father’s irrepressible belief in himself. “Do you think it’s fate that we’ll lead unfulfilled lives?”

I drew back. “Of course not. Augustus may still make you king.”

“After he’s married me off to some widow.”

“But you’re a man! You can do as you please—send her off to the country or keep her in Rome while you return to Egypt. Maecenas is content enough.”

“But what about you?” His voice was so gentle and full of concern that tears sprang to my eyes.

“I don’t know.”

“If you can forget Marcellus, perhaps you’ll find someone else.”

“For what purpose? To have my heart broken again? This isn’t Egypt, Alexander. When Augustus returns, he’ll find me a husband that’s convenient for him, not me. It could be someone like Catullus or even Aquila. And there would be nothing I could do if he forbade me from visiting you in Alexandria.”

“I would never return without you,” he swore.

“Yes,” I said firmly, “you would. It’s your destiny.” I looked outside. The gardens, which shone blue and green every summer, were still dreary and soaked with rain. “I don’t think unhappiness is fated. Look at Gallia. She was forced into slavery and still found happiness.”