Marcus Aurelius Betrayed (24 page)

He and Flaccus, who had stayed overnight at Severus’ apartment to discuss the case, then left at the 1
^st
hour for the second day of trial, walking down the Caelian Hill, past the Flavian Amphitheater, into the Old Forum and up the Palatine Hill. The morning weather was somewhat brisk, so they both wore
paenula
coats over their togas, though with the hoods lying back on the coats.

“They’re following the standard strategy of lawyers in a trial,” explained Severus to his assessor. “If the facts are against you, argue the law; if the law is against you, argue the facts; if both are against you, smear your opponent.”

“Who do you think they’ll call as witnesses today? The false Philogenes? Petamon? We know they can’t call Aurora now.”

Flaccus said the last name with a conspiratorial smile. Three days before, after Aurora asked Artemisia to find Judge Severus for her, Artemisia did just that and immediately took Aurora to see Severus in his chambers in the Forum of Augustus. They discussed her predicament and decided on a plan, which had been carried out the day before the trial started. As decided, Aurora went as usual to the
balneum
to meet Artemisia and once again they walked into the City. But this time they ditched the slave escorting Aurora by conveniently getting “lost” in the crowd. Aurora was then met by Straton and taken to a safe apartment in the City. Once there, she sent a message to Calvus saying she would not lie for him or for Secundus and she was never coming back. Calvus and Secundus and Eggius were just too busy preparing for the trial to do anything about it.

“As for Petamon,” said Severus, “we’ll just have to see. We know Straton successfully planted the information about Calvus’ dismissal at the Isis temple. I don’t think Petamon will now be so anxious to lie for Calvus at a trial.

“My feeling is they will rely on Philogenes. They don’t know we’ve discovered he’s an imposter. I hope they call on him.”

“Have you decided how to handle it if he’s called?”

“I think so. We’ll see how it plays out.”

The court session got under way in the same place as the day before. By the 3
^rd
hour the sun was out, the air was warming up and the garden was cheerful. The same
large crowd as the day before had already gathered, filling the seats and benches in the audience and the standing room behind. Severus’ friends and family were once again seated behind his table.

Severus noticed that a small, nervous looking man, who fit Alexander’s description of the false Philogenes, was seated just behind the defense table with Secundus, Calvus and Eggius.

The Emperor called the court to order and nodded to Eggius to begin.

“
Domine
. Yesterday the prosecutor told the court about the difficulty he had in Alexandria in finding witnesses he wanted to talk to and blamed their absence on the machinations of the defendant.

“Today I must inform the court that the defense is encountering the same problem in Rome. Our witnesses are disappearing. For instance, the attendees of the Prefect’s party in Alexandria. We knew the antique dealer Isarion was in Rome, but now we are told by his business associates that he is unavailable, on a business trip in Sicily. He is a purveyor of Egyptian antiquities. Why has he gone to Sicily for Egyptian antiquities?

“Then the Isis priest Petamon. He came with us from Alexandria to Rome and then went to stay at the main Isis temple in the City. When we went there to bring him to this trial as our witness, we were told he is unavailable. The Isis cult says he is on a mission for them somewhere. They won’t even say where.

“Then there is Serpentinus. We understand from people at the
insula
where he was staying that he was killed by the Praetorian Guard some days ago.”

The Praetorian Prefect serving as one of the assessor’s on the Tribunal leaned over and whispered into the
Emperor’s ear. Eggius halted his narrative while this was happening.

“I understand,” said Aurelius, “that he murdered a member of the Praetorian Guard and was killed resisting arrest.”

“So it is alleged,” shot back Eggius. “We don’t know the full story. But whatever it is, he is another witness that would have aided the defense.

“And just the other day, the day before this trial, another of our witnesses, Aurora, who also was at the party in Alexandria and came here to testify, went missing. A message, allegedly from her, said she won’t be back. So something strange is happening to our witnesses in Rome, just like what we are told happened to the prosecution witnesses in Alexandria. Severus blamed Secundus for what happened there, implying that Secundus tampered with his witnesses. I leave the implications of what is happening here and who is to blame for tampering with our witnesses unspoken. This court can draw its own conclusions.” Eggius paused to take a drink of water from his table and let the implication sink in. Then he continued.

“Fortunately, whoever contrived to sabotage the defense and arranged for our witnesses to disappear was unable to make a thorough job of it. For the most important witness for the defense is here and will testify right now. He is the famous Homeric scholar Philogenes. He will swear an oath before this Tribunal and testify that he saw Ganymede slip a powder into the dolphin cup at the party. His testimony will show beyond a doubt that it was Ganymede who put poison in the Prefect’s cup. And if Ganymede is guilty, Secundus must be innocent!

“I call Philogenes to the Tribunal.”

A small man dressed in an immaculate Greek tunic rose from behind the defense table and approached the Tribunal.

Severus rose.

“Normally I would ask the Tribunal to have this witness take an oath, but I don’t want him to violate any oath. The reason is that I know this witness is not Philogenes, the Homeric scholar who attended the Prefect’s orgy. He is an imposter. And I can prove it.”

“This is an outrage,” shouted Eggius in anger as he rose from the defense table. “An outrage!”

“Yes,” replied Severus. “It is an outrage. But perpetrated by the defense.
Domine
, this witness was discovered at the Library of Trajan taking out scrolls of old versions of Homer’s
Iliad
, trying to read them in preparation for his imposture at this trial. He was unable to cope with the ancient Greek and a former librarian had to teach him how to read Book I of the
Iliad
in its original ancient Greek. He is prepared for that. But that is all he can do.

“I ask this court to question him on any other book of Homer, ask him technical questions on Homer’s writing, for instance, on the differences between the language of Homer in the
Iliad
and the
Odyssey
or ask him any other questions concerning Homeric scholarship. I guarantee he will not be able to answer. Because he is no more an Homeric scholar than any of us is a charioteer in the Circus.”

“Is this true?” asked the Emperor of the witness. “Are you really not Philogenes but an imposter?”

“I, I, I…” said the witness, and then turned to look at Secundus and Calvus.

“Don’t look at the defendant,” said the Emperor. “Look at me. And tell me about the difference in Homer’s language between the
Iliad
and the
Odyssey
.”

“I don’t know. I’m too nervous to think.”

“Then tell me who at the Library of Alexandria made the critical edition of Homer that we use today?”

“Callimachus,” blurted out the witness, taking a stab with the name of a famous librarian.

“Surely a Homeric scholar should know, as even I do, that it was Aristarchus of Samothrace and Zenodotus of Ephesus.”

One of the assessors leaned over and said something to the Emperor, who smiled and asked, “then answer something simple. What is contained in Book XXV of the
Iliad
?”

“Book XXV? The Trojan horse.”

“There is no Book XXV,” said Aurelius. “Book XXIV is the final book. So whoever you are, you better tell me the truth. If you do, I may pardon you. If not…”

The courtroom was in pandemonium, the crowd animatedly commenting to each other about what was going on.

The witness flung himself on the ground, arms spread forward in supplication. “Oh great Emperor, great living god, great son of a god, great pharaoh, I throw myself on your mercy.”

“Pick him up,” said Aurelius to a lictor, who put down his bundle of rods and picked up the witness.

“I am not a god,” said the Emperor. “This is Rome. Here the Emperor is just a man. After he dies he can become a god if the Senate votes to make him one. As of now, however, I’m still a mere mortal.

“But I want to know what your real name is and who put you up to this imposture.”

“Oh great god, my name is Demetrius. They said I looked like this Philogenes. I never met Philogenes. They said I could be him. No one would know. I could prepare a little in a library. They gave me money.”

“Demetrius, who gave you money?”

“He did. He turned to face the defense table. Secundus did it. He paid me in gold.”

The Emperor motioned to a lictor to move Demetrius away.

“Secundus to the Tribunal,” commanded Aurelius.

At the defense table, Eggius and Calvus buried their heads in their hands. Most of their friends and clients in the seats behind them looked this way and that in distraction; the others glared at the backs of the three in front.

Secundus in his black toga, his head bowed, slowly stood up and slowly shuffled toward the Tribunal.

“What do you have to say for yourself?”

Secundus straightened up and his voice even sounded a note of defiance. “I needed a witness, someone to tell the truth that Ganymede did it. I know Ganymede did it. I couldn’t find anyone because Severus was against me and intimidated all the witnesses. No one would speak up for me. So I procured this Demetrius to tell the truth, that’s all.”

“The trial is over,” declared the Emperor. “There is no need for any deliberations. Secundus, I find you guilty of judicial murder under the Lex Cornelia.

“Because you are an Equestrian, an
honestior
, the highest punishment under the law for this crime is exile. I therefore sentence you to exile on an island.”

The audience couldn’t contain itself and burst into applause and cheers.

Secundus couldn’t accept what was happening. “If Ganymede didn’t poison the Prefect’s cup, then who did?” He shouted in distress and anger. “Who did?”

“That’s not the issue,” said Aurelius mildly. “The issue is that you as a judge procured false evidence and condemned an innocent man to death.”

Several lictors then half-dragged Secundus out of the court. “Who did?” Secundus kept shouting. “Who did?”

Severus stood up and approached the Tribunal before Aurelius had a chance to end the proceedings.

“
Domine
,” he addressed the Emperor, “despite Secundus’ guilt and disgrace, the question he was asking – who
did
put the poison in the Prefect’s cup? – is still a good one and remains to be answered.”

“Yes,” replied the Emperor, “I can see that. But how are we to know now? Do you know?”

“Yes,
domine
, I do. Or at least I can make a compelling case for what happened. But it will take a while and I would ask for Secundus to be brought back to court to hear it.”

“Very well,” replied the Emperor. “We will convene again tomorrow morning at the 3
^rd
hour to hear the question answered – who put the poison in the Prefect’s cup?”

XXXVIII

BEFORE THE EMPEROR: DAY 3

T
he proceedings on the third day were not held in the garden on the Palatine. Instead, after Severus had sent a message to the Emperor that information might be revealed that could be considered a State secret, Aurelius decided that the Tribunal should be set up in a courtroom inside the
Aula Regia
, the Imperial Palace. He reasoned that since the trial of Secundus had technically ended with a verdict of guilt for judicial murder, what was to follow would be an investigative hearing. It was therefore neither necessary nor desirable to hold the proceedings in public.

The Tribunal convened promptly at the 3
^rd
hour. Marcus Aurelius and his assessors occupied the front of the courtroom, along with the lictors and the statue of Jupiter Fidius. Severus and Flaccus sat at one table facing the Tribunal and Calvus, Secundus and Eggius sat at another.

At the Emperor’s nod, Severus rose and began.

“
Domine
, initially we have to solve the question of who the poison in the Prefect’s cup was intended for.
The Prefect Calvus? Or the person who actually died, the Imperial Post inspector Pudens?

“Ostensibly the poison was meant for the Prefect. It was in his cup, after all. But, if so, who put it there? And why? Who among the people at the orgy had a motive to kill the Prefect? It was here that we ran into a serious problem. As Calvus himself said in no uncertain terms, none of the guests had any motive to kill him. On the contrary, each had good reason to want him to live. Each was profiting off their relationship with him.

“Here I want to stop to point out something important about the guests at the Prefect’s orgy. With the exception of Pudens, and the
hetairai
, every guest was engaged in a criminal enterprise! Let me say that again. Every guest was engaged in crime!

“The librarian Philogenes was stealing books from the Great Library. The antiques dealer Isarion was producing and selling fake antiques and distributing stolen books. The Isis priest Petamon was involved in the distribution of the stolen books and fake antiquities through his Isis temple. Serpentinus, the man who later gratuitously and expertly killed one of our Praetorians and killed the real Philogenes as well, seems to have been a professional assassin. And Secundus, who,
domine
, you have already found guilty of judicial murder, was then engaged in overseeing this criminal gang and all its crimes.

“But what about the Calvus? What was his role, if any? Was he unaware of what was going on under his nose? Was he an innocent dupe of Secundus? Or was he a knowing participant in all of it? Maybe even the actual ringleader. I will leave that question for the moment but it must remain in the air while I discuss some issues relevant to it.”