The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits (6 page)

For a long, breathless moment, it looked as if no power in the heavens or on the earth could stop the Thracian from falling backwards directly onto the upright blade of the Samnite’s sword, impaling himself.

Even Cicero bolted forward, rigid with suspense. The woman next to him swooned. The men behind us bleated with excitement.

The Thracian swayed back – regained his balance – and swayed back again. The upright sword glinted in the sunlight.

Making a tremendous circle with his arms, the Thracian at last managed to propel himself forwards. Wrenching his ankle from the Samnite’s grasp, he took a few staggering steps forwards, then wheeled about. The Samnite had stopped thrashing, but the sword in his fist still pointed
skyward. Approaching cautiously, as one might a snake that seemed to have writhed its last but might yet strike, the Thracian squatted down and snatched the sword from the Samnite’s grip – then jerked back in alarm as a bizarre noise emerged from the Samnite’s throat, a gurgling death-rattle that froze my blood. Gripping the pommel in both hands, the Thracian pointed the sword downwards. As one might strike a last blow to make sure that a snake was finished, he drove the blade deep into the Samnite’s groin.

Again, the crowd gasped in unison. Like Cicero beside me, I put my hand to my groin and flinched. But the Samnite was now truly dead. Fresh blood stained the loincloth around the wound, but he did not move.

His chest heaving, the Thracian stood and recommenced his victory strut. After a moment of stunned silence, the exhilarated crowd rewarded him with thunderous cheering. The magistrate strode into the arena and rewarded him with a palm frond to mark his victory. Waving it over his head, the gladiator departed to raucous applause.

“Well!” declared Cicero, clearly impressed despite his avowed distaste for the games. “That will be hard to top.”

The body of the Samnite was dragged away, the pools of blood were raked over with fresh sand, and the next match commenced. It was a novelty bout between two
dimacheri
, so-called because each wielded not one but two daggers. To compensate for their lack of shields, they wore more pieces of armour than other types of fighters – greaves to protect their forearms and shins, plated pectorals to guard their throats and chests, and various bands about their limbs and bits of metal over their naked flesh that suggested adornment as much as armour. Instead of the nerve-wracking banging of swords against shields, the sound of their match was a constant, grating slither of blade against blade as they engaged in a dizzying dance of parries and thrusts. One was
swarthy and the other pale, but otherwise their physiques were much alike; not as muscular as either of the previous fighters, they had the lithesome bodies of dancers. Speed and agility counted for more than brute strength in such a match, and they were so evenly matched, and their manoeuvres so elegant, that their contest seemed almost choreographed. Instead of grunts and cheers, they elicited “ahs” and “ohs” of appreciation from the crowd. Watching them whirl about, I felt the pleasure one feels from watching dancers rather than warriors, so that I almost forgot that for one of them, death waited at the end of the match.

Then, with a scraping noise that set my teeth on edge, a dagger slid over armour and successfully connected with unprotected flesh, and the first blood was spilled. The crowd exhaled an “Ah!” at a higher pitch than before, and I sensed the stirring of their collective blood-lust.

Both fighters seemed to be wearying, losing the unerring focus that had kept them from harming each other. More blood was spilled, though the wounds were minor, mere scratches that dabbed the blades with just enough blood to send red droplets flying through the air to mingle with the fine spray of sweat cast from the gladiators’ glistening limbs.

Slowly but surely the pace of the parries and thrusts accelerated, even as their rhythm became more ragged and unpredictable. My heartbeat quickened. I glanced at Cicero and realized that he had not said a word throughout the match. He leaned forwards, his eyes glittering with fascination.

The swarthy fighter suddenly seized the advantage. His arms became a blur of movement, like the wings of a bee. And like a bee he stung, managing to prick first the right hand of his opponent, then the left hand, so that the pale gladiator released both of his daggers and stood defenceless. Pressing his daggers to the other’s wrists, the swarthy fighter
forced the disarmed man to spread his arms wide open, like a crucified slave.

It was a brazen gesture on the part of the swarthy gladiator to humiliate his foe, but it contained a miscalculation. At such close quarters, almost chest-to-chest, the pale gladiator was able to thrust one knee into his opponent’s groin, and simultaneously to butt his helmet against the other’s. The swarthy gladiator was sent staggering back. The hushed crowd erupted in shrieks of laughter.

The pale gladiator’s advantage was short-lived. He made a dash to recover one of his daggers, but the distance was too great. The swarthy gladiator was upon him like a pouncing lion, hemming him in with his daggers, jabbing and pricking him, forcing him to perform a spastic, backward dance, controlling him at every step. To pay him back, the swarthy gladiator kneed him not once but twice in the groin. The pale gladiator folded forwards in agony, then abruptly performed the motion in reverse, straining upright onto his toes, for not one but two daggers were pressed against the soft, unarmoured flesh beneath his chin. The movement was so neatly performed that it seemed like the climax to a dance which the two had been performing from the moment their bout commenced. They stood like statues, one with daggers poised, the other on tiptoes, quivering, empty hands at his sides, helpless. The crowd roared its approval.

The victor looked towards the magistrate, who raised an eyebrow and turned his head from side to side to assess the will of the crowd. Spontaneously, the crowd produced a multitude of fluttering handkerchiefs. Voices cried, “Spare him! Spare him!” Even the men behind me took up the chant: “Spare him! Spare him!”

In my experience, the judgment of the mob is like quicksilver, hard to pin down and impossible to predict. If I had
turned at that moment and asked the men behind me, “Why spare the pale gladiator?”, no doubt they would have given the rote answer: “Because he fought well, and deserves to fight another day.” But the Samnite had fought just as bravely, if not as beautifully, and they had been eager to see him die. I think it was the fact that the two
dimacheri
had fought so well together that swayed the crowd to spare the loser; they were like a matched set that no one wished to see broken. The pale gladiator owed his life as much to his opponent as to himself; had they not been so precisely matched and performed so well together, those two daggers would have been thrust into his gullet in the blink of an eye. Instead, one by one, the daggers withdrew. The pale gladiator dropped to his knees, his head bowed to show deference both to the spectators who had spared him and to the man who had bested him, as the victor received his palm frond from the presiding magistrate.

“Well!” said Cicero, breaking his silence. “So far it’s been a better show than any of us expected, I dare say. I wonder what the final match will bring.”

Sometimes, if the games are boring, spectators begin to vacate the stands after the first or second match, deciding they’ve adequately paid their respects to the dead and need stay no longer. On this day, for the final match, not a single spectator stirred from his seat. Instead, there was a new arrival. I was not the only one who noticed her; one of the men behind me released a wolf-whistle.

“Feast your eyes on that beauty!” he murmured.

“Where?” said his friend.

“Right across from us, looking for a place to sit.”

“Oh, yes, I see. A beauty, you say? Too dark for my taste.”

“You need to broaden your palate, then. Ha! I’ll bet you’ve never had a Nubian.”

“As if
you
had!”

“Of course I have. You forget that I spent a few years travelling around Libya and Egypt . . .”

I grew deaf to their prattling, fascinated by the newcomer. She was strikingly beautiful, with high cheekbones, full lips and flashing eyes. Her dense black hair was piled on her head in the latest style and tied with ribbons, and she wore a tunic of pale blue that contrasted with the ebony sheen of her naked arms and throat. Her burnished copper necklace and bracelets glinted in the bright sunlight. Her breast heaved slightly, as if she were excited or slightly out of breath. One seldom saw a Nubian in Italy who was not a slave, but from her dress and the fact that she appeared to be out and about on her own, I took her to be a free woman. While I watched, a row of male spectators, clearly as struck by her beauty as I was, nudged one another and obligingly made room for her, giving her an aisle seat.

The two gladiators who strode into the arena for the final bout could not have been more different. The first was stoutly built, his chest and legs covered by curly red hair. He was outfitted in the manner of the Gauls, with a short sword and a tall, rectangular shield, a loose loincloth and bands of metal-plated leather wrapped around his mid-section, leaving his legs and chest bare. His helmet covered not only his head but, tapering and flaring out again like an hourglass, extended down to cover his neck and breastbone as well.

Following him into the arena was a
retiarius
, to my mind the most fearsomely attired class of gladiators.
Retiarii
carry not a sword and shield, but a long trident and a net. This one was all the more striking because of his contrast to the red-haired Gaul, for he was the tall, smoothly muscled Nubian we had seen in the opening parade of gladiators, as ebon-hued as the woman who had just found a seat in the stands. I wondered briefly if there might be some connection between
them – then drew in a breath as the Gaul made a rush at the
retiarius
and the combat commenced.

Sword clanged against trident. Already heated to fever-pitch by the previous matches, the crowd became raucously vocal at once, jumping from their seats and crying out for blood. The gladiators responded with a bout that exceeded anything we had previously seen that day. For two men so heavily muscled, they moved with surprising speed (although the
retiarius
, with his long legs, was considerably more graceful than his opponent). They seemed almost to read one another’s thoughts, as blows were deflected or dodged at the last possible instant, and each attack was followed at once by a counter-attack of equal cunning and ferocity. Beside me, Cicero repeatedly flinched and gasped, but did not look away. Neither did I, swept up by the primal fascination of watching two men in a struggle for life and death.

As the match continued, the attributes of each fighter became clear. The Gaul was stronger, the Nubian quicker; he would need to be, if he were to succeed in casting the net over his prey. Several times, when the Gaul closed the distance between them in order to slash and thrust, the net almost captured him, but the Gaul eluded it by dropping to the sand, rolling out of harm’s way, and springing back to his feet.

“At this rate, the Gaul’s going to exhaust himself,” said one of the men behind me. “Then watch the Nubian catch him in that net like a fish out of water and start poking holes in him!”

Irritated, Cicero turned to shush the man, but I was thinking exactly the same thought. And indeed, almost more quickly than my eyes could apprehend it, the very thing happened. The Gaul rushed in, slashing his sword. Wielding the trident with one hand, the Nubian parried the Gaul’s
thrust, and with his other hand he spun the net in the air and brought it down directly over the Gaul. The lead weights sewn at various points around the edge of the net caused it to collapse around the Gaul and swallow him, sword, shield and all.

If the Gaul had tripped, which seemed almost inevitable, that would have been the end of him. But somehow he managed to stay upright, and when the Nubian, wielding his trident with both hands now, rushed towards him, he managed to spin about so that the three sharp prongs landed squarely against his shield. The prongs, failing to penetrate flesh, instead became enmeshed in the fabric of the net. The Nubian yanked at his trident to free it, but the net held it fast, and the Gaul, though pulled forwards, managed to stand his ground.

Sensing more than seeing his advantage – for the net must have greatly blocked the view from his narrow visor – the Gaul rushed forwards. Holding fast to the trident, the Nubian was unable to stand his ground and was pushed back. Tripping, he fell onto his rump and released the shaft of the trident with one hand, still gripping it with the other. The Gaul, using his bull-like strength, twisted to one side. The Nubian, his wrist unnaturally bent, gave a cry and released the trident altogether.

The Gaul, slashing at the net with his sword and thrusting upwards with his shield, managed to push the net up and over his head, taking the trident with it. Stepping free, he kicked the net behind him, and with it the now hopelessly entangled trident. The Nubian, meanwhile, managed to scramble to his feet, but he was now without a weapon.

The Gaul might have made short work of his opponent but, eschewing his sword, he used his shield as a weapon instead. Rushing headlong at the Nubian, he struck him with his shield, so hard that the Nubian was knocked backwards
against the wooden wall of the arena. The spectators directly above him, unable to see, rushed forwards from their seats and craned their necks, peering over the railing. Among them – not hard to pick out in that crowd – I saw the Nubian woman. Even greater than the contrast of her dark flesh next to the paleness of those around her was the marked contrast of her expression. Submerged in a sea of faces that leered, gaped and howled with bloodlust, she was silent and stricken, wearing a look of shock and dismay.

The Gaul played cat and mouse with his prey. He stepped back, allowing the Nubian to stagger forwards, gasping for breath, then stuck him full-force again with shield, knocking him against the wall. Over and over the Gaul struck the Nubian, knocking the breath out of him each time, until the man was barely able to stand. The Gaul delivered one last body-blow with his shield, and the Nubian, recoiling from the wall, fell forwards onto his face.