The Venus Throw (47 page)

Again, from the corner of my eye I thought I saw Catullus’s lips moving. When I turned to stare at him he looked at me darkly and moved away, losing himself in the crowd.

Clodia’s face was a study in misery. Cicero accepted another sip of water from Tiro and waited for the laughter to die down. “I have now stated my case, judges. My task is done. The task is now yours, to decide the fate of an innocent young man.”

He proceeded to his summation: a brief recapitulation of Caelius’s career, a recitation of his virtues, an appeal to be merciful to his distraught father, a final, scornful dismissal of the spurious charges against him I heard these words only vaguely. I couldn’t take my eyes off Clodia. I saw a woman utterly unnerved, pale, defeated, confused, resentful. She looked as if she had been poisoned again, and polluted as well: Medea had become Medusa, to judge by the shifty-eyed friends who squirmed on the benches around her. They looked nervously hem and there but turned their faces from Clodia, as if the merest glance from those haunted eyes might turn a man to stone.

C
icero’s speech was followed by a recess, after which, the magistrate declared, the testimony of witnesses would commence. The common sentiment in the crowd was that the trial would probably carry over for at least another day, given the number of witnesses expected to testify. But when the court reassembled, the prosecutors were embarrassed to reveal that most, indeed virtually all, of their scheduled witnesses had declined to appear. The coterie of young men who had filled the benches around Clodia had vanished. So had Clodia herself.

The supporters of Caelius could hardly contain their triumph. Even Caelius’s father, dressed in his ragged funeral garments, looked smug.

A handful of witnesses dared to appear—some of the outraged husbands whose wives had been insulted by Caelius, Senator Fufius, and even a. couple of the “bathhouse skulkers.” The prosecutors, who had clearly lost heart, perfunctorily interviewed them. Cicero cross-examined them with effortless panache, restraining his wit lest it appear wasted on such minor opponents. The spectators began to disperse. The drama had reached its climax with Cicero’s oration, and only the most inveterate believers in surprise endings held out to see what the verdict would be.

The judges tallied their votes and announced their decision. Marcus Caelius was not guilty.

I felt relieved of a great burden. What if they had declared him guilty of all the charges against him, including Dio’s murder? How could I have remained silent? But they had not declared him guilty; the crisis was averted. Still, what of the poison plot against Clodia? Cicero had argued that it was all a fiction concocted by Clodia herself, just another part of her scheme to take vengeance on Caelius, and the judges had agreed. But what if Caelius
had
tried to poison her? Had I no obligation to speak up?

The moment had passed, and there was no undoing it. I told myself that my sole intention from the outset was to discover the truth about Dio’s death. As for Caelius and Clodia, whatever the truth of their intrigues against each other, surely I owed nothing to either of them.

After the verdict was announced, Caelius’s supporters broke into cheering and gathered in a ring around him. The prosecutors and their assistants glumly dispersed. Some of the judges went to congratulate Caelius and pay compliments to Cicero and Crassus for their orations. Spectators headed off to see what activities connected with the Great Mother festival were still going on elsewhere in the city. Slaves gathered up folding chairs and carried them off.

“Where shall we go now?” said Eco.

“I think I want to be alone for a while,” I said. “Take Belbo with you. I don’t need a bodyguard anymore. The trial’s over and I’m no danger to anybody.”

“Still, Papa, it’s a holiday. People get rowdy—”

“Please, Eco, take Belbo with you. Or better yet, send him home to Bethesda. I’ll feel better knowing he’s there while I’m not.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Why don’t you go home yourself?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

“Papa, what’s going on?” He lowered his voice. “If Dio was poisoned in your house, who did it? And why? You know, don’t you?”

I shook my head. “We’ll talk about it later.”

“But Papa—”

“I’ll spend the night at your house, if that’s all right. Have the slaves fix up a couch for me to sleep on.”

“Of course, Papa. Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? We could talk.”

“Talk is not what I need. I need to think, and I can think more clearly if I’m by myself.”

This last turned out to be untrue. I wandered the city in a daze, paying no attention to where I was going, my thoughts turning in sluggish circles.

Why had Bethesda deceived me? Had it been left to her, would she ever have told me the truth? Of course, I knew why she had remained silent. How does a woman tell her husband that she’s poisoned his respected old mentor under his roof, right under his very none? Still, she had reason. Did she think I wouldn’t understand? Why had she never told me of her mother’s death and about the terrible thing that had happened to her before I found her? Did she trust me so little, even after all our years together?

My own feelings confused me no less. Was I angry, or hurt? Did I want to punish Bethesda, or beg for her forgiveness? I felt as if I had done something wrong, but I couldn’t say what it was. I knew I had been made a fool of; Bethesda had known the truth all along and yet had let me plod down the wrong path in darkness. Was she amused at my folly? Did she fear my reaction if I should discover the truth? Or did she simply think that she could get away with never telling me, and considered that easiest for everybody? She knew the truth was precious to me, and she had withheld it from me. 1 resented her for that. Under my roof, before my eyes, she had murdered a man she hated. I understood her
reason, but still I was appalled and shaken by the enormity of it. Perhaps she was right not to trust me with the truth after all.

I passed revelers and vendors in the street, heard the roar of a large crowd from the Circus Maximus, went by a square where a stage was being put up for a performance the next day, heard tambourines and looked up to see a group of galli dancing on a rooftop. Now and again I heard snatches of conversation which must have been about the trial:
So the young man got off completely . . . clever Cicero . . . had no idea the woman was such a wanton . . . the Clodii will think twice before trying a stunt like that again . . . everybody laughed—you should have seen the bitch’s face . . . who gives a damn about those Egyptians anyway? . . . they stone women like that in other countries . . . ‘Did I say husband? I mean brother, of course—I’m always making that mistake!’ . . . ‘Not fust a whore, but a particularly lewd and depraved old whore’ . . . from what’s said about her, someone probably should go ahead and poison the monster . . .

I kept walking. Hours passed. The sky grew dark. The streets became empty. Still I walked. I never knew where I was headed until I got there.

The phallic lamp above the entrance burned bright, promising warmth and light within. I rapped on the door of the Salacious Tavern and the doorman let me inside.

As a rule I drink no more than other men, and less than most. That night, I felt like getting drunk. The slave who brought wine was glad to help me in the pursuit.

The room was so noisy that I could hear only snatches of conversation, much of which was about the trial. Cicero’s jokes were repeated and obscenely embellished. The story of the pyxis and its contents was told in numerous variations, and arguments broke out over which version was correct. Wine prompted crude bursts of insight: “Caelius may have screwed the bitch before, but it was Cicero who screwed her today!” The consensus seemed to be that Caelius had
escaped by the skin of his teeth, and that Clodia had been ruined for good, and it was all for the best. I sat and drank, making no particular effort either to listen or not listen, letting the words of strangers enter my ears as they might. When my cup was empty, I called for the server to fill it again.

It was quite late in the evening when the door opened and a large party came stamping in. They were mostly young, too well groomed and poshly dressed for the place. They had obviously come from some other, more respectable venue. There were shouts of greeting and then a genera’ cheer as the patrons recognized Marcus Caelius. He acknowledged the show of support with a smile and a wave, then made a tipsy bow that turned into a stumble. His friends Licinius and Asicius each grabbed an arm to pull him upright. I was surprised, but only a little, to see Catullus in the group, looking even drunker than Caelius.

Caelius and his friends took over a corner of the room. He ordered a round of the tavern’s best wine for everyone, which earned him another cheer. The drowsy midnight mood of the place was dispelled and the room was suddenly loud and festive again. I stared glumly at the dregs in my cup and wondered if I dared to have it filled again. The glow of the wine had begun to pall and I was beginning to feel slightly queasy. When the server passed me I covered my cup with my hand and shook my head.

“What’s wrong?” a voice shouted. “Gordianus won’t drink the wine I offer? I’ll wager it’s better than whatever cheap slop you’ve been guzzling.”

I turned and saw Caelius watching me from across the room, his lips pushed out in a mock pout.

“No insult intended,” I muttered.

“What’s that? Can’t hear you!” Caelius cupped his ear and grinned. “You’ll have to come closer.”

I shook my head.

Caelius snapped his fingers, and a moment later a couple
of brawny bodyguards were on either side of me, lifting me up by my elbows and carrying me across the room. They sat me down on a bench across from Caelius, who laughed and clapped his hands like a child watching a magic trick.

“You’re in an awfully good mood tonight,” I said.

“Why not? If things had gone badly today I’d be on a boat heading for Massilia right now.” He made a face. “Instead, here I am surrounded by my friends, in the heart of the most wonderful city in the world.” Licinius and Asicius sat on one side of him, Catullus on the other. The rest of his party had gathered around a nearby table to throw dice. “I’m free!”

“Free? I thought Cicero had you in his snare again. You owe him quite a favor now. Does he know you’re out carousing tonight, making a liar of him?”

“Cicero?” Caelius made a rude noise with his lips. “Don’t worry, I can handle him. I’ve been doing it for years.”

“The student controls the teacher?”

“Something like that.”

“You’re a spoiled brat, Marcus Caelius.”

“And people love me for it! Except maybe you. Why won’t you drink the wine I offer?”

“I’ve had enough tonight. You look like you’ve already had rather a lot yourself. You, too, Catullus.”

Catullus looked back at me blearily and blinked a few times. He seemed to be at a level of inebriation that made him neither giddy nor maudlin, but simply numb.

“So you think we’ve had too much to drink?” said Caelius. “We’ve only started! Server! Bring out more of your best wine, for everyone!”

“Are you sure you can afford such extravagance?” I said. Caelius smiled. “All my debts are paid off.”

“I thought you had no debts.”

“Didn’t you pay attention to Cicero in court today? I don’t even keep ledger books, Gordianus! All my finances are in Papa’s name.”

“I see. Technically, you have no debts.”

“That’s how it works nowadays. But like I said, all the debts are paid off.”

“Even the ones you owed to Pompey?”

He hesitated for only a moment. “Even those.”

“But not repaid with coin?”

“No. With services rendered.”

Next to him, Licinius and Asicius stiffened. “Caelius!” said Asicius.

Caelius laughed. “Don’t worry, the trials are over. Your trial, Asicius, and my trial, and we are both as innocent as lambs.”

“You should learn how to shut up, Caelius!” snapped Licinius.

“Shut up about what?” I said.

“Oh, my friends think I talk too much. But where’s the danger now? I’m free!”

“Then perhaps you could set my mind at rest about a few things,” I said.

Licinius and Asicius fidgeted, but Caelius smiled blandly at me. “Why not?” Next to him Catullus stared obliviously into space and moved his lips, composing a poem in his head, perhaps.

“Do you remember when I last saw you, Caelius, here at the tavern? You swore to me by the shades of your ancestors that you didn’t murder Dio.”

“Yes, I remember. I told you the truth.”

“And you swore that it wasn’t Asicius, either.”

“Also true.”

“But when I asked where you were and what you were up to on the night Dio died, you refused to tell me.”

“How could I tell you, with the trial still pending—”

“Caelius, shut up!” snapped Asicius.

“I believe you,” I said, “when you swear that you didn’t kill Dio. It’s my belief that he died of poison. And yet, someone broke into Coponius’s house that night, and Dio
was found with stab wounds in his chest. Can you explain that, Caelius?”