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You could create a special edition called the Neapolis Exciter," I fantasised to the slave who was slowly plying a damp sponge around the otherwise deserted rooms. Seaside gossip. Sandy Surrentum secrets. Baiae bathing-pool outrages. Hints that there may soon be a shortage of scallop omelettes, unless senators on holiday curb their maritime villa banquets."
Market day in Pompeii is Saturn day," replied the slave glumly. It sounded as if a Campanian Companion had already been considered and rejected as too boring. In Nuceria it's Sun day, in Atella it's Moon day." I told him I took the point. As I was leaving he revived suddenly.
Falco, how is Diocles? Is he still at his auntie's?" I paused. This was unexpected. The gentle Fates had handed me a bonus. Holconius and Mutatus gave me the impression that was just a ruse. I thought Diocles didn't really have an auntie." The slave looked scornful. Of course he does. He goes to see her every year."
How come you know?" The slave looked swanky. People talk to me." He probably wanted to be an investigator when he was freed. If I failed to find Diocles, there might be a job going.
So, Auntie what?"
Auntie Vestina."
Know where she lives?"
Near a temple."
Portus or Ostia itself?"
Ostia."
Ostia is a very religious town, my friend; any clue to which temple?" All the slave could come up with was that water had something to do with it. Well, that should be easy in a town on a river-mouth, down at the coast. I gave him a half-denarius. He didn't know he could have just put an end to my nice little summer commission. Infamia was no longer missing; he was swa
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I had told the slave the truth. Ostia had always been very religious. There were temples absolutely everywhere, some spanking new, some that harked back to when the town was just a cluster of salt workers" huts in a marsh. If the Ostians had space for any sort of dedicated enclosure, they whipped a wall around three sides and put up a podium in a pillared shrine. Their motto was. why build one when there is room for four? A cluster of altars was better than a solo. When they ran out of gods, they threw honours at allegorical concepts; near our apartment stood a row of four little temples, dedicated to Venus and Ceres, plus Hope and Fortune too. I for my part had no time for love, and with two very young children under my feet in a small apartment I was dead set against any further fertility. As I failed to track down Diocles, I was soon cursing my bad fortune and ru
Cybele!" This did not enthral me. Eastern gods are generally deplorable and I really wince at the Great Mother with her self castrating sidekick, Attis. No man with a love life can think calmly of a consort who cut off his genitalia. Anyway, I had done the Eastern cults already. I had examined houses all around the Temple of Isis. Seemed a good bet. Isis equals Nile god equals very important water if you live in Egypt. Isis is also a sea goddess, and protects sea voyagers. Her temple was in the west end of town, on the riverbank. To match the slave's description, this was about as likely as anywhere could be, so I scoured the neighbourhood thoroughly. Always uncomfortable with the sistrum-shaking priests, the dubious priestesses in their topless, see-through pleated linen and the u
No, it's Cybele we want," Helena insisted that night. The cult statue was brought from the East to Rome by sea when Claudius decided to legitimise worship. There's that story of the young woman with the soiled reputation." I perked up. Oh, my kind of girl!"
Think again, Falco. The ship got stuck in the estuary. Whatever her-name-was went and claimed that if her chastity remained intact she would touch the ship with her girdle."
She did the girdle trick. the ship moved off up the Tiber. Now can I go to sleep again?"
You can go to the Temple of Cybele tomorrow, Marcus." I did; I found nothing. Cybele had a huge enclosure by the Laurentine Gate where she was attended by various associate gods in their own little shrines but, as far as I could discover, no aunts. Helena allowed me to resume my dogged search elsewhere. I investigated temples of Castor and Pollux, Mars, Diana, Neptune, Liber Pater, round and rectangular temples of divinities whose names were not even obvious, Pater Tiberina, and the Genius of the Colony. The craft guilds had their own temples, prominently the Temple of the Ship Builders and a temple in the Forum of the Wine Growers [I enjoyed that morning. I was ru