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Still conscious that I had been Cleonyma's chosen male representative at her husband's funeral, I asked tentatively about arrangements for taking home his ashes. She was not at all offended that I had mentioned it, and burst out laughing."Oh that's dealt with, Falco! At first I put him in a valuable urn. Parian marble, with gold fittings – beautiful. But then I thought they'll get me to pay port duty on the dear lad's ashes. They can stuff that! It's twenty-five per cent for luxury goods. He used to get a
"He would approve!' we assured her. I hid a grin as I imagined my brother-in-law Gaius Baebius, the tax official, spotting Cleonyma tottering up a quayside among her collection of souvenirs. a gift, who would fill up his duty targets for the next month in one swoop.
Cleonyma went quiet."I shed a little tear when I left him there. He would have enjoyed Marathon; he always liked places with a history.'
We were quiet too. Remembering Cleonymus' unforced generosity, we honoured him and raised our cups to his memory.
As she stood up to leave, Cleonyma leaned down to Helena and pointed to Sertoria Silene."She's leaving her husband, can you believe it? She's taking on Indus; well, he needs sorting out. She can be quite bossy, if she's given her head, and Indus seems to enjoy it. The best bit is, she's told Sertorius Niger he can keep those two dreadful children; there is no chance of her taking them!'
Helena smiled, in a way which I knew meant she was suddenly thinking about our children."Now, don't hold back, Cleonyma – tell us the truth, please do. who is Indus ru
Cleonyma smiled."Oh surely it's obvious – he's fleeing from his mother!'
We roared with laughter.
"I'm going to get really drunk tonight,' confided Cleonyma. She was halfway there already.
Something must be due to happen soon. A solitary man with a bent taper started going around, lighting up the oil lamps. One table cheered him. He looked embarrassed.
Cleonyma went off to order more drinks; she asked for nibbles with them. The nibbles never came, though I had a feeling she paid for them.
The flautist returned. This time he was accompanied by a lame harpist and an extremely short drummer. They helped themselves to drinks, then stood around. An unhealthy-looking girl in a short tunic brought cut roses to every table, encouraging us to wind them into some wreaths of leaves which had already appeared u
At long last, caterers arrived. As they took over a corner of the yard, we gathered we had a long wait ahead of us. Raw ingredients were being carried in. Shellfish and mullet were still alive, and I swear I heard a chicken cluck. Simply lighting the fire for their cooking-bench took ages.
"There is Aelianus!' exclaimed Albia, spotting him first.
In the entrance to the courtyard we saw Aulus, shepherded discreetly by Young Glaucus. They were greeted enthusiastically on all sides. Smart in a tunic with purple stripes of rank, Aulus made a slow progress past the other tables, shaking hands with everyone."Your brother looks like a candidate courting election votes!'
"He's playing Alcibiades.'
"No; he's sober – so far!'
It was weeks since Camillus Aelianus had seen the travellers at Corinth, when the quaestor first arrested them and he bunked off. He was clearly well regarded and had to repeat for every group details of what he had been doing since. Someone gave him a wreath, though I noticed he resisted being crowned. He was trying to extract himself as speedily as possible.
When he reached us and dropped the wreath on our table, we
found out why. He handed a scroll to Helena, a letter from their mother, then while she was distracted, he murmured,"Marcus, you need to come with me. By the look of things here, there is time for a quick detour, and you have had a summons.'
Glaucus had apprehended a messenger at the i
"I've brought transport,' mouthed Aulus.
"I'm not deaf, you know,' said his sister.
As I stood up, apologising to Helena and the others, I realised that all of the Seven Sights group were here tonight – with the exception of Phineus and Polystratus.
LXI
I felt stricken with apprehension. Other messages in the past, received too late, had sent me chasing to find women, either too young or too naive, who were waiting alone in places of danger. Sometimes I had failed to reach them in time.
Aulus had brought a fast trap. As a senator's son he had no notion of economising with donkey-carts. This was a light, high-wheeled affair that could have doubled for Athena's war chariot. All we needed was an owl on the footboard.
Aulus drove. It was a privilege of his rank to seize the reins and cause havoc. He scattered the other traffic as if he was in a race in the circus. I used the journey to bring him up to date. When I said what Helena and I had learned from Marcella Naevia yesterday, he snorted, astounded by her attitude. In the dim light of a torch I saw him biting his lip, wondering what nonsense she was about to impose on us now.
The Roman agora lay due north of the Acropolis, slightly to the east of the original Greek one. Ours had been instituted by Caesar and Augustus and, as Helena had said of the Roman infiltrations on the Acropolis,"You have to pretend the new Roman buildings are a sign of Roman esteem for Athens.' She was a mistress of irony.
She and I had omitted the new agora from our self-devised itinerary, but Aulus found it easily. He parked beside an ostentatious public lavatory, which we both used – marvelling wryly that Roman esteem for Greece was expressed so well by this sixty-eight-seater shit-house with full ru
The House of Kyrrhestian stood just outside the agora. It was an antique octagonal building, an exquisite marble creation, decorated with representations of the winds. This weather station and timepiece had been built by a famous Macedonian astronomer. A water-driven clock occupied the interior, showing the hours on a dial; there were sundials on each outer face; a rotating disk showed the movement of the stars and the course of the sun through the constellations; on top,
a bronze Triton wielded a rod to act as a weathervane. You could not ask for more – unless it were for the automata, bells, and singing birds on a clock I had heard of from Marinus, which he said he had seen in Alexandria.
Aulus and I had a lot of time to view this scientific wonder. Philomela was late.
"You can tell she's a Roman woman.'
"If she was Greek, she wouldn't be allowed out of the house.'
"Maybe the Greeks have got something!'
"I'll tell Helena you said so.'
"Not even you would do that, Falco.'
Eventually the woman turned up, looking surprised that we seemed impatient. I saw Aulus surveying her sceptically; it was the first time he had met her. Always uneasy with female witnesses, Philomela – or Marcella Naevia – with her scarves and scatty expression, made him swallow nervously.
She plunged straight in. She was keyed up and agitated."Falco, I have to tell you about the man.'