Saturnalia by John Maddox Roberts Read Free Book Online Page B

providing interior partitions. Quite illegal, of course, but even a small bribe will work wonders. With a bit of asking and poking about, I soon located the booth of Furia.
    Luckily, she did not favor incense. The hanging that covered the arch was embroidered with vines and leaves, mushrooms, and winged phalli. The interior was dim but I could see baskets of herbs and dried roots, some of them pungent. In the rear a peasant woman sat cross-legged on a reed mat, dressed in a voluminous black gown and wearing an odd hat of what appeared to be black horsehair woven into a thin, stiff fabric. Its brim spread as wide as her shoulders and its crown was shaped into a tall, pointed cone.
    “Welcome, Senator,” she said, apparently unawed by my rank. “How may I serve you?”
    “Are you Furia?”
    “I am.” Her accent was that of Tuscia, the land just across the Tiber. These latter-day Etruscans enjoy a great reputation as magicians.
    “I am Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger and I …”
    “If you’re one of the aedile’s assistants, I’ve paid my fees.” By this she meant her bribe.
    “For a fortune-teller your powers of anticipation are not great. I have nothing to do with the aediles.”
    “Oh, good. I’ve had quite enough of them for this year. Bad enough having to look forward to the next lot.” She was a handsome, big-boned woman with straight features and thevery slightly tilted eyes common to those of Etruscan descent. Her dark brown hair was pinned up beneath her headgear. “So what may I do for you? When folk of your class want to consult with me, they usually send their slaves.”
    “Do they? Well, there are some things I prefer to do for myself. Things concerning certain, shall we say, very private matters.”
    “Very wise. I don’t suppose you need medicinal herbs. I’ll wager you consult with a Greek physician to treat your ills.” She looked down her high-bridged nose as she said it, to show her contempt for such newfangled foreign practices.
    “I enjoy excellent health at the moment.”
    “An aphrodisiac, then? I have some excellent medicines to restore virility.”
    “I’m afraid not; and before you suggest it, I do not require an abortifacient.”
    She shrugged. “Then you’ve about exhausted my store.” Her attitude was strange. Vendors usually press their wares upon you whether you want them or not. This one seemed almost disdainful.
    “Suppose I found myself plunged into deepest despair?”
    “Try a skilled whore and a jug of wine. That should fix you up nicely. Improve your outlook no end.”
    I was almost beginning to like her. “But this is a melancholy beyond bearing. I must end it.”
    “Try the river.”
    “That would be ungentlemanly. You get all bloated and fish nibble at you.”
    “You look like you’ve spent some time with the legions. Fall on your sword. You can’t get nobler than that.” She was amused, but she also seemed angry.
    “I want an easy and painless way out of my troubles. Is that so difficult to procure?”
    “Senator, your talk may be good for making the flowers grow, but that’s all. What is it you’re after?”
    “I want to know why you are so reluctant to sell me a perfectly legal means of suicide.”
    She stood, unwinding gracefully from her cross-legged seat without using her hands. She was taller than I had expected. Standing in her bare feet she was able to look me straight in the eyes. Her own were green and startlingly direct. She stepped very close, within a few inches of me. As a trained rhetorician, I knew that she was making use of her great physical presence to intimidate me. It worked.
    “Senator, go away. Words like ‘legal’ may have some sort of meaning in the Senate, but not among us.” Her breath smelled sweetly of cloves.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean I’ll not end up like Harmodia, and neither will anyone else in this market. Try as you will, nobody will sell you what you want.”
    “Who is Harmodia? And why