The King's Gambit by John Maddox Roberts Read Free Book Online Page A

himself as the steward of someone named H. Ager. The slave rebellion was in full swing two years ago, so if someone bought this slave under false pretenses, one of your colleagues must have had a hand in it. Find out who bought him and send me the name, as secretly as you like. I'll try to prevail on my father to go easy on your nephew."
    "I shall have the name by this time tomorrow," Macro said.
    "Oh, one more thing." I told him of the break-in at my house.
    He thought it over for a while. "I have heard nothing of this. Why anyone should want a bronze amulet I cannot imagine, unless it had some magical power. As for the thief--how did he come in? Over the roof and into the peristylium?"
    "So I suspect. There was no forcing of doors or windows."
    "A lightweight, then, to come in over rooftiles without making noise. That would go with the eyesight, too. Few can see so well in the dark past the age of fifteen. I think your intruder was probably a young boy."
    I massaged my scalp, wincing. "He hit hard, for a child."
    Macro nodded. "We learn to hit very hard, very young, in this part of Rome."
    An hour later, I was on the Campus Martius. Except for walking about the city, I had not exercised for weeks. I have never made a cult of physical activity, but dining with the likes of Sergius Paulus and Hortensius Hortalus made me feel like a fat Oriental potentate. Someone like, now that I thought of it, Mithridates of Pontus.
    At the side of the field, near the shrine of Pollentia where the running-track began, I paid an urchin a quadrans to watch my toga and sandals. Stripped to my tunic, I started to run. Before I had gone a quarter-circuit I new how out of practice I was, and made one of my customary vows to go there every day and run for an hour until I had worn away the effects of soft living. Running is marvelously effective for ordering one's thoughts, though, and since some god had seen fit to put Mithridates in my mind, I reviewed what I knew of him. There was always some rogue of that name troubling the eastern world, kings of Parthia or Pontus. The one giving us so much trouble that year was the King of Pontus, the sixth Pontine king of that name. He was something of a marvel, because he had been no more than eleven years old when he inherited the throne from his father (Mithridates V, naturally), had been a prize troublemaker for every minute of his reign and was still alive at sixty. Romans of his disposition seldom survived for a decade.
    While still of tender years he had clapped his mother in prison for trying to seize power, then eliminated his brother (another Mithridates, too inconsequential to rate a number). Over the next half-century he had repeatedly invaded, often successfully, the small but rich kingdoms that make up that part of the world. This brought him into conflict with Rome, since we had possessions in his path, and alliances with some of his rival kings. He tried to expel all Romans from Asia, but was defeated by Sulla and Fimbria. Some years later our General Licinius Murena took it into his head to invade Pontus and was soundly drubbed for his pains. There was a spell of peace, then the Consul Aurelius Cotta tried his luck and was beaten. Most recently, Lucius Licinius Lucullus was having a go at Mithridates, and enjoying some success. If Mithridates had a philosophy, it seemed to be that any enemy he could not defeat in battle he would outlive.
    He was said to be a huge man, a champion with all weapons, the fastest foot-racer in the world, a superb horseman, a poet and more. It was said that he could speak twenty-two languages and that he could outeat, outdrink and outfornicate any ordinary human being. But then, it is always the Roman tendency to ascribe heroic qualities to someone who has repeatedly bested us. We did the same, briefly, for Hannibal, Jugurtha and even Spartacus. It would be too humiliating to admit that our most successful foe was probably some disgusting little Asiatic hunchback