Throne of the Caesars 01 - Iron and Rust by Harry Sidebottom Read Free Book Online Page B

out of sight to the north, was the valley of the Subura. Down there all was bustle and crowds. On the Carinae a stately spaciousness held sway.
    Approaching the Domus Rostrata , the grandest house of all, the women were somewhat surprised to find their path blocked by four men. Their rough attire proclaimed their membership of the urban poor. Iunia could think of no good reason why they should have ascended from the slums below and were now standing outside the home of the Gordiani, where once Pompey the Great had lived. Even Perpetua had gone quiet. Iunia sensed her guard move up closer behind.
    Three of the men stepped to the side, bowed their heads, and muttered ‘My Lady’ as the women came near. The fourth loitered. He was little more than a boy, younger than them. He was short, with a thin, angular face like some malevolent creature from a story told to frighten children. He openly wore a dagger as long as a short sword at his belt.
    At the last moment, he stepped aside. As he bowed, he made no attempt to disguise the way his gaze travelled over Iunia’s body.
    ‘Health and great joy.’ He spoke in well-accented Greek, as if greeting his social equals.
    The women swept past. Neither acknowledged the existence of the plebeian interlopers. They had not gone far when they heard a burst of laughter, at once lascivious and mocking.
    ‘Imagine if they had overpowered our guards.’ Perpetua’s eyes were shining. ‘They could have dragged us down the hill. Once in their robbers’ lair, who knows what they might not want to do to two young senatorial matrons.’
    Iunia laughed. ‘You have read too many of those Greek novels where the heroine is always being abducted and sold into a brothel, from which the hero rescues her at the last moment.’
    ‘Perhaps in my story the saviour might be delayed a little?’
    ‘You are incorrigible.’
    ‘Me?’ Perpetua said. ‘I was not the one making eyes at Ticida as he recited poems about my breasts.’
    ‘About some girl’s breasts. He has never seen mine.’
    ‘But he would like to, just like that young knife-boy.’
    ‘Then his poetry had better improve.’ Iunia flung out her arm portentously and declaimed:
    ‘Could I but become a crimson rose,
    I might then hope you would pluck me
    And acquaint me with your snowy breasts.’
    Both women laughed, the more immoderately for their slight scare.
    ‘Ticida is good-looking,’ said Perpetua.
    ‘He is,’ Iunia agreed.
    ‘You have not taken a lover since Gordian left for Africa. Even male physicians argue that abstinence is a bad for a woman’s health.’
    ‘Although your husband is far away governing Cappadocia, it is a relief to know your health is in little danger.’
    ‘Toxotius is wonderful,’ Perpetua sighed.
    ‘You should be more discreet,’ Iunia said. ‘You know you should. If Serenianus finds out when he returns …’
    ‘He will not.’
    ‘But if he did. You know the penalties for adultery: banishment to an island, the loss of half your dowry, no prospect of a decent remarriage.’
    Perpetua laughed. ‘I have often wondered about those exile-islands, full of traitors, adulterers and the incestuous. Think of the parties. Anyway, Nummius did not divorce you, and he knew all about you and Gordian.’
    ‘Nummius was a very different man from Serenianus.’
    ‘They say—’ Perpetua leant close, whispered in Iunia’s ear ‘—he liked to watch you and Gordian.’
    ‘Although they were of different generations, Nummius and Gordian were close friends,’ Iunia continued in a serious tone. ‘They held the same rank in society, both ex-Consuls. After achieving that rank, Nummius devoted himself to pleasure – some would say, to vice.’
    ‘They also say—’ Perpetua’s breath was hot in Iunia’s ear ‘—your physical demands hastened his death.’
    Iunia ignored her. ‘Your husband disapproves of hedonistic excess. Serenianus sees himself as a senior statesman: pillar of the Res Publica ,