John found himself debating whether the man had reached that age where he had begun wandering in places unseen by others that were nonetheless real to him.
“I have no wife,” he said carefully, “and am still alive so you will have to explain your point further, I fear.” He couldn’t help recalling the reception when he himself had arisen Lazarus-like from Justin’s dungeon.
The old man began to work his polishing cloth more vigorously. “Not one for parables? I will be plainer. When a man is dead is it fruitful to dig him up again by going about asking impertinent questions? Especially someone as respected as Hypatius?”
“Is he respected in this particular religious community?”
“Certainly. He was exceedingly generous. Ostentatiously generous, to be honest. Before I retired and entered this foundation, I knew him as a businessman first and foremost, one with whom I often crossed swords. Usually he got the better of me.”
“Could it have been financial wounds from those battles which brought you to this place?”
“No single wound, my friend. I never wanted to be a rich man. Accumulating wealth is an unpleasant task and retaining it is even worse. Yet what choice does one have? Either a man is rich or he has a foot in the gutter. It doesn’t take long after that to tumble head first into it. So I did what was necessary. You might say wealth was the cross I had to bear.”
Fortunatus sighed again. “And the worst of it was the lying. Look at this old face. White as a shade’s, and why? Because the sun never touched it through the mask I had to wear all my life. Smiling and lying to all the other masks with whom I dealt.”
“So what was it, finally, that brought you here?”
“It was when I had to ask some children playing in the street why the Forum Constantine had disappeared. It had become most annoying. I would venture out and my house would move while I was gone. I could cope with that, but when the forum picked up and wandered off just because I’d gone to the baths, well, I decided to take up the monastic life. I will be happy if I never have to go out into the streets again. Although I did have a fascinating conversation with Emperor Justin once. He was out in Forum Bovis searching for his reception hall.”
Fortunatus did not smile as he spoke, even though, John thought, he must be joking. “Perhaps it’s best to stay off the streets,” John said. “They grow more dangerous all the time. This place is a safe haven, I imagine. You have not been threatened here, have you?”
“Only by the cook’s unspiced offerings.”
John looked around the enormous underground room. “Don’t you ever wish for more comfortable surroundings?”
“At first I did. When Hypatius visited me to discuss the statue, he tried to convince me to resume my former life-at least until he found out I’d donated all my lands to the church. There was nothing left to swindle me out of even if I did reemerge into the world.” He laughed.
“You find it humorous that the man was more or less a thief?”
“Not a thief, a businessman. Besides, I can laugh because who’s sitting in a comfortable and warm place polishing silver and waiting for the evening meal and who is underground, never to taste a good roasted fowl or a cup of Falernian wine again or sample the delights of an obliging young lady? Not that I am suggesting that we sample young ladies here, you understand.”
Was the man incompetent, John wondered, or merely playing at it, turning it to his advantage? Did he know something, some shred of information, that put together with other scraps would make a collection of tesserae that would somehow assemble themselves and turn into a coherent mosaic?
“You have been living here very long?”
“A year or so. It is very different. Noisier for a start. That’s to be expected with being so close to the palace and the Great Church. The food may not be so varied or lavish as that prepared by my personal cook in the old days, but it is nourishing and there’s plenty of it. Last summer I helped with the kitchen garden. My herbs were much praised. It’s a simple life. It suits me more and more as I get older. Also, when I lose my way, there is always someone at hand to help me find my room.”
He flourished his cloth. “Yes, I’m thankful to be here. Besides, although we live behind a wall, we can scarcely avoid hearing news of the goings-on in the city. Now and then, I even learn of interesting developments concerning some of my former business acquaintances. Not all of them do well, alas.” The relish with which he made his final comment revealed his enjoyment of this sad state of affairs.
John observed that such occasional tidbits of news would certainly be of interest to one who had once fought on the fields of commerce.
“Yes.” Fortunatus’ blue eyes glittered under his bristling white brows. “It’s surprising how so often they overreach themselves or invest foolishly, even recklessly. Some are extremely clever. Take Hypatius, the dead man who so interests you. He stole a choice estate right out from under my nose a couple of years ago. Persuaded the heir to sell it to him for less than he and I had already agreed.”
John expressed his condolences.
“That wasn’t as bad as the time he publicly challenged the purity of the wine I was selling. I admit it turned out not to be the exact vintage the importer had held it out to be. It was terribly unfortunate that that particular shipment was destined for the imperial kitchens. That was just before I decided to retire and enter the monastery.”
“I suppose you don’t have much opportunity to discuss such worldly matters here.”
Fortunatus agreed dolefully that this was the case.
It was becoming obvious that the man relished such discussions and did not hesitate to use the safe shelter of the monastery to make comments he might not have dared to utter outside, especially about his former commercial enemies.
“I have heard similar tales of Hypatius’ business dealings,” John said. “Yet you joined him and Dominica in donating the sculpture despite your disputes?”
Fortunatus plied his cloth over a silver and gilt box with a lid that bore a border depicting the rout of the money changers from the Temple in Jerusalem. “I did not like the man. Neither did I dislike him. No, it was because Dominica requested it. I knew her late husband. That is to say, her last late husband.”
“An impressive woman.”
Fortunatus set the box down and John saw it was a reliquary. “Impressive. That’s the word for Dominica, yes. At any rate, she had seen the work of this immensely talented young sculptor by the name of Dio. I was happy to contribute although I paid my portion of the cost directly to Dio just in case Hypatius suddenly developed honey-covered fingers when passing along my money.”
John asked why Hypatius had become involved with the project in the first place.
“He was ever a man for public good works. An art work of that sort is bound to receive attention. Of course, everyone has been talking about it for days, although not for the reason that Hypatius anticipated. I believe also that he thought it would buy him favor in heaven. When you’ve paid half the city officials to overlook this infraction or that, you don’t hesitate to attempt to bribe the Lord, do you?”
“No doubt Hypatius has discovered if it has worked,” John said dryly. “Although it is just as well that the emperor apparently didn’t know about his bribes. I’ve heard he is inexorable when it comes to public corruption.”
“Justin doesn’t seem to be aware of what is going on in his own palace these days. If you ask me, he would be far happier polishing silver here with me. It was the nephew, Justinian, who worried Hypatius. An avaricious man, Hypatius told me. He was completely opposed to Justinian’s inheriting the throne.”
“So despite your disputes, it seems you had a number of conversations of a private nature with Hypatius?”
“Oh, it’s quite true. I used to attend dinner parties where confidences flowed freely as the wine. I could tell you statements several very prominent citizens made at such gatherings that would earn them stripes in public, if not worse. And they weren’t all about Theodora, either!”