"That's odd," Gaius frowned.
"What's odd about the outside of a letter?" Vipsania said. "If only the inside's merely odd. ."
"It also has Claudius' seal, and not Little Boots'," Gaius frowned. He opened the letter and added, "It's Claudius' writing!"
"Claudius?" Vipsania frowned. "You mean. ."
"The stutterer," Gaius grinned, "but also the man I've been corresponding with for some number of years."
"Hah! Your source of influence! That's how you got a legion!"
"I'm not too sure about influence," Gaius said, then paused as he saw the signature, "Until now, that is."
"He's been promoted by Little Boots?"
"Not exactly," Gaius said, "but you can sleep soundly and without fear of Little Boots."
"Ho! Ho! You don't know the man!" Vipsania said scathingly.
"I don't have to," Gaius replied. "Listen!
Gaius, Greetings! Congratulations to you and Vipsania on your recent marriage. May your lives be long and prosperous. When either of you return to Rome, please come and see me immediately.
I have long valued our correspondence and your thoughts. I trust you will continue to give me the benefit of both. I need every real friend I can get.
Gaius Caesar's fear of conspiracies seems to have been well founded, as he has been assassinated. You may be interested to know that he had consulted the oracle at Antium, who warned him to beware of Cassius. Accordingly, he recalled Gaius Cassius Longinus, whose brother, Lucius, had been married to Drusilla. These two, and Lucius in particular, had a very bad habit of pointing out they had descended from the Cassius who murdered the other Gaius Julius Caesar. Fortunately for this Cassius, he did not return to Rome fast enough.
On his last day, Little Boots was in good spirits, but the portents were bad. He went to the theatre on the Palatine, where he sacrificed a flamingo to Jupiter, but he did it clumsily, and blood went everywhere, including over the toga of Publius Nonius Asprenas. However, Caesar, this day, took no notice of the portents, and when he was returning for lunch he was struck down by the Praetorian Tribunes Cassius Chaerea, Cornelius Sabinus, and a number of lesser men. Interestingly, the only attempt to protect Caesar came from the litter-bearers, the humblest there, who tried to use their poles.
I now know something about the plots. The chief plotter appears to have been Annius Vinicianus, and you should be warned that one plotter appears to have been Valerius Asiaticus, although he seems to have kept a distance from the event. Vinicianus was lucky, at least for a while, to be seized by more loyal Praetorians and brought before Clemens, who let him go. German bodyguards became involved, and killed a number of conspirators, including the senators Asprenas, who had not taken the warning, Lucius Norbanus Balbus, as well as a number of people who could not resist trying to look at the dead Caesar. At the same time, different plotters murdered Caesonia and little Drusilla.
Why is not clear. You might be amused to hear that there were even rumours running through Rome that the Legions on the Rhine and on the Danube were uniting to get rid of Caesar. Perhaps the Praetorians were struck by the realization they just might have to stand and fight soldiers, and they were not very keen to do that. As to how such rumours started, your guess is almost certainly better than mine!
Whatever the reason, what followed was sheer ineptitude. While the crowds were furious, rather than proceed to restore the Republic, all the senators could do was to bicker amongst themselves as to who would be Princeps. Leading contenders, who vetoed each other, were Vinicianus, Asiaticus and Saturninus, who spoke out most strongly in favour of getting rid of me! I am afraid that this last chance to restore the Republic was lost. The senators were completely self-serving, and gave no thought at all to the average Roman. Accordingly, the average Roman gave no thought thereafter to them, and even the Praetorians realized that they could not put up with all this self-interest. All that wretched Saturninus could moan about in the Senate was the hard life of the privileged!
At this point the Praetorians then seemed to have decided they needed some dummy to authorize their keeping the Senate under control and avoid civil war, so they searched through the palace, and found me.
Needless to say, I am no dummy. I have had Cassius commit suicide. Some in Rome think he should have been rewarded, but I feel we cannot have soldiers assassinating the Princeps. Such action must be discouraged.
I trust I can count on your continued support and loyalty. Please let me know what the army thinks.
Your stuttering Claudius,
Princeps.'"
"Princeps?" Vipsania asked in amazement.
"That explains the seals," Gaius nodded. "The penalty for use of that seal by any other than the Princeps is death."
"You're on that close of terms with the new Princeps?" she asked in complete amazement.
"So it appears," Gaius replied.
"My!" she grinned. "Won't I be able to lord it over one or two noxious Roman matrons!"
"You might even be able to do that," Gaius nodded, "but if nothing else, you are now quite safe. You can go to Rome whenever you wish, and you will have the protection of the most powerful man in Rome."
Chapter 13
It took little time before Gaius was summoned before Plautius. As Gaius strode into the room, he had a strange feeling that Plautius was deferring to him, rather than the other way around. "I gather you've received a message from the new Princeps?" Plautius asked cautiously, before Gaius could even begin to greet him.
"Yes, Governor," Gaius said, then he explained, "It was merely informing me of the transition, and requesting my loyalty, which, of course, I give without question."
"Nobody else got a letter like that," Plautius added, perhaps a little peevishly. He was certainly nervous.
"I have been corresponding with Claudius since I was a boy," Gaius admitted, "and I think that's the reason."
"I've been required to communicate through Narcissus," Plautius added sourly. "From what I gather, he's a freed slave."
"He's been Claudius' secretary for some time," Gaius said. "He's one of the few people Claudius can trust right now, so I'd guess Narcissus will become very influential."
"I see. ." Plautius was struggling, as if he wanted to ask something, but his natural caution prevented him.
"May I make a suggestion, sir?"
"Go on," Plautius said, with a strange mixture of eagerness and apprehension in his voice.
"Call the Pannonnian Legates, and other high officials, get them to swear allegiance to the new Princeps, and report to Rome that you have done exactly that." He smiled, and added, "First in gets the pick of the favours."
"Very sound," Plautius nodded sourly, as he could virtually assume that Gaius would reply to the new Princeps that he had made such a recommendation.
* * *
Shortly after the meeting, Gaius sent Claudius a message confirming that which Plautius had sent, and he added that he had personally spoken to the other legion commanders, and that the army of Pannonia was loyal to the Princeps, it trusted his term would be long and successful, that he would restore prosperity and order to Rome, and restore the dignity that was due to Rome, and which had been dissipated by Gaius Caesar.