* * *
They were almost to the coast when the next mail arrived, and Gaius was pleased to receive a letter from Vipsania.
My Darling Gaius,
Spring is here, the trees are greening nicely and many are in blossom. You will be very pleased to know that the rains were good, so it looks like a promising start to the year.
I am afraid I haven't got any further as regards Quintus, and I don't think I can. Word must have got back from Egypt that I had been asking questions, and Quintus became quite angry. I think the fact that I am a woman has something to do with it, and his attitude was quite overbearing. He did not explain anything, and he seemed to think that any explanation to me was unnecessary. I am sorry, but I think that's as far as I am likely to get.
I have met another problem. Polybius had been helping me, but it seems he has been mourning a brother (I have no idea how he died) and his work efforts have declined. He requested Claudius to relieve him of his appointment, but Claudius was in no mood to agree. Polybius was told to straighten up, or else; he might have been freed, but he was still in the service of the state. The overall result is that now he cannot help me, which means I cannot see how to make further progress. I am not the only one he cannot help either. Seneca, from exile, wrote to Polybius to console him on his loss, but in reality it seems to have been an attempt to get Polybius to help him get back to Rome. That isn't going to happen, and in his present mood Polybius is not going to help anyone, possibly not himself either.
It appears that kissing shoes might well be a sound strategy after all, since Vitellius has been made Consul. It seems that some of the other courtiers must have guessed or known this was going to happen, because there has been a lot of real grovelling to Vitellius going on for some time. From what I can make out, you got on reasonably well with him while you were in Syria, so his being Consul can't be too bad.
Mind you, being Consul this year may not be all that desirable. The Senate is definitely restless. They seem to be laughing at Claudius, and I think some of them, including Marcus Vinicianus and Valerius Asiaticus, expect Claudius to fail. Poor Claudius has an awful lot riding on this invasion, so it better not fail. Of course I have no doubt that the Valeria will sweep all before it, and believe me, if it does, you will get just about anything you wish. Besides the invasion working, it has to work with soldiers that don't have their own eyes on the Principate, and I know that you are one of the few that Claudius really trusts.
So, our future lies in your hands. Doesn't that make you feel good?
Your loving Vipsania.
Gaius laughed hollowly at the last part. The future would come, irrespective of whether he was there, although he did acknowledge that his actions might well alter it. That Vitellius was Consul was certainly not the worst thing that could happen, although it would make very little difference to him because the position would last for a year, and he would be invading Britain through the whole Consulship.
The reference to Quintus annoyed him. He would write a letter to him, requiring him to produce the documentation Vipsania had requested. Quintus should consider a request from her to be a request from him; if he sent her away, calling her a woman, he was sending him away, calling him a woman, and when he, Gaius, returned to Rome Quintus would answer for any such insults.
Quintus' antics were just what he needed; just when he was to embark on an expedition that would be the height of his career, he had to deal with an arrogant relation.
Chapter 21
Legio IX Hispana, having much further to travel, and also requiring a replacement for its duties, would not join the invasion until much later in the season but the three legions that had marched from the Rhine, Legio II Augusta, Legio XIV Gemina Martia and Legio XX Valeria were sufficient for this channel port to be a seething mass of humanity and of chaos. Food and materials had to be acquired, and since the heavy equipment had been brought by boat down the Rhine and along the coast, it had to be reunited with its legion. Everything had to be recorded, particularly the money. There was a huge fortune in coin, more than most tribal kings could ever hope to amass, but with three legions guarding it there was little opportunity for theft.
Clerks were everywhere, recording everything. The power of Rome arose not from the gladius and shield wall, formidable though they may be, nor from the ability of the ordinary Roman soldier to achieve the extraordinary, but rather from the ability to organize and deploy over great distances such a massive disciplined force kept in supply. The ability to bring over twenty thousand well-disciplined troops to a chosen point at a chosen time, then to mount an attack with all units coordinated to preset goals meant that the tribally dependent Celts could not defeat this invasion once it became established.
Just because Rome could do it, however, did not mean there were no slip-ups. Inevitably equipment was mixed up, lost, misplaced, and sorting out the mess was a task for every man who could read. The ability to read led to a safer life; the ability to read and fight led to rapid promotional prospects. A number of soldiers whose reading ability was marginal at best were now helping. If they were lucky, they might get noticed. If they were unlucky, they would get noticed, as someone else would have to deal with the resultant chaos.
One beneficial legacy of Gaius Caesar was the experience gained from carrying out a similar exercise only a few years before. Some previous mistakes had been avoided, but the problem of interlegionary competitiveness had not. Something was always in short supply, and the respect that a Tribune gained lay partly in his ability to ensure that the shorter the supply, the greater the fraction he acquired. One source of interlegionary competitiveness arose from the fact that a Tribunus Laticlavius was always given more by the General Staff, and by various clerks. A legion had one Tribunus Laticlavius; the Valeria gained an immediate advantage by allegedly having three. This was something of an irritation to the other legions.
However, in terms of irritation, the Flavians were leading the charge. While Vespasian had a legion, Plautius had made Vespasian's older brother, Sabinus, a staff officer, thus superficially giving the Augusta a clear advantage. Then, when Vespasian complained to Plautius that one of Gaius' Tribunes got something he thought should have gone to the Augusta, Plautius quietly told Vespasian that if Sabinus couldn't manage that little problem, then maybe he needed better staff officers. Vespasian then learned that Gaius had previously served under Plautius. Expletitives flew.
"Another scared-shitless youngster of senatorial rank wanting glory from the back of the Roman soldier," was the very mild form of the gruff assessment that eventually got relayed to Gaius.