With this private battle playing out, we continued marching, entering the province of Syria, traveling along the coast so that our resupply came from the sea, before turning inland and heading for Ace Ptolemais. At this point, we crossed over a series of mountain ranges, making the going slow and the days long, but it kept the men sufficiently tired so that trouble was kept to a minimum, for which I was thankful. Reaching Ace Ptolemais in early Junius, we made camp outside the city walls, whereupon Caesar took up where he left off in Alexandria, that is to say putting things back in order. During the years of civil war, the running of Roman provinces had not been a high priority of the ruling class, and the civil administration suffered as a result, something that Caesar was determined to put to rights. During our last days in Alexandria, he had disbanded the Egyptian army, establishing the two Legions he left behind, the 28th and 37th as permanent garrisons. Here in Ace Ptolemais, he filled several administrative posts, appointing a number of minor officials to offices that were vacant, along with hearing petitioners, all of which took time. The days passed as he went about his business and we quickly settled into a routine where the men would go into town when they were off duty, unerringly finding the part of town that caters to fleshly desires. Following just as inevitably was trouble, particularly now that there was no fighting going on to keep the men occupied and their bloodlust sated, forcing me to begin making my trips into town with my purse full of coin once again. Trouble with the civilian population was nothing unusual and in reality was to be expected. What was not expected, at least on my part, was an incident that gave me exactly what I needed to destroy Cornuficius, because it happened with our allies, the Jews.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Caesar summons you to attend to him immediately.”
Apollonius looked grave, but try as I might I could not pry a word from his lips as to what it was about, so I was in an agitated state of mind when I arrived. Caesar looked every bit as grim as Apollonius and he was not alone. With him was none other than ben-Judah and Antipater, their moods matching Caesar’s.
I saluted, then Caesar jumped right into the matter. “Pullus, we have a serious problem. Are you aware of a disappearance of one of Antipater’s officers?”
I shook my head. “No, Caesar, this is the first I've heard of it.”
Caesar turned to ben-Judah and said, “Perhaps you should tell him since you're more familiar with the details.”
“Yes, Caesar.”
Ben-Judah turned to me and there was nothing friendly in his eyes as he spoke. “As Caesar said, one of my officers, a man by the name of Joseph of Gaza has disappeared under suspicious circumstances.”
“What makes it suspicious?”
I thought it was a reasonable question, but ben-Judah was clearly irritated. “I was getting to that,” he snapped. Now I was growing angry and seeing this, he softened his tone. “I am sorry, Pullus, I did not mean to speak harshly. It’s just that Joseph was a good friend of mine. Anyway, he was off duty and he was drinking at one of the shops near the forum that’s become a popular place for both your men and mine. While he was there, he got into a game of dice with one of your men and I suspect that is the cause of the trouble.”
“How much did he lose?”
Ben-Judah shook his head. “He didn’t lose. He won, and apparently, won quite a bit.”
I bit back a curse, sure that I knew where this was going, but I was wrong. “So you think he was robbed by one of my men?”
“I wish it were that simple. No, he wasn't robbed because he didn't have any money on his person.”
Now I was completely confused and I said as much.
Ben-Judah glanced at Antipater and Caesar, and Caesar signaled that he should continue. “He wasn't gambling with a man from the ranks. He was gambling with a Centurion. The Centurion gave him a marker to cover his debt, and that’s the only thing of any value that Joseph had with him, besides a few coins of his own.”
I went cold, now understanding why the others were so grave.
“Do you know who it was?”
Ben-Judah hesitated. “While I can't be positive, from the description given to me by some of my men who were there, it is in all likelihood your Centurion, Cornuficius.”
I kept my face composed, but it was difficult, I can tell you. Here was the opportunity I had been waiting for, or so I hoped. That was not something that I wanted Caesar, or the Jews for that matter to know, so I made a show of skepticism.
“I don’t know,” I said slowly, “that doesn’t seem like Cornuficius. Not that he'd gamble and lose,” I said hastily, seeing that I had angered ben-Judah, “but it’s just not his style to do something so risky. He’s usually cleverer than that.”
“It was supposedly quite a lot of money,” countered ben-Judah and I asked how much.
“We don’t know for sure of course, but from what my men overheard, it was in the neighborhood of 5,000 sesterces.”
I was flabbergasted; that was a small fortune, and while Cornuficius could certainly afford to lose that much, that did not mean he would part with it willingly.
I forced my mind to move to another part of the problem. “What were the circumstances of his disappearance? When was he first noticed missing?”
“He didn't leave the wine shop immediately. According to our witnesses, your man Cornuficius left before Joseph, after Joseph refused to continue playing. Cornuficius naturally wanted to win his money back, but that is what he had been trying to do for the last third of a watch that they played, and Joseph finally said ‘enough.’ When Cornuficius left, he was very angry.”
“I can imagine,” I said dryly.
“Joseph left some time after Cornuficius did, and was seen heading towards the Jewish Quarter; he had friends living in the city. They are friends of mine as well, so when he went missing, I immediately went and asked these people. They said he never showed up.”
“And when did you realize he was missing?”
“He was scheduled to be commander of the watch for the second watch for our part of the camp. He never showed up, so we went looking for him. That is when we heard what happened.”
I rubbed my face, forgetting that Caesar was standing there as I thought through what I had heard. I had no doubt about what happened, knowing Cornuficius as I did, but I could not voice that in front of Caesar because it would raise questions I did not wish to answer. I had to appear to have Cornuficius’ well-being in mind, at least at this point, meaning I had to ask a question that I knew would anger ben-Judah and probably Antipater as well. I was not sure how Caesar would react.
“Is it possible that he went to another place to celebrate, drank too much, and is sleeping it off right now?”