Sejanus

Uh-huh. It rang a few ten-year-old bells, too, and I wondered why I hadn't thought of it before. 'You mean the Julians were going for the Wart personally? For his political street cred?'

Lippillus nodded. 'Tiberius had his back to the wall at the time. He was in trouble financially, the army was stretched and grousing, and as far as his personal prestige was concerned he'd've had trouble running for office as Caretaker of Weights and Measures if he had to, let alone emperor. Whereas Agrippina and her sons were universally popular.'

Yeah, right. The old story, in other words, only for Germanicus read his wife and kids. And the financial aspect tied in nicely. Wars were expensive. The Treasury was already pretty empty after Pannonia and Germany, and the Wart was scraping in the pennies by cutting public spending to the bone. Logical enough, but your average city punter isn't logical over his Games and corn dole, and even emperors ignore the city punter at their peril. As far as Rome's not so silent majority were concerned Tiberius was a stingy bastard, full stop, end of story. More cuts, to pay for yet another war, might just put the lid on things. This was beginning to sound promising.

I took another swig of wine. 'So anything the Julians could do to mess things up even worse for Tiberius would be a definite plus?'

'Right. The aim was destabilisation, coupled with a smear campaign.' Lippillus pulled off a piece of the loaf. 'I doubt if they planned a formal coup. I'd guess the intention was to weaken him enough to force political concessions, and in those terms I'd say the revolt was pretty successful.'

'Yeah?'

'Yeah. You weren't in Rome at the time, Corvinus. You didn't hear the rumours that were going around. If you'd believed half what was said — and I'm not just talking about wineshop gossip, either — you'd've thought the whole of the west was up in arms, Sacrovir was heading over the Alps like Hannibal with half Gaul, Germany and Spain at his back, and the Wart couldn't care a tuppeny toss.' He bit into the bread and chewed. 'Those rumours weren't accidental. And they did a lot of damage.'

I sat back. It made sense. Sure it did, and if that was where the Asian cash had gone then it'd been money well spent.

'Okay,' I said. 'There's the general theory. Where's the proof?'

'You want me to do all your work for you?' Lippillus's smooth, too-young face split into a grin. 'You're the big political thinker. I'm only an overworked public servant with a nasty mind. And with a nasty mind you can prove anything.'

'True. But you don't get any extra points for modesty.' I took the last bit of cheese from under his knife. 'You've probably got this all worked out already six ways from nothing. Cut the flannel and give.'

The grin changed to a laugh and he ducked his head.

'Okay. So maybe I do have some thoughts. Just don't quote me, right?' He bent down a finger on his left hand. 'One. You know that the family name of both Florus and Sacrovir was Julius?'

'Is that so, now?' No, I hadn't known that, and it was an interesting point. Provincial families given Roman citizenship take the name of the Roman who got it for them, just as a freed slave adds his ex-master's first names to his own. It's not only a compliment, it has a practical and legal purpose as welclass="underline" out in the sticks, being able to sign three names to a document means you're someone to be reckoned with. 'You think they had Julian connections? Specific Julian connections?'

'It's possible. Sure, every third Gaul who can trace his citizenship back more than two generations is a Julius, but both Florus and Sacrovir were chiefs. Important men from important families whose citizen rights dated back to the early days of the province. Maybe even before that. One gets you ten they had client links with the Julians going back all the way to Caesar.'

'And loyalty's important to a Gaul. Personal loyalty. Florus and Sacrovir owed.' I nodded. 'Accepted. Two?'

He bent the second finger down. 'Two is the weapons.'

'Weapons?'

'Sacrovir had an army of forty thousand. Four-fifths of them were armed with knives and hunting spears which they could've brought with them from their villages, but at least six thousand had Roman equipment. Top-notch, state-of-the-art legionary stuff. That doesn't come cheap, it doesn't come easy, and it doesn't come quick. So where did Sacrovir get it from?'

Uh huh. I hadn't known that either, and the hairs on the back of my neck were beginning to stir. Six thousand sets is more than enough to equip a full-strength legion, and you don't pick up gear like that in the local fleamarket. 'The money came from Asia. And the equipment was Spanish and German, courtesy of the two Julian governors.'

'Right. Who else would have access? It would explain why Silius and Serenus were accused later of helping the rebels. Or partly explain it.'

I nodded. 'The guys had been fiddling their order sheets. And if the scam had been brewing for years Rome wouldn't necessarily have noticed.'

'The arms wouldn't even have had to come through official channels, Corvinus. No local manufacturer is going to query a governorial order. And if the bill's paid cash it's no skin off his nose. It only means a bigger slice of the profit.'

'Yeah,' I said. 'Yeah, I'd swallow that. Three.'

'Three is Montanus.'

I was going to say, 'Who?', but then I remembered. Votienus Montanus was the guy condemned the year after Serenus for bad-mouthing the emperor. I'd wondered about that myself. Like I said, up to that point slander had run off the Wart like water off a duck's back. So why had he been so keen to put Montanus into an urn?

'You think the guy did more than just shoot his mouth off?' I said.

'I don't just think it. I know he did. You've read the account of the trial. Does the name Aemilius mean anything to you?'

'He was one of the prosecution witnesses.'

'Did the records go into any details?'

'No. Just the name, and the fact that he'd given relevant evidence.' Shit! I should've noticed the omission myself, especially after the business with Silanus and Cordus.

'Aemilius was a soldier, one of the Lyons auxiliaries. Also a Gaul. Does that suggest anything?'

I had him now, and if he was right then Tiberius had had good reason to want Montanus dead and buried. 'That it wasn't just a straight case of personal slander. Montanus was inciting the local troops to mutiny.'

'Bull's-eye.'

I stared at him. 'Lippillus, where the hell did you get all of this?'

'I have my sources. Even in the senate.' He sipped his wine and filled both our cups. 'The reason why there's no exact record of Aemilius's deposition is that he claimed that Montanus had circulated pamphlets among the troops accusing the Wart of every crime from multiple buggery of children to incest with his mother. Plus, incidentally, the murder of every Julian from Gaius and Lucius Caesar to the Divine Augustus himself.'

Oh, Jupiter! Jupiter Best and Greatest! I could imagine what Gauls would make of that little nugget. The Julian family were like gods in Gaul, had been ever since Old Julius divided the place into three parts and wiped their noses for them. And like I'd said loyalty to family was a point of pride west of the Alps. If the local Gallic troops could be convinced that Tiberius had been responsible for snuffing out the Julians they'd be yelling for his head on a pole. I reached for my wine cup and drained it. My hand was shaking.

'They'd need proof,' I said. 'Rabble-rousing's one thing, but the Gauls aren't fools. And they've been settled for three generations.'

'Montanus gave them it. Circumstantial stuff, naturally, but proof nonetheless. And Aemilius insisted on repeating it loudly and at length in open court. Names. Dates. Details that fitted so well with what everyone knew already that Tiberius shut the guy up himself.'