Sejanus

‘“Shut him up"?'

'I'm putting it mildly. My senatorial informant said he was furious. His friends had to hold him down.'

'The Wart? We're talking about the Wart?' Jupiter in a bathrobe! Tiberius never lost control of himself in public! Never!

Lippillus nodded. 'We're talking about the Wart. So where would a hick provincial like Montanus who'd never set foot in Rome get that sort of information from?'

'From the Julians themselves. Where else?' I was still in shock. 'Gods!'

'Right. Like I said, a smear campaign. And a pretty effective one at that. You want my fourth point?'

'You mean there's more?'

'This one's more interesting still.' He filled my cup. 'It concerns the guy who might just be your tie-in with Sejanus. The Spanish governor. Vibius Serenus.'

9

Vibius Serenus. Erstwhile Spanish governor, prosecuted after the revolt for fomenting public violence in his province, exiled, then again a few months later for direct involvement with Sacrovir. Yeah. I'd been wondering when we'd get round to him. And uncovering another Julian plot was all very well, but my brief was to nail Aelius Sejanus, not Agrippina. Sure, as the Wart's deputy where the cloak-and-dagger stuff was concerned he must've been involved, but it would be with official blessing. That was no use to me. If I wanted his hide pegged out I needed something more.

'You're saying Serenus was Sejanus's man?' I said.

'Don't rush me.' Lippillus shook his head. 'Maybe. But it's not that simple, at least I don't think it is. He was a real Julian, he had to be. All the same, there's something about him that doesn't square. If you're looking for a starting point then my gut feeling is that Serenus is your best bet.'

'How do you mean, "doesn't square"?'

'Corvinus, I'm not sure I know what I mean myself. Certainly not sure enough to put it into words.'

'You care to try?' I trusted Lippillus's gut feelings more than I would another man's certainties. And it wasn't just because I liked the guy. Plug-ugly dwarfs with no-class names don't make regional Watch commander every day, and if they do it's no accident.

Lippillus's brow creased. 'Think of roles. The Gauls — Florus, Sacrovir, Montanus — were the fall guys, the suckers on the fringes who got chopped. Maybe they were being loyal clients, maybe they were political ingénus who thought they had a genuine chance, I don't know, and it doesn't matter because they died anyway. Silius the German governor was nearer the centre. Sure, if I'm right he helped get things going, but his involvement was never overt and once the rebellion was under way he switched sides. If I'm right and the purpose was to embarrass the Wart politically then that makes sense, because his part was finished and there was no reason for him to stick his neck out further.'

'But Serenus's role was the same, surely?' I objected.

Lippillus hesitated. 'Yes and no.'

'What the hell's that supposed to mean? We've just been saying that — '

'Corvinus, bear with me, will you? I don't have all the answers, and I can't even ask most of the questions. All I'm telling you is that Serenus doesn't fit the pattern. Whether that's significant or not, and if so how, I don't know.'

'Okay.' I took a swallow of wine. 'I'm sorry. Go ahead.'

'When Aelius Sejanus began targeting the main Julian supporters for the Wart he encouraged a lot of the smaller fry to shift their allegiance to him. Right?'

'Right.' That made sense. Politics is a pragmatic business, and based on alliances. The Julians had built up quite a network over the years, and when they were smashed the lesser families who'd been dependent on their patronage were quick to look for a replacement. On Sejanus's side, he might have power through the Wart but he didn't have a party — we'd been through that before — and a leader without a party is nothing. He'd've welcomed the Julian deserters with open arms, because he needed them as much as they needed him.

'Okay,' Lippillus said. 'Now we go back a few years. You remember the Libo trial?'

'Sure.' My interest sharpened. Libo had been a rich young smartass framed for treason a couple of years after the Wart came to power. One of the guys behind the framing — and this I did know — had been Sejanus.

'Who were the prosecutors?'

I knew the answer to that one, too, or at least I knew one of them: his involvement in the Libo prosecution had been what put me on to his link with Sejanus in the first place, and incidentally provided the reason why he now hated my guts. 'Fulcinius Trio. Our latest consul.'

'One of the others was Serenus.'

'Is that so?' I sat back. I could see what Lippillus was getting at now, about Serenus being different, and he was right: guys who started out mates of Sejanus's and then switched to the Julian side would be as hard to find as Jews in a pork-butcher's. Serenus didn't fit the pattern because he went against the flow. Julian to Sejanan, sure, no problem, that took in half of Rome. But Sejanan to Julian? No way. He was right. Something smelled.

'Axing Libo for Sejanus was what got Serenus his city judgeship. And, following on that, his Spanish posting. He was a Sejanan from the first, and doing well out of it.' Lippillus was looking at me over his wine cup. 'So why did he switch?'

'The obvious answer is that he didn't. He was a double.'

'Maybe. But if so he went down with the rest. He's in exile now, on Amorgos, and likely to stay there. And if the senate had had its way he'd be dead.'

Yeah. That, at least, had been in the records. The senate had voted for death after the second conviction, but Tiberius had vetoed the proposal. If Serenus was a Julian that made sense, like with the Asian governor Silanus: the Wart hadn't wanted to push the Julians too hard. He couldn't afford to. On the other hand, if Serenus had been Sejanus's buddy all along and working for him on the inside then a commuted sentence would still have made sense…

Ah, hell. My brain hurt. I was out of my depth here, and I knew it.

'Maybe,' I said slowly, 'a word with the prosecutor in the Serenus trial might clear up a few things.'

Lippillus nodded. 'Exactly. That's what I was thinking, Corvinus. It's not often that a guy's prosecuted for treason by his own son. And if Serenus is on his island, Vibius Celsus is still in Rome. If I were you I'd pay him a visit.'

On the way back home I went over what I remembered from my notes on the Serenus trials, just to make sure I had them straight in my head. They were pretty complicated. The guy had faced prosecution twice in twelve months. The first time the charge was fomenting or failing to discourage public violence in his province, and he'd been convicted and exiled to Amorgos. The second was the occasion we'd been talking about. Serenus had been hauled back from Greece to stand trial before the senate on the charge — brought by his own son Vibius Celsus — of sending agents to Sacrovir in Gaul. Celsus had cited a collaborator in Rome, one Caecilius Cornutus. Before the case began, Cornutus had committed suicide.

Okay. So far — reading between the lines — so good. Serenus had acted like a pukkah Julian. He'd turned a blind eye to seditious demonstrations, maybe even encouraged them, and established links with the Gallic rebels. Cornutus had been his contact with the Julians themselves back in Rome. He hadn't expected to be implicated, and when it was clear he was under suspicion he'd panicked and taken the quick way out. Or maybe had it taken for him. It wouldn't be the first time that a weak link had been eliminated.

With Cornutus gone Serenus had brazened it out. He'd challenged his son to prove his case by naming other associates. Celsus promptly accused Cornelius Lentulus and Seius Tubero; Lentulus being an old friend of the Wart's and Tubero being Sejanus's elder stepbrother. Naturally the case collapsed. Lentulus and Tubero were discharged by an embarrassed senate without a hearing, and Celsus quickly left Rome for Ravenna.