Maxian looked perplexed, saying “Gregorious has always supported us, he was a friend of father’s, for Apollo’s sake. What would he want that Galen cannot give?”
“Not ‘cannot,’ piglet, but ‘will not.’ Gregorious wants to arrange grants of citizenship for some of his clients-the ones who have made him so rich. He also wants to ‘help’ out with the expedition by mustering his own Legions, six of them to be exact, from those same clients. He is even, in his graciousness, willing to arm, equip, and train the lot of them.”
Now Maxian was even more amazed than he had been earlier in the afternoon.
“Gregorious has enough money to field almost fifty thousand legionnaires?” He sputtered. “Where in Hades did he find that many able men in the Empire? Galen has had to hatch this dubious levy to get that many in arms!”
Aurelian nodded slowly then said, “Gregorious is not considering just men in the Empire.”
Maxian’s head snapped up, a look of suspicion on his face. “And where does he intend to get these men?”
Aurelian nodded to the north, past the pale-green reeds and marsh-doves painted on the walls. “From the tribes still beyond the border, those that have not settled in their own principates, towns, cities, and duchies. To join their fellows will live among us now.”
“The Goths? Maxian found himself on his feet, shout ing. Aurelian remained recumbent on the sofa, nodding. “And the Lombards, and Franks, and a bevy of other footless bands, all looking for a slice off of the big wheel of cheese. Gregorious argues, and here it is hard to fault him, that the Goths are staunch friends and allies of the state. They have fought at our side for almost a hundred years, but by the same treaties that bind them to us, and we to them, they are not Roman citizens. They hold lands in the name of the Emperor, but they are a subject state. Many of the Gothic Princes are welcomed at Gregorious’ house and they repay him, and his patronage in the city, with an easy way beyond the frontier. Gregorious Magnus did not become as rich as he is by ignoring opportunities, but I think, as does Galen, that he is beginning to run out of favors to pay them off with. Now they want to become citizens, and this is one way for them to get that.”
“They could serve, individually, in the Legions and gain the same status,” out Maxian pointed.
“Many do, but more want to serve together, which has been against the law for over eight hundred years. And if fifty thousand of them showed up at once, we wouldn’t be recruiting them, we’d be fighting them and Gregorious would be Emperor instead of our beloved brother. Gregorious thinks that together they are invincible in battle.”
Maxian sniffed at that, but Aurelian held up an admonishing finger. “Check the rolls of the Legion sometime, piglet. Almost half of our current soldiers are German or Gothic. They are fierce fighters and they can be very loyal.”
“The Legions have always been loyal to the state,” Maxian shot back.
“True. But Galen does not want to test that proverb. That is another reason why he wants to install the levy-to gain more legionnaires who are not German.”
Maxian’s retort was lost in the oak door opening and a slave entering with the wine. A pretty brunette in a short tunic, she placed the amphora on the marble ledge and took the wicker basket away. After she was gone, Maxian realized that his brother was laughing again.
“You need a wife, or better, a bevy of concubines, piglet. I’d swear that you didn’t hear a single word I.said while she was in this room.”
Maxian blushed and snarled something unintelligible at his brother. He got up and poured two goblets of wine, this a dusky red Neapolitan by the smell. He swirled the grape in the goblet and tasted it-excellent! He passed the other glass to Aurelian, who drank it straight off. Maxian sighed at the indifference of his brother to the subtlety of the vintage. The door opened again, and this time Galen entered, slamming the heavy panel behind him. The two younger brothers watched in silence as the Emperor paced icily from one end of the little room to the other. Finally, after almost ten minutes, he looked up and seemed surprised to find the two of them in the chamber with him.
“Oh. I wondered where the two of you had gotten to. My apologies. Is there any wine?”
Maxian poured another glass and handed it over to his brother. Galen’s high temper was visibly ebbing as he finally sat down and drank the wine in two short swallows. Maxian and Aurelian both continued to sit, their faces impassive as the Emperor sorted through his thoughts in the quiet.
Galen put the glass back on the ledge, turning to Aurelian. “Aurelian, as we had discussed before, the Senate is voting you to hold the office of Consul while I am gone. Nerva Licius Commodus, who is holding the other consular office, will be going with me, so we shall fill the other with Maxian here. I trust both of you, though not necessarily anyone else in the city, so be careful. The Senators are a little restless over this campaign in the East and will doubtless bend the ears of both of you while I am gone.”
Aurelian nodded in agreement, though his open face showed how pleased he was at the prospect.
Galen smiled, a little tight smile, and ran a hand through his short hair. “Maxian, you are the linchpin of this whole effort in the East. I had considered taking you with me- a campaign would be beneficial to your education-but someone has to maintain the telecast here so that I can be informed of any developments in the West. The device will be brought up from the Summer House within the next week, in secret, and installed in the library. Aurelian will handle the day-to-day business, but you need to keep an eye on the men who were in that room with me.”
Maxian rubbed his face, feeling the beard stubble. He did not like his brother’s emphasis on the word education, for it implied that his long period of freedom was at an end. For the last six years, since they had come to the city in triumph, his brothers had carefully excluded him from the business of the state. This had been the wish of both their mother and their father, who saw for him a different path, that of the healer-priest. With Galen in the East, such liberty was at an end. Oddly, he did not feel outraged or angry at the presumption of his brother, but rather more comfortable, like a familiar cloak had been draped, at last, around his shoulders.
“Brother, if I do not mistake you, you want me to take over the network of informers and spies maintained by the Offices? Is this not the domain of the Duchess de’Orelio?”
Galen looked at his younger brother for a moment, his face pensive. “De’Orelio has always supported us, little brother, as has Gregorious and the other nobles. But in times such as these, when great events are in motion, the solid earth may be sand, the old friend an enemy. Given these things, I desire that you should begin assembling a separate set of informers and spies loyal to us.”
Maxian bowed his head in acceptance. Galen continued to brood, his face grim and his manner distant.
“Within the month,” he said, “the Legions in Spain and southern Gaul will arrive at Ostia Maxima and I will join them. I shall sail east with them, and join the others at
Constantinople. Then Heraclius and I will begin our expedition. We shall have victoryr and peace.“
Maxian shook his head in puzzlement, saying “Again you mention that peace shall come of this, brother. You are taking a great gamble, to throw yourself and the Emperor of the East into the heart of Persia. Even with this great army you may still be defeated. You may die. Both halves of the Empire may lose their Emperors. This will not be peace but civil war again, and the barbarians will still storm against the walls of Constantinople. Would it not be more prudent to clear the invaders from Thrace, Greece, and Macedonia? Then the full weight of the Empire could turn against the Persians in Syria and Palestine.”