‘The trick with orders, First Spear, lies in the way that they are written and the way in which they can therefore be interpreted. I am ordered to march from here with, in terms I have committed to memory, “No more than half of the legion’s strength”. And so I shall, taking four full-strength cohorts to make up less than half of the legion’s theoretical manpower. After all, my orders made no mention of the words actual strength, did they? And I’m leaving you to defend the city with the Second, Fourth, Fifth and the Seventh cohorts. With the transfers I’ve just effected, you’ll be left with eight hundred men or thereabouts, more than enough to keep order in a civilised city like Antioch, I would have thought?’
Quintinus shook his head, unsure how he should present his objections to the orders scratched into the tablets’ waxy brown surfaces.
‘Legatus?’
Scaurus waved a dismissive hand at his broad stripe tribune.
‘A moment, Gabinus Umbrius. The first spear and I will conclude this discussion very shortly.’
Quintinus shook his head unhappily.
‘Legatus, with all due respect, this will leave me with only the youngest recruits and the oldest veterans to defend Antioch. That hardly seems fair to-’
‘To the people of the city? Or to you, First Spear? What precisely was it that you expected? That I’d be stupid enough to obey the orders of a vindictive and corrupt fool like Domitius Dexter? That I would happily march out of here with just enough men to raise a decent dust trail once I’m across the Euphrates, and bring the enemy down on me? After all, half of the legion’s actual spear count is barely fifteen hundred men.’
The senior attempted to interject a second time, his voice beginning to sound as much petulant as concerned.
‘Legatus?’
Scaurus waved his hand again without turning to look at the tribune, a smile twitching at his lips.
‘Indulge me a little longer, Gabinus Umbrius.’
Quintinus shook his head, his face a picture of bafflement.
‘But what if the Parthians get around you, cross the Euphrates and attack the city? Surely you can’t simply ignore the governor’s orders?’
‘Legatus!’
Scaurus turned to look at his deputy, his face suddenly dark with anger at the attempted note of command in his subordinate’s voice.
‘My patience with you, Tribune Umbrius, is at an end. First Spear Julius!’
Julius stepped forward with a grim face.
‘Legatus?’
‘Draw your sword. And if this young gentleman speaks just one more time without being invited to open his mouth, use it to behead him, here and now. The charge on which he will have been executed will become clear soon enough.’
Julius swept his sword from its scabbard with a hiss of oiled metal, raising the brightly polished iron to show the tribune the weapon’s edge, and Umbrius took a step backwards when he saw the absolute certainty in the first spear’s eyes that he would obey his legatus’s command. Scaurus turned back to Quintinus with a questioning look.
‘Now, you were saying? Ah yes, what if the Parthians get around my admittedly small force and attack the city? Surely the answer to that one is clear enough?’
He laughed hollowly.
‘All you have to do is order your men back from leave. Pull your detached units back into the city. And call back the soldiers you’ve set to making the countryside safe by hunting wild animals. That will more than double your manpower.’
He fell silent, staring implacably at Quintinus while the older man struggled for words. When he spoke again his voice was deceptively soft.
‘Except you can’t, can you? Because, First Spear, as we both know all too well, not very many of those men actually exist, do they?’
Silenced reigned for a long moment before he continued in the face of the first spear’s dumbstruck silence.
‘It has been evident to me from the first day of my command, First Spear, that something was deeply wrong with a legion that had so many men recorded as absent, especially as Quintus Magius Lateranus was careful enough to take his secretary with him when he left so suddenly, along with the set of legion records that would have exposed your fraud, leaving only the official version of the records for me to examine. It didn’t take me long to work out what was going on, of course, but I saw no value in accusing you of being responsible for the scheme since I was also pretty much convinced that it probably wasn’t directly of your making. To be brutally honest with you, First Spear, you’re neither brave enough nor stupid enough to have been the man responsible. You were clearly involved, but more by way of tolerating what was being done to your legion than an active participant. There had to be bigger men than you behind the whole thing.’
He turned and stared pitilessly at the tribune, nodding grimly as the man’s face went red.
‘Men like you, Gabinus Umbrius. Well-connected men with that sense of entitlement that seems to permeate so many of your class.’
He turned back to Quintinus.
‘But now it’s time for the truth. If I catch you lying to me one more time, First Spear, I’ll have you flogged to ribbons and executed on the parade ground this morning, with your legion watching you. You will die as a disgraced private soldier, your savings and property will be sequestered by the state in compensation for your theft, and your family, who you will never see again, will be thrown out onto the street.’
The first spear started, and Scaurus shrugged wearily.
‘Did you imagine that nobody knew about your little secret? Since it was clear to me that Lateranus and his cronies must have had some hold over you, I set a couple of my men to follow you on the day that I gave the legion a half-day’s holiday. They tracked you into the city, as a result of which I know enough about your illegal wife and child to understand how it was that you were forced to remain silent as your legion was bled dry. After all, Lateranus could have seen you dismissed in disgrace, with your property confiscated in its entirety, down to the last coin in your purse. You knew only too well what would happen to your family if you were suddenly rendered destitute, here in Antioch of all places. But now, of course, your loved ones pose you a different problem, not one of keeping silent, but rather one of speaking the truth, here and now. Because if you continue to keep the truth from me, I will have no option but to exact the punishment I’ve already described. I won’t take any pleasure in doing so, First Spear, but trust me, I will do what I have to.’
Quintinus had gone deathly pale, and could do no more than stare mutely at Scaurus, as the legatus rammed home his advantage.
‘So, First Spear, you have just one chance to tell the truth. Were you involved in the fraud I have uncovered?’
Quintinus straightened his back.
‘Yes, Legatus.’
‘How wise of you to admit it. So, how many men are genuinely absent with permission?’
‘No more than five hundred.’
Scaurus stared at him in disgust.
‘And how does this fraud work exactly?’
‘Two hundred men or so leave the legion every year, as they take their retirement. And Legatus Lateranus was a strict officer, dishonourably dismissing men from imperial service at any opportunity. And with every man’s retirement or dismissal, new names have been entered into the legion records as fresh recruits.’
‘False names?’
‘Yes, Legatus.’
The legatus looked across at Umbrius, who was now staring at the floor.
‘And their pay, the cost of equipping them and their rations goes straight into a few select purses. Did neither of you really think this would never come to light? You may speak, Tribune.’
The patrician’s voice had utterly lost its former superiority.