‘The Cappadocian, how much did he steal?’
To Flavius this was a cause close to his heart; his armies had suffered particularly from the depredation of that man.
‘He did what all office holders do, but look at the courts and the manner in which they were reformed. How many of our judiciary are no longer patricians looking after the interest of their class?’
‘I seem to recall John replaced them in venality. He was adept at selling verdicts.’
‘Less adept at seeking power.’
Say nothing Flavius; he had learnt quickly that any criticism of Theodora was most unwelcome and to mention her entrapment of John would never serve. The hardest occasion to remain silent was when Justinian thanked him for his gift of part of his fortune. Theodora had told her husband Flavius had insisted upon it, when he had never even been consulted. He could have asked for it back, but why would he when he was now in receipt of so much imperial bounty?
Slowly but surely lines were being drawn within the bureaucracy between those who resented Flavius and wanted to actively work to diminish him and the others who sought to recruit him into backing whatever cause they were presently pursuing. Narses soon showed he was an enemy, while the likes of John the Cappadocian, partly restored, made moves to appear an ally.
A quickly rising Ancinius Probus Vicinus was solidly placed in the lower ranks of officials, he having attached himself to a powerful patrician clan who had once supported his father and uncle. Both were seen as victims of Belisarian malice, his hatred fuelling their attitude. He discussed the matter with Justinian, given the Emperor knew as much about the case of Senuthius Vicinus as did he.
He had also come closer to understanding the bond that had existed between the imperial couple. There had been a sexual element, of course, though he never even hinted at wishing to have that defined. Being an emperor was a position of utter loneliness if you had no one at all to confide in. If it had within it elements of genuine affection, the pair had a bond that rested on mutual survival. Justinian was as aware as his wife of what would happen to her if he lost his throne or expired. He therefore knew without equivocation that she would always act on his behalf.
His own marriage had settled into what seemed a convenience; Antonina enjoyed what she saw as the glory reflected on her by her husband’s position. Naturally, given her vanity and inability to see the wood for the trees, she assumed to herself inappropriate airs and graces and was quick to complain to Flavius if she felt slighted. For the sake of peace he assured her the supposed miscreant would hear of it; they never did, for he was as opposed to wasting his breath as he had been to wasting his soldiers’ lives.
Yet in one area he found himself powerless against her. The betrothal of his daughter Ioannina, arranged by Theodora, no longer found favour with Antonina; how quickly had her old companion gone from saint to sinner, to be lambasted for matters in which Antonina had previously been her stout supporter. The betrothal was to be called off, which had Ioannina come to her father, whom she barely knew, asking him to intercede, given she had formed a genuine affection for the imperial nephew. Here she was before him, a sweet child of tender years, in tears and her apparently so powerful parent was in no position to help her.
‘It was your fortune Theodora was after, don’t you see? Ioannina is your sole heir. The whole thing was arranged when she gave it back to you. That woman, when I think of some of the things she did!’
‘The child is unhappy,’ Flavius pleaded.
‘For now,’ Antonina scoffed. ‘Take it from one who knows, when you clearly do not. She will get over it.’
If there were matters of religion to occupy him, Flavius did not forget the military, and Justinian always consulted him when such matters were raised. The enmity with Narses was barely disguised and it proved to be something Justinian could not settle, even if he made his displeasure known. The old eunuch would counter any proposal advanced by Flavius and that applied to the continuing running sore of Italy.
‘Narses is ever badgering me for a military command and I weary of you two fighting like cats in a sack.’
‘Not as much as I do, Autokrator.’
‘I am minded to send him to take command in Italy now that Germanus is gone.’
An imperial nephew, Germanus had been proposed by Flavius as a fitting man to take command in Italy. On his way he was obliged to divert and repel a large incursion by the Slavs. That achieved and on his way to Italy once more, Germanus had fallen ill and died. A replacement was urgently required.
‘He could be a good choice.’
‘Flavius, he’s your sworn foe.’
‘What bearing does that have?’
‘Of course, he would be out of your hair.’
‘What’s left of it,’ came the reply, which got an imperial frown. Justinian was well ahead of Flavius in hair loss. ‘But that has nothing to do with my opinion, though I will say this. It matters less who you send to Italy than that they are given the means to ensure success.’
‘The cost, Flavius,’ Justinian moaned.
‘Not to spend now is foolish. And if anyone can conquer Italy completely think of the taxes that will produce. Besides, Narses is your Treasury Chamberlain. If anyone can find the money he can, perhaps in the coffers in his cellar.’
Did the eunuch ever learn that his subsequent successes had come from the arguments advanced by Flavius Belisarius? Did he know that when he made such slow progress – it took him a whole year to get from Illyria to Italy proper – that the same man calmed Justinian and prevented his recall? Narses arrived in the peninsula with that which Flavius had never had, a huge army and over the three years of his campaign he utterly destroyed Goth power.
The war was going well in Hispania too, with the Visigoths being driven back from places they had held for two hundred years. On the eastern frontier Martinus was repaying the faith placed in him. After a long campaign he took Petra and beat a huge Sassanid army to finally bring peace to the frontier, albeit not without a huge payment of gold from the imperial treasury.
At the side of Justinian, advising him was the man most of the citizens of Constantinople still considered to be the empire’s best general. Flavius Belisarius could still walk the streets without an escort, was still greeted and applauded for his known probity. In the imperial bureaucracy and the courtiers surrounding the Emperor he was hailed as the only one not engaged in endemic theft.
The man who refused to see himself as such, went about those duties that his emperor demanded of him, was honest as he had always been, never shrinking from telling Justinian when he thought him mistaken, always with his mantra that if he spoke offensively it was for the good of the empire.
He was the envoy of choice in any dispute, and that extended to dealing with Pope Vigilius, a man he would happily have sliced in two. Without Theodora to protect him Vigilius found himself at odds with Justinian and that was a battle he could not win. He was finally deposed and sent into exile on an island that at least had food and water, which Flavius was not sure he deserved.
To say there was peace never could be true with such long borders. There were incursions all the time as various barbarian tribes sought to plunder the wealth of Byzantium. Narses had been obliged to put aside Italy to repel a Hun invasion and it was ever the case that the most porous frontier was in the area of land within which Flavius had grown up.
The Danube could never be anything other than porous; the number of points at which it could be crossed made utter security impossible. It had been like that when Flavius was a youngster and it was still like that now, held by a thin screen of small detachments based on the various riverbank cities. They were not strong enough to prevent serious incursions and had no choice if they faced one but to withdraw into their strongholds and wait for succour from the capital.