False God of Rome Read online

  ‘But they were a group of rebel nobles who wanted to replace King Artabanus on the Parthian throne with Phraates who was hostage here in Rome,’ Corbulo said. ‘What are they to do with Egypt or Macro?’

  Vespasian vaguely recollected Magnus mentioning something about rebel Parthians on his arrival in Cyrenaica.

  ‘Everything,’ Antonia answered, ‘if you look at the timing and who organised the embassy.’

  ‘Herod Agrippa,’ Vespasian stated, his memory clearing. He rewarded himself with a gulp of wine.

  Antonia looked at him quizzically, wondering how he knew. ‘Correct. Herod’s been trying to persuade Tiberius for ages to reinstate Judaea as a client kingdom with him on the throne but Tiberius has always denied him. Macro must have offered Herod what he wanted in return for him using his considerable influence with the disaffected nobles in Parthia to persuade them that now was the time for a change of king. Herod’s friend Phraates is the only survivor of the ancient Arsacid dynasty and therefore the rightful heir to the Parthian throne; he would have been only too happy to be of service.’

  Asiaticus grinned. ‘That is elegant. Tiberius went for it because since Artabanus put his son Arsaces on the throne of Armenia, the balance of power in the East has shifted towards Parthia.’

  ‘Exactly, Consul; I know that Tiberius has made Phraates promise to return Armenia to Rome’s sphere of influence in return for his throne. Tiberius thinks that he has done a good deal for Roman diplomacy and so sends Lucius Vitellius, the new Governor of Syria, off to Parthia with his legions for a war that will last at least two, perhaps even three, years; longer than Tiberius is expected to live. Once Macro and Herod had put the Parthian embassy in motion all they had to do was sit back and watch Tiberius fall for it.’

  Comprehension spread over Corbulo’s face. ‘Ah, I see, Macro’s expecting Tiberius to die, either naturally or with a little help, before the war is concluded; he’ll then make sure Caligula becomes emperor and will be rewarded with Egypt. With the Syrian legions busy he’ll be able to create a buffer state by uniting Judaea with Galilee, Iudemaea, and all the other smaller Jewish tetrarchies with Herod as the King of a Greater Judaea.’

  Antonia nodded. ‘And Herod is already preparing the ground for that. On his way back to Rome last year he stopped off in Alexandria where his wife persuaded the Alabarch to lend them a lot of money, which Herod, rather than repaying his debts to me, has used to buy grain secretly from Claudius and Narcissus.’

  ‘But that would have come to the attention of imperial agents, however secret the deal, and he would have been prosecuted,’ Asiaticus pointed out correctly.

  ‘Only if the grain had been diverted from Rome itself; but it wasn’t. The estates that he bought it off had all fulfilled their quota to Rome; Herod bought grain destined for lesser provinces.’

  ‘That explains why we had a severe shortage in Cyrenaica,’ Vespasian observed, ‘it was one of the causes of the Jewish unrest there.’

  ‘I doubt that Herod cares about the Jews of Cyrenaica, he wanted that grain stockpiled ready to take with him to help him secure his new kingdom. An independent, united Jewish state would have a huge amount of manpower to call upon to form a considerable army, which would need to be fed. Herod will be a very powerful man, powerful enough perhaps to prevent Gaius sending an army through Judaea to invade Egypt.’

  ‘And Caligula will be powerless to do anything else about Macro because he would hold a large percentage of Rome’s grain supply in his hands, and would threaten to withhold it.’

  ‘Precisely,’ Antonia agreed. ‘But before he can secure Egypt, Macro needs money and a lot of it to buy the loyalty of legions and the auxiliary cohorts stationed there. Money is the one thing that he’s short of.’

  ‘So that’s why he’s recently allied himself with Poppaeus,’ Vespasian said, refilling his cup. ‘His family’s silver mines in Hispania would surely provide enough if they managed to finance the Thracian rebellion.’

  ‘More than enough,’ Antonia agreed while signalling to Pallas to refill her cup. ‘And in return for Macro giving him a free hand in Rome to prosecute the many enemies he’s made during his career, Poppaeus has agreed to lend him the money that he needs to become a wealthy landowner in Egypt by…?’

  ‘Buying Claudius’ estates,’ all three men said simultaneously.

  ‘The produce of which has just shot up in value due to the destruction of the last grain fleet.’

  ‘But then surely the price of the estates has gone up?’ Vespasian pointed out, pleased to be on a subject that he really understood: money.

  ‘Indeed, but that’s good for all four parties. Poppaeus will be delighted because Macro will have to borrow more money, so he’ll make a fortune on the extra interest. Macro will immediately have a huge income from his new purchases with which to buy the loyalty that he needs. He doesn’t care how much he pays now because it’s not his money and once he’s secured Egypt he’ll be able to pay off the loan with the millions that he’ll be receiving in taxes. Claudius will make even more of a profit on the investment he’s already put out; and Herod is happy because he’s not only already bought a massive amount of grain off Claudius but he’s also been buying more since he’s been in Rome with money borrowed from Poppaeus; part of which he can now sell at an inflated price to ease his cash-flow problems.’

  ‘What a happy cabal they must be,’ Asiaticus commented ruefully.

  ‘There are two things that I don’t understand, domina,’ Vespasian said.

  ‘I hope that I can answer them, although I only put it all together at the beginning of this year after I’d found out about Narcissus trying to get the deeds to Rome and Herod’s grain purchases.’

  ‘Yes, how did you know about that, Lady?’ Asiaticus cut in.

  Antonia smiled benignly. ‘I suppose it won’t do any harm telling you now. Once I’d found out about Claudius’ and Narcissus’ interest in Egypt I had my steward in Alexandria, Felix, look into it for me; it wasn’t long before he found out what they were doing. Since then he has been monitoring their land purchases. When Felix found out that Claudius had sold some of his harvest to Herod and then Narcissus’ agent had taken the deeds of seven of the estates to Siwa, he realised that something very strange was going on and so immediately took ship to report it personally to me rather than risk a letter falling into the wrong hands.’

  ‘But then how did you know that I had them, domina?’

  ‘I didn’t for sure until today. All I knew was that you met a man called Capella in Siwa who subsequently died, leaving you a chest. I couldn’t be sure what it contained because my agent couldn’t hear your final conversation with Capella; you’d ordered him to go and form up the column.’

  ‘Corvinus!’ Vespasian exclaimed in surprise. ‘He was spying on me?’

  ‘Not spying on you personally, Vespasian, he just works for me. Much like you, he has an obligation to me. When he heard Capella tell you, in Siwa, that the contents of his chest belonged to someone near the top of the imperial tree he thought that it would be of interest to me, so he wrote to me upon his return to Barca. He comes from a very ambitious family and is anxious to do well in Rome’s service; his letter was most informative about the reasons that you went chasing off into the desert.’

  Vespasian reddened, and wondered if there was anything that Antonia did not know.

  ‘But don’t worry,’ Antonia said with a smile, ‘it was fortuitous that you did, whatever your real motives. Now what were your questions?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ he said, shaking his head and trying to get back his train of thought. ‘I don’t understand why Claudius is selling Macro all his estates when they will give him the means to wrest control of Egypt from the Empire that he may one day control.’

  ‘Now that puzzled me for a while until I realised the simple truth: he doesn’t know Macro’s plans, nor does Narcissus; they might not even know that Macro is the purchaser. The deal has been brokered by Poppaeus, who, as
we know, is close to Claudius. All Claudius and Narcissus want is to pay off the huge loan that they took to buy the estates in the first place; but they’re not selling all the estates, they bought twice as many. The profit they make from selling these seven will ensure that they own the others outright.’

  ‘And I suppose there are no prizes for guessing who lent them the money in the first place,’ Vespasian said with a wry smile.

  ‘That’s the beauty of it; Claudius gives the deeds to Poppaeus, he wipes out Claudius’ debt and simply transfers it and the deeds onto Macro. No money changes hands and there is no record of the transaction and the three parties never meet.’

  ‘So what’s in it for Poppaeus apart from making money from all sides? It’s not as if he needs any more.’

  ‘This took me the longest to work out,’ Antonia admitted, ‘then it came to me in a flash. What has Poppaeus to gain by Macro taking Egypt and holding Rome to ransom? Nothing, unless he’s part of it. Think about it: Macro is safe from attack from the west because of the desert, the Syrian legions are tied up in Parthia and Armenia and a sea assault is a very risky option; how would you attack Egypt in those circumstances?’

  ‘That’s easy,’ Corbulo said, ‘I’d march with six legions, along the Via Egnatia through Macedonia and Thracia, cross over to Asia and then all the way down the coast, overwhelming Herod on my way.’

  ‘Exactly. But who is the Governor of Moesia, Macedonia and Achaea? Poppaeus. All he need do is withdraw his two legions and his ten auxiliary cohorts from the Danubius, cross the Hellespont and hold it against any army that comes. The eastern provinces would be completely in Macro’s and Poppaeus’ hands. The lower Danubius would be undefended and the northern tribes would take full advantage of that and swarm into Moesia, which would probably encourage the Thracians into another uprising. So any army that was sent east would have to deal with that before it could even think about trying to cross into Asia; that could take a couple of years. Anyway, where are these legions going to come from? The Rhenus frontier and leave Gaul open to the Germans? The upper Danubius and risk losing Pannonia? Or perhaps Hispania or Illyria where it’s only their presence that keep the local tribes in order? Since Varus managed to lose three legions in the Teutoburg forest there are only twenty-five left in the Empire.’

  ‘What about Lucius Vitellius?’ Asiaticus asked.

  ‘He would have a nasty choice once he’d concluded the Parthian war: either fight a civil war on two fronts, Poppaeus to the north and Herod and Macro in the south, and with the new King of Parthia – who would have much to gain by a divided and weakened Roman Empire – to his rear; not a pleasant prospect, as I’m sure you would all agree. So he would probably take the only other option and that is to declare his loyalty to the new regime and carry on guarding the eastern frontier.’

  ‘Or commit suicide,’ Corbulo suggested.

  ‘It comes to the same thing: the legions won’t want to fight. They’ve been stationed out there for so long it’s now their home, what do they care who’s in command?’

  ‘We have to prevent this at all costs, Lady,’ Asiaticus said as the truth of the matter sank in.

  ‘We will,’ Antonia affirmed, ‘but I think for all our sakes we should not discuss what to do until we have had a pause to collect our thoughts; I for one need to leave the room for comfort’s sake.’

  CHAPTER VIIII

  MAGNUS STARED STRAIGHT ahead, concentration etched on his face. ‘So, because you went following your cock out into the desert,’ he said through clenched teeth, ‘Antonia has drawn you right back into her world and we’re going to end up doing her dirty work.’ With a relieved sigh his features relaxed.

  Vespasian turned to his friend sitting next to him. ‘Better?’

  ‘Much.’

  ‘It’s not for certain that she wants me to do anything; she hasn’t even decided herself what to do about Macro.’

  ‘Bollocks, of course she has,’ Magnus said, taking the strain again. ‘Do you really believe that you and Corbulo would be sitting there with Antonia and the Senior Consul receiving the benefit of her views on a political problem if she didn’t think that you were part of the solution?’ He paused for a grunt of contentment. ‘Of course you wouldn’t; she’s got something nasty planned for us, take my word for it, otherwise she would’ve just told you to leave Capella’s chest on the table, thanked you sweetly and sent you back home for your supper.’

  Corbulo walked in and with a brief glance at Magnus moved past him, removed his loincloth, hung it on a peg and perched on the hole to the other side of Vespasian. His relief was loud and almost instantaneous.

  ‘This is more than I bargained for, Vespasian,’ Corbulo asserted once he felt eased. ‘I came here to witness a conversation, not to get involved in high politics.’

  ‘No, Corbulo, you came here to repay a debt. If anything you should be thanking me because with the praetor elections only a few days away you’re now involved with the Senior Consul whose opinion will count for a lot in the Senate. Perhaps you’ll get in this year; you might even beat my brother in the poll.’

  ‘I’ve worked that out for myself; and of course someone from my family should always beat a New Man like Sabinus,’ Corbulo replied tersely. ‘What concerns me, though, is that if Antonia puts a stop to this, five important people are going to be seriously upset.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, Macro and Herod will lose the chance of real power, Claudius will lose a lot of money, Poppaeus will lose a lot of money and the chance of some power, and Caligula will lose face for being stupid enough to let this come about in the first place.’

  Vespasian thought for a moment and realised that he was right.

  ‘And if they all find out that you brought this to Antonia’s attention,’ Corbulo continued, ‘and that I assisted you, then I really would have some enemies.’

  ‘What did I tell you, sir?’ Magnus said smugly. ‘Keep clear of imperial politics.’

  ‘Oh shut up and pass me the bucket.’

  Vespasian pulled a stick, with a sponge attached, out of the bucket full of clear water; flicking away the excess liquid he squatted and began to sponge himself clean. ‘Caligula won’t hold it against us, surely? We’re helping to save him from a terrible mistake.’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ Corbulo agreed as Vespasian dunked the sponge back in the bucket and swirled it round, cleaning it. ‘And for Rome’s sake it needs to be done, we can all see that; but will Caligula?’

  ‘Of course he will.’ Vespasian tied on his loincloth while Magnus took his turn with the sponge.

  ‘Or will he see it as an interference with his plans for when he becomes emperor? Emperors can’t be seen to make mistakes, so do you think that we would stand a chance of preferment during his reign if he knows that we’ve helped bring to light one of the biggest he’s ever likely to make?’

  ‘He’s got a very good point there, sir,’ Magnus said, giving himself a final scrub. ‘Even if you consider Caligula to be a friend now, when he’s the Emperor you might find yourself being an unwelcome reminder of past errors of judgement.’

  ‘There, Vespasian, even your man has the wit to see that.’

  Magnus picked up the bucket and banged it down at Corbulo’s feet so that the now murky water slopped onto his slippers. ‘Sponge, Corbulo?’ he asked politely, handing him the unwashed implement.

  ‘All of us are agreed that we must put a stop to Macro’s scheme,’ Antonia announced once they were all assembled again in her room. ‘The question facing us is how to do it with the least damage to my interests.’

  The three men stared at her. Only Asiaticus had the courage to ask what they were all thinking. ‘Surely you mean Rome’s interests, Lady?’

  ‘That is the same thing, Consul. I’ll be blunt with you; for the past few years I have been the only person who has stood between a reasonably stable government and a return to civil war. With Tiberius away and out of touch in his own world on Ca
praea it has fallen to me to play the various factions in the Senate off against each other, ensuring that none ever gets too powerful. It fell to me to deal with Sejanus because Tiberius was blind to his machinations and the Senate was too scared to face up to him.’

  Asiaticus went to protest.

  ‘Spare me your arguments, Consul; you were there in the Temple of Apollo when the Senate met believing that they were going to be asked to vote tribunician power to Sejanus. Tell me, if Tiberius’ letter had asked for that then what would have been the result of the vote?’

  Asiaticus pursed his lips. ‘It would have been unanimous,’ he admitted.

  ‘Yes, because every senator there would have been too frightened to be seen to vote against it. Only those who had “accidentally” forgotten about the vote and gone instead to their country estates or those who’d had the misfortune to eat a bad prawn the evening before would have been spared having to make such a tricky decision.’

  Corbulo bridled at the remark, much to Vespasian’s amusement; it had been the excuse that he had used to absent himself from that meeting.

  ‘I take your point, Lady,’ Asiaticus conceded.

  ‘I mean no disrespect to you personally, Consul, I am just stating the facts as they are and this being the case it is vital that I can still play a leading part in the politics of Rome once my brother-in-law is dead; either through one of my grandsons, Gaius or Gemellus, or through my son Claudius – an option that I am now coming to consider.’ She paused, enjoying the astounded look on her guests’ faces. ‘But I shall come to that. First let us consider the way to put a halt immediately to Macro’s plans without him suspecting that I’m behind it, because if he does then he will act like a cornered beast and both Tiberius and I would be dead before the month is out. If I interfere with Claudius’ and Narcissus’ plans to sell the deeds, he’ll be suspicious; likewise if I get Gaius to withdraw his promise, Macro is bound to see my hand behind it. So what to do?’

  ‘Remove him, as you did Sejanus, Lady,’ Asiaticus suggested.