Oracle of the Dead(81)
The woman was brought out and administered the terrible oath that calls down the vengeance of the gods on perjurers. Personally, I have never noticed anyone to suffer for committing perjury unless they were caught and couldn’t bribe their way out of it. Still, I suppose the oath does no harm and scares some people into telling the truth.
“Floria,” I said, “tell this court exactly what happened when your former master came to this place, and of what transpired afterward.”
So she recited her story, much as I had heard it earlier. At first, her voice was weak, and I told her to speak up. When she finally understood that she would truly not be tortured or abused, she gained confidence and her voice steadied. It was actually far more effective than a rehearsed speech, and I could see that many of the onlookers were beginning to believe there was something to all this.
“Well done, Floria,” I commended, when she was done. “Now, I want you to go over there”—I pointed to the knot of black-robed women—“and tell this court if you recognize the slave girl who so treacherously extracted crucial information about your master from you.”
She walked over to them slowly. “I am not sure, Praetor. It was ten years ago.”
“Just examine them carefully and see if you can recognize her.”
The woman looked closely at them, one by one. Then she stopped and gasped. She pointed at Iola. “This is she, Praetor!”
“Are you certain, Floria? Be sure you are not mistaken.”
“There is no mistake, Praetor! Now that I see her, I know her as if it was yesterday I saw her.”
“Thank you, Floria. You are dismissed.”
“So you see, citizens,” I continued, “how they chose and deceived their victims. Those they picked were conducted to the shrine of Hecate, not the riverine Oracle chamber below, and given a false prophecy, which the victims believed to be the voice of Hecate herself. You will now learn how they performed this deception. I call the master stonemason Ansidius Perna.” The man stepped forward and took the oath. “Perna, explain to this court the ventilation system that supplies fresh air to the subterranean tunnel.”
Baldly, Perna explained how a second tunnel, above the first, provided ventilation. When he was done, I dismissed him.
“Ansidius Perna and his workmen cut me an access to the tunnel above. He did not accompany us on our exploration of this second tunnel. That was undertaken by myself and several of my companions. Directly above the chamber of the shrine we found lamps and litter indicating where Iola’s confederate provided the false voice of Hecate. I would now like some of the distinguished men of this district to go and examine the ventilation tunnel and confirm that all I say is true. I have provided a ladder and my men will be there with torches. The more energetic of you may wish to travel the whole length of the tunnel, but it is a long walk, about two miles there and back.”
As I had expected, quite a number of the prominent and less prominent people were eager to see this unprecedented marvel. While they were thus preoccupied, I decreed a recess, and most of the crowd headed for the vendors. I retired with Pompey and Cato to an inner room where we could drink without scandalizing anyone. Roman magistrates on court duty are supposed to abstain from food and wine for the duration. I had never seen this custom observed rigorously, but most officers tried to be discreet about it.
“Not much trouble so far,” I said. “I expected more outrage.”
“There would have been,” Pompey said, “if we hadn’t been here.”
“True,” I acknowledged. “The presence of heavily armed Roman soldiers has a remarkably calming effect.”
Julia joined us. “I must say this is the strangest trial I have ever attended.”
“The usual forms won’t work in this situation,” I told her.
“I am wondering,” she said, “how you can get a verdict without empaneling a jury.”
“Oh, I shall manage, my dear,” I told her. She was not satisfied, but she knew better than to have at me in the presence of two high-ranking Romans. Roman wives, especially patrician wives, were not supposed to act that way, so she had to observe the proprieties. How she and all the other wives acted in private was another matter.
When we got word that people were returning from the tunnel, we went back out and I declared recess at an end.
“Are you satisfied,” I asked, “that the circumstances of that tunnel are as I have described them?”
“We are, Praetor,” said a man of distinction who appeared to be the spokesman for the group. “But we are at a loss how the false voice of Hecate reached the place above the shrine.”