Saturnalia(62)

“Clodia!” Varro said. “That woman could destroy the Republic all by herself.”

Caesar smiled indulgently. “I don’t think the Republic is all that fragile. She is an embarrassment, no more.”

“More an embarrassment to you than to the rest of us, Caesar,” Bestia put in.

“How can one slightly degenerate patrician woman be an embarrassment to me specifically?” Caesar asked blandly.

“She is the sister of Publius Clodius Pulcher, and Clodius, as all the world knows, is your hound.” His smile was malicious and made more so by his paint. As Pompey’s lackey he was on the lookout for any way he could discomfit Caesar.

“Clodius is his own man,” Caesar said. “He supports me, and by doing so he supports my good friend, Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Surely this should be a cause for rejoicing.”

Deftly outmaneuvered, Bestia fell silent. He was forced to acknowledge the fiction of the triumvirate formed by Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus.

“This matter of Fausta Cornelia disturbs me,” Visellius Varro said. “Granted she is a shameless woman, but she is the daughter of the dictator and, as such, is something of a symbol to the aristocratic party. The Cornelii are a great family, consulars since the founding of the Republic. In these unsettled times the public must have faith in our great families. I think it would be inappropriate to bring her name into this sordid matter.”

I tried to remember whether the Vissellii were clients of the Cornelii. They were an extremely obscure family, and I had never heard of any man of distinction with that name, which meant that his father or perhaps grandfather had most likely been a freedman, not that I had any prejudice against the recent descendants of slaves, but such men often had an excessive loyalty to their former owners.

“What about the woman Fulvia?” Father asked. “I’ve never met her and scarcely know her family. The Fulvii were great once, but they’ve nearly died out or else removed from the City. There hasn’t been a consul of that name for seventy or eighty years.”

“This one is from Baiae, I think,” said Caesar. “She can be discounted. She’s the betrothed of Clodius, but that means nothing. He can always find another.”

I cleared my throat rather loudly. “Gentlemen, I hesitate to speak in so distinguished a company, but I thought we were here to discuss what to do about an impious cult practicing forbidden rites on Roman soil, not how to deal with the patrician presence at those rites. I saw quite a few, after all. Those three were only the ones I recognized.” Father glared at me but he didn’t say anything.

“Quite right,” Bestia said. “It might be a mistake to prosecute Fulvia. Who knows whom she might name as her sisters in these unclean rituals?”

“We are dealing with unlawful human sacrifice!” I insisted.

“True,” Caesar said. “The law is quite clear on the question. The problem is, I do not know of a single case in which anyone was prosecuted on the charge. If the victim was a slave and the property of one of the participants, the charge of murder is invalid. The censors may expel citizens for immorality, but legal prosecution is another thing.”

“Then,” I said, “as pontifex maximus can you declare these persons and their cult to be enemies of the state and take action against them? Could you not condemn them, level their holy site, and fill in their mundus?”

“I could, but what would be the point? Except for the highly placed thrill seekers, these people are mostly aliens, even if they come from places with titular Roman citizenship. The real purpose of driving the more disgusting foreign cults from the City is to preserve public order. These witches practice their rites at a discreet distance from the walls and, as far as we can tell, have been doing so for centuries without causing any public disorder at all.”

“But what they are doing is infamous!” I said. “It is an offense to our laws and our gods!”

“I believe,” Caesar said, “that I am a better judge of that on both counts. Before I leave for Gaul, I shall appoint an investigative board to look into the matter, and I shall authorize the members to take action by my authority. I shall also speak with Clodius concerning his sister and her friend, Fulvia, who I believe is living with her. I shall speak with Lucullus as well. Fausta is his ward. Her brother, Faustus, is with Lucius Culleolus in Illyricum, and I shall speak with him as well when I get there. I shall urge that all three women be sent away from Rome, not to return, for their own good and for the good of their families. It will, of course, have to be done with discretion to avoid public scandal.”