The Princess and the Pirates(72)
“You think that is what’s turning him into an old man before his time? It isn’t some inner illness eating him away?”
“For Milo,” she said, “it is the same thing.”
That evening, when Julia and her girls were settled into their quarters and Milo was satisfied with the ships, we had dinner outdoors, enjoying the cool, offshore breeze. Over dinner I told them of everything that had happened so far. Of course, I left out certain small details concerning Flavia. Julia, as always, was most interested in my strange dream. Like most Romans, she loved portents, omens, and dreams. Milo barely bothered to hide his contempt. He had no use for intangible things, although, like all politicians, he was happy to use them for his own purposes. He had been known to hold up debates and votes endlessly by claiming to have seen bad omens.
“We need to commence social activity immediately,” Julia said. “I want to see Cleopatra. She may be a scheming Ptolemy with dynastic ambitions, but she’s little more than a girl and I’ll sound out her intentions.”
“She’s young,” I cautioned, “but she’s no girl. It won’t be easy to match wits with her.”
“Have you forgotten? I am Julius Caesar’s niece. She’s eager to know all about him. I’ll wring her out like a sponge. And I want to meet that banker and his scandalous wife.”
My scalp prickled. Had I let something slip? “Why?”
“This Nobilior is a rich eques, a banker, and was a friend of Silvanus. Corruption always involves money, so he’ll know what the governor was up to, and his wife will know what her husband is up to. She may like to play with sailors when she is away from home, but she is very aware of her social position and will want to better it. She’ll be flattered by the attentions of a patrician lady from the Republic’s oldest family.” Julia could always strip away the dross and get down to the essentials. And she was more than willing to make shameless use of her pedigree.
“Excellent plan,” I said, although with some reservations I did not voice. “We’ll commence the social assault in the morning, as long as I don’t get a pirate alarm and have to sail to Bithynia or some such place.”
“Leave the pirate hunting to me for a few days,” Milo said. “I’ll whip these Greek sluggards into shape. You’ve been too soft on the rowers. I know every malingerer’s trick in their trade. I’ll double the speed they’ve been giving you. They’ve been rowing you like bargemen, not man-o’-war’s men. I’ll pop the whip on those carpenters, too. Your catapults and ballistas should have been finished days ago. They’re dragging out the job because you’re paying them by the day. They’re not laborers; they’re supposed to be craftsmen, paid by the job. I’ll break a few fingers and teach them wisdom.”
“I am not sure the Senate would approve my delegating command to you. To go to sea as my assistant, maybe, but …”
“I am an ex-praetor. My conviction keeps me out of Rome and out of office, but my fitness for military command was never questioned. You’ve been given a free hand out here. Use it.”
“He’s right,” Julia told me. “You have to understand that when the Senate gives you an overseas commission, even a small one like this, you get to define your own powers until they send someone else out with a bigger commission. This paltry business will be over with long before the Senate wakes up from its collective nap and takes notice.”
“Agreed, then?” Milo said.
It was a little disconcerting to have these two gang up on me. Usually they were on opposite sides. “All right.”
“Excellent. While I’m at it, I’m going to wring some answers out of this man Harmodias, the one in charge of the base and its stores.”
“I don’t doubt he’s turned a few sesterces peddling government property while nobody was looking,” I said, “but I’ve never met a low-level official who didn’t. Or a high-level one either, for that matter.”
“Nonetheless, he has a few things to answer for. That damned paint, for instance.”
“What? Unlike the ships, the rations, and almost all the arms and supplies, the paint is the one thing that’s there!”
But Milo would say no more on the subject.
11
WE BEGAN AT THE TEMPLE OF Aphrodite. I had left my little fleet to the fearsome attentions of Titus Milo and well might they tremble. His reputation had spread even to these eastern waters.
Julia wanted to see the temple and told me that all the most important people on the island would be there this near festival time, but I knew that she had another reason for being so anxious to attend. The Caesars were a famously infertile family, bearing few children, most of whom died at birth or in infancy. The children who lived were mostly girls. Years later it was for this reason that, needing an heir, Caesar was reduced to adopting his sister’s grandson.