John Maddox Roberts - [SPQR Roman Mysteries 8.6]-Mightier Than The Sword by John Maddox Roberts Page A

of note. And he
had had at least one enemy, who had stabbed him neatly through the
heart. It was a tiny wound, and only a small amount of blood had
emerged to form a palm-sized blot on his tunic, but it had done the
job. Three thin streaks of blood made stripes paralleling the one that
proclaimed his rank.
    "Do you know
him?" Hermes asked.
    I shook my head.
Despite all the exiles and purges by the Censors, there were still more
than four hundred Senators, and I couldn't very well know all of them.
    "Hermes, run to
the Curia and fetch Junius the secretary. He knows every man in the
Senate by sight. Then inform the
Praetor
Varus.
He's holding court in the Basilica Aemilia today and by this hour he's
dying for a break in the routine. Then go find Asklepiodes at the
Statilian School."
    "But that's
across the river!" Hermes protested.
    "You need the
exercise. Hurry, now. I want Asklepiodes to have a look at him before
the
Libitinarü
come to take him to the
undertaker's."
    He dashed off,
leaving the lantern. I continued to study the body but it told me
nothing. I sighed and scratched my head, wishing I had thought to bring
along a skin of wine. Not yet half over, and it was one of the worst
years of my life. And it had started out with such promise, too. The
Big Three were out of Rome for a change: Caesar was gloriously
slaughtering barbarians in Gaul, Crassus was doing exactly the opposite
in Syria, and Pompey was sulking in Spain while his flunkies tried to
harangue the Senate into making him Dictator. Their excuse this time
was that only a Dictator could straighten out the disorder in the city.
    It needed the
straightening, although making a Dictator was a little drastic. My life
wasn't worth a lead denarius after dark in my own city. The thought
made me nervous, all alone with only a corpse for company. I was so
deeply in debt from borrowing to support my office that I couldn't even
afford a bodyguard. Milo would have lent me some thugs but the family
wouldn't hear of it. People would think the Metelli were taking the
Milo side in the great Clodius-Milo rivalry. Better to lose a Metellus
of marginal value than endanger the family's vaunted neutrality.
    After an hour or
so Varus appeared, escorted by his lictors. Junius was close behind,
his stylus tucked behind his ear, accompanied by a slave carrying a
satchel full of wax tablets.
    "Good afternoon,
Aedile,"
Varus said. "So you've found a murder to brighten my day?"
    "You didn't
happen to bring any wine along, did you?" I said, without much hope.
    "You haven't
changed any, Metellus. Who do we have?" His lictors carried enough
torches to light the place like noon in the Forum. The smoke started to
get heavy, though.
    Junius bent
forward. "It's Aulus Cosconius. He doesn't attend the Senate more than
three or four times a year. Big holdings in the City. This building is
one of his, I think. Extensive lands in Tuscia as well." He held out a
hand and his slave opened the leaves of a wooden tablet, the
depressions on their inner sides filled with the finest beeswax, and
slapped it into the waiting palm. Junius took his stylus from behind
his ear and used its spatulate end to scrape off" the words scratched
on the wax lining. It was an elegant instrument of bronze inlaid with
silver, befitting so important a scribe, as the high-grade wax befitted
Senate business. With a dextrous twirl he reversed it and began to
write with the pointed end. "You will wish to make a report to the
Senate,
Praetor?"
    Varus shrugged.
"What's to report? Another dead Senator. It's not like a visitation
from Olympus, is it?"
    Yes, the times
were like that.
    "I've sent for
Asklepiodes," I said. "He may be able to tell something from the
condition of the body."
    "I doubt he'll be
able to come up with much this time," Varus said, "but if you want,
I'll appoint you to investigate. Make a note of it, Junius."
    "Will you lend me
a lictor?" I asked. "I'll need to summon people."
    Varus pointed to
one of his