Veronica found this all very tedious. There were too many names to keep track of, and too much history going back too far. She was not fond of raking up the past, or considering that painful episodes might repeat themselves. She had a good home now, and wanted it to remain that way. But Claudia was spellbound. “When I marry,” she’d said, “it’s going to be to a man of the world.” Veronica didn’t understand: all men were in the world. “I want a husband with ambition. Who wants to shape the empire. Not sit back and be a bystander. Who matters more? The man in the arena, or in the grandstand?”
This startled Veronica. She sat up in bed and asked, “When did you go to the arena?”
“I haven’t.”
“I heard men die there.”
“I know. They fight to the death.”
“With swords?”
“With all kinds of weapons.”
“Did Uncle Theo ever fight there?”
“No, silly, he’s a free man. It’s only slaves.”
“I don’t want to see it,” Veronica cried. “I don’t want to see anyone die. Ever.”
Claudia became quiet. “Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is, I’m tired of being bored, and I want something to matter.”
Thus, none of the boys who called measured up: nothing they talked about seemed to matter. So, on this day, flush with the passion of swordplay and tired from three hours of lessons, Claudia decided to rebel.
“Tell the boy I’m not available.”
Adrianna’s mouth dropped open. “What excuse shall I give?” she asked, and after Claudia tossed her head impertinently, added, “Consider how your response will reflect upon your father.”
“Tell him I have a headache. Or a stomachache. A toothache. Whatever illness will cause father least offense.”
Adrianna stood motionless for a moment, then nodded. “Very well, Mistress.”
Free from the shackles of courtship, Claudia spent most of her “sitting” time on the veranda, tending to their aviary. At one point, she took one of the brightly colored finches from the cage and tossed it to the wind.
“Fly, pretty bird,” she called. “You’re free!”
Confused, the bird circled the courtyard twice and landed back on the aviary. Veronica sensed an omen, but Claudia resolutely ignored it. She fanned her fingers at the bird, scaring it off the veranda. As it disappeared over the rooftops, Claudia giggled, “Let’s follow it!”
Now it was time for Veronica’s jaw to drop. For two girls to leave the house unescorted, to wander from the front of their property, was nothing short of scandalous.
“Oh, Claudia, I don’t think we…”
“No, not we,” Claudia shot back. “You would only slow me down.”
So Claudia trotted inside to the landing and sneaked down the stairs to the front door. Veronica clung to the marble railing and watched as Claudia waited for a servant to leave the door, then made her break. In a blink of an eye, she was gone. It was nearly sunset when she returned.
Claudia joked upon returning that she couldn’t find the red finch. Accor-ding to her, she’d looked everywhere: the Hippodrome[15], the Circus[16], the Campus Martius, all the way to the Tiber River. So intoxicated was Claudia with the freedom and audacity of wandering aimlessly through Rome, that she repeated her escapade not once, but twice. On the third day, a prodigious knock at the front door at dusk shook the household to attention.
Veronica teetered at the rail of the second floor landing as a servant opened the door, revealing a tall, broad-shouldered officer of the Praetorian Guard[17]. Beside him slunk Claudia, her cheeks crimson with shame. Adrianna scurried to the door to reclaim the wayward Mistress.
“A thousand pardons for the trouble she’s caused,” Adrianna bowed. “You’ll have the Senator’s thanks.”
“I would much prefer,” the guard begged, “that this service remain anonymous.”
That evening, Veronica witnessed for the first time her uncle’s wrath. The crash of his fist threatened to splinter the table.
“You are a princess of Rome, not some weed in the gutter! You will com-port yourself with dignity! Have I raised you to roam the streets like a slave shirking his errands? Like a runaway concubine?”
Claudia listened stoically until her father’s storm dissipated.
“When a man comes to call, he will find you here, and you will sit with him graciously for a respectable period. Is that understood?”
“Yes, father.”
“You will not leave this property without Adrianna to escort you. Is that understood?”
“Yes, father.”
“I’ll have no more scandals attached to this home.” Theodosius cut himself off abruptly. But in a slip of the tongue he’d revealed what Veronica had always suspected. Her uncle had paid a price for her. The children, who would not speak to her, who would not invite her to play or answer her invitations, had been warned by parents who feared the taint of scandal. But more than the price itself Veronica now knew that he harbored some resentment. Theodosius made a feeble gesture to stroke her hair, then thought better of it. He took his seat at the head of the table.
“May I be excused, Father?”
The Senator nodded. Claudia pushed her stool from the table and left the dining room. Veronica watched her uncle dip a crust of bread into olive oil and wine. “Are you finished?” he asked her.
Veronica nodded.
“You’re excused. Go, be with your… sister.”
“Yes, sir.”
Veronica found Claudia in the atrium, lying on her stomach on the lip of the reflecting pond. She splashed with her fingertips, scattering the fish.
“You’re not crying?” Veronica asked.
“Why?”
“He was so angry at you.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Claudia sighed. She rolled to a sitting position; Veronica crouched beside her. Claudia was completely serene as she stated, “I’ve already met the man I’m going to marry.” Veronica could have fainted dead away. Unfazed, Claudia continued, “He’s handsome and tall. He’s lean, but has muscles like thick rope. He can throw a pilum[18] farther and more on target than any man on the campus. And he’s going to be very important. He has all sorts of plans for the provinces, to develop them and increase trade for the empire.”
“You’ve spoken to him already?”
“I’ve spoken to him every day this week.”
“Is he coming to see you?”
“He will. When he can arrange an introduction. It’s complicated, but he’s not quite a patrician. Though he will be someday. He’ll be the most famous Senator in Rome.”
“What’s his name?”
Claudia looked up through the skylight, as though announcing his name to heaven: “He’s called Pontius. Pontius Pilate.”
[1] A throne-like chair
[2] Brutus’ wife, who committed suicide after her noble husband assassinated Julius Caesar
[3] Lucius Aelius Sejanus (20 BC –31 AD), a confidant of Emperor Tiberius Caesar
[4] Tiberius Caesar, Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD
[5] An open porch without a railing
[6] Germanicus Julius Caesar (15 BC –19 AD), a prominent Roman general
[7] A wooden stick used to practice swordplay
[8] A shallow indoor pool filled with fish
[9] The deliberative body of the ruling class in Rome. During the Republic, it had significant power, but after Julius Caesar established a dictatorship, the Senate lost most of its influence.
[10] In the Roman caste system, the patricians were the wealthy ruling class, represented in the Senate
[11] A violent ball game of the Roman Empire
[12] Field of Mars, open land where young men trained and competed
[13] The Plebeians were the working class in Rome
[14] Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC –43 BC), a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer and orator
[15] A stadium for horse racing and chariot racing
[16] A large open-air venue for public events
[17] The force serving as the Emperor’s bodyguards
[18] A Roman lance made of iron and wood
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