Chapter IX
"Each man is the architect of his own fate.” - Appius Claudius
Despite my feelings for Hypsicratea, I behaved myself when I went to visit her. As I walked up the marble steps of the palace entrance the two guards, spears in hand detained me only for a moment for Hypsicratea had informed them of my visit.
Hypsicratea had sent her personal slave to the main doors to show me to the reception hall. It was a huge room and I felt dwarfed by the high ceiling and huge tapestries on the walls. Hypsicratea was waiting for me. She led the way to the western courtyard where we sat surrounded by flowering trees and plants.
She had arranged an informal meal in the Pontic style. A huge fire burned on an outdoor hearth and meat roasted on a spit before it. We sat on seats at a table, which was a new way of dining in such formal circumstances, but Hypsicratea was full of it as a new fashion that had struck Pontus in the last year or two. It was a means of communicating with more than one person at a meal she told me.
'The Parthians have started to do it too you know,' she said earnestly, as I sat pulling meat from a roasted chicken in front of me.
'Do what?
'Eat at tables and sit on seats just like this.'
'Seems just the same as a tavern to me,' I said without thinking.
'A tavern? Is that how you eat in a tavern?' she seemed disappointed with my reply and it dawned upon me that she was not the sort of woman who would ever have eaten in a tavern.
'Well yes, Your Majesty. It is. The barman serves you at the table and…'
She was looking at me as if I had given a major revelation and it served only to accentuate the huge gap between us.
'Hypsicratea, I think you and I have led such different lives that there may be no common ground between us.'
'No that is not true. You have more of an education than any of the ordinary soldiers I have met since Mithradates left.'
'It wasn't much of an education. I had a Greek teacher and he taught me some Greek. I did learn some history and how to read and write, but I am not a well-read man at all. Most of what I learned was about heroes and wars. Where did you learn?'
'I had a visiting tutor. My father was a merchant in Herakleia. He ensured that all his daughters were educated. He hardly expected me to be a Queen.'
'How did you meet your husband?'
'I didn't.'
'How do you mean?'
'He saw me thought an open window. He was there in Herakleia with his officers, raising an army. His army occupied Bythinia than. He saw me and sent for me. He is a powerful man in mind and body and if he wants something in his own land he simply sends for it.'
'You mean he just sent people to get you? What did your father say?'
'Oh no, it was not a matter of sending for me for that! He sent for me to ask if I would marry him. He was besotted and when I told him he had to ask formally for my hand he did.'
'What was he like?'
'Was? He isn't dead, just absent.'
'Sorry no, I mean what is he like?'
'He is the strongest man I have ever met, physically and mentally. He can easily kill a man with his bare hands and he can negotiate with kings and not falter. I have never met anyone like him and suppose I never will,' she looked at the ground as she said this and it was plain that she missed her husband. I wanted to put my arms around her but I knew it was not the right thing to do. She seemed to foster that particular quality of protectiveness in me that some women do to men.
It is sad, for that wish to protect, only thinly veils sexual intent. I wanted her desperately but dared not move a muscle in her direction, for I knew that she would never want me, not like that. Compared to the great Mithradates I was a worm. There was no competition and her admiring description made it plain that there was no hope for me.
I smiled and continued talking to her about the war, about her family and about my life, uninteresting, as the latter seemed to me. We laughed a good deal and I was sure she liked me but had no right to expect it to be so.
‘Would your husband not be angry if he knew I had been visiting? I am after all a Roman soldier.’
‘But there is nothing improper happening.’
‘But people talk.’
‘I think he would always take my word for it. He loves me and trusts me. That he might take the word of a servant against mine is unthinkable.’
‘There must be some risk surely?’
‘If Mithradates comes back and if anyone were to cast aspersions I think he would never be angry with me. He loves me you know.’
‘As long as you are sure that my presence here does not endanger you it is a pleasure to be here with you. This is one of the best evenings I have spent since I left Rome and perhaps ever.’
‘You are a strange one, Aulus.’
The hours passed rapidly and in what seemed to me to be but short moments, the evening ended.
'I must retire now,' she said, yawning.
'Then I must bid you goodnight. I have really enjoyed being with you Hypsicratea. It is a shame that we are on opposite sides in this war.'
'I do not think it needs to be a problem between us. I owe you my life after all and if I had some means of repaying you, I would. It may become a good basis for friendship in the future. Will you come again?'
'As soon as you wish. I meant it when I said this is one of the best evenings I've spent for a long time.'
'I have a banquet to preside over tomorrow night, with the Parthian ambassador, but the day after, we could perhaps do the same as tonight, if you wish. Of course, it depends on if I survive the Parthian visitor. He is so boring! He tries to be subtle but everyone knows what he wants.'
'What do you mean?'
'You are familiar with the relationship between Parthia and Armenia?'
'Not a lot.'
'Oh, they've been sparring for years. Well, the Parthians want a split between Armenia and Pontus and think they can do it by encouraging Tigranes' son as a rival to the King himself.'
'And will they?'
'No, of course not. Where have you been for the last year? Mithradates had married his daughter Cleopatra to Tigranes. Why, he's practically family now!'
'Oh.'
'Well never mind, it'll keep for next time. I'll tell you all about it if I can stay awake.'
'I'll look forward to it Your Majesty.'
'Then sleep well my friend,' she said and smiled a smile that seemed out of all proportion to necessity.
I walked home with a smile on my face wondering if perhaps there was a chance that I could one day hold her in my arms. I imagined how it would feel and was lost in the thought when I literally saw Asinnius.
He was walking towards the palace on the other side of the street as I entered from the side entrance.
'Hallo, what have we here?' he said.
'Good evening sir,' I said in an easy fashion.
'I've been to the north end of town to meet some of my contacts.'
'Corsairs?'
'Yes, they're after some information about fleet movements and I thought we might try to find out a little that they might pay to hear.'
'I am sure that can be done, Asinnius. Mind if I ask you a question?'
'Depends on what it is.'
'It's just that I don't understand why you're betraying your comrades in this way. You must have served Rome in this legion for many years and yet you seem to have abandoned the very loyalty that made you join up in the first place. It seems odd.'
'That's a stupid question and one which many men would take your head off for. I'll tell you what made me do this, shall I? It's simple,' he poked a finger at my chest, 'Money. Just money. I've served Rome for fifteen years as a fighting man in this legion. I have killed men in five different countries. It's taken all my formative years and given me what in return?'
He paused but not I think, for me to reply, it was to ensure that he had my full attention.
'In return I've had wounds, deprivation, ex
haustion but nothing else. When I retire in five years time, it will be to a small farm somewhere in Italia and a tiny pension with which to work it. I want more. I want to have enough money to settle comfortably and use slaves to do the work and eat well and drink good wine for the rest of my days. I know that can't happen if I do nothing. Simple!'
'There must be another way. You're allowing them to kill your fellow soldiers just to get money.'
'I've had five years to think about it. I made some money betting on the chariot races and that sword contest of yours was lucrative. It's only now, in Pontus that I've had the chance to make real money. I have to live with the effects of my treachery, but what's your excuse? You've joined me in this. You don't sound as if you approve. Have you changed your mind?'
'No, of course not, but I don't want anyone to die because of any information I pass on, that's all.'
'Look Aulus all they want is information, they pay well for it and I ask no questions about what they do with the knowledge I give them.'
'All right, what do you want me to do?'
'I believe that the Tribune in charge of the stores is a chap called Marcus Mettius. You know him don't you?'
'Know him? He is a cousin of mine but there's no friendship between us.'
'Well you had better engineer a friendship because I want that information. I don't care how you get it. You can sleep with him for all I care.'
'I can't see him giving me any information unless he gets to speak to the Corsairs himself. Can you fix that?'
'Don't be stupid. Why would he want to do that?'
'Because he isn't a trusting person and he may want to be certain that you aren't cheating him over the payment.'
'Considering you don't like him you seem to know a lot about what he wants.'
'I know enough about him to be able to guess. Trust me.'
'Trust? I don't think so. I can't see any way you can do anything to me though, so I don't think there is much risk. Talk to the man and then come back and talk to me. I'll let you know what the corsairs think in a day or so.'
He slapped me on the back and walked noisily into the night leaving me pondering the ramifications of the situation. I began to wonder if I had created a hole and was about to launch myself into it head first.