False God of Rome (19 page)

Corbulo could not contain his outrage. ‘He’s sold his wife to gain a position of power! That’s unthinkable.’

‘No, Corbulo, that is modern day politics,’ Antonia responded, ‘wouldn’t you agree, Consul?’

‘Indeed I would. It seems that our Praetorian prefect has learnt from his predecessor’s mistakes.’

Vespasian smiled; he suddenly understood the beauty of Macro’s strategy. ‘He knows that he can never become emperor, as attempting to do that cost Sejanus his life, so he’s
going for a smaller prize.’

‘Smaller yes,’ Antonia agreed, ‘but in terms of wealth and power, huge; enough for him to use as a stepping-stone for what I believe to be his ultimate ambition: to imitate my
father, Marcus Antonius, and divide the Empire in two by seizing the eastern provinces.’

There was a stunned silence; all thought of eating had now evaporated as Antonia’s three guests contemplated how this could be achieved and what consequences it would have for the
stability of the world as they knew it.

‘I believe that some more wine would be in order at this point, Pallas,’ Antonia requested.

With their cups refilled Antonia continued her analysis to her spellbound audience.

‘Let us assume for a moment that Gaius does give Macro what he wants and it is not an idle assumption; my little Gaius may have many faults but lack of generosity is not one of them, he
desires to be loved and is naïve enough to think that he can buy that love. Macro would then be in control of the wealthiest province in the Empire, a province that is defended by two legions
and is, to all intents and purposes, a peninsula. An army cannot cross the desert to its west, as you now well know, Vespasian; the southern border is the edge of the Empire and to the north and
east is sea. So other than a highly risky seaborne invasion the only way to attack Egypt is from the northeast, through Judaea and the collection of petty kingdoms and tetrarchies that surround it,
using the only other four legions in the region, based in Syria. So to secure Egypt, Macro would only have to ensure that the Syrian legions were busy elsewhere; which he did last month with a move
of far-thinking political dexterity.’

Asiaticus’ eyes widened. ‘The Parthian embassy,’ he said slowly, ‘brilliant.’

‘Yes, it was admirable,’ Antonia agreed, visibly pleased that the Consul had the political acumen to keep up with her reasoning.

‘But they were a group of rebel nobles who wanted to replace King Artabanus on the Parthian throne with Phraates who was hostage here in Rome,’ Corbulo said. ‘What are they to
do with Egypt or Macro?’

Vespasian vaguely recollected Magnus mentioning something about rebel Parthians on his arrival in Cyrenaica.

‘Everything,’ Antonia answered, ‘if you look at the timing and who organised the embassy.’

‘Herod Agrippa,’ Vespasian stated, his memory clearing. He rewarded himself with a gulp of wine.

Antonia looked at him quizzically, wondering how he knew. ‘Correct. Herod’s been trying to persuade Tiberius for ages to reinstate Judaea as a client kingdom with him on the throne
but Tiberius has always denied him. Macro must have offered Herod what he wanted in return for him using his considerable influence with the disaffected nobles in Parthia to persuade them that now
was the time for a change of king. Herod’s friend Phraates is the only survivor of the ancient Arsacid dynasty and therefore the rightful heir to the Parthian throne; he would have been only
too happy to be of service.’

Asiaticus grinned. ‘That is elegant. Tiberius went for it because since Artabanus put his son Arsaces on the throne of Armenia, the balance of power in the East has shifted towards
Parthia.’

‘Exactly, Consul; I know that Tiberius has made Phraates promise to return Armenia to Rome’s sphere of influence in return for his throne. Tiberius thinks that he has done a good
deal for Roman diplomacy and so sends Lucius Vitellius, the new Governor of Syria, off to Parthia with his legions for a war that will last at least two, perhaps even three, years; longer than
Tiberius is expected to live. Once Macro and Herod had put the Parthian embassy in motion all they had to do was sit back and watch Tiberius fall for it.’

Comprehension spread over Corbulo’s face. ‘Ah, I see, Macro’s expecting Tiberius to die, either naturally or with a little help, before the war is concluded; he’ll then
make sure Caligula becomes emperor and will be rewarded with Egypt. With the Syrian legions busy he’ll be able to create a buffer state by uniting Judaea with Galilee, Iudemaea, and all the
other smaller Jewish tetrarchies with Herod as the King of a Greater Judaea.’

Antonia nodded. ‘And Herod is already preparing the ground for that. On his way back to Rome last year he stopped off in Alexandria where his wife persuaded the Alabarch to lend them a lot
of money, which Herod, rather than repaying his debts to me, has used to buy grain secretly from Claudius and Narcissus.’

‘But that would have come to the attention of imperial agents, however secret the deal, and he would have been prosecuted,’ Asiaticus pointed out correctly.

‘Only if the grain had been diverted from Rome itself; but it wasn’t. The estates that he bought it off had all fulfilled their quota to Rome; Herod bought grain destined for lesser
provinces.’

‘That explains why we had a severe shortage in Cyrenaica,’ Vespasian observed, ‘it was one of the causes of the Jewish unrest there.’

‘I doubt that Herod cares about the Jews of Cyrenaica, he wanted that grain stockpiled ready to take with him to help him secure his new kingdom. An independent, united Jewish state would
have a huge amount of manpower to call upon to form a considerable army, which would need to be fed. Herod will be a very powerful man, powerful enough perhaps to prevent Gaius sending an army
through Judaea to invade Egypt.’

‘And Caligula will be powerless to do anything else about Macro because he would hold a large percentage of Rome’s grain supply in his hands, and would threaten to withhold
it.’

‘Precisely,’ Antonia agreed. ‘But before he can secure Egypt, Macro needs money and a lot of it to buy the loyalty of legions and the auxiliary cohorts stationed there. Money
is the one thing that he’s short of.’

‘So that’s why he’s recently allied himself with Poppaeus,’ Vespasian said, refilling his cup. ‘His family’s silver mines in Hispania would surely provide
enough if they managed to finance the Thracian rebellion.’

‘More than enough,’ Antonia agreed while signalling to Pallas to refill her cup. ‘And in return for Macro giving him a free hand in Rome to prosecute the many enemies
he’s made during his career, Poppaeus has agreed to lend him the money that he needs to become a wealthy landowner in Egypt by…?’

‘Buying Claudius’ estates,’ all three men said simultaneously.

‘The produce of which has just shot up in value due to the destruction of the last grain fleet.’

‘But then surely the price of the estates has gone up?’ Vespasian pointed out, pleased to be on a subject that he really understood: money.

‘Indeed, but that’s good for all four parties. Poppaeus will be delighted because Macro will have to borrow more money, so he’ll make a fortune on the extra interest. Macro
will immediately have a huge income from his new purchases with which to buy the loyalty that he needs. He doesn’t care how much he pays now because it’s not his money and once
he’s secured Egypt he’ll be able to pay off the loan with the millions that he’ll be receiving in taxes. Claudius will make even more of a profit on the investment he’s
already put out; and Herod is happy because he’s not only already bought a massive amount of grain off Claudius but he’s also been buying more since he’s been in Rome with money
borrowed from Poppaeus; part of which he can now sell at an inflated price to ease his cash-flow problems.’

‘What a happy cabal they must be,’ Asiaticus commented ruefully.

‘There are two things that I don’t understand, domina,’ Vespasian said.

‘I hope that I can answer them, although I only put it all together at the beginning of this year after I’d found out about Narcissus trying to get the deeds to Rome and
Herod’s grain purchases.’

‘Yes, how did you know about that, Lady?’ Asiaticus cut in.

Antonia smiled benignly. ‘I suppose it won’t do any harm telling you now. Once I’d found out about Claudius’ and Narcissus’ interest in Egypt I had my steward in
Alexandria, Felix, look into it for me; it wasn’t long before he found out what they were doing. Since then he has been monitoring their land purchases. When Felix found out that Claudius had
sold some of his harvest to Herod and then Narcissus’ agent had taken the deeds of seven of the estates to Siwa, he realised that something very strange was going on and so immediately took
ship to report it personally to me rather than risk a letter falling into the wrong hands.’

‘But then how did you know that I had them, domina?’

‘I didn’t for sure until today. All I knew was that you met a man called Capella in Siwa who subsequently died, leaving you a chest. I couldn’t be sure what it contained
because my agent couldn’t hear your final conversation with Capella; you’d ordered him to go and form up the column.’

‘Corvinus!’ Vespasian exclaimed in surprise. ‘He was spying on me?’

‘Not spying on you personally, Vespasian, he just works for me. Much like you, he has an obligation to me. When he heard Capella tell you, in Siwa, that the contents of his chest belonged
to someone near the top of the imperial tree he thought that it would be of interest to me, so he wrote to me upon his return to Barca. He comes from a very ambitious family and is anxious to do
well in Rome’s service; his letter was most informative about the reasons that you went chasing off into the desert.’

Vespasian reddened, and wondered if there was anything that Antonia did not know.

‘But don’t worry,’ Antonia said with a smile, ‘it was fortuitous that you did, whatever your real motives. Now what were your questions?’

‘Oh, yes,’ he said, shaking his head and trying to get back his train of thought. ‘I don’t understand why Claudius is selling Macro all his estates when they will give
him the means to wrest control of Egypt from the Empire that he may one day control.’

‘Now that puzzled me for a while until I realised the simple truth: he doesn’t know Macro’s plans, nor does Narcissus; they might not even know that Macro is the purchaser. The
deal has been brokered by Poppaeus, who, as we know, is close to Claudius. All Claudius and Narcissus want is to pay off the huge loan that they took to buy the estates in the first place; but
they’re not selling all the estates, they bought twice as many. The profit they make from selling these seven will ensure that they own the others outright.’

‘And I suppose there are no prizes for guessing who lent them the money in the first place,’ Vespasian said with a wry smile.

‘That’s the beauty of it; Claudius gives the deeds to Poppaeus, he wipes out Claudius’ debt and simply transfers it and the deeds onto Macro. No money changes hands and there
is no record of the transaction and the three parties never meet.’

‘So what’s in it for Poppaeus apart from making money from all sides? It’s not as if he needs any more.’

‘This took me the longest to work out,’ Antonia admitted, ‘then it came to me in a flash. What has Poppaeus to gain by Macro taking Egypt and holding Rome to ransom? Nothing,
unless he’s part of it. Think about it: Macro is safe from attack from the west because of the desert, the Syrian legions are tied up in Parthia and Armenia and a sea assault is a very risky
option; how would you attack Egypt in those circumstances?’

‘That’s easy,’ Corbulo said, ‘I’d march with six legions, along the Via Egnatia through Macedonia and Thracia, cross over to Asia and then all the way down the
coast, overwhelming Herod on my way.’

‘Exactly. But who is the Governor of Moesia, Macedonia and Achaea? Poppaeus. All he need do is withdraw his two legions and his ten auxiliary cohorts from the Danubius, cross the
Hellespont and hold it against any army that comes. The eastern provinces would be completely in Macro’s and Poppaeus’ hands. The lower Danubius would be undefended and the northern
tribes would take full advantage of that and swarm into Moesia, which would probably encourage the Thracians into another uprising. So any army that was sent east would have to deal with that
before it could even think about trying to cross into Asia; that could take a couple of years. Anyway, where are these legions going to come from? The Rhenus frontier and leave Gaul open to the
Germans? The upper Danubius and risk losing Pannonia? Or perhaps Hispania or Illyria where it’s only their presence that keep the local tribes in order? Since Varus managed to lose three
legions in the Teutoburg forest there are only twenty-five left in the Empire.’

‘What about Lucius Vitellius?’ Asiaticus asked.

‘He would have a nasty choice once he’d concluded the Parthian war: either fight a civil war on two fronts, Poppaeus to the north and Herod and Macro in the south, and with the new
King of Parthia – who would have much to gain by a divided and weakened Roman Empire – to his rear; not a pleasant prospect, as I’m sure you would all agree. So he would probably
take the only other option and that is to declare his loyalty to the new regime and carry on guarding the eastern frontier.’

‘Or commit suicide,’ Corbulo suggested.

‘It comes to the same thing: the legions won’t want to fight. They’ve been stationed out there for so long it’s now their home, what do they care who’s in
command?’

‘We have to prevent this at all costs, Lady,’ Asiaticus said as the truth of the matter sank in.

‘We will,’ Antonia affirmed, ‘but I think for all our sakes we should not discuss what to do until we have had a pause to collect our thoughts; I for one need to leave the room
for comfort’s sake.’

M
AGNUS STARED STRAIGHT
ahead, concentration etched on his face. ‘So, because you went following your cock out into
the desert,’ he said through clenched teeth, ‘Antonia has drawn you right back into her world and we’re going to end up doing her dirty work.’ With a relieved sigh his
features relaxed.