The Eternal Empire (5 page)

"The extension of the franchise
implemented by the late Emperor has certainly changed things in the assembly
and has not found favour in all quarters."

"Absolutely!" Fulvia slammed
down her soup spoon on the table.

"Women still don't have the
vote!"

"One thing at a time Fulvia,"
consoled Cornelius, "it was only at the last elections that the small
householders and farmers were classified as part of the 2
^nd
class of
citizens and able to vote for the first time. People don't like radical change,
but I'm sure that the more attractive half of our population will be able to
engage in the political process before very long."

"Women have never had the vote in the
history of Rome and that approach seems to have worked pretty well for over two
thousand years," said Titus in an offhand manner. Not for the first time
Cornelius wondered how it was that his younger brother was so successful with
women. The conversation did not quite come to a stop with Titus's remark, but
most eyes at the table looked towards Fulvia expecting a lively retort.
Cornelius could sense the struggle within her as she fought to control her
tongue. Luckily for Titus, in addition to being very outspoken, Fulvia was a
well brought up young women and on this occasion decided to let the comment
pass.

It was Sextus who took Titus up on his
attitude towards women.

"I think that you'll have to take
a more liberal view when you are in Britannia Titus. The women there are a bit
more independently minded than here in Italia. That is if you want to keep your
amorous reputation of course."

"He'll need plenty of money
too", said Uncle Tiberius from the other side of the long table, "and
I suggest that you arrange a transfer of funds to a local bank in Isca.
Legionary pay has been late in coming in recent months."

"Sextus! What have you been doing
with the poor soldiers money?" joked Marcus.

"Nothing, the regular army and
navy units are all paid from central government accounts. I only have to find
the money for our local auxiliaries and that has been hard enough in the last
couple of years."

Cornelius turned to Gregory. "Are
things really as bad as all that? The army not being paid!"

"Yes and no. The treasury is
desperately trying to raise funds to meet the costs of the Empire, of which the
armed forces is the biggest expense, but the troops do get paid."

"Eventually!" snorted Uncle
Tiberius.

"There was nearly seven weeks
between pay parades last time. The troops will put up with a great deal, but
they want their money on time."

"And another thing," Tiberius
leaned over towards Gregory, even though he was some six feet away, "an
order arrived last week from Constantinople to reduce all training exercises
involving ammunition or fuel by 75%!"

Tiberius was getting red in the face,
the combination of the wine and the indignation he felt about the way the army
was being treated was getting him agitated. Cornelius knew from experience that
although his Uncle was a fair man and excellent officer, his first, last and
probably only love was the army and he protected her like the wife he had never
had.

He took another sip of his wine and
continued to voice his concerns, this time to the entire table.

"How can the army, or for that
matter the navy which is virtually confined to its bases by the fuel
restrictions, prepare for war if it cannot train. To the army our 'drills are
bloodless battles and our battles bloody drills'. Josephus said that eighteen hundred
years ago and it's just as true today."

He was talking now as though he had a
room full of recruits, and spoke more calmly now. He had everyone's attention.

"The greatest advantage our army
has over its potential enemies is the skill and professionalism of the imperial
soldier. The Saxons across the Rhine with their hordes of 'citizen soldiers'
cannot match it. The Turks across the Danube with their semi-feudal system
dream of being able to meet a legion on equal terms. The Arabs of Palestine and
Syria know that despite their boasts, the fanaticism of their 'holy warriors'
would soon cool when facing our troops in the mountains of Cappadocia or on the
borders of Egypt. To reduce the training of our soldiers puts this advantage at
risk. It puts the Empire at risk!"

All the men in the room had either
served in the army or had just finished Military Academy. Nobody would, indeed
could, disagree. The superiority of the imperial army was second only to the
Apostles Creed as an article of faith amongst the Empires citizens regardless
of social class.

Anatolius broke what was in danger of
becoming an embarrassing silence.

"Don't worry too much Tiberius. I
am sure it is only a temporary measure to see the treasury through the current
economic difficulties."

He poured himself and Tiberius some
more wine and continued. "Once the accountants have managed to balance the
books, the army will be able to fire off as much ammunition as it likes, and
practise with those new armoured landships and motor carriages that we read
about."

Tiberius took his glass and stared into
it. "I hope you're right. But I have my doubts. How often have you known
any bureaucrat to loosen the purse strings once he's managed to tighten
them?"

The next course arrived, and consisted
of grilled and fried fish from the Mediterranean. It was followed by a
selection of roast meats. The conversation had broken up into little groups and
Marcus was pumping Gregory for background information on the state of affairs
in the Capital.

"How have things changed since
Philip died. He was an excellent Emperor and it will be hard for anybody to
follow him."

"Especially that worthless son of
his," added Sextus with feeling.

"That's a bit strong," said
Cornelius, "and is hardly the way to speak of our 'illustrious' Emperor
Alexander IX," he added with a touch of sarcasm.

Cornelius was quite surprised at
Sextus. He was always very cool and level headed in his approach to things. He
had hardly ever seen him get angry or let his emotions get the better of him.
In fact very little bothered Sextus Capito. Everything he did was carefully
thought out, thoroughly planned and precisely executed. There was no room for
personal bias. Cornelius pressed him to explain the antagonism.

"Relations between the provinces and
the central treasury in Constantinople have never been that good. It is simply
not in the nature of such a relationship where one party, the province, is
constantly being exhorted to raise more money and spend less in order to send
more to the other."

"But, we all got along one way or
the other," he continued, "the officials at the capital generally
understood the situation and during Philips reign many had been forced to spend
up to two years in a province if they wanted a promotion, so they were not completely
ignorant of our situation. However in the last few years all that has
changed."

Sextus took a long drink before
explaining further.

"Constantinople has being
interfering directly in provincial finances. Instead of setting the total
amount of the contribution to be made by the province, they now decide the
level and type of taxation and duty without any regard to its effect on the
local economy."

"The boat tax they imposed last
year is a typical example. All boats, regardless of size must pay a fixed
registration fee to the province which is then forwarded to Constantinople. The
fee was set with the big ocean going merchant ships serving the United
Provinces across the Atlantic in mind. It's crippling our small fishermen and
handing their market to the Caledonians and Hiberians."

"In the past I would've been able
to make representations and get them to charge according to the ships tonnage,
but not now. They're not interested. In another couple of years they will not
get any money from the boat tax because there won't be any boats left in
Britannia!"

Cornelius had been listening patiently
but he still could not see the connection between what Sextus was telling him
and his outburst against the Emperor. He pointed this out to his friend.

"Where our mighty Emperor comes
into the picture is that ever since the Patriarch and the Pope placed the
imperial diadem on his worthless head, he has been handing out top jobs in the
Imperial Bureaucracy to his 'friends'."

"That's not unusual Sextus,"
said Gregory, "all new Emperors have appointed their own ministers, people
they have known for some time and can trust. It's quite normal."

Sextus put down his glass and stared
straight at Gregory. Despite all the good wine he had drunk so far that night,
his mind was still clear.

"Gregory Nicerites, I know you're
a senior government official, and as such you are obliged to support and defend
the actions of the Emperor. However you know as well as I do, probably better,
that it's a lot more than just a few 'friendly appointments'."

Gregory smiled and raised his eyebrows
to indicate that he may or may not agree but could not really comment. However
Marcus had been listening intently to all that had been said and took Sextus up
on it.

"What do you mean, a lot more than
just a few appointments?" probed Marcus, on the lookout for anything that
could be used on the floor of the assembly chamber.

Sextus turned towards the
representative from Constinius.

"What I mean is that the Emperor
is making appointments all over the place, and at all levels. Not just his
closest friends, but anybody he comes across and likes, or is a friend or
relative of somebody he likes. They are uniformly lazy and arrogant and regard
the provinces as cows to be milked dry."

"And not just the civil service
either," said Cornelius.

"Do you mean the military as
well," asked Marcus.

"I'm afraid so. Another reason
that Uncle Tiberius was so angry earlier on this evening was that last week he
heard who the new commander of the army of Germania is going to be."

They all waited for Cornelius to
volunteer the information, but he sat quietly sipping his wine. Eventually
Fulvia elbowed him in the ribs causing him to choke on a mouthful of wine and
spill some of his drink on his toga. Fulvia hated to be kept waiting, and
despite keeping fairly quiet had been following the conversation avidly.

Cornelius composed himself and said,
"Manual Dikouros".

All three of his old army friends
stared at him with open mouths and looks of disbelief.

"I thought that with your
connections in the Capital, you at least would have known," Cornelius said
to Gregory.

Shaking his head, his mouth still
slightly open, Gregory said "No. I had no idea. It's unbelievable. To give
one of the most important army commands to that incompetent cretin is beyond
belief."

"He's been in the military for
quite some time," said Cornelius, "but he has never held a field
command or seen any sort of action."

"Of course not!" said Sextus,
"nobody would trust him with a loaded gun!"

"Apart from being a worthless,
incompetent cretin, who exactly is this Manual Dikouros?" asked Fulvia.

"Manual Dikouros," said
Gregory, "is the son of one of the richest men in the Empire. He believes
that he's naturally superior to all other people, with the possible exception
of the Emperor and that it's his birthright to hold a position of authority.”

"There plenty of those
around," said Fulvia, "what makes this one so deserving of your
collective disgust?"

"Because," Gregory continued,
"whatever job he has undertaken has been a complete disaster, yet he
manages to shift the blame onto some poor subordinate."

"He always comes out looking
spotless and more often than not gets a commendation and promotion out of
it," added Sextus.

"Whilst he was shuffling papers
and issuing orders on army dress regulations, ceremonial drills and the correct
way for a soldier to use the latrines, he was an irritating joke, but just a
joke," said Cornelius, "however in charge of over 50,000 of our best
troops on a critical frontier the joke isn't quite so funny."

Gregory, who was well aware of the
machinations that went on in the imperial court was shaking his head.
"What in Heavens' name did he do to get the Emperor to give him that
position?"

As the final dinner plates were being
cleared away by the unobtrusive servants, the guests left the table for the
reception room. Cornelius, Fulvia and Gregory settled themselves into some well
padded chairs near a glowing coal fire in one corner. The open fire was not
required to keep the villa warm. The under floor and wall cavity central
heating did that, but it had been fashionable when the villa was built to have
one in every room. Cornelius was glad. He liked open fires and could sit and
watch the flames dance above the red hot coals for hours.

"How long are you back in Milan
for?" Cornelius asked Fulvia.

For about a month but I'll be back
quite regularly from now on. My father has finally decided to allow me to do
some real work, so I will not be spending most of my life on trains and ships
going from one end of the Empire to the other. I will be setting up a chain of
shops in the Duchies."