Domina Victrix

Chapter 101: 41 AD Rome, the Limes, the Levant

Crowds thronged the Circus Maximus, which could seat up to 150,000 people. Despite the cold, windy weather, it was packed. Seating was in order of social precedence. Senators, priests, and military officers had seats nearest the track. Octavian Augustus had built a tunnel connecting the Domus Augusta, on the Palatine Hill, running to a series of seats in an arena-level enclosure. Now, this area was swathed in purple and decorated with evergreen, pending the Emperor's arrival. As the crowd waited, clowns and mimes performed on the track or tossed clay balls loaded with prizes or redeemable tickets.

Public games followed a set order of performance. The aediles in charge of the event made a processional entrance, followed by offerings to the Genius of the Emperor and Imperial Family, and to Jupiter as King of the Gods. The spectators could care less about these formalities and continued to talk and eat at their seats. A squad of Praetorians entered the Imperial box, heralding the arrival of the Emperor. This caught the crowd's attention and they began cheering.

A squad of German Bodyguards enteted next and Caligula followed, without Claudius or any of the Imperial women. Milonia was still resting after her miscarriage and had become feverish overnight. Valeria Messalina was nearing her time, and Claudius had excused himself to be nearby in case she began labor. Caligula had decided at breakfast that he did not need Livilla or Agrippina today, so had them stay home. He thus stood alone, receiving the adulation of the crowd before taking his seat on a throne set up for that purpose. The first chariot race began. This comprised minor or low-ranking teams and he had no bets going. He lolled back on the throne, taking in the fact that today's celebrations were all because of him.

....

Bolt knocked on Victoria's cabin door.

"We're home," he said. "Will you come and see?"

She grabbed her shawl and followed him on deck as the ship slid into Seleucia's harbor. The last time she had seen it was fifteen years ago, as she, Bolt, and Lucius left to join Juba in Egypt. Now she was back and the bittersweet memories flooded her. Lucius, Leyla, Diana, and Sejana would be there, and there would be new ones to meet. But her father, Fortuna, Eleni, and Antylla were miles away. Tryphaena, Gaius, Marius, and Juba were gone forever. She leaned against Bolt as the ship found its mooring and the sailors dropped anchor and made ready to lower the gangplank.

"We're home," they said together.

....

Governor Crispus Aetius checked his reflection in his shaving mirror, ready for years of hard work to pay off or be thrown to the four winds. The Aetii had manned the Limes as long as there had been a frontier. Julius Caesar's sweet dream after invading Gaul was to turn on Germania next. He was in the initial stages of doing so when unrest in Rome forced him to abandon the idea. Aetius' grandfather and father commanded either I Audiutrix or IV Macedonica, both Legions becoming as synonymous with them as XII was for the Antonys. Generations of Aetii had grown up in the Governor's residence, and his own grandchildren played in the courtyard now.

It was his father, also Crispus, who married the daughter of Segmer, a Cherusci chief. The Cherusci were the most powerful tribe in the area and Princess Mistilla maintained her bonds with her people. She had begged Arminius not to desert Rome and warned Old Crispus what he was up to. The governor at the time, Quintus Varus, chose to disregard that warning, marching three legions deep into Cherusci territory. He learned his lesson in Teutoberg Forest, where his legions were wiped out in a days' long running encounter with Arminius.

In the aftermath, Mistilla and her brother Segmer pleaded with Rome's leaders to leave Germania alone, but to little avail. Augustus, Agrippa, Tiberius, and Germanicus all nipped off chunks of territory, while the Aetii placated their kinsmen as best they could. They had managed an uneasy coexistance for years. Caligula's visit to the Limes almost tore apart decades of hard work.