Domina Triumphans

Chapter 22: 47 AD, Rome, and Londinium

Sego turned over in bed, having given up on trying to sleep. He put his hand on Urracca's belly. So far, he or she was a small bunp and not moving. He tried to remember what his first wife's two pregnancies were like and when he felt his daughters quicken. Urracca stirred.

"He's too little yet, Love," she said. "We must wait a few more weeks."

She wanted to ask why he was not sleeping but they both knew the answer. She turned to him and took his hand.

"Talk to me, Mo Gra," she said.

"Iolarix offered to let me see him," Sego said.

"He was just being kind," she said.

"I know, but I'm not sure if I should or not."

"I've never had this to face, so I'm not the source of wisdom here. But I have an idea that if Father or Uncle Bolt were with us, they would urge you to at least see him and hear him out."

"Why?" he asked.

"Don't people condemned to death get a last word?"

She could tell he was thinking it over.

"Whether you witness the trial or execution is beside the point," she said. "Showing mercy to a condemned man says more about you than it does him."

...

Antonillus sat at the administrator's desk in the castrum as the clean-up and stock-taking efforts continued. It was still early morning, but the City was quiet. Anyone who thought about it knew that Londinium was in a dangerous position. Twenty-three soldiers had been killed, most of them youngsters barely out of training. But five of his students had lost their lives, including the Amazigh and the Rhaetian. Nine civilians who were either veterans or attached to the garrison had also been killed. Among them was the drunken administrator and three department heads. Given this loss, Plautius and Blaesus could order the town fined or impose other sanctions.

Antonillus looked over the piles on the desk. He had no idea where to begin, so decided that the deep end was a good place to start. A fortress ran on its supports. Each department, payroll and accounting, commissary, quartermaster, had a bevy of civilian clerks supporting the military. All departments were required to submit routine reports, but some had not done so for several weeks. The late civilian department heads for accounting and veterinary had been the most lax, so there would be no reports from their replacements for awhile. Quartermaster and commissary had reported, and there were requisitions needing approval. He organized those for Nasicus, jotted a list of the needed reports and went back to the investigation and clean-up of the riot.

So far, all that was known was that several ships had docked at the port last night and their crews came ashore to rest. Most of these men ended up at the taberna, already spoiling for a fight. Once there, they began making passes at the Landlord's wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law. The men assumed that they were sex workers, but two were respectable married women and the daughter was in a long-standing camp marriage with Optio Martius' oldest son. The Amazigh and a Belgic auxilliary told the sailors off and the angry men began swinging.

Then, another man did not like the taste of his wine. Most table wine was diluted because it was too strong to drink neat, but taverns sold the harder stuff at night. When the sailor began mouthing off at the Landlord, two veterans came to his defense. Taverns in vicus communities were not just watering holes. Most were also thermopolia, serving hot meals to people who would otherwise not have anything to eat. They were also gathering points in the neighborhood. The tavern keeper owned two insulae, and he was a veteran and elder statesman of the vicus. Insulting him and his family pissed off the entire military community.