Domina Triumphans

Chapter 29: 49 AD, Rome, Antioch, Lugdunum, and Caesarea

Agrippina opened a chest containing Livilla's letters and documents. The sisters had never been close and she did not spare either Livilla or Drusilla a thought. But Livilla's share of their mother's estate was tangled up in court by the families of previous owners who were petitioning to have the lands restored to them. Livilla handled much of the three daughters' claims to the legacy of Germanicus and Old Agrippina, so the paperwork in the chest was worth a look.

Rome was dotted with pleasure gardens and villas spread throughout the city, most of them the property of the wealthiest and best-connected citizens. The Imperial family owned many of these, acquired through purchase, confiscation or inheritance. Agrippina herself now held the Taurian Gardens, once the property of a wealthy socialite, Sallius Taurus. Like Gaius Silius, he was caught up in the Dionysian nonsense and killed himself in the Tullianum while waiting trial. Silius did likewise and Claudius bestowed both plots on Agrippina as a wedding gift.

She lifted out a tablet that contained a copy of a letter written to someone in Placentia. Northern Italia, where the Vinicii originated. The wax was degrading and only portions of the wording were legible.

...The General forgets himself...to insult any member of my family impugns the divine genius of the August One...The August One will oblige you...The General will likely come through Placentia...See that he never leaves....Money on deposit...

It was no surprise that Livilla had ordered the killing of her ex-husband. That she had condemned him on a bird's word was the absurd part. Her vanity, like that of their late brother Gaius Caligula, knew no bounds. That also explained Livilla's snit with their cousin Antylla. Livilla had never forgiven Antylla for pushing her in the tepidarium in Gergovia so many years ago. Livilla had kept a copy of a letter Antylla had written soon after Vinicius' death.

...We love young Marcus dearly and hope the August One will be pleased to allow us to graft him into our family through a marriage with my Urracca..

Agrippina tossed that tablet aside and kept digging. Claudius had agreed the marriage and the two young Triumviral spawn were engaged. Marcus carried an Imperial line and so would his children. She would deal with him and Iolarix' mongrel brood in her own due time.

....

Ex-Centurion Publius Cornelius sat down at his tablinum, more discouraged than he had been in a long time. At several points in his life he had been ready to write off all religious belief, and he was nearly there once more. And, oddly enough, the issue was about circumcision, again. He pawed through codices of scripture, trying to find an answer to the current dilemma, all the while praying that the apostles and elders in Jerusalem would come up with an answer soon. Two brothers from Antioch, Paul and Barnabas, had gone to Jerusalem to confer with the older men and he would have to wait for word to come down to his level. A decorated veteran, he was used to depending on the higher-ups to make up their minds.

Cornelius had been born in a vicus in Ostia. His family lived in poverty though they were descended from the Scipii, for all the good it did them. Cornelius joined the Army and was assigned to the 2nd Cohort of the Italian Band, based in Antioch. An angry young tough with a mean streak, he spent most of his time in the guardhouse or on punishment detail. What saved his career was that his Centurion, Old Aulus Verus, and General Marcus Antonius refused to take the chip on his shoulder for an answer and Cornelius grew up and settled down. He also met two other people who would make a deep impression on his life. Verus' daughter Julia was a midwife like her mother and devoutly Jewish. Then Cornelius was assigned as a bodyguard to General Marcus' nephew, nicknamed Bolt after the lightening strike emblem of his family's unit, Legio XII Fulminata. Bolt was a rambunctious free spirit. He was also a kind and generous soul. Both he and Julia deeply felt their respective spiritual traditions and Cornelius opened his mind and heart.