the hamper. ‘That’d be a bit more arbitrarily than usual, I assume?’ I said.
I’d spoken at normal voice level, and I saw a few heads at the nearest tables – senior civil service types to a man – turn to look at me. Secundus glanced around, grinned nervously, and lowered his voice to a whisper through clenched teeth.
‘Gods, Marcus, you stupid bastard, either shut the fuck up or keep it down, right?’ he hissed. ‘I know most of those guys, and they’re safe, but one or two I don’t. And these days you do
not
kid around where talking about the boss is concerned. Get me?’
The hairs rose a little on the back of my neck. Shit, he was serious; deadly serious. This wasn’t the Gaius Secundus I knew.
‘Yeah, OK, pal, I’m sorry,’ I said. I lowered my voice to match his. ‘Arbitrarily like what?’
‘Well, for a start there’s the business of the statue in the Jerusalem temple.’
‘I thought the Jews were dead against that kind of thing. Having statues of gods in temples. God, singular. Whatever.’
‘Damn right they are. Only this wasn’t one of theirs; it was one of ours.’
‘
What?
’ I’d raised my voice, and he winced. ‘Sorry, pal. Won’t happen again.’
‘Caesar wanted to set a statue of himself up in the Jewish holy of holies and make them burn incense to him.’
‘But that’s crazy!’
‘Tell me about it. Offend those touchy stiff-necked buggers and you’d have a mid-east war on your hands before you could say “zealot”. Caesar’s advisors managed to talk him out of it, luckily, but the idea was there. Rumour is, he’s planning to do much the same thing here, in the city. Establish a formal cult, temples, priests, sacrifices, the lot. That’s “cult” as in personal cult.’
‘Shit.’ I was appalled; even for Gaius, this was going too far. Oh, yeah, sure: worshipping a living person as divine has been standard and accepted in the East for centuries – witness Postuma’s pal, Alexander – and every provincial town, outwith the Jewish bounds, of course, has its statue of the emperor to whom it’s only polite to offer a pinch of incense, but he’s there in image to represent the power of Rome, not
propria persona
. And within the city boundaries we like our deified mortals to be comfortably dead first. ‘He’ll never get away with it.’
‘Who’s to stop him? He’s the emperor.’ Secundus took a swallow of his wine and raised his voice a fraction. ‘Anyway, all this is by the way. Leave it. What’s your interest in Cassius Longinus?’
‘I told you. I don’t have one.’
‘Come on, Marcus! Give me a break! With your peerless grasp of affairs I’m surprised you know the names of the current fucking consuls. That’s if you do know them; me, I wouldn’t risk a bet. And yet you come straight out with the fact that Longinus is the governor of Asia. He has something to do with the case you’re working on, hasn’t he?’
I grinned. ‘Yeah, OK. His name just came up in passing, never mind how or who gave me it: that’s strictly confidential. And it wasn’t mentioned in any sort of way that’d connect him with Surdinus’s murder, either. I was surprised to hear that he was in Rome, that’s all. Satisfied?’
‘Not really. But I suppose it’s all I’ll get.’ Secundus took an olive. ‘OK, just to fill you in on the guy. Not that you want filling in, no, of course not, perish the thought.’ I said nothing. ‘Just for the fun of it. Longinus is an old friend of the family; I mean
old
, long before he and Surdinus had their joint consulate. Which was why Plautius made a point of telling him about Surdinus’s death; Plautius had the consulship the year before the two of them, so he’s always had a friendly eye for Longinus. Incidentally, he was only appointed Asian governor this year, and he seems to have been doing all right – no major cock-ups, certainly, and as far as honesty goes, word has it you could play the stone-and-scissors
I’d spoken at normal voice level, and I saw a few heads at the nearest tables – senior civil service types to a man – turn to look at me. Secundus glanced around, grinned nervously, and lowered his voice to a whisper through clenched teeth.
‘Gods, Marcus, you stupid bastard, either shut the fuck up or keep it down, right?’ he hissed. ‘I know most of those guys, and they’re safe, but one or two I don’t. And these days you do
not
kid around where talking about the boss is concerned. Get me?’
The hairs rose a little on the back of my neck. Shit, he was serious; deadly serious. This wasn’t the Gaius Secundus I knew.
‘Yeah, OK, pal, I’m sorry,’ I said. I lowered my voice to match his. ‘Arbitrarily like what?’
‘Well, for a start there’s the business of the statue in the Jerusalem temple.’
‘I thought the Jews were dead against that kind of thing. Having statues of gods in temples. God, singular. Whatever.’
‘Damn right they are. Only this wasn’t one of theirs; it was one of ours.’
‘
What?
’ I’d raised my voice, and he winced. ‘Sorry, pal. Won’t happen again.’
‘Caesar wanted to set a statue of himself up in the Jewish holy of holies and make them burn incense to him.’
‘But that’s crazy!’
‘Tell me about it. Offend those touchy stiff-necked buggers and you’d have a mid-east war on your hands before you could say “zealot”. Caesar’s advisors managed to talk him out of it, luckily, but the idea was there. Rumour is, he’s planning to do much the same thing here, in the city. Establish a formal cult, temples, priests, sacrifices, the lot. That’s “cult” as in personal cult.’
‘Shit.’ I was appalled; even for Gaius, this was going too far. Oh, yeah, sure: worshipping a living person as divine has been standard and accepted in the East for centuries – witness Postuma’s pal, Alexander – and every provincial town, outwith the Jewish bounds, of course, has its statue of the emperor to whom it’s only polite to offer a pinch of incense, but he’s there in image to represent the power of Rome, not
propria persona
. And within the city boundaries we like our deified mortals to be comfortably dead first. ‘He’ll never get away with it.’
‘Who’s to stop him? He’s the emperor.’ Secundus took a swallow of his wine and raised his voice a fraction. ‘Anyway, all this is by the way. Leave it. What’s your interest in Cassius Longinus?’
‘I told you. I don’t have one.’
‘Come on, Marcus! Give me a break! With your peerless grasp of affairs I’m surprised you know the names of the current fucking consuls. That’s if you do know them; me, I wouldn’t risk a bet. And yet you come straight out with the fact that Longinus is the governor of Asia. He has something to do with the case you’re working on, hasn’t he?’
I grinned. ‘Yeah, OK. His name just came up in passing, never mind how or who gave me it: that’s strictly confidential. And it wasn’t mentioned in any sort of way that’d connect him with Surdinus’s murder, either. I was surprised to hear that he was in Rome, that’s all. Satisfied?’
‘Not really. But I suppose it’s all I’ll get.’ Secundus took an olive. ‘OK, just to fill you in on the guy. Not that you want filling in, no, of course not, perish the thought.’ I said nothing. ‘Just for the fun of it. Longinus is an old friend of the family; I mean
old
, long before he and Surdinus had their joint consulate. Which was why Plautius made a point of telling him about Surdinus’s death; Plautius had the consulship the year before the two of them, so he’s always had a friendly eye for Longinus. Incidentally, he was only appointed Asian governor this year, and he seems to have been doing all right – no major cock-ups, certainly, and as far as honesty goes, word has it you could play the stone-and-scissors
Similar Books
