Return to Rome
The sun was already high in the sky when I awoke and I felt fine. One of our slaves must have wrapped me in my cloak, and for the first time since coming to Lebadeia I was warm and comfortable. I was also ravenously hungry, so I didn't linger long in bed but got up and went looking for breakfast. After that I left the sacred precinct and crossed the gorge to the town, where I spent most of the morning lounging around with Petosirus.
In the afternoon I returned to the House of Good Fortune and the Good Spirit, only to find that Lucius had still not turned up. The sun set without bringing any word of him and by the time the other pilgrims were ready for bed I was getting really worried, but the priests to whom I spoke simply smiled and bade me be patient.
The call finally came in the early hours of the morning and I went with Petosirus and the slaves up to the Throne of Memory where Lucius was slumped and the scribe was just rolling up his roll of papyrus. We carried Lucius back to the House of Good Fortune and the Good Spirit, where he promptly fell asleep and snored all night, something he doesn't normally do. Just as I had done, he woke late and ravenously hungry.
"Do you feel well enough to go home today?" I asked as we ate together.
"Sure," Lucius sounded confident. "But we'll walk, not run."
"I know what you mean!" I grinned at him. "Come on. Stop stuffing your face and let's go."
The slaves - even Petosirus - seemed somewhat in awe of us and we had no difficulty in walking ahead of them so that we could talk in private.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked Lucius, looking straight ahead.
"There's nothing much to say," Lucius replied. "You've been through the same experience. Wasn't that ladder wobbly!"
"Wasn't it!" I exclaimed. "And what on earth was it that dragged us through the hole."
"No idea." Lucius shivered. "That was spooky. Did you hear a voice?"
"Not hear, exactly, yet there was a voice."
"Same here. What did it tell you?"
"It said that it is impious to worship a crucified criminal, but that it is impossible to stop a woman doing it, so I guess I'll just have to let Cartimandua carry on. What did the voice tell you?"
"Nothing much. It just told me to be of good courage, as all my desires would be fulfilled."
"Did you see anything?" I asked after pause.
"Yes," Lucius spoke shortly. "I saw Mysticus and me living together like man and wife."
"But how?" I demanded. "Your father will be married to her by now."
Lucius shrugged. "I don't know. Trophonios didn't answer that question, but he can't be if I'm to marry her. I'll bet that when we get back we'll find that something cropped up at the last moment to prevent the marriage. You'll see! The gods never lie."
It seemed, however, that they had. We arrived back in Corinth fairly late in the day and went straight to my house, where Cartimandua came running as soon as she heard my voice and threw herself into my arms. Lucius watched our reunion with an indulgent smile and turned confidently to greet my father when he came into the hall.
"Lucius, my boy!" my father's tone was sympathetic.
"What happened about my father's wedding, sir?" Lucius asked. "Did it go ahead?"
My father's shoulders sagged. "I'm afraid so. Splendid affair. One of the biggest weddings Corinth has seen this year."
Lucius stared at him for a long moment without speaking and then turned and ran into my room. A moment later we all heard the sound of suppressed crying and my father and I both started towards the door, but Cartimandua held us back.
"No, lord. If you permit, I go. Is better."
I nodded at her. A man, especially a Roman man, would find it very hard to be seen crying by his friends. Cartimandua trotted off towards the kitchen and a moment later reappeared carrying a beaker full of wine. She disappeared into the room and my father and I tiptoed past the doorway and went to see mother.
"Oh, by the way," my father said when the story of our trip was over. "I'm glad you got back now. That ship has arrived and the captain is eager to get on his way. If at all possible, he would like to leave tomorrow."
I haven't the time here to tell you of all my adventures in Italy, but there were two events that stand out. We sailed in a ship belonging to one of father's friends and the gods blessed us with good weather. Even the strait between Messenia and Region was calm268 . On the day before we reached Ostia Lucius, Cartimandua and I were lazing on the deck watching the coast of Italy drift past, the little town of Pompeii white against the olive groves that stretched up the slopes of a high mountain.
"Lord, are there Christians in Rome?" Cartimandua asked.
"Oh, I think so," I told her. "All the Jews were expelled, but Aquilla said that there were Roman Christians as well."
"We will go to their assembly, lord?"
"Sure," I told her. "The trouble is that I don't know who they are. If we happen to come across any I'll make sure I find out for you where they meet."
"I will pray to the Christos, lord. He will guide us."
I thought no more of her remark. It was only natural that women would pray to the gods, though my experience was that the Immortals, while quick to punish disrespect and blasphemy, were slow to grant requests.
The next day we arrived in Ostia, where we hired a man with a cart to carry our baggage. We left Lucius' slave to keep an eye on him, then set out along the road to Rome. It felt good to have our feet on solid ground after nearly two weeks at sea and Lucius was delighted to be back in Rome, his hometown, so to speak. Despite the run-down state of the farms269 we passed, every step of the way he had something new to point out to us or some anecdote that the place called to his mind.
"Now come on," he said as we finally walked through the gate into the city. "I simply must show you the forum. We'll go to my aunt's place afterwards."
Cartimandua and I followed him through the crowds to the forum, the huge market place in the centre of Rome. Lucius pointed out the sights: the senate house where Julius Caesar was assassinated; the Tarpeian Rock, from which condemned criminals were thrown; the Capitol, which was nearly captured by the Gauls; and so on. While he was doing this a complete stranger, one of the many plebs who crowded the forum, came up to us and touched me on the arm. At first I thought he was a beggar and tried to ignore him but he was persistent, so as soon as Lucius had finished what he was saying I turned on the man, speaking sharply.
"Yes? What do you want?"
"Your pardon, sir. Are you from Greece?"
"Yes," I said, putting him down as a confidence trickster. After all, it was no great feat to tell that someone wearing a chiton was a Greek.
"And this girl is from Gaul?"
Now that was more difficult, though not impossible. Cartimandua was dressed as a Greek but her yellow hair marked her out and it was possible that one of us had spoken her name.
"And she is a Christian?"
"Yes," I exclaimed, interested at last and aware that Lucius and Cartimandua were both paying silent attention. "How did you know?"
"I too am a Christian," the man said. "Last night the Lord Jesus spoke to me and told me to come to the forum and meet two young men from Greece and a Gaulish girl with yellow hair. He said that you needed guidance."
"What sort of guidance?" I demanded.
"The Lord didn't say, sir. Now that I have found you, however, perhaps you can tell me?"
Lucius suddenly smacked his forehead with his open hand. "Arxes! Remember yesterday? Cartimandua was asking about the Christians in Rome and when you said that you didn't know where they met, she said that she would pray to the Christos?"
I stared at Lucius for a moment, my jaw hanging open. I had completely forgotten about the conversation, but there could be no doubt that the Christos had heard and answered Cartimandua's prayer. I drew Cartimandua forward, almost afraid to touch her, and introduced her to the stranger.
"This is my slavegirl, Cartimandua. I am Arxes and this is Lucius. Only Cartimandua is a Christian, but Lucius and I are not opposed to your religion."
The stranger bowed his greetings, treating Cartimandua with as much courtesy as if she was a freeborn woman. It was true, what Paul said. These Christians didn't seem to make any difference between slaves and free people. The man led us about five minutes' walk away from the forum and pointed out a house where, he said, the Christians met every Sabbath.
"Please don't tell everyone," he requested. "Foreign cults are not always popular here in Rome270 and it seems safer to keep our heads down, especially after that trouble with Claudius. We lost most of our assembly when the Jews were expelled."
That reminded me about Aquilla and Priscilla and when I mentioned that we knew them the man insisted on taking us to his house and hearing all the news about them. It was late afternoon when we finally made it to the house of Lucius' aunt, where the slave and our bags had arrived long before and the aunt was getting seriously worried about us.
We stayed in Rome for nearly a month; I visited my father's agent and had long talks about trade, Lucius went the rounds of all his old friends and Cartimandua stayed at home and helped around the house, learning how to behave like a Roman matron. When we finally decided to leave for Apulia before the onset of winter, Lucius' aunt kindly provided us both with horses and a mule-drawn cart for Cartimandua and the baggage which the slave drove.
On the morning of our departure, right in the middle of breakfast, Cartimandua, without any warning, suddenly clapped her hand over her mouth and ran out of the room. Before she reached the door, however, she vomited, which wasn't a good augury for our journey. The aunt insisted on calling her doctor and he examined Cartimandua, then the two of them talked in low tones for a while but Cartimandua insisted that she was all right, so we ignored the doctor's tentative advice to stay in Rome for the winter and set off.
It took us the best part of six weeks to cross the Apennines and travel up the coast of Italy to Apulia. For the first month Cartimandua was sick nearly every morning. The strange thing was that there was no fever and the rest of the time she ate like a horse. Certainly she seemed more healthy and beautiful than ever, and her hair shone with a deep gloss that positively glowed in the autumn sunshine.
When we finally reached the estate the slaves were waiting for us, having received letters from Lucius' father and the aunt to warn them that we were coming. The estate steward came bustling out to greet us, followed by the rest of the slaves. Our bags were quickly unloaded and carried indoors but as soon as Cartimandua stepped down from the cart the steward's wife, a matronly woman with grey in her hair, rushed over and made a tremendous fuss of her.
It was at dinner that the steward dropped the bombshell.
"You did realise, sir, that your girl is pregnant?"
Both Cartimandua and I stopped eating and stared at him in astonishment. I swallowed hard.
"Pregnant, Cornelius?"
"Yes, sir. Three months gone, my wife reckons."
I turned somewhat stupidly to Cartimandua. "Did you know this?"
Cartimandua blushed a deep red. "No, lord. I did wonder, but but I've never been pregnant before, lord, so I wasn't sure."
Lucius lay back on his couch and roared with laugher. "Arxes, you old fool," he finally managed to choke out. "You thought you had a mistress and now, lo and behold, you have a wife271!"
Cartimandua was staring at me, a scared look on her face272 . It took a moment or two of bewilderment and then I joined in Lucius' laughter.
"Cornelius!" I yelled. "If I may give orders in another's house, break out your best wine and bring it here. Let's celebrate the advent of my son."
Later, in our room, Cartimandua came and rested her golden head against my chest.
"Thank you, lord."
"What for?" I demanded. "I should be thanking you." I patted her belly gently.
"For allow me to keep my baby, lord."
"But of course!" I exclaimed. "He's mine as much as yours."
"Even if he is a girl?" Cartimandua asked.
I hesitated and then hugged her tight. "Even if he is a girl," I promised.
268 Pausanias, in his Guide to Greece V.xxiv tells of an ancient tragedy. "The Messenians on the straits had an ancient custom of sending to Region a troop of thirty-five boy dancers with a master and a flute-player to some local Region festival and they once suffered a disaster when not one member of the expedition escaped: the ship the boys were in simply disappeared into the depths of the sea. The sea in those straits is the stormiest of all seas; the winds disturb it and stir up the waves from the Adriatic on one side and what they call the Etruscan sea on the other, and even if not a blast of wind is blowing, the water in the straits moves with extreme violence on its own, the currents are powerful and so many sea-monsters gather there that their smell hangs thick in the air over the straits; so for a shipwrecked man in that neck of water there is not a hope of surviving. If it was there that Odysseus' ship was wrecked one would not have believed he could reach Italy alive by swimming, but the favour of the gods can bring relief in any conditions." Return
269 Pliny, in his Natural History XIV.v, remarks: "The low price of property through all the districts just outside the city in every direction is notorious, but especially in the neighbourhood referred to, since Palaemon had bought farms that had also been let down by neglect and that were not above the average quality of soil even among those extremely poor estates." Return
270 Livy, in his History of Rome XXV.i, tells us: "As the war with Hannibal dragged on, the alternations of success and failure seemed to affect men's minds hardly less than they did the general situation: an instance of this was the flooding of the country by a wave of superstition, drawn mostly from foreign cults and so overwhelming that one might have thought that either gods or their worshippers had suddenly changed their nature. It was no longer only in the privacy of individual homes that Roman forms of worship ceased to be observed; in public too, actually in the forum and on the Capital, crowds of women were to be seen praying and offering sacrifice in accordance with unaccustomed rites. . . . At first nothing was heard beyond private expressions of indignation amongst decent people; but soon complaints of the scandal were voiced in public and reached the ears of the Senate, which passed a serious vote of censure on the aediles and the police magistrates for their failure to check it, and when these officials tried to clear the crowds from the forum and break up the apparatus of their unholy rites, they narrowly escaped rough handling. When it became evident that the evil had grown beyond the power of minor officials to control. Marcus Atilius, the City praetor, was instructed by the Senate to take steps to free the masses from these superstitions. Accordingly he read the Senate's decree at a mass meeting and issued the order that anyone who possessed books of prophecies or prayers or copies of sacrificial ritual set down in writing was to bring all such written matter to him before the first of April, and that nobody henceforward should offer sacrifice according to foreign or unfamiliar rites in any public or consecrated place." Return
271 Quoted directly from Menander's play The Girl from Samos, where a man returns home from a journey to find that his mistress, instead of exposing her child as he had ordered, seems to have kept it. Return
272 The Romans made use of a full range of contraceptives and abortifacients, even if some of them were uncertain in their operation. For example, Pliny in his Natural History XVI.xlvi, claims that: "It is the willow that loses its seed most quickly, before it approaches ripeness at all. This is the reason why Homer gives it the epithet 'fruit-losing'; but succeeding ages have interpreted the meaning of the word in the light of its own wicked conduct, inasmuch as it is well known that willow seed taken as a drug produces barenness in a woman." Return
