To see the previous installments, click on the following links: #1, #2 , #3, #4, #5, #6

One of the duoviri, the most experienced, bent his head towards the corpse lying in the centre of the garden. His hand motioned for slaves and witnesses to keep their distance, while his eyes, accustomed to lesser crimes but not to something as brutal as this, scrutinised every detail. The victim's robe, now torn and dyed red, barely allowed his social class to be identified, but the ring on his finger left no doubt.

‘Do you know who this man is?’ asked the magistrate in a deep voice, as a young slave, visibly trembling, stepped forward.

‘He is Lucius Flavius Crispus, a patrician of the gens Flavia, a distant relative of the emperor Vespasian,’ murmured the slave in a broken voice. The duoviri turned with a tense gesture to Marcus Varius, who maintained the composure of a Roman, but whose face betrayed him with the rictus of deep anguish.

‘What was this patrician, so close to the emperor, doing here?’ asked the other magistrate, younger but with keen eyes that scanned every corner, every shadow.

Marcus Varius, with the mettle he had cultivated during his years as a legionary and with the management of his ‘garum’ business, answered in a controlled voice: ‘Lucius? I had come to celebrate a family affair. I cannot imagine who could have done this to him. He was honouring us with his presence.

To be continued

Header Image:

Representation of Antinous, young man lover of Emperor Hadrian. Bronze sculpture. Florence, Museo Archeologico.