CHAPTER XXXIV

XXXIV

 

… And the day after, you would inaugurate Venus Genetrix’s temple, as a token of

thankfulness to your patroness and ascendant for her help both in Gaul and against the

Pompeians. You also had the intention of introducing that other god-like figure to

Rome, the divine Egyptian queen, the Nile’s fertile goddess, whose solid gold statue

 

you would unveil next to that of your protector on the very first days of those ludi in the

 

memory of our sweet Julia… Julia…. Should she have still being living here among us,

what might things have been like then? There would certainly have been no room for

Blodwynn or Kornel….Blodwynn?

–She may return to Britain in a short time. I can give her a chance to get there safely

as I must send some merchandise to ancient Veneti’s land, where I have contacts who

may help her to go overseas with no risks. I’ll give her your regards if she can’t say

goodbye to you.

Cornelia’s words relieved me. However, I couldn’t believe that someone who had

taken such a deep care for me should have suddenly cut off our relationship without

even reaching an agreement on so many things I had promised her. If only I could get

in touch with Kornel so that he would clear up my mind…Gods….What nonsense! Why

on earth should I be thinking on stuff like that on those days? Nevertheless, hiding

 

yourself under the excuse of your ludus arrangement, you wouldn’t come home most

evenings, so I would have enjoyed some kind of theoretical freedom to see whomever

I chose. My imagination constantly flew towards that domus on the other side of the

Tiber, the same one that you had once bought on the grounds of making a profitable

investment due to all those gardens which one day would be bequeathed to Roman

people. In those days it would swarm with visitors day and night. So unlike that vault-like

 

solitude in Domus publica.

–How can your husband dare doing that? These ludi are even more splendid than

those he organized in the memory of his father when he was an aedilis curulis . Not

only because of the impressive naumachiae and gladiator fights. He has even brought

 

animals from Asia and Rome which are real monsters, like that one with its incredibly

long neck which has shocked all Romans …and that other one with the large horn-like

nose. What’s more, even many young patricians are taking part in combats!

–There’s no doubt he is desperately trying not to lose people’s support, Cornelia… I

am afraid I must tell you this, Calpurnia. Even the rabble is displeased with all the  

 

waste that these celebrations mean. There is extreme poverty in plebeian vici. Not

only do Ninth Legion soldiers protest, claiming for a fair salary which should really pay

 

for all their sacrifice at wartime. You can’t obviously know anything about all this,

Calpurnia… Neither do I think he might be really aware of what’s happening in Rome

nowadays.

It was clear that Portia’s reasons couldn’t be refuted. I quite knew that she was also

thinking about your house on the other side of the river and what must be happening

 

there…. Gods… how can you manage to… enjoy me so deeply in our cubiculum and

 

next, give yourself even more intensely to…

Your departure for Hispania was also immediate. However, as it was predictable, the

only thing about it that might have any influence in my daily life was just what I couldn’t

allow myself to do. Yes, I should be more discreet than usual right now, being quite

aware that, despite that dense silence regarding that issue, the shadow of my

repudiation might be hanging over me more intensely than ever.... I then decided to

resume my massages with that ointment whose recipe Kornel had dictated me, in spite

of Marcia and Portia’s protests.

–How can you pretend to be more cautious and sensible than ever amidst such a

queasy perfume...?

True, it seemed that the passing of time had slightly fermented it into a remarkably

 

intense odour. Nevertheless, I did not regret it, realizing that I felt so much more

serene and confident that...I was about to send for Kornel, but my intuition stopped me

from it.

 

–Domina ...

 

The unexpected arrival of my personal female serf startled me.

–A messenger from the Queen of Egypt...

Her incapacity to articulate a full sentence transmitted her uneasiness to me.

–She wishes to know.... if she can visit you tomorrow...

I knew that many Roman personalities had been invited to Transtiberine

 

domus...except myself. Nevertheless, it was Cleopatra herself who had made the

request to visit me....“The Queen of Egypt cannot be invited. It is she who chooses

 

those who must be summoned”

 

 

The answer to all my wondering about her was seen crystal-clear as soon as, with

some kind of borrowed majesty, she left that litter which had been made with gold

plates, ivory and purple silk and climbed the stairs leading to the main entrance of

 

Domus Publica, accompanied by as many maids as lictores a consul may have. She

 

looked at the community of awaiting priestesses with the same child-like curiosity that

had been aroused in her by the gallery of statues representing ancient High Vestals,

who, like ourselves, were silently beholding that retinue, whose spectacular grandeur

 

had remained utterly alien to Domus Publica so far : that huge canopy of purple, gold

thread and ivory which was being held by half the number of the Queen’s maids, all of

them dressed in almost transparent, subtlest white cotton and wearing gold pendants,

as pure as those threads which braided their hair, as dark as their skin, whose shades

went from intense olive to Tyre purple. Under the canopy we were able to make out a

vision that, despite the shadow cast by that sunshade, could only be described as

dazzling.... That thick royal mantle, wholly woven with gold thread, on which there lay

some kind of headgear, made with gold plates, jet beads, tiny turquoises, emeralds and

rubies, out of which there sprang what I could only clearly see as soon as she was

approaching. A cobra...While she was climbing the upper stairs, I started perceiving the

scent her presence emanated... Wasn’t it so different from the ointment that

impregnated my skin? Yes, she seemed to have noticed it, too. I read it in that puzzled

shine I discovered under the carefully elaborated mask, skilfully drafted with henna,

outlining a pair of large almond-like eyes which dared attempting to magnify those real

ones-intense, golden-green, which could almost turn into sombre jet.... 

–Daughter of Ptah.... Welcome to our house...

All of us – the High Vestal, the girls, Marcia, Portia, Cornelia, Marcius Philippus and his

family and myself – reverentially bowed our heads. Time remained held up for a long

while, all the time that Cleopatra thought convenient before she decided to speak.

Then, we all understood the reasons for this tarrying. A rhythmical melody, in such

varied, tangible shades, among which I could even distinguish....colours -?- in cleverly

arranged degrees of intensity...let itself be heard, apparently thanking our hospitality

and the honour it meant to her, to visit Vesta’s temple. All of it sounded irrelevant,

however, like any other thing she might say, since what really outstood was that

instrument of hers, beyond human nature, that the Queen masterfully used to express

herself and handle wills, quite an obvious thing. Would she really be Isis’ reincarnation?

Fortunately, it seemed to be just an official visit to Vesta’s temple and the community of

priestesses, so I hardly had any time to have a direct contact with her. I saw the girls

looked obviously ecstatic and that the High vestal was watching her with both respect

and mistrust. I noticed critical, even worried curiosity in Cornelia’s sea-like eyes and

amazement in Marcia’s face, Cato’s analytical demystifying grey look still alive in his

daughter’s.... Marcia had told her father to advise her about the meal we should offer to

the Divine Queen of the Nile, something that had to be hastily arranged. We needed to

work hard, even all night long, so as to get the fish and seafood which the sea had just

been deprived of at Pompeii and Cumae. My thankfulness to your niece’s husband for

this will never be enough: it was he who devised those candied shrimps, the tuna

 

garum, the mussels with that dressing of oil in which rosemary and jasmine had been

macerated, that turbot which was stuffed with honey, almonds and mint, the idea of 

filling the roasted roe deer with oranges, lemons and that sauce of Falernian wine and

myrrh....She grew childishly excited with those small cakes representing her own bust...

which she broke with her own hands to feed that tiny person who I had refused to see

since that procession from your house on the other side of the Tiber climbed up the

 

stairs of Domus Publica. What’s more, as if being aware of that, she was forcing me to

 

see him right there, at such a scarce distance, so that I could clearly notice those light

blue eyes, so alien to Ptolemaic lineage... I immediately understood the purpose of that

visit, confirming what had been hanging over me during those days…No, I’d rather say

months. Nevertheless, I couldn’t lose control of myself at that moment. As everything

then seemed to have been settled and I had a well-defined fate in front, I should not

allow myself to lose my dignity in such a base stupid way. No, this recently acquired

ability to control my impulses couldn’t fail now. ...

True, the rest of the day went on as it had been previously planned, something that,

having into account what New Alexander’s wife could offer, would not disappoint the

Fertile Reincarnated Goddess of the Nile much. I noticed the absence of eunuchs in

her retinue, which was already getting ready to take her back to her Roman

home….Didn’t I hear her utter these words? Some maids were perfuming the air with

the myrrh and incense coming from their small censers while they were descending the

stairs.... Yes, no doubt she was a deity. 

Luckily, I had plenty to do as soon as the retinue disappeared and thanked my friends

for staying with me in order to supervise the rearrangement of the rooms where the

reception had taken place. There was so much food left...

 

–We could take it to Subura ....as Lady Calpurnia’s present. It’s always good to win

many people over just by yourself. You are going to need it badly from now on. My

father himself would be telling you this right now.

As usual, Cornelia was being damned clever and far-sighted.

–.... But let’s not include Cleopatra sweets. Why don’t we keep two for each of us... or

more? The girls would love them, too.

–Yes... –I thoughtfully smiled, despite it all –...It wouldn’t be a bad thing.