Try bringing her a half-amphora of Falernian next time…" Unfortunately for him, Maia had not disappeared yet, but was leaning on a faux marble column with a purse-lipped intensity that reminded me of our mother as she overheard the libel. It was a good dinner. I let Petro enjoy his food without telling him what trouble from my sister lay ahead. When the slaves removed the serving tables after three elegant courses, we signalled that we would pour our own wine now; they left us plenty, being well trained from times when the builders" guild settled down for a long night discussing measured rates for waterproof concrete and how to fix the voting for the next guild elections.
We hear you're a pirate specialist." Petro was hoping to pick Caninus" brains, then shed him. No such luck; he liked to talk too much.
Oh I'm your man!" Caninus intoned, flinging his right arm madly towards the ornate figured plasterwork of the ceiling and its coving above, like some slurred orator in the afternoon court session. He was left handed. I noticed that. He kept his left hand clamped firmly round his goblet, so the brimming wine barely rippled, despite the frenetic posing. My physical trainer, Glaucus, was a devotee of keeping your main body still while exercising legs and arms until your eyes watered; he would have loved Caninus.
Naturally, it depends how you look at it," Caninus raved. Let us land and beat up the locals. you are a pirate; I am a heroic warrior with expansionist pretensions on behalf of my city-state… Goes back at least to Athens."
The Greeks. Great seafarers," Petro agreed. From him this was no compliment. Caninus seemed not to notice. Piracy was the fast alternative to diplomacy. Same with the damned islands. Rhodes, Crete, Delos Delos in particular, nothing more than enormous free markets where plunderers could sell off their booty, no questions asked. Think of the Delos bloody slave market, ten thousand souls shifted daily, in peacetime or war. They say prisoners are sold as soon as a captain unloads them, and nobody asks were these once free men and women, who never ought to be in chains."
Still?" I managed to get in.
Still? What do you mean still, Falco? Has some joker told you the slave trade ever stopped?"
No, Rome's enormous appetite for slaves has kept the Delos market going."
With donkey bells on!"
Tingaling! I meant, are pirates still the slave merchants who supply the bodies?"
Who else?" Caninus slammed down his cup. He could do this in safety because it was now empty. Brunnus, who had introduced him to us, was starting to look nervous at the man's capacity. At least seeing Brunnus sweat made the evening worth while. We have the Pax Romana, Falco. No war, no prisoners of war." To save his host's wine cellar Petronius tried ignoring the empty goblet, so Caninus poured his own. In fairness, he was not selfish; he poured for all the rest of us too. Drink up, young man," the nautical lush chivvied Petro, as if to a novice. Fortunately my old drinking partner could pretend to be tolerant.
Tell us more," I croaked, although I was now so drunk I had lost interest in research. Caninus obliged happily, like some awful philosopher groaning into the next part of a three-hour lecture. Let us have some definitions. piracy, characteristics of
We can send out for a slate if you need to do diagrams." Brunnus stopped taking this seriously. Caninus ignored him. Risk; violence; plunder; death. The four pillars of organised sea theft. Death is the best one, for your average sea thief. Raids on land, setting on merchant ships, they all involve robbery with violence and part of the thrill is He stopped himself, puzzled that he could have overlooked a vital element. Thrill… Risk, thrill, violence, plunder, death, the five pillars." Brunnus had a lamp table beside him, on which he carefully arranged three apples, a fig and a half-eaten hard-boiled egg to represent the crucial quincunx. Quincunx was his word, and I was frankly surprised that he knew it, or was capable of summoning it from his bleared brain.
Especially death," intoned Petronius. He was lying on his back on the dining couch he shared with me, inspecting the ceiling. Petro's dough-coloured tunic with the rope patterned braid, his favourite off duty wear, had crumpled around the armpits. He had a glazed expression that I had not seen since our last night in Britain, the night we left the army. A story in itself. I felt sick. I told myself it would pass.
Killing," Caninus informed us, is your pirate's favourite party game."
Rape?" suggested Petro.
Rape is good, but killing is best."
In perspective," Petronius applauded. Thanks."
To these people Caninus could burble for hours without thinking about it. Their way of life is just business. Piracy equals trade. Ships equal investment. Plunder equals profits. That's profits from legitimate activities, to your pirate."
Do you Brunnus woke up suddenly. Do you do this talk for recruits?"
