I'll come to that." Caninus refused to be rushed. I was right about the forty-nine damned days, though. First Pompey secures the corn supply, he garrisons legates in Sardinia, Sicily and North Africa. Funnily enough…" Our mentor ran off at a tangent. Young Sextus Ponipeius, when he later fell out with the triumvirate, used exactly the same tactics as his great papa, but in reverse. He joined up with some pirates, then put a stop to trade from the east, the west, the south. How did he do it? He settled himself in
Sardinia, Sicily and North Africa!" Petro and I chorused, still trying to hurry him. But how did Pompey senior manage his spectacular coup?" I insisted.
It was spectacular." Caninus sounded serious. From what I know, he had not more than a hundred ships. To police the whole Mediterranean it was pissing in the wind. Only half the contingent would have been decent. Some were bound to be barnacled hulks dragged out of retirement. It was a rush job. A classic. But somehow Pompey drove the flotilla of pirates all the way to Cilicia. There was a bit of a battle, though nothing for the annals. Then he dealt with them by that special Roman miracle. Clemency!"
You are joking?" Even Brunnus woke up.
I am not joking. He could have, you may say he should have crucified them all. They knew what was due, and yet he put no one to death if they surrendered. They fled home, scared of his reputation. Then, as you said earlier, Falco, Pompey did not burn their ships. He let it be known that he saw many had been driven to evil by poverty, and he offered the best deal to those who turned themselves in."
Penitent pirates flocked to submit?"
Pirates are sentimental bastards. Pirates will slice your bowels out but they all love their mothers. Pompey set them up with little farms. All within sight of a river or the coast, that must have been in case the pirates felt homesick for salt water. Adanos, Mallos, Epiphania. A large contingent at Dyme in Achaea. Then of course there was Pompeiopolis just in case anyone ever forgot who deserved all the credit."
New town?"
No time to build new. Just an old one renamed, Falco."
I've been talking to a man from Pompeiopolis," I told him. A curiosity called Damagoras."
Never heard of him. He's a pirate?"
Oh no, he claims he never has been."
He's lying!" Caninus scoffed.
Seems likely. He has a huge house, stuffed with rich loot from all over the Mare Nostrum, and no visible explanation for his acquisitions
So despite the little farms, they still plunder the seas?"
Rome needs her slaves, Falco."
You mean, we want pirates to operate?" Caninus feigned shock. I didn't say that. It is treason to suggest Pompey failed. He solved the problem. It's a Roman triumph. The seas are clear of pirates. That is official."
It's official bollocks, then."
Ah well, Falco, now you're being political!" We all laughed. Mind you, since some of us were strangers to each other we did it cautiously.
None of this was helping me find Diocles. My restlessness communicated itself to Petro. He rolled suddenly, and stared at Caninus. Brunnus said you were a pirate specialist. If they don't exist officially, how come?"
That's the navy," said the sea biscuit, looking coy.
What are you doing here in Ostia?" I made the query as light as possible. He was a long way from Cilicia, if Cilicia was the pirates' heartland.
Goodwill mission."
With three triremes?" Caninus looked surprised. I let him wonder how I knew. It was hardly a secret. Anyone who wandered around Portus could have seen them and counted them. Never a warship when you want one, then a whole bunch turn up," he grinned.
For a shore exercise?" Petronius, a typical vigiles man, wanted to know what was being arranged by other units in the patch he currently occupied.
We just flit about from port to port and shout the Emperor's name. When the high-ups decide we deserve shore leave, they let us come here and join the squash docking at Portus. We're showing the standard to foreign traders."
You haven't chased some pirate ship ashore?" Petro demanded.
Jupiter no. We don't want ugly scenes on the Emperor's doorstep." Until the conversation became political, Caninus had spoken with heat and passion. Now he was blustering in cliches. I did not believe the change was caused by drink; he had shown himself impervious to wine. He was hiding something. I'll be straight," I said. I was too tipsy for anything complicated. I was hoping you could explain why a scribe who writes notorious sections of the Daily Gazette would have contacted a man who is reckoned to have been a pirate."
Why don't you ask him?"
Sorry; I thought I had explained that. The scribe has disappeared." Perhaps a change darkened Caninus" face. You think he's been captured? Well, you know how they used to work it in the old days. if pirates had taken a prisoner who was worth something, a note would be brought to people who knew him, by an intermediary, naming a very large ransom."
