The Servant of Aphrodite by Matyszak Philip

Author:Matyszak, Philip [Matyszak, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Monashee Mountain Publishing
Published: 2015-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

'Only one pillar stands in the crumbling edifice of the prosecution case,' Scaevola declared. 'It is now time to pull that pillar down; and pull down with it this whole sad and scandalous prosecution. Let the witness Helga rise and be questioned.'

Liber IX

Helga arose and faced jury and crowd fearlessly. With her blonde hair swept back and chiselled jaw set firm, she looked the very model of a Germanic warrior woman. Helga being Helga, I had no doubt that she had gone through every line of her testimony with meticulous thoroughness. She would have prepared herself for every rhetorical trick and attempt by Scaevola to prise open a chink in her story. Our only hope was to blind-side her from a direction she had not anticipated. Helga was organized, thorough and hard to shake. However, she was not good at unexpected developments, and was slow to adapt. We were going to work with that.

'Ma'am, could you please step over here, and stand facing the jury?' asked Scaevola politely.

Helga looked around her. 'Here is good. I can answer your questions from here.' She wasn't giving an inch.

Scaevola sighed. 'It was not a request, actually.'

Helga looked at Catulus. She asked the judge, 'Why do I have to move? All the other witnesses stand, answer questions and sit down. Why does he want to move me around the courtroom like a child's doll?'

Catulus looked at Scaevola. 'Why indeed?'

The real answer was that we wanted get Helga out of her comfort zone, to have her answering our questions in a place different from where she had imagined she would be answering them. We needed to take away her illusion that she was in control and get her slightly off-balance.

Of course, Scaevola could not actually give this reply, so instead he informed the judge, 'The witness will be lying. As she is a clever and accomplished liar, there will be only the slightest pause, the merest flicker of uncertainty on her face when she invents an untruth. I don't want the jury - or the spectators - to miss it.'

Catulus grunted. 'This smacks of theatricality. However, I see no harm in indulging it.' He looked over at Helga. 'Move to where he asks, and let us get on with this.'

Mulishly, Helga seemed for a moment to consider standing her ground. Then ostentatiously letting everyone know that she was being unfairly put-upon, she walked to the spot which Scaevola courteously indicated and stood glaring at him.

'You are the vica puellarum , the manager of Panderius' brothel?'

'Yes, but he manages it himself.' This was true, but a low blow. There was no shame in owning a brothel - several senators owned one, and it was a point of pride with me that they frequented my premises nevertheless. However, actually managing the bawdy house one owned was a disreputable job unbecoming of a member of decent society. It was the difference between owning gladiators and actually training them. The gladiator owner was respected, even admired, while the lanista

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