Wolves of Rome by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1509878998
Amazon: B07D6TFRZP
Publisher: Pan
Published: 2018-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

16

ARMINIUS THOUGHT LONG and hard about Quinctilius Varus’s strange quest. What struck him most was his comrade’s assertion that the Roman army could be defeated. Although this remained with him, he would have many occasions in the following years to convince himself of the opposite. He spent nearly four years in the East, travelling almost always with the same people who had seen Carrhae with him. In that long stretch of time, he learned much about the Empire of Rome and became good friends with Rufius Corvus and Sergius Vetilius.

In these long years, he also learned how the postal system worked. One merely went to the nearest port and got information about the ships that were setting sail, on what day of what month, and the name of the captain, with whom you could discuss price. If you were lucky, you’d find a direct ship to Ostia, which then went to Rome, sailing up the Tiber. In Rome, you got someone to go to the harbour to pick up the parcel or letter. He would then consign it to the cursus publicus office, and from there it would continue by road until it reached its destination.

He wrote to Diodorus first, at the house on the Aventine, certain that he would still be there. He was much less certain of where to find Taurus, who as a man of arms was certainly sought after because of his experience and his many virtues; he would never be left at home for long. He asked his one-time tutor to forward a letter to his brother Flavus, including it in the same sealed case. If he received a reply, Arminius asked him to send it to Antioch, to the headquarters of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. In less than two months he received, to his great surprise, an answer.

‘Winds are favourable on the sea,’ explained Rufius Corvus, handing him the message. ‘And the weather on the continent is good. Here’s your letter.’

Arminius’s heart was pounding as he opened it. The case showed all the signs of its long travels; it was scratched and scraped, the least you could expect from a journey many thousands of miles long. He carefully unrolled the parchment. The letter was written in clumsy, ill-formed Latin, surely the work of a camp scribe, but Arminius felt a strong jolt of emotion at reading those words:

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