de minimis non curat praetor.

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

Kalends of Maius, nearly noon
The year of the consulship of Isauricus and Sabinus
The Forum marketplace

It is a clear morning, a good omen for the first day of the month. I came to the Forum this morning to hear a pontiff call out the fasti. I could have a slave do it, or I could wait to see the list written up in the Senate, but I like to hear it from the mouth of the priest - and I take some amusement in the scurrying of people as they hurry to arrange their month based on which days are forbidden to carry out business. I have my suspicions that the priests take bribes for the banning of certain days, but I think a man would have to be a fool to risk the wrath of the gods in such a way. In the same vein, I have gone to the temple of Venus, as today is the Vinalia, the celebration both of the wine harvest and of the goddess. I poured wine over her altar - and gave many amphorae to her priests so that they might pray for me. Privately I offered my own prayers to Venus Acidalia, since she is concerned with troubles. Not that I have much faith in her interest in my troubles, since I am sure that Venus is quite content for Tetricus to keep making a fool of himself over that boy. She seems to enjoy men playing idiots in the service of love.

Tonight in honour of the Vinalia I have been invited with my wife to the Palace, as her Royal Highness is giving a party - a small affair, the invitation said, of one or two hundred guests. That should mean much of the Senate will be there, and I have sent word to Ageria Altinia to find an appropriate gift. I know that my wife can be trusted with such delicate matters. It is a relief to me to have so sensible a spouse - we had met only twice before we wed, and I had thought she seemed a clear headed girl, but it could all have gone quite wrong. But she has managed my household well from the first, and blessedly produced our twins within a short space of time, which is a relief for many reasons.

I walk through the crowds, people stepping out of my way when they see my toga praetexta. Many are discussing their plans for celebrating the holiday this evening; I think the centre of Excolo will be rowdy tonight. And I do not doubt that the celebrations at the Palace will also be debauched, given the occasion and the host. Tanicia is always careful to behave perfectly herself, but to encourage bad behaviour in others, and I doubt tonight will be an exception. Luckily I can trust Ageria to behave in a way that is a credit to our family. I am sure that if Tetricus is there I will not be able to say he is doing the Ilicus name any credit, particularly if he brings the boy. Barely sixteen and a plebeian. At least when Tetricus acted as my patron we were closer in age, and I had enough wit that we had things in common besides my looks and his interest in them. Arruns Ramnes is a nothing, an exile scratching out a position based on the charity of his patron and now Tetricus, with only a perfectly unremarkable handsomeness to recommend him.

I am clenching my jaw, I realise, and so I stop at a stall to buy a morning cup of wine. My business for the day is discharged; soon it will be time for the baths and then preparations for the dinner and party tonight. I sip my wine and sit on a bench, watching the crowds of the Forum mill by.

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[isidore-excolo.livejournal.com]

I have of course come to pay my respects to the temples today, and to distribute wine for the festival - the amphorae have my cognomen imprinted discreetly in the clay, for it never hurts to remind others of one's own largesse.

Six of my lictors surround me, but at my orders do not push too roughly through the crowd. While proper respect is good, I have found a friendly approach more likely to win friends. And even if they do not have a vote, the Senate finds it difficult to ignore a thousand chanting voices.

I do have them cover the alley when I approach the Mithraeum. Not that I am ashamed of my faith, of course, but Mithras' mysteries are not to be shared, and so I keep my position in the cult close to my chest. My men will enter later, when their duties are complete. I trust my brothers, my syndexioi.

The rites are swift, for it is not a holy day, and I emerge blinking into the sunlight. "We'll to the forum again Crassuss," I tell the chief of my men. "I should be seen before the party tonight." He nods, and we proceed. The crowds are mixed, plebians and patricians alike, and I nod to those of my faction and smile at my enemies.

And watch my rivals. Sulpicius Allectus may only be a praetor now, but I know his ambition. He is one to be wary of, despite his seeming contentedness. I have heard he visits Venus these past weeks, and wonder at it. Has some affair gone wrong? Such things provide a lever which might move a man.

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

As I sit with my wine I see Consul Postumius Servilius moving through the crowd with his lictors. I am glad he does not walk with all twelve for his day to day business - it is rather showy to have them all. I will admit that Isauricus always manages the fine balance of living up to but not exceeding his rank. My own two lictors stand a few feet from me, since I hate to be crowded, and it is not as if at the Forum I actually require their protection. They can serve their ceremonial function quite well without breathing down my neck.

I rise as Isauricus approaches and incline my head.

"Consul," I say. "Blessed Vinalia."

[isidore-excolo.livejournal.com]

Ah - our eyes meet and I have little choice but to approach him. It is a subtle game, the politics of personality. Rudeness indicates failure, and so one must be as polite as possible while goading one's opponent into rudeness. Or maneuvering them so that the only polite option is to one's own advantage.

When the knives come out is when we have failed in our duties, and must endure as best we can. I have confidence in my syndexioi.

"Praetor," I greet him in return. "Blessed Vinalia. I am sure you join me in praising the goddess. This has been a fruitful season, for her concerns." Let us see how glad you are of Venus' pleasure in your old comrade, praetor. "The celebrations tonight will do her honour."

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

"Blessed Vinalia. I am sure you join me in praising the goddess. This has been a fruitful season, for her concerns. The celebrations tonight will do her honour."

I know that that is a dig at me, and once again I feel angry shame that Tetricus has been going about with that boy. Does he have no sense of how it makes me look? People have suggested he has tired of me and replaced me with that. As if there is any comparison between the two relationships.

"I have made offerings to Venus Genetrix," I say smoothly, "in thanks for my good fortune at home." There is a reminder to him of my successes at the hearth - a dutiful wife, two children. "And I of course made offerings in the name of friends less fortunate than myself." It is a wonder that the Consul has not remarried; were we still in Augustus's reign he would have been fined for it by now, no doubt, though Emperor Caninus seems less concerned.

I have sometimes wondered if the Consul's reluctance to wed indicates he has - tastes close to my own. There have been rumours over the year, but he is clearly a man of discretion. I wonder if I should perhaps bribe his slaves to tell me about his habits. There will undoubtedly be someone in the household willing to give up his secrets. There is always a weak link. I would not try to shame him on that score - it would be undignified, and besides the same shame could be turned on me - but it might be a way into having some influence over him. He is a man to be careful of, and I think he would do me a mischief if he could. I must have armour in such a fight.

"And do you look forward to the party tonight?" I ask, since I am sure he has been invited. I will also watch who he is watching. Dinners are always more business than pleasure, these days, so it is lucky I enjoy my work.

[isidore-excolo.livejournal.com]

Sulpicius Allectus must have forged armour for his breast during his cursus, for his expression does not falter. "I have made offerings to Venus Genetrix, in thanks for my good fortune at home." I nod at his well-crafted reply.

"My own son has been a blessing, though not in the way of yours," I admit. "I find Venus Amica to be more in my favour." I smile. "I have been blessed with friends, this year."

"And do you look forward to the party tonight?" he asks. "Of course," I reply. "Our Empress, Venus-favoured, has promised such a celebration that Venus may frown, suspecting we do Bacchus more honour than her." I chuckle to dismiss the joke. "But we shall honour her - I am dining with the Ilicii in friendship tonight, which should be worthy praise to Amica." I smile again. "I am sure you shall find your own way to honour the goddess tonight."

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

"I find Venus Amica to be more in my favour." I smile. "I have been blessed with friends, this year."

"I too," I say, matching his smile. "We have both been fortunate in our friendships." I am advancing too, Isauricus. We both benefit from our growing influence.

"Our Empress, Venus-favoured, has promised such a celebration that Venus may frown, suspecting we do Bacchus more honour than her."

I laugh lightly.

"Her Royal Highness is indeed favoured by the Goddess of Beauty," I say, because one never turns down an opportunity to praise the Imperial family.

"I am sure you shall find your own way to honour the goddess tonight."

There, another dig, and I wish I did not suddenly have running through my mind the memories of how Tetricus and I have honored festivals together... It has been some half-month since we lay together, since I refused to go to the celebration of boys with him. We have enjoyed sharing a meretrice or two in our time - Tetricus has always liked to watch me take a pretty boy before trying him himself - but I was in no mood for such frivolity after watching Tetricus fawn over Larcius. But now my mind is upon those memories. I have lain with my wife a couple more times than usual in the last month to try to relieve the desire, but it is not the same.

"I am sure I shall," I say carelessly, "by celebrating the beauty of my wife and the bounty of my household. But," I add, and I give him a man-to-man sort of smile, "I will confess I prefer the feasts of Lady Venus's son to those of his mother." I know I am still a handsome man - even if Tetricus seems to prefer younger, less fully formed looks - and I want to see if I can bring any expression to Isauricus's face by mentioning celebrations of Cupid.

[isidore-excolo.livejournal.com]

I brush aside my irritation at his reminder. The young always advance upon their elders, hands outstretched to take honours for themselves, and I feel a surge of sympathy for Ilicius Tetricus, whose protege has outgrown him.

But such feelings of self-pity hardly suit a Roman consul. I should be thinking instead of men such as Ursus Parthicus, who though young no longer still wins glories to his name.

"I am sure I shall," he answers my jab, "by celebrating the beauty of my wife and the bounty of my household." My blow is turned deftly back upon me. I know I should seek a wife, for word is spreading. Indeed, only the petty scandals of such as Crassipes have kept the rumours of my personal life from spreading.

"Your household is rightly the envy of many," I tell him coolly. "But," he adds after, with an open sort of grin, "I will confess I prefer the feasts of Lady Venus's son to those of his mother."

Sulpicius Allectus is something of a sybarite, it is true, but he does not lack for a certain masculine grace. I understand well what Tetricus sees in the patrician strength of his features. "Cupid's arrows strike too sharply," I tell him lightly, "so that men are deprived of their reason. Even the god himself was not immune, as with Psyche." I smile slyly. "Apollo's affairs suit my own nature more closely."

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

I see my blow has struck home, and I am glad. But then the conversation takes a more interesting turn.

"Cupid's arrows strike too sharply,so that men are deprived of their reason. Even the god himself was not immune, as with Psyche. Apollo's affairs suit my own nature more closely."

Perhaps it is simply because I have gone too long without sharing a couch with a man, but the slyness of his smile makes Isauricus altogether more striking. He is a dour faced man day to day, but that smile is interesting... And talking to him is rather like a game of ludus latrunculorum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludus_latrunculorum). I have missed intelligent conversation; so many of the Senate are dull and old, and now Tetricus is infatuated with that boy and given to throwing ever more lavish parties we spend much less time in interesting conversation. I miss it; the way we talked was much of the reason I came to care for him as I do.

There is much to unpack in what Isauricus says.

"Men do fall on the arrow of love from time to time," I say, "pricked by desire." He will not miss the innuendo of that. "But I did not mean to say that Cupid would be my god of choice. Apollo is a fine example in many ways, although he did not have much success at home." I wonder if Isauricus was thinking of how the boy Hyacinth caused the feud between Zephyrus and Apollo. Probably; he is sharp-witted enough. "It has struck me that for a god as wise as Apollo his love affairs rarely ended well. But the story I like best of APollo is perhaps the one where he comes out the least favourably - when Hermes stole his cattle. But once peace was restored, Apollo lay down with Hermes. Perhaps he was impressed by his wits, enmity turned to affection." Make of that what you will, Consul.

[isidore-excolo.livejournal.com]

"Men do fall on the arrow of love from time to time," Allectus observes, "pricked by desire." My lictors have given us space for our conversation, facing Allectus' with calm faces and watching the crowd.

"But I did not mean to say that Cupid would be my god of choice. Apollo is a fine example in many ways, although he did not have much success at home." I smile crookedly, thinking of the god's habit of cursing his lovers. "It has struck me that for a god as wise as Apollo his love affairs rarely ended well."

"But in many other cases he transformed his lover," I remind Allectus. "There are many trees and flowers, for example, we would not have but for the god's sorrows."

"But the story I like best of Apollo is perhaps the one where he comes out the least favourably - when Hermes stole his cattle. But once peace was restored, Apollo lay down with Hermes. Perhaps he was impressed by his wits, enmity turned to affection."

I smile. "It is true, that rivalry can lead to a certain affection. But I have always felt affection dwells best in alliance, as wrote Pammenes in his criticism of Nestor."

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

"True," I agree, acknowledging the hit, "and there is much to be said for concordance between men. But let us think of Cyparissus," I say, "who loved Apollo so well that when he accidentally killed his stag, he begged to become the tree that bears his name. And Apollo granted such a request. That is taking friendship too far. Perhaps Apollo and Hermes came to pleasurable accord because Hermes had proved himself a worthy opponent." Saying that makes me think of Tetricus, and how we came truly into our relationship only when I had returned to Excolo after serving as tribune - when I had proved myself a man in my own right. Cyparissus was an idiot boy, I think. But I turn away these thoughts, because it is more interesting to focus on this jousting with Isauricus. There is something quite stimulating about matching wits with another man. "Which is all to say," I continue, "that there are many ways that men find satisfaction in their dealings with other men, do you not think?"

[isidore-excolo.livejournal.com]

"True, and there is much to be said for concordance between men. But let us think of Cyparissus," he counters, relating the tale of Cyparissus and Apollo, which reference I had made when speaking of trees. "Perhaps Apollo and Hermes came to pleasurable accord because Hermes had proved himself a worthy opponent."

I make myself step back and regard the situation. It would well be that Allectus is just enjoying the cut and thrust of our words. But he might be frustrated too in his paramour's fondness for youths. I have no true wish to step into their quarrel, but I have been courting the Ilicii. I have seen Allectus as my rival, but were I to reconcile them, I might gain some advantage.

Sulpicius might have something else in mind, though. I do miss the Levant, with its dark and dusky people, proud in their own way. But Rome has its charms.

"Which is all to say, that there are many ways that men find satisfaction in their dealings with other men, do you not think?"

I chuckle at his conclusion. "Our words have ploughed a crooked furrow indeed," I say. "And it seems you have brought us from the specific to the very general." I cock my head at him. "But I can take your meaning, given the context."

This will be interesting. "I would be pleased to speak with you again tonight, perhaps more closely." I smile openly, in friendship. "Though I will understand if you would rather keep the close company of old friends and hyacinths." On the other hand, divided is conquered.

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

"Our words have ploughed a crooked furrow indeed. And it seems you have brought us from the specific to the very general. But I can take your meaning, given the context."

I wonder if he has at that.

"Some would say all of politics is a crooked path," I say with an easy smile. "Sound signifying nothing. But we know that words can be both everything and nothing, do we not?" It is best that I leave those specifics he hinted at for a more private discussion.

"I would be pleased to speak with you again tonight, perhaps more closely. Though I will understand if you would rather keep the close company of old friends and hyacinths."

And there in that friendly smile is another barb. I am irritated, but I realise I find it quite stimulating. Having to stay alert to have a conversation is something I have missed. There are too few men in the Senate given to really thinking.

"Hyacinths are pretty, but their blooms fade quickly," I say. "I prefer the rose." The rose is associated with Venus - but I think he will also catch my meaning of the rose as a sign of rebirth. If I lead him to think I am looking for a new connection, he might open himself to me. And besides, it may annoy Tetricus, and at the moment that is an attractive option. "I would be glad to speak with you." I incline my head again. "Good day, Consul."