Domina Victrix

Chapter 93: 38 AD, Rome and Caesarea

Fortuna tried to tune out the street noise as her litter bore her away from the Domus Augusta on the Palatine Hill and toward her next call. Caligula had tired of his pissing match with Ptolemy over Selene and had pulled a wife from somewhere. Lollia Paulina had been married to a provincial governor. A wealthy heiress with a reputation for beauty, Caligula decided he wanted her, sight unseen. He ordered her to divorce her husband and marry him.

Lollia was no one's idea of an empress. Obsessed with her beauty, her jewels, and her pets, she was content with her previous husband and miserable with Caligula. He, meanwhile, was in a complicated relationship with his sisters Drusilla, Livilla, and Young Agrippina's husband Gnaeus Lepidus. The idea made Fortuna's head swim and she wished she did not have to be involved, but all four women used her to plan their social events.

Caligula had recovered from his fevers, but his behavior became more disturbing by the day. Obsessed with ships, work continued on the two sumptuous galleys in Lake Nemi. There were other barges being built in Ostia and ports along the coast, as well as major renovations to Augustus' palace on the Palatine Hill. Caligula had ordered a luxurious stables created with marble floors and mangers, golden water pails, and Imperial purple drapery. Pride of place went to Incitatus, a desert stallion whom Caligula joked could make a better Senator than any of the hunans who held that office. He had ordained himself Pontifex Maximus and presided over games, feasts, and religious ceremonies nonstop. He demanded to be treated and addressed as a god.

And he continued to toy with the lives of those around him. He ordered that Claudius marry Valeria Messalina, the sixteen-year-old sister of Valerillus Messala. Claudius completed his Consulship and married Valeria, who was as much an alley cat as the three Imperial sisters. The women vied with each other as to how much they could eat, drink, and sleep around at a pace that would have killed Great-Grandfather Antony himself.

Other members of the family kept their heads down and prayed for daylight. Marcus and Deiatorianus, still junior, back bench Senators, were now the Consuls. Lucius remained as Proconsul in Syria. Bolt was Acting Governor in Judea with Flavius in Command of the garrison. Caligula refused to allow Selene any marriage, as one by one royal families found other wives for their princes. According to Victoria, Selene could care less for a royal marriage. The man she loved was the one she could not have. Fortuna's heart went out to her, but there was nothing she could do.

...

Cassillus Longinus brought home supper from the taberna and helped his mother lay it out. He kept his eyes on his plate throughout the meal.

"Are you all right?" his father asked.

"No," Cassillus said. "I think I need to transfer, but I can't leave all of you."

"That bad?" his grandfather asked.

"I've never been happier, but I love Selene and she loves me. And she can't have me. She can't leave here, and neither can I. But someone has to."

"Before you do anything drastic, let me talk to Marcus," his father said.

Cassillus squirmed.

"I've already submitted a transfer request," he said.

"You what?" his father snapped.

"I had to," Cassillus said.

"Oh, my God!" his mother cried out.

"Tell us you and she haven't been together," his father said.

"No," Cassillus said. "But it was heading that way. So, I'm leaving because she can't."

"And, us?" his grandfather asked.

"I don't know," Cassillus said.

"Damn you, boy," his father said. "I thought you had better sense. I ought to take a vine stick to your ass!"