Moderator: Aldus Marius
Marius Peregrinus wrote:He was the first to break the silence, by placing the scroll on the table and clearing his throat. "Amici," he said softly, "I was just given this set of orders outside the taverna, shortly before you two showed up. Apparently the Legions are not quite done with me yet." He paused; he did not look or sound happy about it. Then he asked, "My memory of military things is not as complete as it might have been. This commission has a bad smell to it, but I can't put my finger on why. Remind me, brethren...what exactly is a frumentarius? I swear I don't recall, only that the word has bad associations for me and that the men who wore it didn't like to talk about what they were doing..."
Curio wrote:"My relatives, and my gods-damned conscience, seem determined to prevent me from living in Roma - every time I seem to be settling back into the routine, one of the several hundred tribes that i'm related to gets into trouble."
Curio wrote:"This decision cannot be made by one of us alone. I am of two minds, so I'll go with your decision in this case. Should we destroy an innocent man's reputation in order to ease our own passage to Britannia, or risk the wrath of a powerful aristocrat, even one as low as Equitius Cato. There could be a third option; is there a way to persuade Cato that we have done as he asked, but warn Rutilius to flee before Cato finds out we double-crossed him?"
A wry smile came over Curio's face as he commented,
"An unfortunate choice of password - that was tactless of Cato. Unless... Unless that password, with all the emotions it conjures up, was chosen for that very reason." The smile disappeared from Curio's face as he realised how similar to Cato he sounded.
Marius Peregrine wrote:"Amici," he murmured, "if my failing memory serves, we were just on our way to Britannia this morning. We are packed, provisioned, and have loaded animals awaiting us just outside. And we've even told this Equitius chap that we will brook no delay in our departure for the Isle of the Mighty."
His voice rose a little. "Yet this man wishes us to appear at his domus three days hence. I'd call that a delay, wouldn't you?
Marius Peregrine wrote:"An unfortunate choice of password, indeed. With a patrician's education, one would not have to know me particularly to know that the last thing a Marius will do--right after leaping off the Tarpeian Rock and breaking himself into bloody, broken bits below--is say anything nice about a Sulla! 'Stercus Was a Lucky Man' indeed. Yet I have outlived him...and we will outlive this one, too, methinks.
"He despises us, you must have noticed this. As a workman he'd be useless; he refuses to dirty his fingers on the handles of his own tools. I'm surprised he didn't hand us the money with a bargeman's pole. And here's where we risk losing our moral advantage over this man: for, should we accept this assignment, we will have proven ourselves every bit as vile as he thinks us to be. All our talk of decency and respect, blown away into the aether at the first whiff of gold or convenience!
"Were we not ready to make our own way to Britannia just a few hours ago? Have we become so much less so since then, that we should need to kiss the crescent on a Senator's boots to ease our journey? He wants us to indicate our acceptance--only--in three days. Now, the way I read it, that gives us a two-day head start. We are seasoned travellers; we can be a long way from here in two days.
Marius Peregrine wrote:"I do not fear this man, nor his hirelings. He is soft, not a fighter and certainly not a professional soldier. Doubtless he knows this, and so will want to do his work through surrogates. Any thugs he can procure may be marginally more competent in melee; but they will still be City men, Romans of Rome, and it takes more than a crash-course on the Campus Martius to equip a fellow to meet the likes of us on anything like equal terms.
"It is possible we may encounter administrative hassles instead. That patrician greaserag seems to want to make a great deal out of my scroll. I tell you, amici: I trust the man who gave it to me far more than the one who wants to relieve me of it. Besides..." and his voice dropped down to a murmur again, his features assuming his familiar crooked grin, "...I remember now what a frumentarius is. We will have resources of our own, commilitones. The bearer of this commission is not one to be trifled with."
Marius Peregrine wrote: "Mi Curio," he sighed, "the longer I listen to you the closer I get to just...giving...up. But I can't, you know why...? --Because we've all made promises, amici. Your kin don't know we're coming, so they can't hold you to anything--but we still made promises to ourselves, and at least in my case to the Gods."
Marius Peregrine wrote:His head came up, and there was a fierce pride in his eyes. "Besides, amice: You are not the only shadow-warrior in the room..."
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