Pilate's Wife: A Novel of the Roman Empire Read Online Free PDF Page A

too might enjoy the spectacle.
    Germanicus rode last in the largest and most elaborate float. He was splendid in a golden cuirass embossed with the likeness of Hercules vanquishing a lion, his crimson cloak bright as blood in the morning light. Agrippina stood at his side, her long tawny hair rippling in the sun.
    Beside them were the children, Drusus, Nero, Caligula, Druscilla, Julia, and the toddler, Agripilla.
    "I'll wager there hasn't been such cheering since Augustus returned from defeating Antonius at Actium," Tata exclaimed, his face flushed with pride in his commander.
    My heart thumped with excitement as I turned to wave at Druscilla and the others. Just at that moment a man ran up alongside their chariot and climbed on. I watched curiously as he held a gold crown over Germanicus's head. The man's lips moved continuously, but with all the noise it was impossible to catch his words.
    "Who is he?" I asked Tata . "What's he's saying?"
    "A palace slave sent by Tiberius. It is a custom."
    "But one rarely practiced," Mother observed. "He is advising Germanicus to look back."
    "Look back! Why should he look back?" Marcella wanted to know. " I never look back."
    "It is a reminder," Mother explained. "Sometimes the future creeps up from behind, catching us unaware. The slave warns Germanicus not to be too arrogant or too confident of the future. No mortal knows his fate. One day he may be triumphant, the next day disgraced or even dead."

     

    I WILL NEVER FORGET MY FIRST VISIT TO THE C IRCUS M AXIMUS . T HE events set in motion that day changed my life, but at the time I thought only of how awfully big the arena was.
    Following the triumph, my family was invited to share the imperial box with Germanicus's uncle and adopted father, Emperor Tiberius, and Agrippina's step-grandmother, Dowager Empress Livia. We'd approached the arena together through the imperial tunnel leading from the palace. Once we were inside, the immensity of it all made me dizzy. Everywhere I looked I saw faces, thousands of faces. People on all sides of me, tier after tier of them, stomping, yelling, jostling one another.
    Trumpets heralded our arrival and, for an instant, the stadium stilled, voices dimmed. Then the crowd roared like some huge, untamed animal. Thunderous cheers welcomed Tiberius and Livia as they entered the box, but they were nothing compared to the greeting received by Germanicus and Agrippina. The cry "Ave! Ave! Ave!" rose from every tier in the amphitheater. Germanicus smiled, a boyish grin of surprise and pleasure, raising his arm in acknowledgment. The shouts grew louder, came faster. Agrippina, beside him, her eyes shining, lifted both arms like an actress accepting applause.
    The tremendous roar subsided as the last of the imperial party took its place. Pomanders and bags of sweet-smelling herbs were passed about in an attempt to block the stench of some two hundred and fifty thousand Romans crammed into the stands above us. The highest seats were occupied by the poorest of the poor--I could scarcely see that far--but those immediately above us were reserved for war casualties. Catching sight of one of the men I'd nursed in Cologne, I smiled and waved just as another trumpet fanfare announced the arrival of the Vestal Virgins. The crowd cheered again, briefly, as the white-clad figures stepped into their elaborate box.
    Another wave of dizziness swept over me as I looked out at the vast sea of faces. Power and restlessness hung like sweat in the air. No one gladiator had yet clawed his way into the glare of popularity since Vitellius had been slain a few weeks earlier. I could feel the crowd's impatience, the tension beneath an undercurrent of laughter and conversation. Trumpets sounded again, announcing a parade of combatants and performers. "Oh, look!" Marcella cried, pointing to the charioteers who entered, rank after rank, four chariots to a rank. Behind them the gladiators. How could they smile so confidently? Today's