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

how do you know it?" Tiberius persisted.
    "Sometimes I dream the winners or else they just jump into my head."
    The empress laughed contemptuously as she tapped her son lightly with an ivory fan.
    Tiberius ignored her. "Then look them over and see who 'jumps,'" he challenged me, gesturing toward the gladiators standing below.
    Half sick with self-consciousness, I closed my eyes in prayer to Diana: May the earth open this instant and swallow me.
    "Claudia's choices are often fortunate, but we don't encourage the child's fantasies," Mother hastily explained.
    "Some of us do," Germanicus chuckled. "The boys and I have done quite well with them."
    Caligula baited me as I sat, sick with anxiety. "I knew all the time that you were making it up."
    "I don't make it up!"
    "I'm sure you don't." The emperor, his hands surprisingly gentle, reached out, pulling me from my seat into an empty space he created next to himself. "Why don't you just take a good long look at those men down there? If you see a winner, tell us."
    "She won't see anything. What does Claudia know anyway?" Caligula, diverted from Marcella, beat his booted foot against the seat.
    "That's enough, Caligula!" Germanicus snapped. "If you can't be polite to Claudia, remove yourself and sit with the rabble."
    Tata patted my shoulder reassuringly. "We all know it's just a game you like to play. Why not try it now?"
    "It's not a game, it's a lie," Caligula insisted, ignoring his father's admonition.
    I glared at him. Angrily pushing back the curls loose over my forehead, I turned to the men assembled on the field, studying each face carefully. The pressure was terrible. I tried breathing deeply. Pictures come to me involuntarily, but at that moment, looking at the men waiting for the starting signal, I saw nothing. Desperate, I closed my eyes. Then...yes, one face appeared. An unusual face, high cheekbones, blond, very blond. I thought him handsome as Apollo. More important, he was smiling triumphantly. I opened my eyes, eagerly scanning the gladiators below. Helmets covered their hair, but I recognized the striking face, the fair skin. "It's that man," I said, pointing. "Third from the end. He'll be the winner."
    "Not likely," Livia scoffed. "Look how young he is. Hardly more than twenty. A thrust or two and it will be over."
    "Are you sure, Claudia?" Father asked. "Ariston is the favorite, the one on the end."
    My eyes followed his pointing finger. Ariston looked formidable. He was slightly taller than my choice and much broader through the shoulders. Now, as I studied the gladiators, I realized that the man I'd chosen was more slender than any. Though a large man, tall and broad-shouldered, he looked almost frail beside the massive veterans of many combats. All I could do was shrug. "He's the one I saw."
    "You're just showing off," Caligula accused me.
    "Do you have any pocket change, boy?" Tiberius asked him.
    "Sir, I'm fourteen."
    "Very well, then. I'll wager one hundred sesterces against whatever you have that Claudia's choice wins."
    "Tiberius, you're not only a poor judge of gladiators but a spendthrift," Livia chided him.
    "If you're so certain, suppose we have a little wager of our own?" Germanicus suggested.
    "Taken," the empress responded. "What about two hundred sesterces against my fifty?"
    "Agreed." Germanicus nodded.
    Mother and Father looked at each other in consternation. Even Agrippina was subdued. Marcella leaned over and squeezed my hand. "I hope you are right. That gladiator is just too handsome to lose."
    "Marcella!" Mother reproved, but everyone laughed and some of the tension eased.
    What followed has become legend. It began routinely. The men were evenly matched-- retiarri brandishing nets and tridents and secutori countering with swords and shields. Each man moved slowly, warily, as he sought to gain an advantage over his opponent. The pair would fight until one man was killed, the winner then going on to challenge another until only two remained--one