Aurelia || SERIES ROMANA I

Chapter 94 ~ Nuntia bona

1st September 44 AD

The setting autumn sun gently bathed the princeps' villa in its golden light. From the triclinium, the soft, gentle notes of a lyre drifted into the deserted garden. The princeps' family had returned from their summer residence on the Gulf of Naples only a few hours ago. Nevertheless, everyone of distinction had gathered in this villa that evening to enjoy their supper.
As the first slaves scurried through the villa and lit the oil lamps, the guests rose and took leave of their hostess. Aurelia Vespasia rose gallantly from her dining couch and escorted her guests to the atrium. As soon as the heavy oak door closed behind her last guest, her children ran enthusiastically down the stairs. As they did so, Julius waved his hands excitedly, each holding a scroll. With a smile, Aurelia spread her arms, caught her children and enjoyed the rare closeness. Normally they were asleep by this time. Little Antonia was already jittery. Reluctantly, Aurelia detached herself from her children and took Antonia in her arms. Hesitantly, the girl put her short arms around her mother's neck. Out of the corner of her eye, Aurelia examined the two scrolls that Julius was still holding in his hands and was now holding out to his mother. Immediately she recognised the seal and understood why her children were so excited. Gaius had written to them.
"Shall we read the letters now?" asked Aurelia, playfully tired, and her children nodded enthusiastically. When asked if they were tired yet, they shook their heads in sync. Immediately Julius shot up the stairs and Antonia began to beg for Aurelia to carry her upstairs. Grinning, Aurelia blew a kiss on her daughter's cheek and carefully started moving.
Outside the door to Aurelia's chambers, Julius waited impatiently for his mother and sister. Although Aurelia had become accustomed to not sleeping with her children every night, the children were allowed to sleep with her under special circumstances. Among these exceptions, besides nightmares, was the arrival of Gaius' letters.
Smiling, Aurelia set Antonia down beside her brother as the door opened. The children quickly scurried through the door whispering excitedly and Aurelia followed them. When she entered their bedroom, they were already sitting on her bed, looking at her with wide eyes.
"May I quickly get ready for the night?", Aurelia wanted to know with a laugh and Antonia looked questioningly at her brother, who nodded impatiently. Quickly Aurelia washed her face, took off her jewellery and let her girls help her out of her expensive clothes behind a room divider. Nimbly they pulled her silk nightdress over her body. Then her girls wished their lady and the two children a good night and left the room.
Aurelia quickly slipped under the covers and took the scroll Julius held out to her. Julius always wanted to hear his father's private news first, because Antonia usually fell asleep over Gaius' long, official reports and he wanted to enable his little sister to hear her father's words meant for her.
With steady fingers she broke the blue seal of the private message. Even as she unrolled the letter, she registered with surprise how short it was. How unusual for her husband.
There were only two sentences on the note: Do not read the other letter until tomorrow in the Senate. Good night, I love you. Incredulous, Aurelia turned the letter over, but the back was blank.
"What does he write, mom?", Antonia wanted to know impatiently, and Aurelia put her free arm around her daughter. Then she read the few words in a firm voice and Julius shook his head in disbelief. He looked thoughtfully at the second letter and after exchanging a quick glance with his little sister, he pressed the second letter into his mother's hand.
"Open it now, mom," he urged her, and she quickly took the letter from him before he could run to Prunia and force her to read it to him. Loudly, Aurelia called out to Clemens and as she handed the document to the Praetorian Prefect for safekeeping, her children began to protest loudly.
"It is your father's wish, and we must respect it," she replied firmly, gently running her hand through the sulking Antonia's hair. Julius immediately fell silent, and his sister did the same. Wordlessly, Clemens left the room.
After a while, their children calmed down and fell asleep. Aurelia lay awake for a long time that night, feverishly trying to decipher Gaius' words.

If Aurelia had counted correctly, the last client of today's salutatio was now sitting in front of her. With a smile, Aurelia held out her hand to her client, which he immediately took with a smile as well. After a second, she gently but firmly withdrew her hand. The man nodded at her good-humouredly and left the room. As soon as he had left the study, Prunia entered the room. In her hands she did not hold her wax tablet as usual, on which she noted down the clients of the day, and Aurelia breathed a sigh of relief.
Full of impatience, she rose from her desk, nodded to her secretary and strode to Clemens, who was keeping watch outside her door as usual.
"Do you still have the letter?" she inquired quietly, and he looked at her as if she had lost her mind. Silly question. Of course, he had the letter with him.
Before Aurelia could beg him to give her the letter, she strutted past him, gave her clients waiting in the atrium a bright smile and left the city villa. As her palanquin made its way through the dense streets of Rome, Aurelia burned with impatience and could only with difficulty stop herself from urging her bearers on. When they finally reached the Roman Forum, she briskly left her palanquin and joined the waiting senators. At that moment, the Augur in charge confirmed favourable signs and Clemens unobtrusively pressed the scroll into her hand. The papyrus was warm from his body, as if it were a living being of its own.

Still smiling, Aurelia strode into the temple, whispered something in the ear of the acting consul, Statius Taurus, and quickly sat down in her own curule chair. Hastily, the consul took out a wax tablet and changed the agenda. Whispering, the other magistrates began to whisper excitedly and leaned forward with interest, but Statius held the tablet so that no one could catch a glimpse of it.
With a grand gesture, the acting consul rose and placed the wax tablet on his curule chair. Impatiently, Aurelia played with the letter in her hands. Meanwhile, some of the former consuls sitting close to her had recognised their husband's seal and hurriedly passed on the news.
"Gentlemen!" cried Statius, and instantly the crowd fell silent. "I am as anxious to hear the news from the north as you are. Therefore, let us lose no more time."
To approving applause, the consul sat down and nodded to Aurelia. With dignity she stood up and with steady fingers unrolled the letter.
Although she would have liked to roll to the end of the report immediately with impatience, Aurelia began to read out in a loud, clear voice the events of the battle at Deva, which meant another glorious victory for her husband.
When she finally reached the end of the letter, an expectant silence fell over the hall. In a calm voice she continued: "The Cornovians, Dobunners, Demeters and Ordovicians capitulated to Caesar and swore allegiance to him. Caesar also granted them his kindness and gave the tribes the protection of Rome. With this, the island is pacified, and Caesar will oversee the establishment of the administration in the new Roman province of Britannia until weather permits a return to Rome. Crossing is expected to be possible again from March."
Her next words were lost in the cheers of the senators. Over and over, she read the last words. So, Caesar will reach Rome in May next year. In eight months, they would be reunited. A tear of joy stole from the corner of her eye, slowly beaded down her cheek and fell silently to the floor. As she lifted her head from the precious letter, she met Claudius' gaze, who winked at her conspiratorially. His nephew's success was partly thanks to him.
Happy, she turned to the great statue of Jupiter and silently thanked the supreme god of Rome. Beaming with happiness, she rolled up the letter, put it in a skirt pocket and turned her attention to the senators.
After a while, Vespasius jumped up and called for a triumphal procession for the successful commander. Immediately other senators rose and in their eulogies voiced the demand for a triumphal procession for the man who had annexed Britain to them. The vote on Gaius' triumph was unanimous.
As soon as the triumph was confirmed by the Senate, Claudius' brother-in-law Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix rose and demanded in his cutting voice: "I hereby move that, in honour of his success, the epithet Britannicus be bestowed upon our princeps."
Instantly Aurelia's insides froze into ice, but no fibre of her body betrayed any emotion other than exuberant happiness. Immediately the other magistrates chanted the name and Claudius frowned imperceptibly. When their eyes met again, they realised that the other had the same thought. Gaius would never accept that epithet. Instantly, Aurelia's insides relaxed. Gaius was an adult and the real Britannicus, Claudius' son Tiberius Claudius Caesar, would never be given that epithet. Nero would not assassinate a Britannicus just before he reached manhood so that his rule was secure. By preventing Gaius from becoming Caligula, Aurelia had saved a great many lives. Together they had changed the course of history forever.
What a happy day forher family, Aurelia thought to herself with relief. What a happy day for Rome.