The Circus Maximus Murders!!! Chapter X
Originally posted May 14, 2001
Author: L. Silva Didius [Reposted with permission]


"Ah Silva! Do come in!"

"Good Evening Domina. Diogenes said you wanted to see me."

"Please sit down Silva."

"What can I do for you Domina?"

"Please, call me Olivia. How have you been? We never seem to find time to talk."

I sat down on a bench that looked barely capable of sustaining my weight. It creaked. We threaded our slow and precise way through the standard opening conversation chitchat perfected by the ancient Greeks. All the time I sat there, all I could think about was four crusty bread rolls going from wonderfully warm to rock hard, and a salami rapidly becoming the home for every fly on this side of the Tiber. But the Domina Olivia Antonia was not a woman given to idle chatter. It was obvious that she wanted a favor, and the longer it took her to come to the point, the more important that favor would be. After thirty minutes of: "Hasn't the weather been lovely for April, Silva?", and, "How do you like the view from your balcony, Silva?", etc., she still hadn't gotten to the real reason she had wanted to see me. Whatever favor she wanted must be a real whopper. I was getting more frightened with each passing minute.

"Silva, what do you think of the Lady Zoe Xanthippos?"

Finally! She had dropped the starter's handkerchief and we were off to the races.

I sent my fingers walking through the files stored in my rapidly rusting memory bank.

"Young woman, 2nd floor apartment - right side, late 20's - early 30's, 5'3" or 5'4" tall, brown eyes, brown hair - long, usually wears it pulled back in a ponytail, her features suggest Achaea Province or Macedonia Province, speaks excellent Latin with vowels pronounced like an Athenian, favors the color blue in her attire, well-educated, spends a lot of her time writing, has a short-haired cat."

"Why Lucius Didius Silva, I didn't know that you and Zoe had already met."

"We haven't Dommm...........Olivia. I've only seen her occasionally as she's passed by me on the way to the market with the Lady Cythera Ariston."

"How do you know about the cat?"

"The back and hem of her gowns always pick-up traces of the cat's hair." I didn't explain why I would be looking at the back of Zoe's gown; and Olivia was too polite to ask.

"And the fact that she is well-educated and spends a lot of her time writing?"

"There are ink-smudges on her thumb and index finger and along the edge of her opposite hand. You only get that from writing with one hand while you hold the parchment down with your other, and the ink is still not quite dry. Normally, writing is the work of a slave or freedman. For her to have stained hands, especially so frequently, implies that writing is her avocation and therefore she must be a well-educated person."

"You Vigiles are all alike, Silva."

"I'm S.A. Dommm.......Olivia, Statores Augusti, military police, not a Vigil."

"It's all the same."

"You couldn't get a Vigil to admit to that," I laughed.

"Are you seeing someone special on a regular basis?"

"Olivia! Enough! Whatever it is you want to ask me, please ask."

"Very well, Silva. Zoe Xanthippos is recently widowed. She's only recently arrived here from Athens and has hardly seen anything more than her own apartment and the open-air market at the Campo dei Fiori. I want someone to take her out, show her the Urbs. It's not good for her to just lock herself away in her apartment day after day."

"Olivia, please, I'm not a dating service. Surely there are other men that can show her a good time."

"None that I can trust, Silva. No one knows Roma like you do and I know she'll be safe with you."

"Olivia, she needs someone her own age. I'm old enough to be her fath......older brother."

"Please Silva, as a favor to me, show her the Urbs. Take her to the Circus for the opening day ceremonies. You can use my seats. They're right on the finish line below the Emperor's box."

"Olivia, I'm not the man to do this. I already have........Did you say the Circus?"

"Yes."

"Seats on the finish line?"

"Yes. They are right below the Emperor's own box, the best seats in the stadium."

She held the tickets before eyes. I couldn't seem to focus on anything else.

"You do enjoy the chariot races, don't you?"

"Ahmmmmm yes Olivia. I have gone from time to time."

"Wonderful!" She clapped her hands. "That's settled then. I will talk to Zoe. She will have to take her servant Achaea with her for proprieties sake, of course."

"Of course", I repeated.

She continued on, telling me that she would have Zoe and Achaea meet me here in her office in the morning and perform the introductions. Then she slowly but firmly eased me out the door before I could change my mind, while I carefully eased the priceless tickets from her hand before she could change hers. It was truly a mutual admiration society.

"All right Olivia, but only as a personal favor to you."

"Thank you Silva. We'll see you bright and early then."

She slammed and locked the door behind me. With the tickets pressed safely against my heart, I went racing up the stairs to my cold supper.

Half-a-jug of wine (that tasted like the peasants hadn't taken off their wooden clogs before they stomped the grapes into the dirt), one salami, and three hard rolls later, I was seeing life with the new fire and focus brought on by heartburn. As I stared at the tickets, the caliga fell. My wonderful new tickets had been purchased at the price of one blind date. Along about sunset the other caliga landed on my head. A note slid under my door. In atrocious Latin, and in the hand of a child, it read:

"Silva,

Come soon you. Filled with need Aelia is.
Hurriest. Fastest. Sorrow is busted out
of her face.

A friendless "

Copyright © 2000-2002, L. Didius Silva. All Rights Reserved.