The year is 56 BC. Gordianus is visited in disguise by his old friend and teacher Dio, a diplomat who led an Egyptian delegation to Rome. Dissatisfied with their king, Ptolemy XII, the contingent planned to appeal to Rome’s Senate. However, Dio reveals that he is the last member of the delegation and implores Gordianus to keep him alive. His companion, a eunuch by the name of Trygonion, also appeals to Gordianus despite his clear dislike for the philosopher. Hesitating due to the potential danger, Gordianus asks Bethesda and his daughter, Diana, to serve dinner to his late night guests while he deliberates. Gordianus ultimately rejects the philosopher’s plea, citing his plans to visit his second son Meto, currently campaigning with Julius Caesar.
In the morning, Gordianus and his eldest son, Eco, head out for their month-long visit. Upon returning, Gordianus learns that Dio was stabbed to death on the very night that he had visited. Before fully processing the news, Belbo announces that Trygonion has called upon him yet again. Revealing himself to be an agent of the scandalous widow, Clodia, Gordianus agrees to meet with her out of curiosity. Arriving at her horti on the Tiber, he is introduced to the scantily clad Clodia, her trusted slave, Chrysis, and her equally infamous brother, Clodius. Believing that Marcus Caelius’ debts to Pompey, who wishes to keep Ptolemey XII in power, motivated him to murder the philosopher, Clodia hires Gordianus to find evidence against her former lover. Reluctantly agreeing, Gordianus heads to the Subura to confer with Eco. Knowing the scandal attached to Clodia and her brother, Clodius, Eco unsuccessfully urges his father to drop the case. Upon leaving his son, Gordianus and his bodyguard, Belbo, realize they are being followed.
The next day, Gordianus visits the last two places Dio stayed at. Beginning with the house of Lucius Lucceius, where Dio's slave was accidentally poisoned instead of him, Gordianus confronts Lucius. Mistakenly believing that Cicero sent him, Lucius is initially talkative before realizing the truth. From then on, Lucius insists that the slave died of natural causes and that Dio was merely paranoid. On his way out, Lucius’ wife ushers Gordianus over. Confirming that her husband is in denial, she reveals that the two slaves who prepared Dio's food had suspiciously gone out that day, returning with some mysterious spices. Following Dio's death, the two then attempted to buy their freedom with a staggering amount of silver only to be condemned to the mines instead.
Gordianus then heads for Titus Coponius' house, where Dio met his untimely death. While there, Gordianus learns that the philosopher regularly abused one of Titus Coponius' slave girls, Zotica, who was with him the night that he was murdered. Unfortunately, Titus Coponius' slave, Philo, reveals that she has been sold. Gordianus then implores Eco to find her.
Once again, Clodia summons Gordianus. This time, she asks him to help thwart Caelius' alleged plans to poison her. Acquiescing, he shows up to the Senian baths the next day expecting to witness a handoff of the poison from Caelius’ friend, Licinius, to one of Clodia’s slaves. Instructed to wait in the changing rooms for Clodia's contact, he recognizes the man who has been following him. Revealed to be the poet Catullus, Gordianus mistakenly believes him to be Clodia's contact until he sees her slave, Barnabas, approach him. Despite her scheme, Licinius escapes with the poison. Compelled by Chrysis to explain the afternoon's events, Gordianus finds himself back at Clodia's house only to be entertained by her brother instead. Gordianus finds himself drinking and eating with Clodius before eventually falling asleep. Fearing Bethesda's wrath, he begins to head home before realizing he is being followed once again. Confronting his follower, Catullus, the poet convinces Gordianus to have another drink with him where he reveals his unrequited love for Clodia and hatred for Caelius.
Gordianus spends the next day continuing his search for evidence against Caelius. Yielding nothing, he heads home in the afternoon only to find Clodia's retinue there. Fearing Bethesda's jealousy and earlier wrath, Gordianus is surprised to find the two women, along with his daughter, calmly conversing in the garden. Remaining hidden, he eavesdrops on them as they exchange traumatic tales. To Gordianus' surprise, he learns that his wife was once owned by a cruel and powerful Egyptian who sadistically tied her mother to a hook before sexually assaulting her. Once her mother died from his abuse, Bethesda reveals that she fought back when he attempted to tie her up and was eventually sold to Gordianus. Distressed, Gordianus leaves the women alone.
The next day, Clodia calls for Gordianus after escaping a poisoning attempt from none other than Chrysis. He deduces that the poison used was Gorgon's hair, a substance currently in his possession. Although Clodia only took a small amount, she appears to be suffering from its effects. Nonetheless, she remains determined to go to the trial and host her annual party the next day.
Following the first day of the trial, Gordianus and Bethesda attend Clodia's party in honor of Cybele. While there, Clodia tries to coerce Gordianus into testifying against Caelius, hinting that she would bribe him. Oblivious to the bribery, Gordianus agrees to help the beautiful lady.
Upon returning home, he finds himself restless due to the poisoning attempt and decides to inspect his Pyxis of Gorgon’s hair. Leaving his wife with Diana, he discovers that his lockbox has been broken into. To his dismay, he finds a scuffed earring in place of the missing powder. Recognizing it as one of Bethesda’s, he rushes into Diana’s room and accuses her of deceit. Bethesda coolly admits to it, sending her husband storming out to confront Clodia. Reaching her house, Gordianus accuses Clodia of colluding with his wife to fake the poisoning attempt. Despite her denial, Gordianus refuses to testify and finds himself in Catullus’ company for the night.
The next day, the trial begins with Caelius’ defense. While standing at the back, Gordianus spots Eco who implores his father to come home with him to speak with the slave, Zotica. She reveals that Dio regularly abused her at Titus Coponius’ by tying her to a hook and sexually assaulting her. On the night of his death, Zotica states that Dio died before anyone stabbed him. Recognizing the effects of Gorgon’s hair from her description, Gordianus rushes back to the trial.
He arrives in time to hear Cicero’s defamation of Clodia as part of his defense. Thanks to his oration, famously known as Pro Caelio, his former protégés is acquitted. Disturbed by Zotica’s account and the outcome of the trial, Gordianus wanders around the city before finding himself at the tavern Catullus took him to. There, Gordianus runs into Caelius who is surprisingly with Catullus. Demanding the truth from Caelius, the newly acquitted man admits to stabbing Dio to erase his debt to Pompey and attempt to poison Clodia. Upon hearing about the poisoning, Catullus attacks him, leading to Caelius’ bodyguards throwing him and Gordianus out.
After spending the night at Eco's house, Gordianus still finds himself unable to face his wife, so he decides to visit Clodia only to discover that she has fled the city. Trudging back to Eco’s he is surprised to see his second son, Meto, there. Hearing their uncle, Eco’s twins, Titiana and Titus, fly into the room. Upon seeing Titiana, Gordianus questions his granddaughter about a piece of jewelry pinned to her tunic. Recognizing it as the twin of the one from his lockbox, Gordianus realizes that he has finally solved the mystery.
At that moment, his wife appears and the two leave the others for their long awaited discussion. Gordianus apologizes for his lack of faith in her and states that he now understands her. He reveals that he knows of her past with Dio and knows that she did not poison him despite her insistence that she did.
Later, he summons Diana who is revealed to be the true culprit behind Dio’s death. Despite Bethesda’s attempt to take the fall, Gordianus reveals that he realized the truth once he asked his granddaughter where she got the earring from. Knowing that Diana did it on behalf of her mother, Gordianus says that he is proud of her and accepts that she will always remain a mystery to him.
Clodius is an alternate form of the Roman nomen Claudius, a patrician gens that was traditionally regarded as Sabine in origin. The alternation of o and au is characteristic of the Sabine dialect. The feminine form is Clodia.
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, usually called Britannicus, was the son of Roman Emperor Claudius and his third wife, Valeria Messalina. For a time, he was considered his father's heir, but that changed after his mother's downfall in 48, when it was revealed she had engaged in a bigamous marriage without Claudius' knowledge. The next year, his father married Agrippina the Younger, Claudius' fourth and final marriage. Their marriage was followed by the adoption of Agrippina's son, Lucius Domitius, whose name became Nero as a result. His stepbrother would later be married to Britannicus' sister Octavia and soon eclipsed him as Claudius' heir. After his father's death in October 54, Nero became emperor. The sudden death of Britannicus shortly before his fourteenth birthday is reported by all extant sources as being the result of poisoning on Nero's orders; as Claudius' biological son, he represented a threat to Nero's claim to the throne.
Titus Annius Milo was a Roman political agitator. The son of Gaius Papius Celsus, he was adopted by his maternal grandfather, Titus Annius Luscus. In 52 BC, he was prosecuted for the murder of Publius Clodius Pulcher and exiled from Rome. He was unsuccessfully defended by his friend, Marcus Tullius Cicero, in the speech Pro Milone.
Clodia, nicknamed Quadrantaria, Nola, Medea Palatina by Cicero, and occasionally referred to in scholarship as Clodia Metelli, was one of three known daughters of the ancient Roman patrician Appius Claudius Pulcher.
Publius Clodius Pulcher was a populist Roman politician and street agitator during the time of the First Triumvirate. One of the most colourful personalities of his era, Clodius was descended from the aristocratic Claudia gens, one of Rome's oldest and noblest patrician families, but he contrived to be adopted by an obscure plebeian, so that he could be elected tribune of the plebs. During his term of office, he pushed through an ambitious legislative program, including a grain dole; but he is chiefly remembered for his long-running feuds with political opponents, particularly Cicero, whose writings offer antagonistic, detailed accounts and allegations concerning Clodius' political activities and scandalous lifestyle. Clodius was tried for the capital offence of sacrilege, following his intrusion on the women-only rites of the goddess Bona Dea, purportedly with the intention of seducing Caesar's wife Pompeia; his feud with Cicero led to Cicero's temporary exile; his feud with Milo ended in his own death at the hands of Milo's bodyguards.
The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.
Fulvia was an aristocratic Roman woman who lived during the Late Roman Republic. Fulvia's birth into an important political dynasty facilitated her relationships and, later on, marriages to Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio, and Mark Antony. All of these men would go on to lead increasingly promising political careers as populares, tribunes, and supporters of Julius Caesar.
Steven Saylor is an American author of historical novels. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied history and classics.
Roma Sub Rosa is a series of historical mystery novels by Steven Saylor set in ancient Rome and therefore populated by famous historic Roman citizens. The phrase "Roma Sub Rosa" means, in Latin, "Rome under the rose." If a matter was sub rosa, "under the rose," it meant that such matter was confidential.
Pro Caelio is a speech given on 4 April 56 BC, by the famed Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero in defence of Marcus Caelius Rufus, who had once been Cicero's student but more recently was a political rival. Cicero's reasons for defending Caelius are uncertain, but various theories have been postulated.
Marcus Caelius Rufus was an orator and politician in the late Roman Republic. He was born into a wealthy equestrian family from Interamnia Praetuttiorum, on the central east coast of Italy. He is best known for his prosecution of Gaius Antonius Hybrida in 59 BC. He was also known for his trial for public violence in March 56 BC, when Cicero defended him in the extant speech Pro Caelio, and as both recipient and author of some of the best-written letters in the ad Familiares corpus of Cicero's extant correspondence. He may be the Rufus named in the poems of Catullus.
The Ides of March is an epistolary novel by Thornton Wilder that was published in 1948. It is, in the author's words, 'a fantasia on certain events and persons of the last days of the Roman republic. Historical reconstruction is not among the primary aims of this work'. The novel deals with the characters and events leading to, and culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer was a Roman politician who was consul in 60 BC and in the next year opposed Pompey, Caesar, and the so-called First Triumvirate's political programme. He was a member of the powerful and influential plebeian noble family, the Caecilii Metelli. Prior to 62 BC, he was an ally of Pompey and had served as urban praetor in 63, augur by 63 BC, possibly aedile in 67 BC, and plebeian tribune in either 72 or 68 BC.
Lucius Sempronius Atratinus was a Roman politician who was elected suffect consul in 34 BC. He is mentioned in Pro Caelio, a famous speech in defense of Marcus Caelius Rufus by Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Leges Clodiae were a series of laws (plebiscites) passed by the Plebeian Council of the Roman Republic under the tribune Publius Clodius Pulcher in 58 BC. Clodius was a member of the patrician family ("gens") Claudius; the alternative spelling of his name is sometimes regarded as a political gesture. With the support of Julius Caesar, who held his first consulship in 59 BC, Clodius had himself adopted into a plebeian family in order to qualify for the office of tribune of the plebs, which was not open to patricians. Clodius was famously a bitter opponent of Cicero.
A Murder on the Appian Way is a historical novel by American author Steven Saylor, first published by St. Martin's Press in 1996. It is the fifth book in his Roma Sub Rosa series of mystery novels set in the final decades of the Roman Republic. The main character is the Roman sleuth Gordianus the Finder.
The House of the Vestals is a collection of short stories by American author Steven Saylor, first published by St. Martin's Press in 1997. It is the sixth book in his Roma Sub Rosa series of mystery stories set in the final decades of the Roman Republic. The main character is the Roman sleuth Gordianus the Finder.
Rubicon is a historical novel by American author Steven Saylor, first published by St. Martin's Press in 1999. It is the seventh book in his Roma Sub Rosa series of mystery stories set in the final decades of the Roman Republic. The main character is the Roman sleuth Gordianus the Finder.
A Mist of Prophecies is a historical novel by American author Steven Saylor, first published by St. Martin's Press in 2002. It is the ninth book in his Roma Sub Rosa series of mystery stories set in the final decades of the Roman Republic. The main character is the Roman sleuth Gordianus the Finder.
The gens Herennia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned among the Italian nobility during the Samnite Wars, and they appear in the Roman consular list beginning in 93 BC. In Imperial times they held a number of provincial offices and military commands. The empress Herennia Etruscilla was a descendant of this gens.
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