JOM
Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 163
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 Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 11:17 pm Post subject: Family and a Mission |
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Egypt, Late 133 AD
Castra of Legion I Pacis
Legate Tactitus Fulvius’ Praetorium
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Inside the castra a group of soldiers marched with rhythmical pace under the merciless sun of Egypt. Their armor shone and the commanding centurion yelled his orders, “Left, right, left. Move on, march with pride!”
A young adiuvator watched while he moved toward the centurion, then he conveyed an instruction from his Tribune, “Marcus, they already trained enough for today, now let the men rest.”
The old centurion grumbled and gave his final order, “Signa statuere!(halt!). You are dismissed.”
The adiuvator smiled at centurion Marcus and said with a serious tone of voice “You did a good job, but we can not push them too hard under this sun. The men also need to rest and drink water.”
Centurion Marcus replied with his usual sarcasm, “Well, these useless ladies need to train. We will see if they fight as well as they eat when the time comes.”
The adiuvator laughed and responded, “They will Marcus, by the Gods they will.”
Meanwhile a legionary approached the two men and stood at attention and asked, “Sir, you are adiuvator Sejanus Augustus Vitellius?”
The young adiuvator nodded his head and said, “Yes I am, what do you want soldier?”
The legionary responded, “You must come with me Sir, our Legate want to see you at once”
The young adiuvator slapped centurion Marcus’ back and said, “I must go Marcus, we will talk later.”
** Five minutes later **
Adiuvator Augustus Vitellius entered into Legate Tactitus Fulvius’ command tent, rose his right arm and saluted his commander, "Hail, Commander! The legionary said that you want to talk with me?"
Legate Fulvius nodded away a Tribune that was holding some wax pads and responded, "Yes, Adiuvator Vitellius, at ease."
Adiuvator Augustus Vitellius relaxed, and asked, "Well, Sir what are my orders?"
Legate Fulvius responded "Soldier, there isn't much going on. The Pharaoh has most of this region under control, and as much as I hate sitting around looking pretty, that's a good thing."
Legate Fulvius, attempted a smirk, but it failed. "Our Proconsular Legate should be figuring out what to do with the restless Nubians in the south, but what I am worried about most is the Ptolemaic people lurking to the west and trading in Alexandria."
Adiuvator Augustus Vitellius scratched his head and said, "Well, I think we can do little about that because the Pharaoh allows the Ptolemaic merchants to trade in Alexandria. I hope that they don’t have second intentions like spying." He paused and then continued, "Sir, do you have something in mind?"
Legate Fulvius looked at young adiuvator and said, "I always have something in mind, soldier! That is why Emperor Septimus Varro promoted me to this rank."
Legate Fulvius remained serious and then continued, "I want to know what the Ptolemies are up to. Obviously you are correct, that if the Pharaoh isn't concerned, then all is well, but let's be honest. Rome oversees Egypt, and we need to know everything. Watch the merchants of Alexandria for a few weeks. How you do it is up to you, but I'd like numbers, how many, how often, what they trade in, and especially who they see and how long they remain in the city. From there we can begin to connect the dots, if there is anything to connect."
Adiuvator Augustus Vitellius stood at attention and responded, "Sir, I will do as ordered! I think that I must wear civilian clothes in order to perform my assignment effectively. Also I will need four more men with me, because we will spread in Alexandria port and city and collect all the information and numbers you want. Then after two or three weeks I will return with a report."
Then he hesitated for a while and asked, “Sir, do I have permission to visit my family in Alexandria? It will take only three days, the last time I saw them was at six months ago.”
Legate Fulvius nodded, "Visit your family, it will be a good cover for your assignment. However, I stress that you aren't ordered to be covert. You may act as openly or secretly as you wish, though this assignment is not strictly meant to be inconspicuous. I will inform the Proconsular Legate of this plan, and you will make your report to him." Then he concluded his conversation, "Now you may go, you are dismissed."
Adiuvator Augustus Vitellius rose his right arm and saluted again his commander and exited the command tent.
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Alexandria, Egypt
One week later
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Alexandria was a cosmopolitan city with great economic and strategic importance, with many languages, religions and foreign people. In this city merged the Roman, Greek, Jewish, and ancient Egyptian cultures. Furthermore, it was the centre of commerce and politics in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean; furthermore, the great port city ranked second only to Rome in population from a worldwide perspective.
Young Augustus Vitellius and four disguised legionaries were walking in the Alexandrian port. They forced their way through the multiethnic crowd while they refused the many proposals made by the local retailers. They wore civilian clothes as a means to disguise their mission in Alexandria. Each of them carried a hidden gladius and wore leather armor under their woollen white tunics. Also they wore ankle boots instead the usual caligae (military boots).
Marcelus looked at the great Pharos, the famous lighthouse, considered one of the seven wonders of the World and exclaimed, “It is so big!” Then he asked, “Is true that the ships can see at sea its light from a distance of 40 miles?”
Augustus Vitellius responded to the disguised legionary, “Yes, it is true, that’s the reason why it is so famous.”
The men continued to walk while they admired all the activity in the port. The blue sky was full of sea birds which flew in circles around the ships. They could smell the salt water and the many aromas of perfume, food and spices.
Finally they arrived at the Pharos island and Augustus Vitellius addressed to his men. “Men, our Legate gave us a special mission and we already talked about it. However I will repeat the instructions one last time so all of you are aware of what to do. You must divide into two groups of two men each and go to the port and the city, and collect all the information you can get about those Ptolemaic bastards. Avoid wine and women, your main goal is collect information without being detected, period. Meanwhile I will conduct a short visit to my parents and this spot where we now stand will be our meeting-place within three days. Then I will go with you and we will continue our mission. Is this understood?”
All the four men shook their heads affirmatively and said, “Yes.”
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Alexandria, Egypt
Sejanus Vitellius’ Residence
A family meeting
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Sejanus Vitellius lived in a modest insulae of two floors in the center of the city. In the ground floor he had a bakery where he did business and in the first floor he lived with his family. After he arrived to Egypt he used all his money and bought this insulae and became a businessman.
In that afternoon he overseeing his subordinates’ work with customers when suddenly his youngest son Augustus Vitellius arrived and shouted, “Father, I am here!”
Immediately Sejanus Vitellius turned his head to the door and saw with surprise his son. He moved toward the door, embraced and kissed his son, and said with enthusiasm “My boy, I am so happy to see you. Come inside your mother will be glad to see you again.”
After Sejanus Vitellius finished his business with his customers he left the bakery in the hands of an assistant and went upstairs with his son.
Augustus Vitellius’ mother could not contain her happiness and ran to her son, embraced and kissed him several times and finally exclaimed with tears in her eyes, “My beloved son! Aphrodite be praised for this fortune.”
Then she looked at her son up and down and said with concerned tone of voice, “My son you are so thin, you don’t eat well in the legion but don’t be worry here you will eat properly!”
Augustus Vitellius tried in vain to explain to his mother that his visit was only for a few days, but she did not listen and continued to made preparation as if he would live again with his parents.
Sejanus Vitellius gestured and murmured to his son, “You know your mother! Now come with me we need to talk.”
The two men went to a bedroom for have a private conversation.
Sejanus Vitellius looked deeply to his son’s eyes and asked, “Do you have any notice of your brother Lucius?”
Augustus Vitellius avoid eye contact looked to the ground and answered, “Not a word.”
Sejanus Vitellius became restless and said sadly, “That ingrate, he left us when he went to the legions and until now he never sent a word to us! I can live with that but you know your mother; she is concerned and this continuous concern has a bitter taste in our lives. Please try to find out what is going on with your brother and then tell us.”
Augustus Vitellius replied, “I will father, don’t worry,” then he looked around and asked, “Where is my sister Saria?”
Sejanus Vitellius remained in silence for one minute looking through the window, then he responded, “Tomorrow is her fifteenth birthday and your mother is preparing her Mustaceum (birthday cake” then he continued, “She is now in the temple of Aphrodite which is situated twelve miles away from Alexandria. She is the personal attendant of the high priestess which is a great honor. Don’t worry she will be with us tomorrow.”
Augustus Vitellius seemed a little confused and asked, “Father, I am curious why she is in a temple if she is so young? It is strange that my mother allowed it.”
Sejanus Vitellius peeped out of the door for be sure that his wife was not listen and then explained, “You see we have had some problems with your sister. She is not a little girl anymore and she is very beautiful.” He paused cleaned his throat and then continued, “although beauty is a good thing for a young lady sometimes is also bad because attracts the wrong people.”
Augustus Vitellius interrupted his father and asked, “Wrong people? Who are you talking about father?”
Sejanus Vitellius concluded his explanation, “Several boys wanted to date with her and one of them was Panahasi's son. This Panahasi is a cruel and corrupt man. He controls several small businesses in the city port and uses intimidation to reach his objectives. So we decided to send your sister to the temple of Aphrodite for her own safety and to avoid trouble.”
Augustus Vitellius was curious and continued to talk with his father, collecting information that could be useful to him.
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Egypt, Alexandria
Pharos island
Three days later
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Young Augustus Vitellius met again with his men at Pharos Island. He and his men exchanged information about the Ptolemaic merchants’ activity in Alexandria.
Augustus Vitellius tried to outline all the information that they collected so far. “So we know that the Ptolemaic ships buy honey, olive oil, grain, textiles and slaves and sell goats-hair cloth, pottery, and various goods from Cyprus and their Asian holdings. When Ptolemaic ships visit Alexandria, they stay for only a short time. Thus it is obvious that there is limited economic activity between Egypt and the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Besides we don’t have any clue or proof that there are Ptolemaic spies in Alexandria.”
Marcelus asked, “And about that Panahasi? Shall we forget him?”
Augustus Vitellius responded “Yes, for me he is a lesser criminal who disguise his illegal activities with his business. If he crosses the line the Pharaoh’s men will take care of him. I talked about him just for curiosity.”
Then he concluded his conversation, “So we will stay in Alexandria for the next ten days just in case something new happen, and then we will return to our castra.”
Ten minutes later the five Romans were once again plunging through the multiethnic crowd of Alexandria.
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By: Sejanus Lucius Vitellius
Input From: Ferus Juventas (GM)
Edited By: Jupiter Optimus Maximus (GM)
AD 133
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Jupiter Optimus Maximus - John
Senior GM
Political, Economic & Legal Affairs
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